http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/McClish/Henry/WardenJr/1938/DISPENSATIONS-OF-TIME.html
DISPENSATIONS
OF TIME
By
Dub McClish
Introduction
Time
is
a fascinating, bewildering, imponderable, and yet such a vastly important
subject to consider. Accordingly, it has called forth numerous interesting
observations concerning it, such as the following, gleaned from hundreds of
others at thinkexist.com:
Yesterday
is a canceled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you
have - so spend it wisely.
We
all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some
take us forward, they're called dreams.
Time
is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more
time.
Time
is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't
keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back.
This
quotation Website also referenced the terrible pun by Groucho Marx: “Time flies
like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.” On a more serious note, Ben
Franklin, the Colonial patriot, wisely quipped, “Time is the stuff life is made
of.” Since time is truly the most basic measure of life and all that pertains
to our universe, it has always been of intense interest to mankind.
Two
Facets of Time
Personal Time
Time
relates to each human being in a very personal way because from one’s birth
until his death constitutes all of his “time.” The foregoing quotations pertain
to this personal feature of time. Since our lives are our “time,” we should not
be surprised that the Bible gives considerable attention to this subject. Thus
Solomon advised young people concerning the passing of time: “Remember also thy
Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw
nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them” (Ecc. 12:1). The Lord
cautioned His hearers: “Yet a little while is the light among you. Walk while ye
have the light, that darkness overtake you not” (John 12:35a).
Paul
urged the prudent use of time: “Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as
unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because
the days are evil” (Eph. 5:15–16; cf. Col. 4:5). Time machines that can take one
into the past for a “do-over” exist only in science fiction. Paul does not
suggest any such impossible “redemption” of time. He is urging us to make the
best use of time and opportunity to the Lord’s glory and the advancement of His
Cause. The motivation for doing so when he wrote
these words yet prevails: “because
the days are evil.”
Historic Time
The
other facet of time is the long view that embraces the interval from the
beginning point of the material creation to the end of it. This is “time in the
aggregate,” including all that will eventually take place between those two
epochal boundaries. It is not an interruption between two eternities, but
simply a “parenthesis” in the one eternity. It is that peculiar portion of
eternity that is partitioned into regular segments of seconds, minutes, hours,
days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, and millennia. The Bible
discusses the beginning and end of time and provides the God-related history of
time from its beginning until He revealed the fulness of His plan to redeem
mankind from sin.
The
third word in our English Bibles is beginning: “In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1, emph. DM). At the moment God created
the physical universe, He created time—time began. In response to the Pharisees
concerning divorce, the Lord Jesus twice ratified Moses’ account of “the
beginning” as factual: “And he answered and said, Have ye not read, that he who
made them from the beginning made them male and female…?” and “from
the beginning it hath not been so” (Mat. 19:4, 8; emph. DM). John began his
Gospel account with words identical to those of Moses: “In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1, emph.
DM). The late Guy N. Woods correctly observed: “The beginning of time and the
beginning of creation were contemporaneous. Time began with creation” (22).
The
Bible sets forth the end of time even as it does its beginning. Since the
beginning of all things material marks the inception of time, so the end of all
things marks its end. Our Lord spoke of this occurrence when He promised the
apostles and those who would follow as His disciples that, as they continued to
faithfully execute His commission, “I am with you always, even unto the end of
the world” (Mat. 28:20). In applying the parable of the tares, Jesus said, “the
harvest is the end of the world,” at which time the wicked shall be separated
from the righteous (Mat. 13:39, 49). This time of separation will be at the
coming of the Lord in His glory (Mat. 25:31–32) (I will discuss additional
facts pertaining to the end of the world/time in greater detail subsequently).
The
Biblical Concept of “Dispensations”
In
historic time, God has dealt with mankind through different periods and
different law systems, all of which relate to the one great aim—to provide a
means of reconciliation of humankind to Himself. These we commonly refer to as
“dispensations.” My Online dictionary gives the following as one of the
usages/definitions of our English word, dispensation:
A
system of order, government, or organization of a nation, community, etc., esp.
as existing at a particular time: scholarship is conveyed to a wider audience
than under the old dispensation. In Christian theology, a divinely ordained
order prevailing at a particular period of history: the Mosaic dispensation.
Dispensation
appears
five times in the American Standard Version and four times in the King James
Version of our Bibles. It translates the compound Greek word, oikonomia,
from oikos, a house and nomos, a law (our English word, economy
comes directly from this word).
Bauer
lists “management of a household, direction, office” as its first meaning, with
“arrangement, order, plan” as its second (562). It literally refers to
administering the “law” or affairs of a “household,” whether
one’s own, or that of another (thus
a “stewardship,” as the ASV renders the term in 1 Cor. 9:17).
Therefore, dispensation is not synonymous with age, epoch, or period
of time, as is commonly thought. It rather has to do with “a mode of
dealing, an arrangement, or administration of affairs” (Vine, 174). T. Pierce
Brown stated correctly: “It can be seen, therefore, that the word has to do
with the type of administration or method of dealing with an individual or group” (URL). While one who administers affairs or deals with others
will do so for a certain
period of time, there is no time element involved in the meaning of oikonomia,
dispensation. Thus Biblical “dispensations” are the respective ways God
has administered (and still administers) His will to men. The Bible reveals
that these administrations devolve into distinguishable periods of time, however.
Bible
students have long observed the existence of three major distinct divisions of
its historical material and of all of historic time, however long it may
continue, which we routinely call “dispensations.” There is perhaps no greater,
more common, or more consequential fallacy in Bible hermeneutics than the
failure to distinguish correctly between the dispensations, especially the
latter two, which fact underscores the significance of this study. Uninspired
men have assigned descriptive names to these three periods, and they serve well
to provide a framework for Bible study and for making
proper application of the Biblical
message. However, I will
also propose and discuss some “sub-dispensations” within
these major dispensations. I now direct our
attention to a consideration of these three arrangements of God’s
administration of His laws for mankind.
The
Patriarchal Dispensation
The
word patriarch appears only four times in the Bible, twice in the
singular and twice in the plural, and all in the New Testament. Patriarch is
directly transliterated from the Greek word, patriarches. It is a
compound of patria, a family, clan, people, or nation, and archo,
a ruler, one in authority, a chief, a prince (Bauer 113, 642; Vine 463, 540).
Its first usage is in Peter’s Pentecost sermon, in which he refers to “the
patriarch David” (Acts 2:29). Stephen twice used the term to describe the sons
of Jacob as “the twelve patriarchs” (7:8–9). The fourth occurrence of the term
refers to “Abraham, the patriarch” (Heb. 7:4). We readily see why Abraham and
the sons of Jacob are called “patriarchs,” for they are, in the fullest sense
(particularly Abraham), heads of vast families of people. One of God’s promises
to Abraham was to make of him “a great nation” (Gen. 12:2). He repeated the
promise to Abrahams’s grandson, Jacob (46:3). The promise in both cases was
fulfilled through his twelve sons, as they became the chiefs/princes of the
vast descendants of Jacob/Israel. How does David deserve this term, since he
did not found a nation or live in the same era as Abraham and his grandson and
great-grandsons? A.C. Hervey commented on this question as follows:
The
term patriarch is elsewhere in Scripture applied only to Abraham and the
twelve sons of Jacob (Heb. 7:4; Acts 7:8–9). It is a title of dignity,
signifying the head of a house. It seems to be here applied to David, because
he is spoken of as head of the family from which Christ sprang. Abraham was the
head of the whole Hebrew race: “Abraham our father.” The twelve patriarchs were
the heads of their respective tribes (18:53).
Clearly,
patriarch is capable of shades of meaning, for David was not a
“patriarch” in the same sense as were Abraham and the sons of Jacob. Wholly in
keeping with our customary use of Patriarchal Dispensation, Hervey then
notes: “In common parlance, the term is also applied to those chief persons who
lived before the time of Moses, and have their records in his books” (18:53).
In the
foregoing quotation, the beginning parameter of this dispensation is implied in
the expression, those who lived before the time of Moses. From the time
of Adam to the giving of the Law of Moses, God administered His will to men only
in a very personal, individual, and direct way (which is not to imply that
He ceased all such personal revelation after His written revelations began).
There is no record of any written law from God in this period. He generally
spoke to principal men of the clans or families (i.e., the “patriarchs”). He
thus spoke directly to Adam, Cain, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abram, Isaac, and Jacob
(Gen 1–9). God gave orders exclusively to some that were never given to others
(e.g., forbidding Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil [2:17], commanding Noah to build the ark [6:14–16], ordering
Abram to leave his homeland and kindred [12:1], et al.).
However,
he also gave some orders that applied to all (e.g., offering a specific kind of
burnt offering), as noted in the case of Cain and Abel (Gen. 4:3–5). It seems
evident that the burnt offerings—from the one Noah offered (8:20) to those
Jacob offered many generations afterward (35:1–7)—were the same that Abel
offered, which God “respected” (4:4). The religious “system” was on a family
basis, led by the respective family “patriarchs” to whom God spoke (and who
served as priests) and who approached God through said offerings on family
altars.
Although
God did not communicate His will to the patriarchs in written documents, He
nonetheless administered both moral and religious law to which those of that
dispensation were accountable. While we see portions of this law system
somewhat incidentally and occasionally (and sometimes by implication), God’s
moral law is most certainly evident. Only where law exists is sin possible:
“But where there is no law, neither is there transgression” (Rom. 4:15).
God’s
“moral law” existed from the beginning, as implied in the expression, the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17, emph. DM). God
warned Cain not to sin (4:7), which he did first
by substituting an offering of his choice for that which God specified and which he did
when he murdered Abel (vv. 8–11). As confirmed by the Lord and by Paul (Mat. 19:5; Eph. 5:31), God’s marriage law (“from the
beginning”) is clear in Moses’ statement, which the Lord and Paul quoted:
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto
his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). “The wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and…every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually” (6:5), is sheer nonsense (not to mention an impossibility)
apart from a God-given standard of behavior— His law.
The Pre-Mosaic
Sub-dispensation
We
know when the Patriarchal Dispensation began, but when did it end? Some are
under the impression (or at least leave the impression) that Patriarchy
ended in about 1500 B.C. when God gave the law to Moses, but this is not the case. This question introduces the fact that two
“sub-dispensations” existed within the Patriarchal Dispensation. This
conclusion inheres in the fact that the administration and application of that
system of law did not remain constant for all mankind throughout its duration.
The
first of these sub-dispensations spanned from Adam to the revelation of Moses’
Law, during which span the prescribed patriarchal worship and God’s moral laws
were universally applicable. As far as God’s will was concerned, there
were no distinctions between “nations” before Sinai. Thus as noted earlier, the
altars of burnt offerings and the moral laws applied to all men of that era.
The
Mosaic-Law-Forward Sub-dispensation
The
second sub-dispensation began when Moses received the Law, which Law limited the applicability, thus the administration, of the patriarchal laws dramatically. Their
authority no longer applied
to the descendants of Jacob/Israel. God gave them a new, distinct law system,
centered in the Ten Commandments. Concerning this Law (under the figure of a
“covenant”), Moses reminded Israel: “Jehovah made not this covenant with our
fathers [i.e., the patriarchs], but with us, even us, who are all of us
here alive this day” (Deu. 5:3, emph. DM). Therefore God did not give
this new Law for/to any who were not the posterity of Abraham through
Jacob/Israel.1
This
Law was something unprecedented and superior to previous law. Moses asked
Israel: “And what great nation is there, that hath statutes and ordinances so
righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” (Deu. 4:8). Moses
stated an important intent and effect of the Law:
“For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God: Jehovah thy God
hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all
peoples that are upon the face of the earth” (Deu. 7:6, emph. DM). Holy
people means a people set apart from others, “chosen” to be “above all
peoples” in God’s care and favor. So Moses’ Law created a grand cleavage
between the Israelites and all non-Israelites (i.e., thereafter known as “Gentiles” or “the nations”) for the
purpose of keeping Israel separate.
Since
the Law of Moses was for Israel alone (except for proselytes), what then became
the status of the other nations regarding Divine law? Some teach that the
Gentiles were no longer under any law from God, misapplying Paul’s God-gave-them-up
statements regarding the ancient Gentiles (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28). Such is
shear absurdity. Were it so, the Gentiles could no longer have sinned or been
accountable for their behavior. This assertion conveniently overlooks such
phenomena as God’s declaration that Nineveh was wicked and evil five centuries
after God gave the Law to Moses (Jon. 1:2; 3:10). The Gentile nations did not
cease to be amenable to the laws of patriarchy by the arrival of the Law of
Moses. For Israel, Moses’ Law replaced and superseded those laws, but for all
others, they remained in effect until that time and event that would mark the
cessation of the authority of all previous Divine law—both of Patriarchy and of
Mosaic varieties.
The
book of Genesis provides the history of the patriarchal administration, barely
overlapping into Exodus. This history provides the foundation for and
introduction to the dispensation that follows. Without knowledge of the
patriarchs and their history, Bible readers would be left with a huge vacuum of
knowledge and superabundance of head-scratching questions and curiosities.
Compared to subsequent dispensations, God’s revelation to the patriarchs is not
only unwritten, but also comparatively sparse. Since stars give little light
compared to other heavenly bodies, the Patriarchal Dispensation, compared with
those that follow, is often characterized as the “Starlight Age.” Nevertheless,
the story of redemption is firmly imbedded in the history of those ancient
times as Moses, the inspired historian, unfolds them (e.g., Gen. 3:15; 12:3;
18:18; 22:18; 26:4; et al.).
The Mosaic
Dispensation
The
second dispensation of God’s Law was obviously (and appropriately) named for
Moses. God chose him to lead the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage, give them His
exclusive law, and bring the chosen nation—through many toils and tears—to the
threshold of Canaan. Moses was the towering figure of the dispensation until
God’s “prophet…like unto me”—Whom Moses prophesied God would raise up—appeared
among men fifteen centuries later (Deu.18:15; Acts 3:22–23; 7:37). The
dispensation is also named for Moses because the Law that God gave through him
and named after him (i.e., “the law of Moses” [Jos. 8:31–32; 1 Kin. 2:3; Ezra
3:2; Luke 24:44; et al.]) remained in force for fifteen centuries. While a
family system of religion characterized the Patriarchal Dispensation, the
Mosaic Dispensation involved a national system. As did the Patriarchal
Dispensation, the Mosaic Dispensation also contained two major
“sub-dispensations.”
The Pre-John/Jesus
Sub-dispensation
Beginning
with the closing pages of Genesis, all of the Old Testament and the first four
books of the New Testament record the history of God’s chosen nation, at
various times known as “Hebrews,” “Israelites,” and “Jews.” This focus
continued as long as that law was in force.2 Throughout
this period, Biblical history generally notices “Gentiles” only as the
Israelites interacted with them, which they often did. The Mosaic Dispensation
was characterized by an exclusive priesthood that was charged with various
rituals, but especially with offering a wide variety of sacrifices, at least
one of which had its roots in Patriarchy. The practice of the new religion God
established through Moses’ Law was centered first in the tabernacle,
constructed and furnished according to a very specific God-given pattern (Exo.
25:40; 26:30; Acts 7:44; Heb. 8:5). It would later be succeeded by a series of
temples, the first of which Solomon built, also according to a God-given
pattern, which temple Nebuchadnezzar destroyed in 587 B.C. (1 Chr. 28:11–19).
It was replaced by that of Zerubbabel (after the Jews’ return from
Babylonian/Persian captivity), and Herod’s temple—the one in use at the close
of the Mosaical Period—replaced it. The Law of Moses contains not only very
specific and detailed religious ritual, but specific and detailed laws concerning
morals and ethics, as well. Moreover, it served as the civil law for the newly created
nation of Israel.
Repeated apostasy, rebellion, idolatry, and
infidelity dominate most of Israel’s history.
Besides
having the foregoing purposes, Moses’ Law had other ends as well. Paul
explained: “What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till
the seed should come to whom the promise hath been made” (Gal. 3:19a). Milligan
suggested the following as the meaning of Paul’s words: “It was added to
convince and to convict men of sin, by giving to them a perfect standard and
code of morality” (84). This statement fits well with another statement by
Paul: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had not
known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law
had said, Thou shalt not covet.” (Rom. 7:7).
Paul
stated yet another purpose of the Law: “So that the law is become our tutor to
bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24). This
passage indicates that at least part of the Law’s intent was to train and
prepare Israel for the coming of the Christ. Paul declared, “Christ is the end
of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth (Rom. 10:4). His
point here is not that the Law of Moses ended with Christ (His death in
particular), though true (Col. 2:14; et al.), but that the Law incessantly
pointed to Christ as its aim. By its types, shadows, symbols, and prophecies it
did its work, pointing to Him and His Dispensation. However, it could have its
effect only to the degree that the hearts of the Jews were attentive to it. The
scholars in—and avowed sticklers for—the Law (i.e., scribes, lawyers,
Pharisees) who, of all people, should have been aware of this facet of the
Law’s purpose, were clueless. So Jesus repeatedly decried and denounced them
for their spiritual blindness and deafness (Mat. 13:15; 15:14; 23:16–19, 24;
Mark 8:18). Those who should have been the first to recognize and embrace Jesus
as their Messiah of the prophets became His crucifiers.
A
close and vital relationship exists between the Mosaic Law and the New
Testament and between the respective religions they produced. Numerous features
of the Mosaic Dispensation foretold features of its successor through types and
shadows. These included the priesthood, the tabernacle/temple, the unblemished
lamb as a sin offering, and even Moses himself, plus many others, as especially
expounded in the Hebrews epistle. During the Mosaic Era, God sent numerous prophets
to Israel, beginning with Moses and not ending until the appearance of John the
Baptist and Jesus (Luke 7:26–27; Acts 3:22–23). God sent many of these to call
Israel to repentance (Jer. 35:15) and/or to pronounce judgment upon various
nations (e.g., Jer. 1:4–10). However, many of them prophesied concerning
persons, things, and events that would characterize the dispensation to come
(e.g., Deu. 18:15; 2 Sam. 7:12–16; Isa. 2:2–3; 40:3; 53:1–12; Jer. 31:31–34;
Dan. 2:44; Joel 2:28–32, et al.).
The John/Jesus
Forward Sub-dispensation
Readers
of the New Testament cannot mistake the dramatic change in emphasis and aim—and
even practice in one respect—upon the arrival of John the Baptizer and Jesus.
The Lord remarked on this phenomenon: “The law and the prophets
were until John:
from that time the gospel of the kingdom of God is
preached, and every man entereth violently into it” (Luke 16:16; cf. Mat.
11:13). He did not mean that the authority of Moses’ Law ceased when they began
their work. He simply called attention to the fact that they came preaching and
practicing something unprecedented, not in denial of any of the Law, but in
fulfillment of it (Mat. 5:17–18; John 1:23; Acts 3:23–24). The gospel of the
kingdom is preached is a synecdoche for their words and works.
Many
previous prophets had come with a message of repentance, but none before John
had come preaching, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and
declaring himself to be the forerunner of the Lord (Mat. 3:2–3). Further, none
before had come administering “baptism…unto remission of sins” (Mark 1:4).
After Jesus’ baptism by John and His wilderness temptations, Matthew records:
“From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent ye; for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand” (Mat. 4:17). Afterward, upon His selecting them, Jesus
commissioned the twelve: “But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand”
(10:6–7). Elsewhere we learn that the apostles also preached and practiced
baptism, doubtless with the same import as John’s: “When therefore the Lord
knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although
Jesus himself baptized
not, but his disciples” (John 4:1–2).
John’s
work was to “prepare the way of the Lord” by making ready a company for the
soon-to-come kingdom, a figure for the church Jesus said He would build (Mat.
16:18–19). In this same context, He declared: “Verily I say unto you, there are
some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they
see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (v. 28; cf. Mark 9:1). The work of
the apostles had the same end as John’s work regarding preparation for the
soon-to-come kingdom. Further, the Lord sent out an additional seventy
disciples with the same instructions and powers He had given to the twelve, and
they were to preach, “The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you” (Luke 10:1-9).
Meanwhile, Jesus was not only uttering His astounding words, but also
performing countless miraculous works. The purpose of the latter was to
confirm the Truth that He spoke, not only about the kingdom, but about His own
identity as well (John 20:30–31).
Note
Paul’s statement that the Law was added “till the seed should come to whom the
promise hath been made” (Gal. 3:19). This statement not only accentuates the
existence of this sub-dispensation. It also declares without dispute that the
Law of Moses was not God’s final word, but it implies that its authority would
cease when “the seed should come.” Paul had earlier said that “the seed” in
God’s promise to Abraham referred to the Christ, rather than to the patriarch’s
“seeds” (i.e., descendants) (v.16), and so the seed does in verse 19. We
learn from this that the terminal point of Moses’ Law, regarding its authority,
was in the work of the Christ. Accordingly, Jesus announced:
Think
not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but
to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot
or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be
accomplished (Mat. 5:17–18).
In
destroy (kataluo, “to destroy utterly, to overthrow completely”
[Vine 164]), Jesus was talking about the very existence of the Law—He would not
obliterate it so that it no longer existed and men no longer had access to it
to continue to profit from it. Rather, he would “fulfil” it, and in Him it
would “be accomplished.” Without some knowledge of the Law, it would be all but
impossible to understand much of the New Testament (e.g., in the Gospel
accounts, Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, et al.). Paul argued the value of
knowledge of the Law:
For
whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that
through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope (Rom.
15:4).
Now
these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil
things, as they also lusted.… Now these things happened unto them by way of
example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the
ages are come (1 Cor. 10:1–11).
While
Christ did not cause the Law (with its invaluable history, prophecies, and
examples) to pass from existence, He indeed “abolished” (katargeo, “to
reduce to inactivity” [Vine 3]) the authority of the Law (Eph. 2:14–16).
When He died on the cross, the authority of Moses’ Law died with Him
(Col. 2:14; Heb. 10:8–10; et al.), thus bringing to an end the Mosaic
Dispensation. Likewise, by implication, the laws of Patriarchy were repealed
with the death of the Lord. The new Law of Christ was for “every nation,” “all
the world,” and “every creature,” allowing no other spiritual law to exist
(Mat. 28:19–20; Mark 16:15–16).
The
Mosaical Dispensation involved revelation and provided spiritual light in great
abundance compared to that of the Patriarchal dispensation. Therefore, the
Mosaic Age is commonly called the “Moonlight Age” in comparison to the
“Starlight Age” of the Patriarchal Era.
The
Christian Dispensation
We have already cited inspired
statements to the effect that the authority of Moses’ Law (and thus the Mosaical
Dispensation) ended with the death
of Jesus, the Christ, upon the cross. The end of the Dispensation of Moses marks the beginning
of the Dispensation of Christ, generally known by Bible
students as “The Christian Dispensation.” Likewise, the end of the authority of Moses’ Law marks the beginning of Christ’s Law.3 As God gave His law through Moses in the former
dispensation, so He did/does through
Christ in this one:
For
I spake not from myself; but the Father that sent me, he hath given me a
commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his
commandment is life eternal: the things therefore which I speak, even as the
Father hath said unto me, so I speak (John 12:49–50; cf. 14:10, 15, 24; 17:18;
Mat. 17:5; Heb. 1:1–2).
John,
Jesus, the apostles, and the seventy all proclaimed that the time had come for
the everlasting kingdom of the prophets—the church of Christ—to begin, and so
it did. The Lord allowed Satan to crucify Him so men could be cleansed by His
sinless shed blood (John 10:17– 18; Heb. 9:22; 10:4; 1 Pet. 1:18–19). However,
the Father did not allow Satan to keep Him in the tomb after His cruel death on
Calvary (Acts 2:32; 17:31; Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12; et al.). Just before Jesus ascended to His throne at the Father’s right hand, He gave His apostles some final
instructions. These included preaching the Gospel to all nations throughout the
world, beginning at Jerusalem (Mat. 28:19–20; Mark 16:15–16; Luke 24:47). He
also told the apostles to wait in Jerusalem where they would receive
“power from on high,” which He identified as baptism in the
Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4–5, 8). They did so, assembling in
anticipation with about 120 other disciples (apparently these were all that
proved steadfast among multitudes that heard the appeals of John, the Lord, the
apostles, and the seventy over a period of about three and one- half years).
On
the Jewish Pentecost (fifty days after Jesus was crucified), the promised power
of Holy Spirit baptism came upon the apostles, enabling them to speak in
languages they had never learned—to the amazement of the throngs of people
gathered from all over the world (Acts 2:1–13). Peter began explaining the
occurrence by quoting Joel’s prophecy, which said that “in the last days” God
would pour forth His Spirit (Acts 2:16–21). Peter then proceeded to set forth
evidence that Jesus, whose crucifixion they had demanded seven weeks earlier,
was the Christ of prophecy, that God had raised Him from the dead, and that He
had now ascended to His throne in Heaven (vv. 22–36). Upon these powerful
words, some who were deeply stirred and convinced interrupted Peter’s sermon
with the plaintive question to the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” (v.
37). In response to Peter’s command that they must—on the authority of
Christ—repent and be baptized in order to receive forgiveness of their sins,
about 3,000 yielded obedience that day, whereupon the Lord added them and others
day by day to His church (vv. 41, 47, KJV).
From
this point forward to its end, the Biblical text chronicles the growth,
development, activities, characteristics, and sufferings of the church as it
was established on the wings of the Gospel message. The church not only had the
specific entrance requirements to which the 3,000 on Pentecost were obedient, but it also engaged in five authorized acts of worship
in each of its several congregations each first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1–2).
These acts were universally
taught and practiced, as indicated by Paul’s statement that he taught the same
things everywhere in every church (1 Cor. 4:17). These acts included:
·
Partaking of the Lord’s supper, established by Him to memorialize His death (Mat. 26:26–29;
1 Cor. 11:23–26),
·
Addressing
the Father in prayer through Christ (Col. 3:17),
·
Singing
songs of praise and edification (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16),
·
Giving
money to do the work of the congregation (1 Cor. 16:1–2),
·
Studying a message preached
from God’s Word by a brother (Acts 2:42; 1 Tim. 2:8–12).
The Christian Dispensation is the final period
of human/world history.
God inspired some of the Old Testament prophets to
refer to it as “the latter days” and like expressions (Isa. 2:2–3; Dan. 2:28;
45; Joel 2:28; Mic. 4:1). Peter said that the outpouring of the Spirit on
Pentecost was the fulfillment of Joel 2:28–32, and he identified the Pentecost
event as “the last days” (Acts 2:17; cf. Heb. 1:1–2).4 Paul
referred to the appearance of Christ as “the fullness of the time” (Gal. 4:4).
In a like expression, he wrote of the “dispensation of the fulness of the
times” in which God “sum[med] up all things in Christ” (Eph. 1:10). It was with
this in mind that Jesus told the apostles that, as they carried out His
commission, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Mat.
28:20). The Christian Dispensation also contains two “sub- dispensations.”
The Miraculous
Sub-dispensation
Jesus
had empowered the apostles and the seventy to perform miracles as they preached
the soon-to-come kingdom (Mat. 10:8; Luke 10:9, 17). However, in His upper room
discourse before His betrayal, trials, and death, Jesus promised additional
powers for the apostles. He said that His Father would send the Holy Spirit
upon them, further empowering them. These powers included teaching them all
things, reminding them of the things He (Jesus) had taught them, guiding them
into all the Truth, and declaring unto them the things that were to come (John
14:26; 16:13). Jesus linked the promised sending of the Holy Spirit upon them
with their baptism in the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4–5, 8;
2:1–4, 16–21).
The
apostles alone possessed and exercised miraculous powers in the earliest days
of the church in Jerusalem, confirming their words thereby as Truth and
confounding the Sanhedrin. The twelve demonstrated the great degree of power
with which they were entrusted when they enabled seven brethren to work “great
wonders and signs” by laying hands on them (Acts 6:6, 8; 8:5–7, 13). As
indicated in Acts 8 (just cited), Philip, one of the seven, preached the Gospel
and exercised his recently received powers with great effect in Samaria.
However, he could not confer this power on others. Not until Peter and John
came from Jerusalem and laid their hands on them (as they had done to the
seven) could any Samaritan saints work miracles (vv. 17–18). Likewise, only
when Paul (an apostle) laid his hands on the dozen brethren in Ephesus were
they able to prophesy and speak in languages they had never learned (Acts
19:6). There is no hint that any besides an apostle had this power of
transmission of the gifts. Paul may have alluded to this fact when he wrote of
“the signs of an apostle” (2 Cor. 12:12).
These
gifts were necessary for both revelation and confirmation. The various
documents of our New Testaments were not dumped into the minds of the inspired
men in one “lump,” but the inspired men received revelations of the Truth and
“prophesied in part” (1 Cor. 13:9). Until the completed (and written) record of
all the Truth (into which the Holy Spirit would guide the apostles [John
16:13]) was accomplished, they had to have a means of confirming that their
words were from God. The “signs and wonders, and… manifold powers, and… gifts
of the Holy Spirit” provided the needed confirmation (Heb. 2:3–4). The gifts
also served as a source of edification, exhortation, consolation, and learning
(1 Cor. 14:3, 26, 31).
The revelation and the confirmation were companions that traveled together. As long as revelation was incomplete, confirmation
was required, and when revelation ceased, miraculous confirmation likewise
ceased as no longer necessary. Paul argues this very point:
Love
never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away;
whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it
shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that
which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away (1 Cor.
13:8–10).
When
the perfect/completed Word was achieved, the miraculous gifts such as prophecy,
tongues, and knowledge would no longer be needed for confirmation, and they
would thus be— and were—“done away.”
Since
the apostles alone could impart the gifts to others, it must follow that with
the death of the last apostle (John, apparently, at the very close of the first
century), there was no means of further empowering others, even as there was no
need to do so. With John’s book of Revelation, the New Testament reached its
perfect/complete state. This achievement was, as earlier noted, according to
the Lord’s promise that the Holy Spirit would guide the apostles “into all the
truth”—necessarily meaning that before the last apostle died, all of the Truth
would be revealed. Thus the completion of revelation marked the end of the need
for the confirmatory gifts, and the death of John marked the end of their
source. So the possession of miraculous gifts
ended with the death of the last brother or sister on whom an apostle had laid hands.
At the latest this would not likely have been later than the middle part of the second century.
The Non-miraculous
Sub-dispensation
This
second sub-dispensation begins with the end of the miraculous manifestations
necessary for the infancy of the church (1 Cor. 13:11) and will continue until
the Lord returns. Since the closing days of the first century, mankind has been
blessed with the final and complete revelation of God’s Word. It is “the faith
once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). It is all that anyone needs to
enable him to reach Heaven at last:
All
scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good
works (2 Tim. 3:16–17, KJV; emph. DM).
And
now I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able
to build you up, and to give you the inheritance among all them that
are sanctified (Acts 20:32, emph. DM).
There
will not be another administration of God’s Law or Dispensation of time upon
the earth. Jesus promised the apostles that, although He would soon leave them
to return to the Father, “I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that
where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3). Inspiration describes the events
that will transpire at the Lord’s coming: the resurrection of the dead with
spiritual (i.e., immortal) bodies, the instantaneous change of the mortal bodies
to immortal bodies
of those alive
at His coming, the gathering
of all who have ever lived for Judgment by Jesus, the
ascension of the righteous to meet the Lord in the air, and their being
delivered up by the Lord to the Father where they shall ever more be (Mat.
25:31–32; John 12:48; 1 Cor. 15:21–24, 42–53; 1 The. 4:13–17). As earlier
noted, Peter terms the Lord’s return as “the day of the Lord,” saying that when
He returns, “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are
therein shall be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10).
While
the New Testament gives us the “what” of Jesus’ return in some detail, neither
man nor angel can know the “when” of the Lord’s return (Mat. 24:36–51; 1 The.
5:2–3; 2 Pet. 3:10a; Rev. 3:3). It is certain, however, that when the Lord
returns, all time and earthly history will cease. Each human being who has
lived since Adam and who was capable of responding to the Will of God will
either enter Heaven, the place of eternal bliss with God and His Son or will be
cast into Hell, the place of eternal torment with the devil and his angels
(Mat. 25:34, 42, 46; John 5:29; Rom. 2:9–10; 2 The. 1:9; Rev. 20:11–15). Let us
all heed the Lord’s warning: “Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your
Lord cometh” (Mat. 24:42).
The
Christian Dispensation can only be described as the “Sunlight Age,” for in it
we have the consummation and revelation of God’s plan to reconcile man to
Himself through His Son.
Conclusion
A
movie projector may serve to illustrate the progression of spiritual light and
revelation through the dispensations. In a movie theater, if one is near the
screen and looks up toward the projector, he can see dust particles in the beam
of light coming from the projector. At the point of the projector, the beam of
light is very small, but the nearer to the screen it gets, the broader it
becomes until it finally strikes the screen with the projected image. So it is
with God’s revelation. It begins very small in the time of the patriarchs. lt
gradually becomes fuller in and throughout the Mosaic
Dispensation as it moves through
time. With the coming of Christ and His
completed revelation, the picture of grace, redemption, and salvation fully
bursts upon the screen of history.
What
great privileges are ours to live in this age in which we have the fullness of
God’s revelation! “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the
things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them” (Heb. 2:1).
Works
Cited
Bauer,
Walter, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich. A Greek-English Lexicon of
the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago, IL:
University of Chicago Press, 1957—1974 ed.
Brown,
T. Pierce. “Dispensations”: http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Brown/T/Pierce/1923/dispens1.html
Hervey,
A.C. Acts and Romans, The Pulpit Commentary, ed. H.D.M. Spence and
Joseph S. Exell. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1950.
Milligan,
Robert. Scheme of Redemption. Saint Louis, MO: Christian Board of Pub.,
1868.
Vine,
W.E. Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.
Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1996.
Woods,
Guy N. A Commentary on the Gospel According to John. Nashville, TN:
Gospel Advocate Co., 1981.
Endnotes
1 This fact alone demonstrates the folly of the
multitude of Catholic and Protestant sects—composed entirely of Gentiles—that
often turn to the Law of Moses to justify their religious practices.
2 None should infer that (from the fact that
the Gospel accounts continue the Old Testament history of the Jews) the
first four books of the New Testament therefore belong in the Old Testament—as
some erroneously advocate. While the Law of Moses was still in effect when
Christ was born (He was born and died “under the law” [Gal. 4:4; Col. 2:14]),
He nonetheless proclaimed a new Message/Law that would take effect with the
beginning of—and would usher in—the subsequent dispensation. While the history
in the Gospel records is Old Testament history, the message in
these books is Gospel, the New Testament message (Mark 1:1). The
four Gospel accounts are correctly positioned as the beginning books of the New
Testament.
3 Yes, Christ has a law, contrary to the
denials of the grace-only advocates who contend that grace and law are mutually
exclusive. Inspired writers did not so believe or teach. Paul stated the
obvious fact that in absence of law, transgression is impossible (Rom. 4:15;
5:13; 7:8). If Christ has no law, how does one explain New Testament references
to the law of Christ (Rom. 8:2; I Cor. 9:21; Gal. 6:2; Jam. 1:25; 2:12)?
4 Premillennial dispensationalists consistently
misapply the last days, saying this phrase points to alleged cataclysmic
events that are to take place immediately before the Lord’s return. They are
grievously wrong. In the first place, there are no such “signs of the times”
that warn of the Lord’s coming. In the second place, the entire administration
of God through His Son, beginning at Calvary and ending with His return,
constitutes “the last days.” Men have been living in “the last days” since
Pentecost (Acts 2:17).
[Note:
I wrote this MS for and I presented a digest of it orally at the Bellview
Lectures, hosted by the Bellview Church of Christ, Pensacola, FL, June 6–10,
2014. It was published in the book of the lectures, Understanding the Will
of the Lord, ed. Michael Hatcher (Pensacola, FL: Bellview Church of
Christ).]
