Gail--Dispensation is revealed in the Bible--and just because it was a revelation that took time, doesn't make it false. Early church fathers', for example, could not possibly understand the teaching about Tribulation (Judgement of the Jews) in the endtimes along with the Antichrist and Temple rebuilding in Israel because Israel no longer existed.

The Bible term "dispensations" describes the distinct "divisions of time" God designed into His plan for mankind.

The English word "dispensations" is in Eph 1:10 and 3:1&2, where it describes the Age we presently live in, the "Church Age", as the Age of "Grace" (unmerited favor), and the Age of the "fullness of times", (getting everything together).

The Greek word translated "dispensations" is "oikonomia", meaning "to manage a household". "Oikonomia" comes from a combination of two Greek words, "oikos", meaning "household", and "menos" meaning "to manage". God has "managed" His "household", or His people and their relationship to Him in distinctly different ways, depending on which "dispensation" you live in.

The study and knowledge of the Biblical teaching of Dispensations is necessary for God's people to "Rightly divide" God's Word (2 Tim 2:15). We must know what "dispensation" we are in, in order to understand our correct relationship with God.

There are four major "dispensations" revealed in God's plan:

INNOCENCE: From Adam to Abraham. (Approx 2000 Years). (Rom 5:13) The head of each family was responsible to God and sacrificed animals to God as a type and shadow of Jesus and His future work on the Cross. God also designed the constellations in the sky to teach His truth concerning His plan for man and His redemption in Christ. (Rom 1:18- 32). Without a written Law, God wrote His "Law" into the hearts of the people (all over the world, Rom 2:14&15) that He sovereignly made to be His own, through "regeneration", or the "new birth". Job is a good example of a person that lived prior to the Age of the Jew, a long way from Palestine, having no written "Law", but just read the book of Job to see the astounding knowledge of God that God sovereignly gave to Job!

AGE OF THE JEW: From Abraham to the day of Pentecost, in Acts Chapter 1. (Approx 2000 years). The Jews in the Age of the Jew were required to live by the Old Testament Law. But, gentiles during the age of the Jew were not required to live by this law, Rom 2:14 & 15. Note: The Gospels are part of the Old Testament. Jesus was a Jew who lived under the Old Testament Law, kept it perfectly, and redeemed us from it.

THE CHURCH AGE: From the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 1, to the Rapture of the Church. (Approximately 2000 years?). We live by the Church Age Epistles to the Church, Romans to Jude, and are not under the Old Testament Law. The Church was a mystery hid in Christ and not revealed to the Old Testament prophets, Eph 3:1-5 and Col 1:25-27.

Note: The 7 year Tribulation is the Age of the Jew RESUMED.

THE MILLENNIUM: (Exactly 1000 years, Rev 20:1-7) From the Second Advent, (at the end of the 7 years Tribulation), to the Great White Throne of Judgement in Rev 20:11-15. There are approximately 500 prophecies in Scripture concerning the 1000 year Millennium.

During our present Age, the "Church" Age, we live by God's Word for this Age, contained in the Book of Romans to the Book of Jude. The Old Testament Books and the Gospels give us history, and pictures, shadows and types of present truth. The Book of Acts is a "transitional" Book that describes the beginning of the Church Age and how God established His Church at one place, and at one point in time and then spread it throughout the whole known world. The transition ended when the Bible was completed in 96 AD. The book of Revelation portrays past, present and future, (Rev 1:19), with chapter 1 past, chapter 2 & 3 present, and chapter 4-22 future. I believe that we are presently on the Revelation time line at chapter 3:14-22, the Laodicean Church, meaning in the Greek, the Church of "human rights", which is described as making Jesus sick at His stomach, saying that they are rich, but really spiritually poor, blind, naked (not clothed by God's righteousness, see 1 John 1:9) and shameful.

An illustration of the drastic difference between the previous "Jewish age" and the present "Church age" is the relevance of the Old Testament Law that God gave the Nation of Israel. The "Old Testament Law" refers to the "decalogue" or "Ten Commandments", and the "Ceremonial Law" and "Dietary Law" that God gave the Jews in the book of Leviticus.

In the Jewish Age, the Jews were required to live by these Laws, but in the Church Age, we are no longer under these Laws:

No longer under the Law, but under grace, Rom 6:14, 7:6&6.

The Law was a curse, Gal 3:13, and Christ redeemed us from it.

The Law was our "schoolmaster" to bring us to Christ. No one can keep God's Law, so that leaves us hopeless and helpless and in need of a savior. Gal 3:23-26.

Jesus nailed it to His cross and took it out of the way Col 2:14.

Under the Old Testament Law, there was a priest who operated in a temple, the Spirit of God resided in the temple, and the priest offered sacrifices to God in accordance with the Law.

Now, in the Church Age, as a child of God, we are a priest, 1 Peter 2:5 & 9 and Rev 1:6, our body is God's temple and the Spirit of God lives in us, 1 Cor 6:19, and we offer spiritual sacrifices to God through our High Priest Jesus Christ. Our Church Age sacrifices:

Our body, a living sacrifice, Rom 12:1

Our praises to God, Heb 13:15

Our sharing and fellowshipping with one another, Heb 13:16

Our Divinely motivated good works, Phil 2:17

Our Divinely motivated giving, Phil 4:18

Now that I understand God's Dispensations I can no longer see non- Church Age Scriptures as New Testament/church Truths:

For example, can we really see "Matt 24:36-44" - as the Rapture of the Church? (Possibly it is the OPPOSITE?) Could it be that in this passage is the Second Coming at the end of the age/Tribulation, where, just like in the flood/judgement of Noah's time, the wicked unbelievers are taken and the righteous remain to repopulate the earth for the Millennium (Matt 24:43-47)?

A correct knowledge of DISPENSATIONS (Rightly dividing the truth, 2 Tim 2:15) can add to the joy of your salvation, make the Bible come alive with rich meaning, promote rapid growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 2 Pet 3:18, and prevent false teachings from stealing your rewards, Col 2:8-18.

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-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), December 28, 2004

Answers

Hi Faith,

I have a girlfriend who was raised in a dispensationalist church. She was never baptized because she was taught that baptism is not for this dispensation. Can you shed any light on that?

Gail

-- Gail (Rothfarms@socket.net), December 28, 2004.

Actually--

I didn't really realize that I was into dispensationalism...

I am learning about it now, and I find that it supports much of what I already believed and answers those perplexing questions such as who are the *elect* in Mathew and how can they be the church in light of the revelation of the rapture before tribulation?

I always thought that somehow Jesus was spaeking about the Jews--yet I asked myself, "But aren't these people Jesus is addressing.., the church?

But no--Jesus was not addressing the church at that time since the church age had not yet been established. I find it interesting anyway.

I also will be interested to see what is the position about baptism because there are things that I have not harmonized with Scripture about baptism. For example--I see the real baptism as being of the heart--a spiritual rebirth and I wondered about the *act* of our ritual and if it doesn't constitute as a work--which I believe we are not required to do.

I'll look into it and see what there is to found about it.

-- (faith01@myway.com), December 28, 2004.

I have an old Scofield Bible I got at an auction, replete with commentary and footnotes. It's still one of my favorites. You probably would love it! I do find dispensationalism interesting, and there may be some truth to it, but then again . . .

I've got to get back to typing again.

Chat with you later.

-- Gail (Rothfarms@socket.net), December 28, 2004.