STUDY THE BIBLE
3 (Part 1 of 2)
Dispensations
What
is a dispensation? A dispensary used to be attached to a
doctor’s
medical practice and when the diagnosis was given, like “You have the
flu”, the
doctor would recommend and dispense (give) some medicine to the
patient.
If the patient had a wound that had become infected, the doctor would dispense
and give the patient something else. Different patients
with
different problems got different treatments. You can see then, that
it
would be no good giving a patient with a broken leg some hand cream for
a rash.
So
today, the chemist or the pharmacist is the place where medicines are dispensed
or given out with appropriate instructions. It’s no
good for the
patient to be given some antibiotic tablets to be taken ‘three times a
day’ if
the patient decides to only take one tablet every week.
This
what God does. Over different time periods to different
men,
God dispenses instructions on what he wants that particular
group to do.
1.
GOD STARTS OFF! (God’s 1st
dispensing (giving)
of rules)
Adam
in the garden of Eden.
God said “Adam you are sinless, and I want
you to stay that way. I want you to live forever on the earth. So I
don’t want
you to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. If you do,
you will
die.” Adam disobeyed God and sinned. (Here is a simple definition for sin
- it is disobeying God.)
What
was God testing? Obedience! And this has been man’s problem
ever since.
THE
RESULT? God’s judgment!
God casts Adam out of the garden
2.
SO, GOD STARTS AGAIN! (God’s 2nd
dispensing (giving)
of rules)
God
puts up with the sin of the world till it got to much for him. The
scriptures
say And
GOD saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually. Genesis
6:5. Total
disobedience and massive sinning.
THE
RESULT? God’s judgment!
God drowns the whole earth, but
eight people are saved.
3.
SO, GOD STARTS AGAIN! (God’s 3rd
dispensing (giving)
of rules)
The
world knows about God, the garden of Eden, disobedience, sin and the
flood. But
they disobeyed God and set about building the tower of Babel. And
the whole earth was of one language, and of one
speech. Genesis
11:1
such
that
they
said, Go to, let us build us a city and a
tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest
we be scattered abroad upon the face of the
whole earth. Genesis 11:4.
but the
LORD said Behold, the people is
one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now
nothing will be restrained (held back) from them, which
they have
imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound (confuse)
their
language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the
LORD
scattered them abroad … upon the face of all the earth: and
they
left off to build the city. Genesis 11:6-7.
THE
RESULT? God’s judgment! Men scattered
– different races,
different languages, different continents.
4.
SO, GOD STARTS AGAIN! (God’s 4th
dispensing (giving)
of rules)
This
time he chooses Abraham to be the father of the Hebrew nation. Famine
hits the
land, but Abraham disobeys God, and Abraham and his family go down to
Egypt for
food.
THE
RESULT?
God’s two judgments! 1. The Jews become slaves in
Egypt. 2. God destroys Egypt
5.
SO GOD STARTS AGAIN! (God’s 5th
dispensing (giving)
of rules)
God
gives his laws on Mt Sinai (Arabia). The Jews murmur, fornicate, lust
and tempt
the Lord so he lets them wander the desert for forty years, after which
they
enter Canaan. They disobey God and don’t wipe out the heathen nations.
Furthermore, they want judges to rule over them to be like other
nations. God
says to Samuel the prophet …
for they
have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not
reign over
them. 1 Samuel 8:7
THE
RESULT?
God judgment! He gives Israel kings and this
ends up in absolute disaster – Saul, David, Solomon plus 19 kings
each to
both North and South. They both end up captive
to Assyria and Babylon.
6.
SO GOD
STARTS AGAIN! (God’s
6th dispensing (giving)
of rules)
The
Southern tribes return from Babylon but will not obey the Lord and
rebuild the
temple and the wall. They eventually do though. But God has had enough.
THE
RESULT?
God judgment! God is silent. He stops
sending prophets to Israel for 400 years.
7.
SO
GOD
STARTS AGAIN! (God’s
7th dispensing (giving)
of rules)
Christ
the Messiah comes exclusively for the Jew.
He
tells them they can have heaven on earth (kingdom of heaven)
and he
gives them the set of rules. These rules are the Sermon on
the Mount (Matthew
5-7). Christ says But
if ye
forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses. Matthew
6:15. These
are extremely strict rules that no-one can keep.
But
Christ tells them that if they would constantly believe he was
fulfilling these rules on their behalf, while continuing to go to the
temple
for their usual blood sacrifices for sins, they would go to
Abraham’s
bosom when they die. But they will not believe, and so they
crucify
Christ.
THE
RESULT?
God’s judgment!. God puts them aside for 2,000 years
to be persecuted by the world. Now God allows the world to
have even
‘easier’ salvation. By works? No. Christ fulfilled the works of the
law. We now
have direct entry into the kingdom of God in heaven by Christ’s
perfect
works. No waiting in Abraham’s bosom. Do we still need blood for sin?
Yes! It
is the perfect shed blood of Christ not the on-going daily animal
sacrifices as
…
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
Hebrews
10:26 because
For by one offering he hath perfected for ever
them that are sanctified. Hebrews 10:14.
8.
SO GOD
STARTS AGAIN! (God’s
8th dispensing (giving)
of rules)
At
Pentecost, Peter preaches to the men of Israel with the following Repent,
and be baptized (water)
every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins (remission is for sins that
are past
Rom 3:25) and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts
2:38.
Now
the nation of Jews as a whole disobey what God
wants.
THE
RESULT?
God’s judgment! He puts them aside.
NOTE:
These are not the salvation
instructions for today.
1.
We do not
need water baptism to be saved. Paul said For Christ sent me not
to
baptize, but to preach the gospel: … lest the cross of Christ should be
made of
none effect. 1 Corinthians 1:17
2.
We
have redemption
- past, present & future sins. Peter speaks of remission
(Rom 3:25).
9.
SO GOD STARTS AGAIN! (God’s 9th
dispensing (giving)
of rules)
God
choses Paul and a dispensation of the gospel is given to Paul
(1Corinthians 9:17).
God
makes it extremely simple for anyone to get saved today. You
don’t need
faith. You need simply believe the facts like the jailer. What does it
mean to
believe? It means to be ‘fully persuaded’ (Romans 4:20-21). It’s
the
easiest time since creation to be saved. It’s not of works as all the
work has
been done. (Eph 2:8-9).
But
men disobey God’s instructions.
THE
RESULT?
God’s judgment! He sends them to hell.
10.
SO GOD STARTS AGAIN! (coming
up in the future) (God’s 10th dispensing (giving)
of
rules)
After
the rapture, there will not be one
Christian on earth for seven years. This will be a Jewish time
or dispensation.
This means you can lose your salvation. It is also called Daniel’s
70th
week (Daniel 9:27). It is called the time of the seven year
tribulation.
God’s instructions to man is to not to take the mark. If you do, you
will go to
hell (Revelation 14:11).
THE
RESULT?
God’s judgment! Those who take the mark go to
hell.
11.
SO GOD STARTS AGAIN! (coming
up in the future) (God’s 11th dispensing (giving)
of
rules)
Christ
rules and reigns for 1,000 years with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15).
He
demands strict, outward and 100% obedience. It is a time of works.
People
disobey.
THE
RESULT?
God’s judgment! Disobedience sends them to hell (Rev
19:15)
12.
SO GOD STARTS AGAIN! (coming
up in the future) (God’s 12th dispensing (giving)
of
rules)
This
will be the new everlasting heaven and new earth. A
new universe without sin.
GOD
DISPENSES DIFFERENT INSTRUCTIONS
TO DIFFERENT GROUPS AT DIFFERENT TIMES.
Does
God forbid you to eat of the tree like Adam?
Does God want you to build an ark? Does God want you to be circumcised?
Does God want you to believe on Christ the Messiah while still
going to
a Jewish temple for animal blood sacrifices? Of course not.
Getting
into heaven has always been by perfect
obedient works
For
disobedience, getting right (atonement) with God, has
always been by blood.
Today,
in this dispensation,
we have Christ’s perfect works and his perfect blood.
In
this dispensation, what are God’s
instructions for you and me?
It’s
never been easier – “BELIEVE on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” Acts 16:31
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