Transcript

The following story was sent to us at Berean Bible Society by a dear friend of our ministry. He said, “When I was a child, there always used to be a picture puzzle in the comic section of the newspaper. It was a line drawing with small, hidden images woven into the fabric of the bigger, obvious drawing.

“You’d have to turn the drawing this way and that and look among the lines to find the hidden images that were listed under the drawing. [He said,] The fact is that I wasn’t very good at those puzzles.

“However, my grandmother was very good at it. She would take a quick look, rotating the drawing this way and that, and then pick up a pencil and begin tracing around the outline of the hidden image as she narrated. ‘Okay, here is the bunny’s ears, see? And here is his nose. His tail is here and these are his hind legs.’

This brother continued: At some point, as she traced the outline with a pencil, the rabbit would suddenly appear to me. There it was, no mistaking it! How did I not see that before? It was so obvious once it was pointed out.

“Not only that, but once I saw it, I couldn’t ‘unsee’ it. I couldn’t look at the drawing without seeing the bunny there, plain as day.

The application that he went on to make is: “This is the way it is with rightly dividing the Word. One can read the Bible, perhaps for many years, but not pick up on the different ways God has dealt with mankind—for example, His distinct, prophesied dealings with Israel compared to how He deals with the Church, the Body of Christ.

“On one’s own, we might not pay attention to how the teachings of the four Gospels differ from the teachings in the Pauline Epistles. We might not really see or understand.

“However, when a person hears a Bible teacher who understands this truth, that teacher, like my grandmother did with the picture puzzle, sort of ‘traces around the outline’ of the dispensational changes.

“He points out the law and the Kingdom program in the four Gospels that was rejected, and then points out the transition in the Book of Acts where Israel is gradually put aside, and then points out what was revealed to Paul as he established the Church.

“Often that person will suddenly ‘see’ what he or she did not see before. And, as with the picture puzzle in the newspaper, once a person sees, there it is! It’s obvious. Now the person cannot read the Bible without seeing the dispensational distinctions, plain as day. Now the person has a framework with which to put the pieces of the Bible together.”

Ephesians 2:11-13,19 read: “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.”

In these verses, you can see time words, “In time past,” and “But now.” God wants us to understand His Word and by looking at the Scripture from the perspective of time past, time present, and time future, it can bring clarity to its structure as a whole.

In these verses, Paul is making the distinction between 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 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.” Verses 11-12 were how it was for Gentiles in time past. Verses 13 and 19 show how it is in time present.

Paul wrote, BUT NOW and NOW in time present, we who were far off from God, are made nigh to Him by the shed blood of Christ at the Cross, and now we are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens and of the household, or family, of God.

God has turned to the nations today by His grace to have a program with us, and we learn through the Apostle Paul about our up-to-date position before God and the opportunity that is ours under grace.

All of the Bible is “for us.” 2 Timothy 3:16 states that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” We find teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness for us from Genesis to Revelation.

In Romans 15:4, Paul wrote, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”

The things written aforetime are for us, and for our learning, but notice that Paul does not say that they are for our “obedience,” and that’s because they are not always for our obedience; many things under the law do not apply 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. A basic example of this is the animal sacrifices and the feast days that were required under the law in the past, but today, they are not for our obedience.

When you look at the Bible through this time lens, we find that in time past, their Scriptures were Genesis through Malachi and Matthew through John. The Book of Acts is a transitional book from time past into time present.

In time present, the Scriptures are Romans through Philemon. In time future, the primary Scriptures will be Hebrews through Revelation.

God has two 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 in one body. In time future, God will resume His dealings with Israel.

In time past, the Scriptures were about prophecy for Israel. God gave prophecy and fulfilled prophecy during that time. The prophetic message concerned the Jewish nation, her land, her future, her Messiah, and her kingdom. From Genesis 12 through the Gospel of John the message was consistently about these things for Israel.

However, when Israel fell due to her unbelief in her Messiah, God turned to the nations, and He ushered in a dispensation of grace that was never made known in prophecy.

The current dispensation, with its Church, and our hope of heaven was made known in what Paul calls “the revelation of the mystery.” Thus, the Scriptures in time present have to do with, not prophecy, but the revelation of the mystery.

The mystery is the body of grace truth that was unrevealed by God in time past. And God revealed it first to the Apostle Paul. And it is now fully revealed in Romans to Philemon.

These books of your Bible are what apply directly to the Church today and are for our obedience today. The Scriptures of time past and time future: Genesis to Malachi, Matthew to John, and Hebrews to Revelation are all for us, for our learning, profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.

But 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 off 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.

Many prophecies given to Israel in time past in Genesis to Malachi, and Matthew to John will also find their fulfillment in that day, and they will use and need those “time past” Scriptures to navigate the 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 witness of the two witnesses and the 144,000.

Revelation 7 makes it very clear that many will be saved in time future, “of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” (7:9). But many of the saved will also die in that day of judgment.

Believers in the future are encouraged 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 in the Hebrew epistles.

Those are all things required of Israel and they all apply directly to her after the Rapture of the Church. The Book of Revelation is actually a Guidebook for believers to live by day by day, month by month, and year by year through the Tribulation.

God, in His mercy, has provided Israel with a Book that tells her what to expect and what is coming next in the Tribulation.

Today, the Hebrew epistles do not apply to us directly. They are for us, and are profitable for doctrine and instruction in righteousness. And as a truth or principle coincides and does not contradict the truth for the Church under grace, we may freely apply it.

But those epistles are not written to us, who are in the current dispensation of grace.

During time future, when the dispensation of grace has been completed, Hebrews to Revelation will be the books they will apply, obey, and live by directly. And Romans to Philemon will become to them what Hebrews to Revelation are to us: books that are for them and for their learning, but not written to them.

They will see and be encouraged by God’s faithfulness with the Rapture having occurred, and they will praise God for all believers from our dispensation now being in heaven.

They will appreciate God’s grace to us Gentiles, and Paul’s letters will be profitable for doctrine and instruction in righteousness. But those letters will not apply to them in that day.

In Luke 1:68-70, John the Baptist’s father prophesied this, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began.”

The Scriptures that apply in time past and in time future are all according to the prophetic message and hope of what God had revealed “since the world began.”

But in Romans 16:25, Paul wrote, “Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.”

The Scriptures that apply in time present are according to Paul’s gospel of grace and the the revelation of the mystery, which God “kept secret since the world began.”

Time past was about prophecy and fulfilled prophecy, a message revealed since the world began. Time present is about the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, a message that was kept secret since the world began. Time future is again about prophecy and fulfilled prophecy, a message revealed since the world began.

Galatians 2:8: “For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles.”

There were different spokesmen and leaders for each of time past, time present, and time future.

In time past, in Genesis to Malachi, God worked in Israel first through her patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, giving the promise to Abraham of a great nation in a great land.

Later, God raised up Moses and gave Israel deliverance from bondage in Egypt and then His covenant of the law at Mount Sinai. King David was given Israel’s covenant of an everlasting throne and kingdom through his seed. And the prophets sent by God to Israel all prophesied of that kingdom in time past and called Israel back to God’s law.

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.

Christ raised up twelve apostles, who will one day judge the twelve tribes of Israel in the kingdom. And to Peter was given the keys of the kingdom. It was Peter’s confession that people needed to believe to be saved, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

That confession and its truth about Christ was the rock upon which the Kingdom Church was and will be built. Peter is a “key” man, you could say, for “time past.”

However, after Israel crucified their Messiah, and persisted in their rejection of Him through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, at the stoning of Stephen, Israel fell.

And God turned to the nations with a program of grace. God raised up a new apostle, the Apostle Paul and called him to be the apostle of the Gentiles. And Christ revealed His message and will for the dispensation of grace to Paul.

For “time present,” the Apostle Paul is God’s spokesman, leader, and apostle.

After the Rapture of the Church, it reverts back to God’s dealings with Israel, meaning that the Apostle Peter will once again, be God’s spokesman, leader, and apostle that Israel needs to follow in time future. Peter, and his apostleship and writings, along with the writings of John, are what will primarily guide Israel in time future.

In I Peter 1:7, we see Peter encouraging his countrymen, and this will apply in the future Tribulation, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire [in the Tribulation], might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ [or the Second Coming].”

The problem is, everyone wants to believe and follow Peter during “time present.” But when Israel fell, Peter and his apostleship diminished in authority until it faded away completely as God transitioned away from Israel and transitioned to the Gentiles and to Paul and his apostleship, which is God’s current dealings in time present.

To follow God’s will for this present age, we must follow Paul as he followed Christ and not Peter as he followed Christ.

Philippians 2:9-11 read, “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.”

As far as Scripture goes, time past, time present, and time future are all about Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit authored a Book that is all about Him and gives Him glory.

In time past, the office of Christ that the Spirit made known was that of Him being Israel’s Messiah and King.

When Christ came to this world, He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He ministered to her 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 perfectly concerning Himself and His ministry.

And the Lord also prepared Israel for the Tribulation and His earthly kingdom.

Romans 15:8 says of the Lord’s earthly ministry, “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision [or the Jews] for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.”

Of course, we know that Christ died for the sin of the world, was buried, rose again, and ascended to the Father. After He ascended, the Spirit was sent to Israel. When Israel continued in her rejection of Christ and ended up stoning Stephen, Israel was set aside temporarily in unbelief, and God’s program with her ceased for a time.

God then raised up a new man, the Apostle Paul. And in time present, the office of Christ that was revealed to Paul is that Christ is the Head of the Church, the Body of Christ. This is the office Christ is currently carrying out today in heaven.

Today, in Christ’s exaltation, He 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, and He makes intercession for us at God’s right hand.

Christ is offering the world grace and peace in this dispensation, and is saving those who, by faith alone, trust Him and His finished work.

This program will close with the return of Christ in the air, to catch the Body of Christ up to heaven to be with Him in heaven.

Then, in time future, the office of Christ that He will carry out will return to that of Him as Israel’s Messiah 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,” Scripture says, and 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, he will rise again, and declare himself to be God in the flesh, and require worldwide worship.

The Gospel records from “time past” will be what the Spirit will use in that day 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.

I John 2:22 writes of that time, “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ [or Messiah]? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.”

And I John 4:15 also says, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”

After the Antichrist rises from the dead, the world will be required to worship his image and take his mark. At that point, people MUST make a decision.

If they take the mark of the beast, then they believe in the Antichrist as the Messiah and they are going to hell. If they refuse to take that mark, then they show their loyalty to Jesus Christ and they will be hunted, persecuted, and killed by the Antichrist.

And 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 at the end of the Tribulation at the Battle of Armageddon. At that time, the Lord will consume the Antichrist “with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy [him] with the brightness of His coming,” and the beast will be cast into the lake of fire forever.

Israel’s true Messiah and King will then establish His kingdom on the earth.

Daniel 2:44 reads, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”

In time past, the prophets prophesied of this future, everlasting kingdom of God. They tell how it will be established on the earth, that it will be a kingdom of peace and righteousness, and the Messiah will reign as King over all the earth.

Also, in time past, in Matthew through John, John the Baptist came on the scene, and announced to Israel that this kingdom was “at hand.”

Matthew 3:1-2 reads, “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The Lord Jesus Christ said the same of His kingdom, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17).

And in time past, in early Acts, the Apostle Peter even offered that kingdom to Israel, saying in Acts 3, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you” (3:19-20).

If Israel had responded as a nation and repented of crucifying her Messiah, God would have sent Christ back to Israel. And when Christ returns to Israel, He will set up His kingdom on the earth.

But the kingdom never happened. How could it be “at hand” 2000 years ago, and 2000 years later it still hasn’t happened?

The reason is that it was postponed and temporarily suspended because after Israel fell in her unbelief, God ushered in a dispensation of grace that was kept secret in the mind and heart of God. This is time present.

So in time past, the kingdom was prophesied, it was “at hand,” and it was even offered to Israel. In time present, that kingdom is postponed. But in time future, after the Rapture, when God resumes His dealings with Israel, the kingdom will again be “at hand.”

And during the seven-year Tribulation, the Lord’s Prayer will be literally fulfilled, and believers will be praying, “Thy Kingdom Come,” out of their desire to be delivered from the judgment of the Day of the Lord.

And at the end of the Tribulation, heaven will open and Christ will return on a white horse, coming to judge and make war at the Battle of Armageddon. His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. And following His glorious victory at Armageddon, the Lord Jesus will establish and inaugurate His kingdom on the earth, and He will reign.

As Revelation 11:15 says, at that time, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

Looking at Scripture with a time past, time present, time future structure can aid in 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 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.”