The excitement and energy that comes from the dispensation of the mystery, the Church-age.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

6. The divine provision of the different dispensations.

A dispensation is a period of time in human history expressed in terms of divine revelation for that period.

It is a period of time during which man is tested in respect to obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God.

1) A dispensation is a deposit of divine revelation to man.
2) A dispensation refers to man’s stewardship responsibility to that revelation.

3) A dispensation is the time period during which a certain type of the spiritual life is to be recognized with the exception of salvation, which is always the same, faith alone, in Christ alone.
4) Basically there are two parties in every dispensation: the one whose authority it is to delegate duties, and the one whose responsibility it is to carry out these charges.

Accountability, as well as responsibility, is part of the dispensational arrangement.

Dispensations are divine categories of human history, which are the divine outline and the divine interpretation of history.

Old Testament believers were under the ritual plan of God.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was under the incarnation plan of God.

The Church-age is the dispensation of the mystery plan, and what we call here, the pre-designed plan of God, for every believer in the Church-age.

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.

We need to comprehend the true basic essentials of the dispensation of the mystery of the Church-age, in which we live, and then we will have the foundation to achieve even a greater understanding through the progression and unfolding of this mystery, which we experience as a result of our desire to seek for God diligently.

In reality the future of our country does not reside in the hands of the politicians, but in your personal attitude toward Bible doctrine, because as goes the believer so goes the nation, MAT 5:13-14.

The sooner you become briefed on how royalty functions, and what your role is in history, the better chance you have to glorify God and be the recipient of the most fantastic blessings ever.

The doctrine of dispensations emphasizes what God wants you to do after salvation and also answers the question, “After salvation, what?”

Theocentric Dispensations refer to the Old Testament periods of time emphasizing and glorifying God the Father’s purpose in the divine provision of dispensations as they relate to the angelic conflict.

1. The age of the Gentiles in the Old Testament, from Adam to the Exodus generation, 1441 B.C.
2. The age of the Jew, from 1441 B.C. to the First Advent of Christ, 4-5 B.C.

Two Christocentric Dispensations where TLJC is the center of the dispensation.
3. The Hypostatic Union, 4-5, B.C. to His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, 30 A.D.
4. The Church-age, 30 A.D., to the Rapture, ? A.D.

Two Eschatological Dispensations:
5. The Tribulation, from Rapture to the Second Advent of Christ.
6. The Millennium, from the Second Advent, to the last Judgment.

There are basically six dispensations, which is interesting because in the Bible, 6 represents the number of man and therefore it can refer to history of man.

While 7 represents God’s perfection, His sovereignty and holiness, and therefore after human history is completed we will enter into that perfection, sovereignty and holiness, found in the eternal state.

This is why the greatest prayer a pastor could pray for every single one of you is to ask the God of glory - to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing Him personally, through mystery doctrine of the Church-age.

So that your eyes, the eyes of your heart or right lobe, need to be spiritually opened, focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is He is calling you to do, and to comprehend the extraordinary glorious plan and way of life He has for Christians.

By having the eyes of your heart overflowing with the light that Bible doctrine gives you, so that you can see and perceive and understand the hope or the confidence to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance to the saints.

COL 1:16-17 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

1JO 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

At the center of all this, is you and I, the Church, living the dispensation of the mystery, the Church-age, and Christ rules the church.

The church is the body of Christ, in which He speaks and acts through, and by which He fills everything with His presence.

MAT 24:22 “And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been delivered; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short.”
ISA 53:6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way;
JOH 19:30 “It is finished!”

We live in the dispensation of the most intensified stage of the angelic conflict, but we are also a part of the greatest dispensation of invisible assets and spiritual freedom.

When we were totally in bondage and lost, God reached out to us with His mercy and with His incredible love,
in EPH 2:4-5, and He embraced us.

Then He raised us up and placed us in union with His Son and set us down in the highest place in heaven, seated at the right hand of God, EPH 2:6.