Eph 742 2/11/88, 656ff 10/6/87, 580ff 6/26/87, 534, 294-6; Rev 662

DOCTRINE OF DISPENSATIONS

A. Definition and Description

1. A dispensation is a period of time in human history expressed in terms of divine revelation. The inerrancy of the Word of God is the source for looking at history from the divine viewpoint. Therefore, dispensation is a technical theological term used primarily by the apostle Paul in the presentation of the mystery doctrine of this Church Age.

2. Dispensations are divine categories of human history; therefore, both the divine outline and the divine interpretation of human history. There are many interpretations of history, but the only accurate interpretation is dispensational, i.e., divine.

3. Dispensations are the vehicle by which believers living at a specific time in history can orient to God’s will, plan, and purpose for their lives. God’s plan is not the same for every dispensation. In fact, the plan is quite different in each dispensation. The most difficult and subtle plan to learn by a believer is the Church Age or protocol plan of God. Old Testament believers were under the ritual plan of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ was under the incarnation plan of God.

4. A dispensation is defined traditionally as a period of time during which a particular revelation of God’s mind and God’s will is operative, and during which man is tested as to his obedience to that specific manifestation of God’s will, purpose, and plan. The believer’s orientation to both time and to human history is vitally necessary for understanding God’s plan and God’s purpose.

5. Dispensations constitute the divine administration of history. In fact, the Greek word translated “dispensations” also means administration of some organization. Dr. H.A. Ironside defined dispensations in his book, In the Heavenlies, as follows, “It is an economy or a particular order or a condition of things prevailing in a special age which does not necessarily prevail in another age.”

6. In every dispensation, God has a plan for believers, and in grace He provides the means for executing that plan. We must understand the other dispensations and then learn why only one dispensation is called the “dispensation of grace” (Eph 3:2).

7. While there is a different plan for believers in each dispensation, there is only one way of salvation throughout human history; i.e., personal faith in Jesus Christ. In all of human history, there is only one Savior, Jesus Christ, and He is revealed in different ways in different dispensations.

B. The New Testament Greek Vocabulary for Dispensations

1. The Geek word OIKONOMIA is translated “dispensation.” It means the administration of a business or an estate, the management of a household. It is translated by three words: order (instead of chaos), a plan (instead of confusion), and arrangement (instead of disarray).

a. It was used in the Attic Greek by Xenophen and Plato, who used it for household administration. It was also used for the authority of parents over children, the provision of parents for their children, and the policy of parents for their children. The study of dispensations always teaches the authority God provides for every period of history. It connotes policy, administration and provision by God for believers in a period of history. The translation “dispensation” originates from the policies and provisions of God for a particular historical era.

b. The word is used in Eph 1:10, 3:2; Col 1:25, all by the apostle Paul, the greatest teacher of all.

c. The word is now used as a technical theological term for an era of human history from the divine viewpoint.

d. Those who translate this as “administration” are wrong; this word is more technical than that, and it must refer to dispensations as separate from all other types of administrations.

2. The Greek word AION is generally translated “age.” It refers to a dispensation as a category of human history such as the “age” of Israel or Church “age.” Hence, the noun is used for divine categories in human history in such passages as Rom 16:25; Eph 3:9; Col 1:26.

3. The Greek word KAIROS means time as an epoch or era, a chronological order or system, a period of time characterized by distinctive development within that period. This word is used for the organization of historical events into their dispensational categories in 1 Thes 5:1. It is used specifically for orientation to the Church Age in Rom 13:11, 8:18, 11:5. It is used for orientation to the Jewish Age in Eph 2:11-12. In Lk 21:24, it is used for the “times of the Gentiles” which runs co-terminously with the Church Age, when only Gentiles nations can function as client nations to God. It is used for the word “epochs” in Acts 1:6-7.

4. The Greek word CHRONOS means time as a succession of events. It is used to portray the chronology of history or time as a series of points. Occasionally, it is used for a section of time in chronology, which then refers to a dispensation. In Rom 16:25, CHRONOS is used for all dispensations prior to the Church Age (combined with AION). Peter also used this word for dispensations in 1 Pet 1:20. So this word is used three ways:

a. Time in its course.

b. A section of time, i.e., a dispensation.

c. A point of time.

C. Dispensations is a Biblical subject.

1. Eph 1:8-10, “From which riches of grace He has made us [Church Age believers] super-rich by means of all wisdom and application when He revealed to us the mystery of His will according to His gracious intention which He planned in Him [Jesus Christ], with reference to the dispensation of the fullness of times [Church Age] to gather under one Head [Jesus Christ] the entire royal family in Christ, those that are in heaven and those that are on earth in Him.”

2. Eph 3:1-2, “For this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you, the Gentiles — inasmuch as you have heard about the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for your benefit,”

a. Though a fantastic genius, Paul could not have understood this dispensation on his own. This mystery had to be a matter of revelation in order for him to understand it. This knowledge was given to him, as it is to us, through grace.

b. Dispensational study is beneficial. It will keep you out of confusion. It will keep from trying to function in the wrong dispensation. Eph 3:3-4, “that through revelation the mystery doctrine was made known to me, just as I have already written you briefly. By reading this, you ought to be able to understand my technical knowledge about the mystery of Christ,”

a. The dispensation of the Church is a technical dispensation. It requires understanding technical words and knowing the modus operandi. This is the first time in history that the ordinary believer must think in terms of doctrine, must think like a prophet or an apostle, and must reconstruct his entire mental attitude.

b. Therefore every believer is given the ability to think through the filling of the Holy Spirit, and is given the complete Canon as the information about which to think. In order to think you must know the doctrine and be able to think in terms of its application. You think for yourself and do not need others to think for you. Eph 3:5, “which was not made known to mankind in other ages [dispensations], so that now it has been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by means of the Spirit.”

a. “Now” is the time! Now is the greatest opportunity in history. You have been given more invisible assets to become an invisible hero than has ever existed!

b. So what Paul and the other apostles started communicating in the first century is now the major issue in your life. Whether you will have a significant life or not, whether you save this nation by your advance to spiritual maturity all depends on what you think Now. Eph 3:8-9, “To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace has been given to preach [teach] to the Gentiles the unfathomable wealth of Christ, and to make perspicuous to all what is the dispensation of the mystery which has been concealed from the ages in the God [Jesus Christ] who created all things.”

3. Col 1:25, “Of which [Church Age] I have become a minister on the basis of this dispensation from God, which has been given to me for your benefit that I might implement your deficiency in the Word of God.”

a. Paul was a minister of this dispensation. Because he oriented to the dispensation in which he lived, Paul probably had the greatest invisible impact and the happiest life of any person who ever lived.

b. As Saul of Tarsus he started out to be one of the greatest visible leaders of all time, but became the greatest invisible leader of all time. Because after his salvation, God in His matchless grace not only gave him the gift of apostleship, but at the same time He revealed to him the facts of the time in which he lived. Paul, more than anyone else outside of the Lord, understood the relationship between the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union and the great power experiment of the Church Age. Hence, he understood more than anyone else the importance of Bible doctrine.

c. Ministers should only be visible to the extent that they teach Bible doctrine. Those who do not teach Bible doctrine have the tendency to try to become visible by means of human dynamics. There is no place in the plan of God for the coexistence of human dynamics with the omnipotence of God.

d. Note the same phrase here as in Eph 3:1: “The dispensation from God which was given to me for your benefit.”

e. We are born again with a deficiency: Bible doctrine. You are deficient until you understand the mystery doctrine. Col 1:26, “That is, the mystery which has been hidden from past dispensations and generations [within those dispensations], but now has been revealed to the saints [royal family of God].”

a. The mystery doctrine of the Church Age was never revealed in the Old Testament, for they would have been distracted with envy.

b. As royal family of God, you have greater privileges than ever existed before. The greatest plan of all history. Col 1:27, “To whom God has decreed to make known what is the wealth [riches] of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you [indwelling of Christ], the hope [confidence] of glory.”

a. You actually have the greatest individual wealth ever given to believers in any time of human history. Without understanding the mystery doctrine, you are wealthy without knowing it.

b. “The glory” is Jesus Christ Himself, who set up all precedence for this dispensation during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.

c. Paul names just one of the many aspects to your wealth: “Christ in you.” This refers to the indwelling of Jesus Christ as the Shekinah Glory and the guarantee of your escrow blessings.

d. Hope means very strong confidence. Christ in you is your confidence of glory! You have a glory that is found in immeasurable wealth, in the things God has provided for you in your portfolio of invisible assets. Col 1:28, “Which we solemnly communicate, warning and teaching every believer in all wisdom, that we might present every believer mature in Christ.”

a. Solemn here is used in the sense of being important, requiring concentration. It also means to explain the technical details. To explain something technical, the listener must concentrate. This also means to keep teaching, being consistent in learning mystery doctrine, i.e., what is God’s plan, purpose, and will for you in this Church Age.

b. “Warnings” are such statements as: You will be a loser if you miss out on this! The nation will go under unless you get with God’s plan! You will have a miserable, frustrated life unless you learn these things! You never teach in a solemn manner without warning of the consequences of rejecting the information.

c. “Wisdom” means the one who teaches must know his information.

d. The pastor-teacher must present the members of his congregation at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Yet his job is to present you mature in Christ! Col 1:29, “For this reason, I also labor to the point of exhaustion, striving according to His enabling power which works in me in the divine dynasphere.”

a. The most exhausting work in the world is using your mind. This is required constantly when studying the Word of God day and night! Muscle exhaustion is nothing compared to mental exhaustion.

b. “Striving” means studying the passage over and over until you know it enough so that you can teach it.

c. The enabling power which works in him refers to the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

4. 1 Tim 1:3-4, “As I have exhorted you on my departure for Macedonia to remain in Ephesus, in order that you might instruct certain ones not to teach strange doctrines, nor occupy themselves with myths, fictions, and endless genealogies, which promote controversies rather than [promoting] the dispensation from God which is associated with doctrine.” One of the great manifestations of arrogance in the ministry is the teaching of strange doctrines.

D. Categorical Outline of Dispensations.

1. Theocentric dispensations are the two in the Old Testament:

a. The dispensation of the Gentiles began with the creation of mankind and continued to the Exodus.

(1) Era of positive volition was from the creation of man until the fall; the Garden of Eden era. Volition and marriage as divine institutions both failed miserably under perfect environment.

(2) Era of negative volition was from the fall of man to Abraham. There were two more divine institutions: family and nationalism. This was the era of great disasters on the earth, such as the angelic infiltration of Gen 6, the flood, and the Tower of Babel.

(3) Era of the patriarchs was from Abraham to Moses. Technically, the Gentiles began with the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. This era sees the creation of the new racial species, the Jewish race, which began with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It includes the history of the Jews from Abraham to Moses. Abraham was the father of the new racial species, created by God, when Abraham at age 99 was circumcised. Circumcision was the demonstration of Abraham’s use of the faith-rest drill. So this dispensation included both Jews and Gentiles without any client nation function.

b. The dispensation of the Jews, or Israel, runs from the Exodus to the birth of Christ, B.C. 1441 until 4 B.C. However, God gave Israel an additional seventy-four years into the Christocentric dispensations. The Passover was the sign of the new dispensation. The sign that they were about go out under the fifth cycle of discipline was the gift of tongues starting on the Day of Pentecost, which evangelized Jews in Gentile languages.

(1) The Exodus was the calling out of Israel as God’s first client nation.

(2) The Mosaic Covenant.

(3) Three Unconditional Covenants: Abrahamic, Palestinian, and Davidic.

(4) The New Covenant to Israel which emphasizes how the other three covenants will be fulfilled in the Millennium.

(5) There are five Jewish client nations in the Old Testament:

(a) The Theocratic Kingdom, the Exodus to Samuel, B.C. 1441-1020.

(b) The United Kingdom, Saul to Rehoboam, B.C. 1020-926.

(d) The Southern Kingdom, Rehoboam to Zedekiah, B.C. 926-586.

(e) The Babylonian Captivity, B.C. 586-536, a period when there was no client nation, but instead visible heroes like Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah. This was a period of 70 years to give back to the Jews the 70 Sabbatical years which they had ignored over a period of 490 years.

(f) Restoration of Israel as Judah, B.C. 536-4.

(g) By 4 B.C., the Romans were occupying the land and Judah was no longer functioning as a client nation. Yet the Jews were still given tremendous grace opportunities for 74 years, until 70 AD. They were permitted to continue as a nation, but not as a client nation.

(h) The final administration of the 5th cycle of discipline came when the Jews were completely wiped out and scattered across the earth in A.D. 70 (though Israel had not functioned as a client nation to God since 4 B.C.).

2. Christocentric dispensations are two in the New Testament:

a. The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union runs from the birth of Christ in B.C. 4 to the resurrection and ascension of Christ in A.D. 30, a period of 33 years. This is the time of the incarnation or First Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the time of the Gospels.

b. The great power experiment of the Church Age runs from the Day of Pentecost in 30 A.D. until the Rapture of the Church, time unknown by all but God. It is divided into two parts:

(1) The pre-Canon period, the time of the Book of Acts and temporary spiritual gifts, runs from 30 - 96 A.D.

(2) The post-Canon period, the period at present, runs from 96 A.D. to the Rapture of the Church. This is the era of the epistles of the New Testament and permanent spiritual gifts.

3. Eschatalogical dispensations are two:

a. The Tribulation or Doomsday dispensation, the great power struggle from the Rapture of the Church to the Second Advent, also called Daniel’s 70th week, is technically the end of the Jewish Age. From the Book of Revelation it must also be classified as the time of Satan’s desperation, lasting seven years. It is prophesied in the Old Testament as well as by our Lord in the Olivet Discourse of Mt 24-25, in most of His parables, and by John in the Book of Revelation, chapters 6-19.

b. The Millennial reign of Christ runs from the Second Advent of Christ to the end of human history, lasting 1000 years. It is the time of the restoration of Israel and the fulfillment of their unconditional covenants. Israel will again be the client nation in history for the last 1000 years. It is a time of perfect environment on the earth. It is preceded by the judgment of the Baptism of Fire, so that only believers will enter the Millennium. At the end of the Millennium is the judgment of unbelievers and fallen angels. Sequentially, it includes:

(1) The Second Advent of Christ.

(2) The judgment of the human race coming out of the Tribulation, the Baptism of the Fire, in which there are two separate judgments: that of the Gentiles and that of the Jews.

(3) The restoration of Israel.

(4) The Millennial rule of Jesus Christ.

(5) The Gog Revolution.

(6) The final judgments of history: the judgment of fallen angels who are cast into the Lake of Fire, and the resurrection and judgment of all unbeliever homo sapiens at the Great White Throne who are cast into the Lake of Fire.

4. The Eternal State includes:

(1) All believers in resurrection bodies forever.

(2) The destruction of the present universe.

(3) The creation of a new universe.

E. The Theocentric Dispensations of the Old Testament.

1. The Dispensation of the Gentiles.

a. This dispensation begins with the creation of mankind and continues until the Exodus, ? - B.C. 1441. It has three parts:

(1) The Era of Positive Volition begins with the creation of mankind and continues until the fall of Adam and the woman. This is the historical epoch of the Garden of Eden.

(a) Adam and the woman were involved in two categories of perfection.

(i) They were created perfect beings: body, soul, and spirit. With their spirit they had the ability to have social life with God everyday. They had a perfect social life with each other, total admiration for each other, and had perfect bodies.

(ii) Secondly, they were placed in perfect environment in the Garden of Eden. But perfect environment is not the solution to anything and doesn’t mean happiness. Perfect environment was rejected by man. This indicates that environment is never the solution to man’s problems.

(b) No Canon of Scripture existed in the Garden. Therefore, both Adam and the woman were recipients of direct revelation from God. They came to Bible class daily because Jesus Christ taught the class!

(d) There was only one volitional test in the Garden of Eden, related to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The only way mankind could sin overtly was to reject the divine prohibition and take the fruit from that tree. The fall of our original parents is failure to pass the test.

(e) Marriage as a divine institution was tested with two perfect people who had the best of everything in marriage - perfect partners, perfect sex, etc.; yet the first marriage in perfect environment completely failed! This was because of the potential for arrogance in any marriage, which seeks to avoid boredom in human relationships. The woman fell because she resented the man’s authority, became bored, and wanted to be equal with the man.

(f) You have to have capacity for perfect environment, and such capacity cannot exist in man’s natural state! Man must be regenerated, born-again, have eternal life, and fulfill post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation to even begin to have capacity for good environment.

(g) So marriage failed through the woman’s rejection of the man’s authority. She should never have been talking to the serpent once he communicated in her language. In fact, the woman undermined the man’s authority through bringing him the fruit.

(h) When Adam took the fruit from the woman’s hand, he lost all his God-given authority at the moment of his original sin. He lost his rulership over the world and all the creatures in it, as well as over his wife. So Satan won round one in his appeal trial.

(i) Neither perfect environment nor the divine institutions then in existence prevented mankind from the original sin.

(j) Obviously then, neither perfect environment nor marriage is designed to be a problem solving device. So from this time on, God in His matchless grace would provide problem solving devices for mankind, beginning with salvation.

(k) Moses wrote about this time period in Gen 1-3.

(2) The Era of Negative Volition extends from the fall of man to Abraham, sometime after B.C. 10,000 - B.C. 2050. While there was no written Canon during this time, this period of time is covered by Gen 4-11.

(a) While Adam and the woman had sinned and become dichotomous under real spiritual death, they both believed in the Lord, as demonstrated in the new name of the woman, Eve, meaning “living.” She would become the mother of all living. Her judgment was to be the child-bearer.

(b) This is the historical era of the first murder in the human race. Cain murdered his brother Abel.

(d) Great believers during this era included Enoch and Noah.

(i) God gave the equivalent of our escrow blessings to Enoch, and he had one of the greatest “deaths” of all time, for he didn’t die but was simply taken from the earth into heaven just before the Flood. For everything that Enoch stood for would now be set aside in violence. God administered the Flood as a result of terrible violence produced by the angelic invasion of the human race.

(ii) Noah was great because he believed God when He said He would visit the earth with a terrible judgment. He obeyed God and built the ship or ark on dry land, receiving a lot of ridicule. But Noah did what Adam failed to do: Noah maintained authority and spiritual influence over his family! His was the only family in the world uncorrupted by angelic infiltration. Only Noah’s family was still true humanity. So Noah should be considered a great believer. (In spite of his drunken and incestuous sins that he later committed, we do not measure greatness in believers on the basis of their sins, but on the basis of their relationship with God.)

(e) This historical era began with internationalism. So while there was no longer perfect environment, this era did provide some astounding things, which to this day people seek as solutions to man’s problems. But internationalism is not a solution to man’s problems either.

(f) For a period of over 8000 years, there was only one language, one race, and one color of skin, but none of these anthropological unities solved the problem of either environment or human relationship. Man still couldn’t get along with man. There was still great chaos, illustrated not only by the first murder in human history, but also by the great angelic invasion of Gen 6.

(g) A new divine institution was added: #3, the family, in which parents have authority over the children. This parental authority has always been resented by some children, right from the beginning. You cannot reject parental authority without great disaster and a miserable life. For example, Cain rejected the authority of his parents, and as a result murdered his brother. Crime came into the world because of rejection of parental authority! The origin of crime comes from the breakdown of the divine institution of family. No wonder part of the Mosaic Law provided capital punishment to those teenagers who were proven incorrigible. The most dangerous thing in society are children who reject parental authority. This plus arrogance is the source of crime. (i) The woman became the child-bearer as a result of her punishment. The curse on the woman was childbearing; the curse on the man was to work for a living.

(ii) Again, the only man who succeeded in managing his family properly, so that the line of Jesus Christ would come down through one of sons (Shem), was Noah. He was a man with a great spiritual life. The greatness of his doctrine resulted in a leadership factor that has been ignored. Noah was a great leader, a great husband, a great father, and apparently he successfully picked the wives for his three sons.

(h) As a result of the universal flood, three categories of Gentiles emerged from the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, Japheth.

(i) This was one of the greatest periods of demonism. As a result of all the terrible things that developed on the earth, God provided the universal flood about 5000 B.C. So in the first 5000 years of history, man was in very serious danger of destroying himself. By the time the flood occurred, only eight people were regenerate: Noah and his family.

(j) After the Flood was the beginning of bacteria and fermentation. Noah was the first person to be inebriated in human history.

(k) Internationalism reached its peak of degeneracy under one language and one race at the Tower of Babel, Gen 11:1-19. Therefore, around B.C. 4700, the Tower of Babel was destroyed. Then mankind became multilingual, resulting in many languages and many dialects throughout the world. Semitic languages are based on the dialect spoken by Shem. The Ural-Altaic branch became the Hamitic languages. The Japhetic languages became the Indo-European branch. But salvation by faith in Jesus Christ continued.

(l) This is a fascinating period because so many things had their origin in this period of negative volition.

(3) The Age of the Patriarchs is a transitional period from Abraham to Moses, from about 2050 - 1441 B.C. While there was no written Canon of Scripture then, this period of history is covered by Gen 12 - Ex 12.

(a) Abraham was a Gentile from the third dynasty of Ur. He came from a royal family. He remained a Gentile for ninety-nine years of his life. But beginning with his circumcision, he became a new racial species.

(b) Abraham became a believer relatively early, but it took him a long time to reach spiritual maturity. When he finally did, God promised Abraham that he would have a son through Sarah. By this time, Sarah was age ninety and Abraham was age ninety-nine, both being sexually dead. But Abraham “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what God promises, God provides.”

© Therefore, when Abraham submitted to circumcision on his dead phallus, his phallus at that point became alive and a new racial species was added. Beginning with his circumcision, Abraham became the first Jew in history. Submitting to circumcision signified that Abraham believed that God would again give him the sexual power of copulation so he could produce a son by Sarah.

(d) Therefore, Abraham was the father of the Jewish race and the beginning of the new racial species, called Israel.

(e) The line of descent of the Jewish race is very important, for Abraham had other children. The line of the Jews came through Isaac only, out of nine other children. Then to show how carefully guarded was this line, Isaac and his wife had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. The line went through Jacob only. The first three Jews, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were all born-again.

(f) This is why Jesus Christ is called the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” because the Jewish line must go down through the regenerate.

(g) The twelve sons of Jacob are the basis for the perpetuation of the Jewish race. Reuben, the first-born, lost the right of primogeniture through rape. Judah became the ruling tribe, Levi the priestly tribe, Joseph the double portion tribe (Ephraim and Manasseh), plus the tribes of Simeon, Zebulen, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, and Benjamin.

(h) The Age of the Patriarchs terminated with the Jews being enslaved in Egypt during the Hyksos Dynasty from about B.C. 1720 - 1570, known as the foreign domination of Egypt. However, the Egyptians regained control under the 18th dynasty, which began with Kamos, then Thutmose I, Thutmose II, Queen Hapshetset, Thutmose III, and Amenhoteph II.

(i) Moses was born during the 18th dynasty, probably around 1520 B.C., and was adopted by Queen Hapshetset. The first eighty years of Moses’ life were spent in the Age of the Patriarchs. But in his last forty years, he became the greatest leader of all time and the father of the Jewish client nation.

(j) Moses spent forty years in Egypt as an Egyptian prince. He was the most handsome man in face and body, as well as the most powerful man. Inside that magnificent body was the greatest genius in the ancient world. He was a genius in music, writing, engineering, architecture, military, administration, resulting in the ascendancy of Egypt in world history. Moses was one of those rare well-rounded people with both common sense and wisdom.

(k) Moses’ stepbrother, Thutmose III, became the greatest ruler in all Egyptian history. Moses could have had that honor, but instead he became a believer after discovering his origin. Learning doctrine, he went back to his people and turned down the rulership of Egypt and the hand of Neferari. So Moses walked out on the most beautiful woman of his day, on the treasures of Egypt, on the greatest power, authority, and opportunity to become a world figure. He left it all and went into the desert because he “saw Him who is invisible,” Heb 11. Yet Moses was a leader rejected by his own people time and time again.

b. The official termination of the dispensation of the Gentiles occurred when God called the Jews out of Egypt. The Passover was actually the beginning of the new dispensation.

c. Most of the Jews in the Exodus were believers, though they failed miserably, malfunctioning in the use of the faith-rest drill (their modus operandi for post-salvation experience).

d. There were three great angelic attacks on the human race during this dispensation:

(1) The attack on human volition in Gen 3.

(2) The attack on marriage and family, Gen 4,6.

(3) The attack on nationalism, Gen 11.

e. There was no written Canon of Scripture, and therefore no specific missionary agency.

f. Salvation was through faith in Christ, and so God revealed Himself through angelic teaching, direct conversation with certain believers, and through dreams and visions.

2. The Dispensation of Israel.

a. This is the historical era of the new racial species.

b. The Scripture for this dispensation is most of the Old Testament, beginning at Ex 13 through Malachi 4.

c. Once Israel became a client nation to God, with the exception of the Church Age, God deals directly with Israel and builds all His plans around Israel.

d. The time frame for this dispensation begins with the Exodus in B.C. 1441 and runs until the birth of Christ in B.C. 4.

e. This is the dispensation of the election of Israel as a client nation to God and the ritual plan of God for believers.

f. In this dispensation, people were saved by faith in Jesus Christ, and not by the works of the Law, according to Rom 3:20-30 and Gal 2:16. Salvation by faith in Christ was illustrated by Abraham, who “believed in the Lord, and it was credited to his account for righteousness.”

g. There were three categories of covenants which characterized this dispensation:

(1) The Mosaic Law.

(2) The unconditional and unfulfilled covenants: Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and New Covenants.

(3) The unconditional covenants when they are fulfilled at the Second Advent.

h. The Jews were given four unconditional covenants during their history. These covenants were to be fulfilled during the Millennial reign of Christ. These covenants are:

(1) The Abrahamic covenant. Abraham was promised a innumerable progeny. Also anyone who persecutes Israel is cursed.

(2) The Palestinian covenant, which promises Israel a land which they have never occupied: the entire Middle East and parts of Africa. This includes all of Turkey, all the land west of the Euphrates River (Iraq), all of Saudi Arabia, all of Palestine and part of Syria, and all of the eastern part of Africa. Everything east of the Nile and west of the Euphrates were the east/west boundaries.

(3) The Davidic covenant. David was promised that he would have a son who would rule forever. That son is the Lord Jesus Christ, whose rulership will begin at the Second Advent.

(4) The New covenant to Israel. This covenant gathers up all the other promises and guarantees them to Israel in the future.

(5) These four covenants have never been fulfilled because there has never been enough stability for it. The only stability good enough will be provided by our Lord Jesus Christ at the Second Advent.

i. As a client nation to God, Israel was to be a missionary agency. Operation Jonah illustrates how Israel failed.

j. The establishment of Israel as a client nation established three principles which still apply to client nations today.

(1) There must be freedom, which must exist under the laws of divine establishment no matter what the form of government.

(2) Under freedom there must be the right of expression and communication of the Gospel. There must always be evangelism.

(3) There must be a way of life for believers to mature spiritually.

(4) From mature believers must come missionaries, to be sent out to other nations.

k. The basic covenant that covered this dispensation is the Mosaic Law, which is divided into three parts:

(1) Codex 1, the Decalogue, is made up of the Ten Commandments, which are designed to define freedom in terms of morality without self- righteousness, privacy, property, authority, and the right to live. The Ten Commandments define freedom in terms of relationship with God. Each one of the Ten Commandments is a significant link in the whole concept of human freedom and the basic concept of human morality. They were for all of Israel, including unbelievers. Therefore, the Ten Commandments are excluded, for all time, from being a part of the Christian way of life.

(2) Codex 2, the spiritual code, is the spiritual heritage of Israel as a client nation to God. It includes a complete Christology and Soteriology communicated in prophetic form, ritual form, and in the messages of both prophets and priests. The ordinances require a specialized priesthood. A priest had to be from the tribe of Levi, a direct descendent from Aaron. The ritual was very lengthy, including the structure of the Tabernacle (Temple), the delineation of the Holy Days, the modus operandi of the Levitical priesthood, and above all, the significance of the Levitical offerings.

(3) Codex 3, the judgments, is the establishment code, the delineation of the laws of divine establishment for believer and unbeliever alike in the client nation to God.

(a) It clarified the divine institutions; i.e., volition (self-determination), marriage, family, and nationalism. As goes the family, so goes stability or instability in society.

(b) Establishment means privacy, freedom, and the sacredness of property in life.

© The judgments included taxation (called tithing in the Old Testament) for all citizens of client nation Israel, Deut 14:22-29. There was an offering for believers only, but no percentage was ever mandated, as is always the case with believers’ offerings, Deut 18:1-5.

(d) Certain principles are emphasized, like freedom through military victory, resulting in a very strong military policy in Israel, taught primarily in Numbers.

(e) Criminal law reached its peak under Codex 3, which had a fantastic system of jurisprudence. Hammurabi’s Code of Laws is totally inferior in every way to Israel’s laws.

(f) Codex 3 included laws for diet, health, sanitation, and quarantine. Free enterprise and profit motivation was implied, which is legitimate in business.

(g) Codex 3 rejected the concepts of socialism, civil disobedience, violence, and revolution.

(4) The real issue is that the Mosaic Law is a part of the Word of God, therefore is absolute truth. So it must be approached from the principle of the inerrancy of Scripture.

l. What the Law was not.

(1) The Mosaic Law was given only to Israel, Ex 19:3; Lev 26:46; Rom 3:19, and 9:4. It was not given to the Gentiles of the Old Testament, Deut 4:8; nor was it given to the Gentiles of the Church, Acts 15:5, 24; Rom 8:14; Gal 2:19.

(2) Furthermore, the Mosaic Law cannot justify, Rom 3:20-28. Gal 2:16, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law. For by the works of the Law no one shall be justified.”

(3) No one was ever saved by keeping the Law. The Law cannot provide eternal salvation, according to Gal 3:21-26.

(4) The Law could not and did not provide the Holy Spirit, Gal 3:2ff.

(5) The Law cannot solve the problems of the old sin nature, Rom 8:2-4.

(6) So the Mosaic Law is limited in a spiritual sense. It is not really a spiritual code except for Codex 2.

(7) Jesus Christ in His humanity, living inside the prototype divine dynasphere fulfilled the Law and is the end of the Law during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, Matt 5:17; Rom 10:4.

m. As a client nation to God, Israel was the custodian of the Old Testament Canon. The Old Testament Canon was organized under three systems of prophecy. The human writers had either the gift of prophet, the office of prophet, or both as in the case of Moses.

(1) The Torah is made up of the first five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Its human writer had both the gift and office of prophet: Moses.

(2) The Prophets (NABIIM) had the office of prophet only. They include Joshua, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the twelve (not “minor prophets"), to include Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

(3) The Writings (KETHUBIM) were written by those who had the gift of prophecy only. First comes the poetry and wisdom books, to include Psalms, Proverbs, and Job. Next comes the MEGALOTH or rolls, to include the Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. Finally, the historical section is made up of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles.

(4) Every extant book of an acknowledged messenger of the Lord, who was commissioned by God to make known His will, was accepted immediately in Old Testament times as the Word of God.

n. There were five Jewish client nations to God.

(1) The Theocratic Kingdom from Exodus to Samuel, B.C. 1441 - 1020. This was the time when Jesus Christ directly ruled Israel.

(2) The United Kingdom started with Saul and went to Rehoboam, B.C. 1020 - 926.

(3) The Northern Kingdom extended from Jeroboam to Hoshea, B.C. 926 - 721. It was blotted out forever as a client nation when overrun by the Assyrians, who were provided by God to administer the fifth cycle of discipline.

(4) The Southern Kingdom went from Rehoboam to Zedekiah, B.C. 926 - 586, when it underwent the fifth cycle of discipline, administered by Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldean army.

(5) This was followed by a captivity period of 70 years, from 586 - 536 B.C.

(6) The restored nation of Judea (mostly the Southern Kingdom) went from Zerubbabel to the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, B.C. 536 - 4. By B.C. 4 and the First Advent of Jesus Christ, the Jewish nation was no longer a client nation, for it was under the domination of the Roman Empire, even though God prolonged its final administration of the fifth cycle of discipline until 70 A.D. The temporary gift of tongues was operational from 30 - 70 A.D., used to warn Israel of the coming fifth cycle of discipline. Isa 28:11 is so quoted in 1 Cor 14:21-22. The temporary gift was phased out in August of 70 A.D., according to 1 Cor 13:8.

o. A future is guaranteed to Jewish believers only. At the Second Advent Israel will be regathered and restored as a client nation.

p. In B.C. 4, with the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, a new dispensation, the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, had begun. It ended in A.D. 30, 10 days after our Lord had been resurrected, ascended, and was seated at the right hand of God the Father. That began the new dispensation of the great power experiment of the Church Age.

q. Judah’s Fall.

(1) Judah was under the domination of S.P.Q.R. starting in 63 B.C. This was when Pompeii the Great captured Jerusalem and desecrated the Temple by entering the Holy of Holies.

(2) During that same year, Cicero was counsel, and Octavian Augustus and Marcus Agrippa were both born. Augustus became the first emperor of the Roman Empire. Agrippa, his boyhood friend, was a great soldier and hero. Without his military skills, Augustus would never have become emperor of Rome.

(3) In B.C. 54, Crassus pillaged the Temple. His discipline for such blasphemy was being kidnapped and having gold poured down his throat. (4) In B.C. 40, Herod went to Rome where the Senate appointed him King of Judea. So for all practical purposes, Israel was no longer a client nation to God.

(5) In B.C. 37, Herod captured Jerusalem and purged the Sanhedrin.

(6) In B.C. 34, Cleopatra visited Palestine on her way to spend the winter with Mark Anthony at Ephesus.

(7) In B.C. 31, there was a great earthquake in Palestine. During that same year, Octavian defeated Mark Anthony in the Battle of Actium.

(8) In B.C. 15, Agrippa visited Palestine on an inspection tour, making sure Rome’s interests were being served there.

(9) In B.C. 10, Herod’s rebuilding of the Temple was completed and rededicated.

(10) In B.C. 4 was the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, which actually began the Christocentric dispensation of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.

(11) During that same year, B.C. 4, the Pharisees attempted a coup d’etat and started a revolt against Rome, which was put down rapidly.

(12) In B.C. 4, King Herod died and Herod Archilaeus, his son, inherited one-half of his father’s territory, including Samaria, Judea, and Idumaea.

(13) In A.D. 6, Archilaeus was banished and deposed, and Judah became a part of a Roman province. Caponius became the first Roman governor.

(14) In A.D. 14, Augustus died and was succeeded by Tiberius, at which time Onius Ruphus was the governor of Judea.

(15) In A.D. 15, Valiern Gratius became the governor of Judea.

(16) In A.D. 26, Pontius Pilate became the governor of Judea; John the Baptist began his ministry. Caiaphas was the high priest.

(17) In A.D. 30 was the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

r. So during this period, the Romans obviously had complete control over Judea and that client nation was dead for all practical purposes. But it was not destroyed until 70 A.D.

s. During the entire great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, B.C. 4 - A.D. 30, Judea was under Rome and was not a client nation. The only reason Judea was still there was to give the Jews an opportunity in their homeland to make a decision about the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah during His thirty-three years on earth. Then after an additional forty year warning, their wrong decision resulted in their being wiped off the face of the earth by Rome. Any surviving Jew in the land thereafter became a slave. When Jerusalem was finally overrun, the 75,000 Jews who survived went into slavery immediately.

t. Even though Christ had been rejected by the Jews on earth as their Messiah, after His ascension forty years were taken from the Church Age, A.D. 30-70, as the greatest grace offering God ever gave to Israel. During those forty years there was special evangelism to the Jews.

(1) For example, as prophesied in Isa 28 and explained in 1 Cor 14, the gift of tongues was given to warn Israel that this was their last chance to believe. Jews were evangelized in Gentile languages as a warning that the times of the Gentiles was beginning.

(2) This was prophesied by our Lord in Lk 21:20-24, how the Romans would come and administer the fifth cycle of discipline to the Jews for the last time in history. This began the times of the Gentiles in 70 A.D., when only Gentile nations can function as client nations. Israel is not qualified to be a client nation during the Church Age.

(3) The five cycles of discipline were established for the failure of the Jews to fulfill their responsibility. For a client nation nation must have freedom and must use its freedom for evangelism, the teaching of doctrine, and missionary activity.

F. The Christocentric Dispensations. (See also the doctrine of Great Power Experiment for details.)

1. The Great Power Experiment of the Hypostatic Union.

a. The termini for the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union: B.C. 4 - A.D. 30.

b. In the virgin pregnancy, God the Holy Spirit provided twenty- three perfect male chromosomes to fertilize the ovum of Mary. At the virgin birth was the first and only time in history when a person was born into the world without the imputation of Adam’s original sin to the old sin nature. Because of the virgin pregnancy, there was no old sin nature and no imputation of Adam’s original sin.

c. Therefore, when Jesus Christ came into the world in true humanity, He came as Adam was created which is why He is called the Last Adam. He was born trichotomous, having a body, soul, and human spirit. And He was born into the prototype divine dynasphere where His humanity was sustained by the Holy Spirit.

d. This new dispensation caused a tremendous change in human history. Up until this point, people in the Old Testament were saved by personal faith in Jesus Christ as He was revealed eschatologically to them. This is why God’s plan for Israel was called the ritual plan of God, because ritual was used to teach the doctrines of Christology and soteriology.

e. Now with the humanity of Christ on earth, a new dispensation began, establishing all precedence for our dispensation, the Church Age, which would follow.

f. The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union is the dispensation of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Because the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union has never been recognized as a separate dispensation, the interpretation of the Gospels has suffered. Because our Lord presented Himself on earth in two different ways, no one seems to understand the Gospels very well.

g. Our Lord had a two-fold ministry.

(1) He presented Himself as the Son of David, the King of Israel, ADONAI ELOHENU ADONAI ECHAD, the God-man, the Messiah. His presentation took many forms; e.g., miracles, dissertations. Messiah was the most visible hero of all.

(a) Matthew is especially good in writing about the visible presentation. “He came to His own but His own received Him not. But a few received Him, and as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the Sons of God, even to them who believe in His name.”

(b) In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ presented Himself as the Messiah to Israel. The Sermon on the Mount is an upgrading of the Mosaic Law, a prophecy of what our Lord’s policy will be when He rules in the Millennium. Since He was rejected as the Messiah during the First Advent, the realization of the Sermon on the Mount was cancelled at the time and postponed until the Millennium. Likewise, the “Lord’s Prayer” applies only to the Millennium.

(2) As the Prince-Ruler of the Church, Christ made the first pronouncements and prophecies about the mystery doctrine. He prophesied concerning the coming of the Church Age, both in the Upper Room Discourse, Jn 14-17, and just before His ascension, Acts 1:5-8.

h. The rejection of Jesus Christ as the King of Israel postponed any continuation of the Israel functioning as a client nation, and resulted in the creation of a new and unique dispensation, the great power experiment of the Church Age.

i. When our Lord Jesus Christ lived on earth, He was in the prototype divine dynasphere, where He occupied the same gates as we have in our operational-type divine dynasphere.

(1) In gate #1, the filling of the Spirit, He was sustained by the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit.

(2) In gate #2, He operated under the basic modus operandi of doctrine.

(3) In gate #3, He had enforced and genuine humility, producing objectivity and teachability.

(4) In gate #4, He had perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine. This provided our Lord’s momentum, as taught in Lk 2:52. (5) In gate #5, our Lord’s humanity attained spiritual self- esteem which is cognitive self-confidence.

(6) In gate #6, our Lord achieved spiritual autonomy which is cognitive independence. “He grew in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with both God and man.”

(7) In gate #7, He passed momentum testing.

(8) In gate #8, long before His earthly ministry began, He had attained spiritual maturity.

j. Because our Lord functioned inside His prototype divine dynasphere, He resisted temptation. He never stepped out as we do to sin. He remained inside the divine dynasphere because of the doctrine of Impeccability. To be qualified to be judged for our sins, He had to remain perfect in His humanity. This is why anyone who believes in Him “shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.”

k. Our Lord was alive when He completed the work of being judged for our sins, for He declared “Finished!” Following that He had a unique physical death. His body went into the grave, His human spirit into the presence of God the Father, and His human soul to Paradise, a part of Sheol or Hades.

l. In resurrection, the omnipotence of God the Father returned His human spirit to His body in the grave, and the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit returned His human soul to His body in the grave. The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the unique power available to each of us as Church Age believers under the filling of the Holy Spirit.

m. The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union terminated with our Lord’s strategic victory on the cross, followed by His physical death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and session, where He received His third royal patent.

n. Our Lord’s substitutionary death was the greatest factor in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. That was when Jesus Christ on the cross was judged for our sins. (See the doctrine of Spiritual Death of Christ.)

2. The Great Power Experiment of the Church Age.

a. This dispensation began, ten days after our Lord’s resurrection, on the Day of Pentecost in June of A.D. 30. It terminates with the Rapture or resurrection of the Church.

b. When our Lord ascended and was seated at the right hand of the Father, He was without a royal family for His new (third) royal warrant. Hence, the dispensation of the Church was inserted into history to form the royal family of God. The mechanics for the formation of the royal family of God is the baptism of the Spirit.

c. This dispensation is divided into two categories:

(1) The pre-Canon period of the Church Age, the era of temporary spiritual gifts, is covered by Acts. The time frame is 30-96 A.D.

(2) The post-Canon period of the Church Age, the era of permanent spiritual gifts, is covered by the epistles of the New Testament. The timeframe is 96 A.D. to the Rapture, whenever it occurs. This is also the era of the mystery doctrine of the Church. The Church Age doctrine and its protocol plan of God was totally unknown to Old Testament believers.

d. Prophecy regarding the Church Age occurred during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, both in the Upper Room Discourse of our Lord in Jn 14-17, and before His ascension in Acts 1.

e. Like the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, the Church Age terminates with resurrection.

f. So we live in a unique dispensation, inserted between the first two resurrections in all of history. The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, the omnipotence of the Father and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit is the same power that will raise the Church at the Rapture.

g. Between these first two resurrections is the greatest power availability in all of history: the omnipotence of God the Father related to your portfolio of invisible assets, the omnipotence of God the Son related to your day-by-day life on earth, guaranteeing that history will continue, and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit related to your very own palace, the operational-type divine dynasphere.

h. The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union is not only the dispensation which divides between Israel and the Church, but it is the cut-off for all precedence. Therefore, all precedence for the Church Age is not taken from the Mosaic Law or any part of the ritual plan of God, but from the function of our Lord inside His prototype divine dynasphere. All precedence for the Church Age is taken from the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, not from any part of the Old Testament. This does not imply that we don’t learn things from the Old Testament; we do. But to answer what we should do after salvation, we take our precedence only from the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.

i. God never deals with Israel and the Church at the same time. Therefore, there is a vast difference between Israel and the Church.

ISRAEL CHURCH

Specialized Priesthood Universal priesthood

Shadow Christology Historical Christology

Ritual Plan of God Protocol Plan of God

Election to New Racial Species Election to New Spiritual Species

Related to God through Related to God through Baptism of Spirit unconditional Covenants

Old Testament Canon NT Canon

Only Jewish Client Nations Only Gentile Client Nations

Christ indwelt the Temple Christ indwells the believer

Enduement of the Holy Spirit Indwelling and Filling of Holy Spirit Spirituality by Faith-Rest Spirituality by the Filling of Spirit

Salvation by Faith in Christ Salvation by Faith in Christ

Limited Spiritual Gifts Everyone has a Spiritual Gift

Some Problem Solving Devices Ten Problem Solving Devices

(1) Israel always has a specialized priesthood; the Church has a universal priesthood. You are your OWN priest; you represent yourself before God. In privacy, you live your life as unto the Lord.

(2) Israel had only a shadow Christology; the Church has an historical Christology. Israel looked forward to the cross; we look backward to the cross historically.

(3) Israel operated under the ritual plan of God. We in the Church operate under the protocol plan of God.

(4) Israel and the Church are both elected. But the election of Israel is related to the new racial species; the election of the Church is related to the new spiritual species.

(5) Israel’s relationship with God is always related to their unconditional covenants. The Church is related to God in a unique way through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

(6) Israel is related to the Old Testament Canon; the Church is related to the New Testament Canon.

(7) Israel formed five Jewish client nations. Today in the Church Age there are only Gentile client nations.

(8) Christ as the Shekinah Glory indwelt the Holy of Holies in the dispensation of Israel. Christ as the Shekinah Glory indwells the body of every believer in this dispensation. This is a fantastic difference; and one which gives great power and blessing to the believer who is positive toward doctrine.

(9) In the dispensation of Israel, there was limited power from the Holy Spirit, called the doctrine of Enduement. Less than 1% of all Jewish believers had this limited power from the Holy Spirit. Today, all Church Age believers have both the indwelling of the Spirit in the body and the potential of being filled with the Holy Spirit inside the operational- type divine dynasphere, where the filling of the Spirit is the maximum 100% power of the Holy Spirit. It is an absolute, acquired by use of the rebound technique whereby you enter the divine dynasphere.

(10) Spirituality in Israel was the function of the faith-rest drill. Spirituality in the Church Age is the filling of the Spirit.

(11) Salvation in Israel was through faith in Jesus Christ as He was presented in the Tetragrammaton. Salvation today is faith in Jesus Christ as He is presented in a transliteration from the Greek: IESOUS CHRISTOS.

(12) There were limited spiritual gifts in Israel; e.g., prophecy. Today every believer has a spiritual gift. When that spiritual gift is linked with the believer’s fulfillment of the protocol plan of God, it results in the greatest happiness and blessing that has ever existed.

(13) No one in Israel had the fantastic problem solving devices that we have today. You have available four problem solving devices that give you a happiness that has never been known on the face of the earth, regardless of your status at any given time. You can be in prosperity or adversity, living or dying, and have this magnificent, fantastic happiness.

j. The era of the royal family of God, or the dispensation of the Church is known as the “times of the Gentiles,” Lk 21:24; Eph 3:1-5; Col 1:25-29.

k. The dispensation of the Church is taught in the New Testament epistles.

(1) Eph 1:8-10. “From which riches of grace He has made us super-rich by means of all wisdom and application, when He revealed to us the mystery of His will according to His gracious intention which He planned in Him with reference to the dispensation of the fullness of time, to gather under one head [Jesus Christ] the entire royal family in Christ, those who are in heaven and those who are on earth.”

(a) The riches of grace are provided for us so that we can become super-rich by means of wisdom. Wisdom is the application of metabolized doctrine.

(b) He revealed to us the mystery, for it is now in writing in the New Testament epistles.

© This is the dispensation of the fullness of times, because when this dispensation is completed, there will be a resurrection and rendezvous of the entire royal family of God for the first time in the air.

(2) Eph 3:2-3, “Inasmuch as you have heard about the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for your benefit, that through revelation the mystery doctrine was made known to me, just as I have already written briefly.” This dispensation benefits every believer. Never before in human history has there been something beneficial to every individual believer. But in this dispensation of grace, the grace of God reaches a maximum peak. No matter what your overt position and station in life, you have the greatest opportunity to become an invisible hero.

(3) Eph 3:8-9, “To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace has been given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches [wealth] of Christ, and to make known [perspicuous] to all [believers] what is the dispensation of the mystery, which has been concealed from the ages in God [Jesus Christ] who created all things.” Jesus Christ kept this information a secret until He came in the flesh. It is Jesus Christ who created all things, Col 1:16-17; Jn 1:3; Heb 1:10.

(4) Col 1:25-29, “In which [Church Age] I have become a minister on the basis of this dispensation from God which has been given to me for your benefit, that I might implement your deficiency of the Word of God; that is, the mystery which has been hidden from past ages [dispensations] and past generations, but is now revealed to the saints, to whom God has decreed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory; which we solemnly communicate, warning and teaching every believer in all wisdom, that we might present every believer mature in Christ. For this reason, I also labor to the point of exhaustion, striving according to the enabling power which works in me in the power [divine dynasphere].” Jesus Christ indwells us as a guarantee of this wealth and its glory.

(5) 1 Tim 1:3-4, “As I exhorted you on my departure from Macedonia to remain in Ephesus, in order that you [Timothy] might instruct certain ones not to teach strange doctrines, nor occupy themselves with fictions or myths, and endless genealogies which promote controversies rather than promoting the dispensation from God which is associated with doctrine.”

(a) Timothy was left behind in Ephesus to be the pastor- teacher there during the interim between Paul and John.

(b) The greatest doctrinal teaching is dispensational teaching, which explains to you God’s plan for your life after salvation.

l. More Scripture for the dispensation of the Church is found in Jn 14-17; Matt 16:18.

m. This is the dispensation in which the ordinary man has the most fantastic privileges. This dispensation has more emphasis on the individual than any other age. The baptism of the Holy Spirit makes this era unique. You are a royal son of God.

n. One of the results of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the fact that Jew and Gentile become one in Jesus Christ. Therefore, all distinctions between Jew and Gentile and between any Gentile races are erased. Gal 3:26-28, “For you are all the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ; you have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ.”

(1) “Clothing yourself with Christ” means you have put on the invisible robes of the royal family of God; you were baptized by the Holy Spirit into union with Christ.

(2) So there are no distinctions between Jews and Gentiles, even though the first occurrence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost involved Jews only.

(3) However, this does not imply that the Church Age is divided into two parts, falsely called the Jewish Church and the Gentile Church. This allegation, which is hyper-dispensationalism, ignores the fact that the baptism of the Holy Spirit erases all distinctions between Jew and Gentile.

(4) So the correct classification of distinctions in the Church Age is pre-Canon period and post-Canon period.

(5) Another result of the baptism of the Holy Spirit was spiritual gifts. The first function of apostleship was the message of Peter on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:14-47. The first function of the gift of tongues is recorded in Acts 2:1-11. Tongues was directed toward the Jews only; for its purpose was the evangelization of Jews in Gentile languages, a warning of the fifth cycle of discipline to come.

(6) Though passages teach that the baptism of the Holy Spirit destroys all distinctions in race, historically there was a matter of precedence at the beginning of the Church Age. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was given to the Jews first, Acts 2, and then to the Gentiles, Acts 10ff.

(7) Rom 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first [historically], also to the Gentile.”

(8) But there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. All believers, regardless of race, have equal privilege and equal opportunity to fulfill the protocol plan of God.

(9) In both the pre-Canon and post-Canon period of the Church Age, the baptism of the Holy Spirit removes all racial distinctions, Eph 2:11ff.

(10) Paul was a Jew by race but a Gentile by citizenship, for he was born a Roman citizen, Acts 22:25-28. For this reason, Paul became the apostle to the Gentiles. Gal 2:9, “And recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James, Cephas [Peter], and John, who were reputed to be the pillars, gave to me and to Barnabas the right hand of fellowship that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision.” None of the other apostles were equipped or qualified to go to the Gentiles. Only Paul and Barnabas understood the issue of no racial distinction.

(11) So the Church has never been divided into Jewish and Gentiles churches; the only division of the Church Age is pre- and post-Canon.

(12) By application of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we have no right to say that any believer is inferior or superior to any other believer.

o. The Church does not go through any part of the Tribulation. Therefore the important principle: God never mixes Israel and the Church. When one is operative, the other is not. Each dispensation has a separate plan and purpose. God’s plan for Israel was a ritual plan; God’s plan for the Church is a protocol plan.

p. This is the dispensation of the mystery and intercalation. The strategic victory of Christ on the cross brought the age of Israel to a halt temporarily. The Church Age or mystery age was inserted to provide a royal family for our Lord’s third royal patent. It is the period of the great parenthesis: Dan 2:40( )41, 7:23( )24, 8:22( )23, 11:35()36; Hos 3:4( )5, 5:15( ) 6:1; Ps 22:22( )23; Isa 61:2a( ). The Old Testament reveals all details of the First Advent but then skips to the Tribulation.

q. The characteristics of the Church Age: See the doctrine of the Uniqueness of the Church Age.

r. This is the only dispensation in which there is no prophecy, only historical trends. The only prophecy for this dispensation is in regard to its termini: the baptism of the Holy Spirit which began the Church Age, and the Rapture of the Church which ends it. In all other dispensations, historical trends are determined by prophecy. In this dispensation, historical trends are determined by the status of believers at any point in history.

G. Eschatalogical Dispensations. These are defined as the two dispensations which follow the Rapture of the Church, i.e., after the completion of the royal family of God. Eschatology begins with the Rapture of the Church. This is because the Church Age is a dispensation of historical trends with no prophecy.

1. The Tribulation: the Doomsday Dispensation.

a. This period goes from the Rapture of the Church to the Second Advent of Christ, approximately seven years. Rev 6-19 gives the trends of history during this period.

b. This dispensation can also be called: Daniel’s 70th Week, the Time of Satan’s Desperation, and the Dispensation of the Greatest Power Struggle in all of human history because it involves not only people but angelic creatures as well. It is Satan’s last attempt to try to continue to rule the world.

c. The Tribulation is prophesied in the Old Testament: Jer 30:4-8; Zech 14;1-9; Dan 9:26-27; Isa 34:1-6, 63:1-6; Dan 11:40-46; Ezek 38-39; Zech 12:1-3. It is prophesied by our Lord in Mt 24-25.

d. The Tribulation gathers up into seven short years all of man’s failures and intensifies them, so that a great portion of the earth’s population is destroyed by self-determination from bad decisions.

e. Rev 6-19 presents the outline of this dispensation.

(1) The termini are the Rapture and the Second Advent.

(2) Rev 6, the panorama of the Tribulation.

(3) Rev 7, the evangelism of the Tribulation.

(4) Rev 8-10, the trumpet judgments, which emphasize the problems with Gentiles.

(5) Rev 11, the two Jewish witnesses with the message of salvation in the seventh trumpet.

(6) Rev 12, the fall of Satan and the motivation for the Armageddon campaign.

(7) Rev 13, the rise of the two dictators, Roman and Jewish.

(8) Rev 14, the principle of grace before judgment.

(9) Rev 15-16, the vial judgments.

(10) Rev 17-18, the rise and fall of ecumenical religion.

(11) Rev 19, the Second Advent of Christ.

f. Rev 14:12 says that the means of salvation remains the same as in every other dispensation: personal faith in Jesus Christ.

g. The Tribulation is the time of the Devil’s desperation, the time when Satan seeks to destroy the Jewish population of the earth. Rev 12-20 shows Satan making his last stand as the ruler of the world.

(1) Rev 12:1-12, the expulsion of Satan from heaven.

(2) Rev 12:13-17, the great holocaust of the seventh trumpet: the attempt to destroy all Israel.

(3) Rev 13, the Devil’s two dictators who seek to destroy all Israel.

(4) Rev 14, the victory of the plan of God and divine judgment during the time of the Devil’s desperation.

(5) Rev 15-16, the divine judgment of planet earth, in which God eliminates many of those who are responsible for the terrible conditions on the earth. This covers the great Armageddon Campaign and the great world war of all time.

(6) Rev 17-18, the function and judgment of ecumenical religion. Religion is always Satan’s greatest attack.

(7) Rev 19-20:3, the termination of the Devil’s desperation occurs when he is imprisoned for 1000 years at the Second Advent.

2. The Dispensation of the Rule of Christ, the Millennium.

a. This dispensation begins at the Second Advent and terminates with the last judgment and the destruction of planet earth. This dispensation has 1000 years of perfect environment.

b. The Scripture for this period is found throughout the Old Testament and New Testament: Isa 11, 35, 62, 65; Ps 72; Zech 14:4-9; Rev 20(:4).

c. The general outline of the Millennium:

(1) The Second Advent of Christ begins it all, which includes the deliverance of Israel, the restoration of Israel, and the baptism of fire by which all unbelievers are removed from the earth. It begins a civilization, which always begins with believers only.

(2) The coronation of Jesus Christ.

(3) The 1000-year rule of our Lord.

(4) The release of Satan after that 1000 years results in Satan starting a conspiracy against perfect environment.

(5) The judgment of fallen angels.

(6) The Great White Throne Judgment of unbelievers.

(7) The destruction of the universe.

(8) The creation of a new universe.

(9) The eternal state.

d. The Millennium was promised to David, 2 Sam 7; Ps 89.

e. The Millennium was presented and rejected at the First Advent; this is the record of the Gospels.

f. The Millennium was postponed until the Second Advent because of the rejection of Christ by Israel.

g. The Millennium was plagiarized by Satan. He attempts to create perfect environment on the earth during the Tribulation through a political organization of two dictators and an ecumenical religious system.

h. The Millennium is finally proclaimed, first by an angelic herald, Rev 10, and then by a human herald, Rev 11.

i. The Millennium is finally provided by the Second Advent, Rev 11:15-19, Rev 19.

j. The characteristics of the Millennium.

(1) Salvation continues to be through faith in Christ. There will be the greatest period of evangelism the world has ever known in the Millennium. The believers who go into the Millennium will be the basis for repopulating the earth.

(2) Spirituality is very different compared to any other dispensation. It is by the filling of God the Holy Spirit as in the Church Age, but its manifestation is quite different. The filling of the Spirit is manifest by ecstatics and emotion because Christ is personally present on the earth, Isa 65:24; Joel 2:28-29; Zech 14:16-17. This difference is because emotions are designed to enjoy what you see; i.e., to respond to all the empirical activities of your life. Since our Lord is absent during the Church Age, the filling of the Spirit now is non-emotional. Your emotions have no spiritual connotation at all.

(3) The Millennium begins with those judgments which are necessary to produce perfect environment on the earth. (a) The incarceration of Satan for 1000 years.

(b) The removal of all demons from the earth.

(d) The baptism of fire removes all unbelievers at the beginning of the Millennium: Jewish unbelievers in Ezek 20:34-38, and Gentile unbelievers in Matt 25:31-46. This begins both a new civilization and a new dispensation.

k. Factors of perfect environment in the Millennium:

(1) There will be 1000 years of no war, no military, Ps 46:9; Isa 2:4; Hos 2:18; Micah 4:3. Our Lord’s power as the ruler of this world will abolish war. (But until then, Jesus warns us that there will always be war. Therefore, the only way to protect a nation now is through a strong military.)

(2) There will be international prosperity on the earth. Free enterprise will be the economic system, Ps 72:7-16. There will be abundant food, no starvation or poverty, and no need for socialism.

(3) There will be a universal knowledge of God. Everyone will know who is the ruler of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will also be presented as the Savior of the world, and that if one wants to perpetuate a relationship with Him, they must personally believe in Him, Isa 11:9.

(4) There will long life. A child will live to be 100 years old. Most people will live throughout the Millennium. The only reason for death in the Millennium is in the function of capital punishment.

(5) There will be perfect world government under the rulership of Christ, Isa 11:1-2; Zech 14:9. He will delegate national leadership and authority to Church Age believers who advance to spiritual maturity and who pass evidence testing. There will also be great judges who are Church Age mature believers. So there will be no bureaucrats; just leaders and rulers. So the invisible heroes of the Church Age will rule in resurrection bodies, 2 Tim 2:12; Rev 2:25,28, 3:21; 5:10,24,26.

(6) Due to perfect environment with death taking a holiday and vigorous copulation, there will be a population explosion. But coming from a home of believer parents never guarantees anything. Many of those children will be unbelievers who reject Christ at the end of the Millennium, resulting in the Gog-Magog revolution. Environment is never the solution to anything.

(7) Israel will be regathered and be given their unconditional covenants, Dan 9:24. Israel is restored as a client nation resulting in prosperity for all, Isa 5:26-30, 10:19-23, 11:11-16, 65:19; Joel 2:16f; Zech 8:20-23, 10:6-12.

(8) The Millennium is a time of perfect environment in nature. Rom 8:19-20 says that nature will be released from the bondage of man’s sin. Isa 35:1-7 says plant life will abound. There will be no desert on the earth; it will all be totally beautiful. Animals will lose their ferocity, Isa 11:6-9, 65:25.

l. Satan is released from jail after 1000 years and immediately finds those people who are dissatisfied with perfect environment. People are always dissatisfied with their environment, be it good or bad. This is because environment is never the solution to man’s problems. No environment can bring happiness. Yet man always wants more, thinking something in his environment can make him happy.

m. Therefore, Satan starts a revolution with all these dissatisfied unbelievers. This is the Gog revolution which is put down by our Lord.

n. Then comes the final judgments. Satan and all fallen angels are cast into the Lake of Fire forever. Then follows the Great White Throne judgment, in which all unbelievers from the beginning of history are resurrected, judged and cast into the Lake of Fire. The universe is then destroyed and a new heavens, new earth, and new Jerusalem are created for the occupancy of elect angels and the saved of mankind; a time of perfect everything.

H. Dispensations related to Election.

1. The doctrine of Election covers three major dispensations.

2. There are three elections.

a. The election of Israel under the ritual plan of God.

b. The election of Jesus Christ under the incarnation plan of God.

c. The election of the Church under the protocol plan of God.

3. Each election has a specific relationship.

a. The election of Israel is related to the new racial species of the Jew.

b. The election of Christ is related to the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union and the salvation plan of God.

c. The election of the Church is related to the new spiritual species and the great power experiment of the Church Age.

4. Documentation.

a. The election of Israel: Isa 45:4; Mt 24:24; Rom 11:5-7.

b. The election of Christ: Isa 42:1; Eph 1:4; 1 Pet 2:6.

c. The election of the Church: Eph 1:4; 1 Thes 1:4; 2 Thess 2:13; 2 Pet 1:3.

5. Election is defined as that computer asset which is the expression of the sovereign will of God for the royal family of God and/or the Church Age believer in eternity past.

6. The protocol plan of God is the environment for the election of the Church.

7. The mechanics for the election of the Church is the baptism of the Holy Spirit which occurs at the moment of salvation.

8. The election of the Church includes something that has never existed in all of human history: equal privilege and equal opportunity. Equal privilege is your very own royal priesthood. Equal opportunity is your logistical grace support and blessing for both winners and losers alike.

9. Election cannot be divorced from predestination, which is the provision of the sovereignty of God in eternity past for every Church Age believer for his execution of the protocol plan of God. It provides equal privilege in positional sanctification from the baptism of the Holy Spirit, causing us to become royal family of God and positionally higher than angels. It provides equal opportunity in the divine provision of your very own palace, the operationa-type divine dynasphere, as the means of executing the protocol plan of God.

I. Salvation is the same in every dispensation.

1. Rom 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

2. The Old Testament dispensations looked forward to the cross, as taught in Israel by the Levitical Offerings, rituals which illustrated what Jesus Christ would do on the cross. Salvation was also taught by various holy days, such as the Feast of the Passover, the Day of Atonement, as well as by the articles of furniture in the Tabernacle, and by the direct statements of prophecy about the cross, e.g., Isa 53. The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union not only fulfilled all these prophecies and ritual types, but is also tells us they had content to believe for salvation. They definitely had a presentation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. The Church looks back the cross and therefore has a complete soteriology, including redemption, reconciliation, propitiation, unlimited atonement, etc.

4. The Good News of the Gospel has always existed, so that in every generation people have responded to the Gospel message. The pattern was set by Abraham. Gen 15:6, “Abraham believed in the Lord, and it was imputed to him for righteousness.” This is confirmed by Rom 4:1-5, 9-16, 22-25.

5. The means of salvation in every dispensation is personal faith in Jesus Christ as He was revealed in that dispensation.

6. See the doctrine of the Gospel.

J. Application.

1. All these dispensations revolves around the Church Age. The Church Age is the greatest dispensation of opportunity that has ever existed.

2. Believers will survive both the disaster of the Tribulation and the prosperity of the Millennium. But never before has the grace of God provided so much for the individual believer as He has provided for you.

3. So you need neither doomsday nor prosperity for blessing. You can have both and still have fantastic blessing.