“There was once a handyman who had a dog named Mace. Mace was a great dog except he had one weird habit: he liked to eat grass—not just a little bit, but in quantities that would make a lawnmower blush. And nothing, it seemed, could cure him of it.
“One day, the handyman lost his wrench in the tall grass while he was working outside. He looked and looked, but it was nowhere to be found. As it was getting dark, he gave up for the night and decided to look the next morning.
“When he awoke, he went outside and saw that his dog had eaten all the grass in the area, around where he had been working, and his wrench now lay in plain sight, glinting in the sun.
“Going out to get his wrench, he called the dog over to him and said, ‘A grazing Mace, how sweet the hound, that saved a wrench for me.’”1
Currently, we live in the dispensation of the grace of God (Eph. 3:2). This dispensation is all about God’s amazing grace that He is showing to the world today and revealing through the Church.
The dispensation of grace is what God is doing in “time present.” By looking at the Scriptures through the framework of time past, time present, and time future, we can gain clarity in understanding its overall structure and God’s current dealings with mankind.
Sequence Signals
“Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
“That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
“…Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Eph. 2:11-13,19).
In these verses, you find time words: “In time past,” “But now,” and “Now.” Paul is teaching about how it was for Gentiles, or people of the nations, in “time past” under the program of prophecy with Israel. And it wasn’t good! We Gentiles were without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.
Then, Paul says, “But now.” Ephesians 2:11-12 explain how it was for Gentiles in time past, while verses 13 and 19 show how it is in time present. In time present, under grace, we learn that we, who were far off from God, are made near to Him by the shed blood of Christ. Now we are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens in the household, or family, of God.
God has turned from Israel to the Gentile nations to have a program with us, and we learn through the Apostle Paul about our up-to-date position before God and the amazing opportunity that is ours under grace.
Scriptures
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4).
All of the Bible is “for us.” 2 Timothy 3:16 states, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” We believe all the Bible. It is all God’s Word. We find teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness for us from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21.
Paul tells us that the “things…written aforetime were written for our learning,” but notice that Paul does not say that they were written for our obedience. That’s because they are not always for our obedience; many things under the law do not apply under grace, such as its sacrificial system, feast days, Sabbath, and tithing. These things were required under the law, but they are not for our obedience under grace. All the Bible is for us and for our learning, but not all the Bible is written directly to us and for our obedience.
When you look at the Bible through this time lens, we find that the Scriptures for time past are Genesis through John. The Book of Acts is a transitional book, recording the change from time past into time present. Now, in time present, our Scriptures are Romans through Philemon. In time future, the most relevant Scriptures will be primarily Hebrews through Revelation.
God has two major programs, one with Israel concerning the earth and one with the Church, the Body of Christ, concerning the heavens. In time past, God dealt with Israel. In time present, God is dealing with the Body of Christ, Jew and Gentile alike in one Body. In time future, God will resume where He left off in His dealings with Israel.
In time past, the Scriptures were about prophecy for Israel. God gave prophecies and fulfilled prophecies during that time. The prophetic message concerned Israel, the nation, and her land, her Messiah, and her kingdom. From Genesis 12 through the Gospel of John, the message is consistently about these things for Israel.
However, when Israel fell due to her unbelief in her Messiah, God turned to the nations and ushered in a dispensation of grace that had never been made known anywhere in prophecy nor anytime in time past. The current dispensation, with its Church—the Body of Christ—and our hope of heaven, was made known in what Paul calls “the revelation of the mystery” (Rom. 16:25). The Scriptures of time present, Romans through Philemon, have to do with the revelation of the mystery, not prophecy.
The mystery is much more than Jew and Gentile alike in one Body. It is “the faith” (1 Cor. 16:13; Col. 2:7) for this dispensation, the whole message of grace truth that was kept hidden by God in time past (Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:26), and was first made known to Paul. It is now fully revealed, made manifest, in Romans to Philemon.
These books of your Bible are written directly to the Church today and apply expressly to us today. The Scriptures of time past and time future—Genesis to John and Hebrews to Revelation—are all for us. They are all for our learning, and are profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. However, Romans to Philemon are Christ’s “time present” Scriptures, message, and will for His Church, the Body of Christ, under grace.
God revealed within the mystery that this age will close with the pre-tribulational Rapture of the Church. When the Church is caught up from this earth before the Tribulation begins, God will then return to His dealings with Israel. That is when the Scriptures of Hebrews through Revelation will directly apply and must be obeyed in faith.
Many prophecies given to Israel in time past in Genesis to Malachi and Matthew to John, will also find their fulfillment during the Tribulation, and those who are on earth at that time will use and need those “time past” Scriptures to navigate the future Day of the Lord. But it is Hebrews to Revelation that will primarily guide believers in that day.
Just the fact that Hebrews to Revelation are in God’s Word shows that there will be believers during the Tribulation. Many will be saved after the Rapture through the testimonies of the two witnesses and the 144,000. Revelation makes it very clear that many will be saved and be martyrs for Christ in time future, “of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” (Rev. 7:9).
In the future time to come, believers will be challenged and commanded through the teachings of Hebrews to Revelation to persevere, overcome, live out the love of God, prove their faith by their works, confess their sins, keep the commandments of God, and believe in Jesus as the Messiah and God’s Son. And the Book of Revelation is actually a guidebook for kingdom believers to live by, day by day, month by month, and year by year through the Tribulation.
Spokesmen
“(For He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)” (Gal. 2:8).
There were different spokesmen, leaders, and key figures for each of the periods of time past, time present, and time future in Scripture.
In time past, in Genesis through Malachi, God worked through three prominent patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—beginning by giving Abraham the promise of a great nation in a great land. Later, God raised up Moses to deliver Israel from her bondage in Egypt and to dispense His law to Israel at Mount Sinai. King David was given a covenant of an everlasting throne and kingdom through his seed (2 Sam. 7:12-17). In time past, the prophets who were raised up and sent by God to Israel all prophesied of that kingdom and called Israel back to God’s law.
Also in time past, in Matthew to John, John the Baptist came on the scene baptizing, preparing the nation for her Messiah, calling on her to repent, and preaching that the kingdom was at hand (Matt. 3:1-6). The Lord Jesus raised up twelve apostles, who will one day judge the twelve tribes of Israel in the kingdom (Matt. 19:28).
The kingdom church in time past was built on the foundation of Christ, according to Peter’s confession of Christ’s identity: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). That is the rock upon which the kingdom church was built and what people needed to believe to be saved in time past and become a part of the kingdom church.
Israel crucified her Messiah, though, and persisted in her rejection of Him as demonstrated by the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:54-60), and thus Israel fell (Rom. 11:11). Instead of bringing in the prophesied Tribulation at that time, God turned to the Gentiles—the nations—with a program of grace that was never previously revealed.
In accord with this purpose, when Israel fell in Acts 7, God raised up a new man in Acts 9—Saul of Tarsus—saving him and calling him to be the apostle of the Gentiles. For time present, the Apostle Paul is God’s spokesman, leader, and apostle (Rom. 11:13; 2 Tim. 1:11). Paul laid the foundation of Christ for the Church under grace, the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 3:10-11), according to what Christ is doing today, that “Christ is the Head of the Church: and He is the Saviour of the Body” (Eph. 5:23).
After the Rapture of the Church, God’s plan reverts back to His dealings with Israel, meaning that the apostles—primarily the Apostle Peter—will once again be God’s spokesman, leader, and apostle that Israel needs to follow in time future. Peter’s apostleship and writings (1 and 2 Peter), along with the writings of John (1, 2, and 3 John, and Revelation), are what will primarily guide Israel in time future.
Savior
“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name:
“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
“And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11).
Time past, time present, and time future in Scripture are all about the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit authored the Book that is all about the Lord, and it gives Him honor, glory, and praise.
In time past, the Holy Spirit made known the office of Christ as Israel’s Savior, as well as her Prophet, Priest, and King. When Christ came to this world, He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and to seek and to save that which was lost (Matt. 15:24; Luke 19:10). He ministered to Israel and powerfully demonstrated by His teachings and miracles that He is her Messiah and the Son of God.
Ministering under the law and prophecy, Christ kept the law perfectly and fulfilled prophecy completely concerning Himself and His ministry. The Lord also prepared Israel for the Tribulation and His earthly kingdom. As Paul wrote of the Lord’s earthly ministry, “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision [the Jews] for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers” (Rom. 15:8).
Of course, we know that Christ died for the sins of the world, was buried, rose again, and ascended to the Father. After Christ ascended, the Holy Spirit was sent to Israel at Pentecost in fulfillment of prophecy (John 15:26; Acts 2:4,14-18). When Israel continued in her rejection of Christ, concluding in the stoning of Stephen, she “stumbled at that Stumblingstone” (Rom. 9:32). God temporarily set Israel aside in unbelief, and His program with her was put on hold for a time.
God then raised up a new man, the Apostle Paul, “to bear My [Christ’s] name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). In time present, the Holy Spirit revealed to Paul that Christ is the Head of the Church, the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). This is the office Christ is currently carrying out today in heaven at the Father’s right hand.
Today, in exaltation, Christ Jesus ministers to and through the Body of Christ. He gives His Church grace, wisdom, and power as we serve Him as His ambassadors and representatives in this world (2 Cor. 5:18-20; Col. 2:19), and He makes intercession for us at God’s right hand (Rom. 8:34). Christ is offering the world grace and peace in this dispensation, and is saving any person who, by faith alone, trusts Him and receives His free gift of salvation (Rom. 10:13; Eph. 1:12-14).
This program with the Gentiles began with an unexpected appearance of Christ from heaven on the road to Damascus, and it will close with another appearance of Christ from heaven, when He will descend into the clouds to catch the Body of Christ up to meet Him in the air and to take us to heaven to be with Him forever (1 Thes. 4:17).
Then, in time future, Christ will return to His office as Israel’s Prophet, Priest, and King. In time future, the primary ones in view are the Antichrist and Jesus Christ.
The Antichrist will come to the forefront and rise in power after the Rapture. His “coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thes. 2:9). During the Tribulation, he will perform mighty miracles to deceive and convince most of the world that he is the Messiah.
After the Antichrist is assassinated at the midpoint of the Tribulation (Rev. 13:3), he will rise again (17:8) and declare himself to be God in the flesh (2 Thes. 2:4), and the false prophet will require worldwide worship of the Antichrist (Rev. 13:12).
The Gospel records from “time past,” Matthew through John, will be what the Spirit uses during the Tribulation to show that Jesus Christ truly is the Messiah and the Son of God. That is their purpose, because salvation under the gospel of the kingdom is tied to faith in Christ’s identity. As John 20:31 states, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.”
After the Antichrist rises from the dead, the world will be required to worship his image and take his mark (Rev. 13:15-18). At that point, people MUST make a decision. If they worship the image of the beast and take his mark, believing in the Antichrist as the Messiah, they are going to hell (14:9-11). If, however, they show their loyalty to Jesus Christ by refusing to worship the beast’s image or take his mark, they will be hunted, persecuted, and killed by the Antichrist (13:5-7).
It’s in that day that Scriptures like Matthew 10:28 will apply directly: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
The true Messiah will be revealed when Christ returns in glory and power on a white horse at the end of the Tribulation at the Battle of Armageddon (Rev. 19:11-21). At that time, the Lord “shall consume” the Antichrist “with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy [him] with the brightness of His coming” (2 Thes. 2:8), and the beast will be cast into the lake of fire forever (Rev. 19:20; 20:10).
Israel’s true Messiah and King will then establish His kingdom on earth and fulfill all that He promised to Israel, because He is faithful.
Looking at Scripture with a time past, time present, time future framework can aid our understanding of God’s Word. It’s important that we recognize what God is doing in time present, so that we do not misapply Scripture meant for Israel in time past or time future, or blend or mix the truths that are unique to the two programs of God. In doing this, we will be “rightly dividing the Word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).
1. “My Loving Dog Mace,” Jokes of the Day, accessed August 6, 2026, https://jokesoftheday.net/tag/dog/.
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