Dispensation Principle
A dispensation, or administration, is a period
of time in which God deals with man’s sin and man’s responsibility to that
sin. The Bible student must understand
this principle or else the Bible will be a book of confusion and
contradiction. If this principle is
ignored then Scripture will be misinterpreted.
The Apostle Paul understood that a part of a dispensation had been
committed to him (1 Corinthians 9:17).
To give an example: Abraham was made righteous by his faith in
the promises of God, not by his faith in Jesus Christ. That is because Abraham
did not know anything about the coming Christ.
Therefore, his salvation cannot be judged by New Testament standards of
faith and salvation. God dealt with
Abraham according to his dispensation of time and us in ours. There are seven
dispensations.
Dispensation
of Innocence: This time is from
creation to the fall of Adam and Eve.
Adam and Eve begin this time blameless before God, but end it as sinners
(Genesis 1:26-2:23). The amount of years
that this was is unknown. It is called
the time of innocence because there was no sin upon the earth or man.
Man’s
responsibility was to be obedient to God’s Word. Adam and Eve had been given instructions by
God but did not understand the concept of good or evil. They were confronted with a choice; Obey
God’s Word or listens to Satan. Man
chose to listen to Satan rather than God. Adam and Eve had only one rule, and
that was not to eat of the tree of good and evil, (Genesis 2:17). Satan
convinced Eve to eat of the forbidden tree in the midst of the garden.
The
consequence of failure was his banishment from the garden of Eden, pain in
childbirth and loss of authority for the woman.
Sin had destroyed the world that they knew.
God showed mercy to them by giving them a
Messianic promise of victory over Satan in the future.
“And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy
head, and thou shalt bruise his head.” (Genesis 3:15).
Dispensation of Conscience: This
time period is from the fall of Adam and Eve to the Flood; this was about
sixteen-hundred years and is located in Genesis 3-7. Mankind is now in a fallen sinful condition
and now has a limit to his life. Mankind’s responsibility is now to choose between
good or evil and to worship and sacrifice to God (Genesis 4:7).
Abel chooses the good, but Cain chooses the
evil. Mankind slowly grew wicked and
chose evil until all were evil except one family. Mankind had become so wicked that God’s only
consideration was to destroy the entire earth.
The dispensation starts with the rebellion of Cain in his bloodless
sacrifice and ends with God showing divine mercy to eight obedient people with
some animals (Genesis 7:1).
Dispensation of Human Government: This time period begins after the Flood with
Noah and his family, and ends at the destruction of the Tower of Babel (Genesis
8-11). This was about four-hundred
years. Mankind was to govern them, but
failed.
Noah and his descendant’s responsibility were
to worship and sacrifice to God and to choose good over evil. It starts out well but evil begins within a
few years with the alcohol abuse of Noah and Canaan’s response and
judgment. If man cannot rule his own
life righteously how could he rule other people? This shows mankind that he needs a savior to
save him from his sinful condition!
After this mankind slips further into evil and had been scattered by an
act of God with the confusion of languages and the destruction of the Tower of
Babel.
God had blessed
this people with abundance of food and water and shelter, since the people had
plenty of time to build the massive tower.
They could only have done this if they had plenty of free time for
building. The dispensation ends with
divine mercy from God in allowing the people to live and prosper even though
they all have given themselves
over to idolatry. God decides to look
for another man who can begin again.
This looks to the future, where God will begin again in Christ, to start
the Church. The next two dispensations
are for the Jewish people only, the rest of the world still stayed in this
dispensation. So, for the next
two-thousand years the world had two dispensations at the same time.
Dispensation
of Promise: This time is from the
Call of Abraham to the Mt. Sinai. This
dispensation lasted about four-hundred thirty years, and it was only for the
Jewish people. It can be found in
Genesis 11-15. Abraham probably lived in
idolatry at the time, but God had seen something in him. Abraham became righteous in God’s eyes when
he believed God’s promises.
Mankind’s
responsibility was to live in the Promised Land and to claim it, worship and
sacrifice to God. Mankind failed in this
responsibility when Jacob’s family all settled in Egypt during a severe famine
(Genesis 47:1) and had fallen into idolatry (Ezekiel 20:7-9).
The end
result of this failure was God’s chosen people became slaves to a wicked nation
(Exodus 1). But God had Mercy on them
and delivered them from bondage. God had
decided to continue to work with this family.
This shows us today that even if we fall back into spiritual bondage God
will continue to work to make us better.
Dispensation of Law: This time is from Mt. Sinai to Calvary. This was about fifteen-hundred years in length,
and it was for the Jewish people only.
It begins with God leading the Israelite out of spiritual and physical
bondage and ends with the temporary rejection of Judaism for Christianity and
the Church.
These
Laws were given to the Jewish people only (Romans 2:12; 9:4). Their responsibility was to keep the Law of
Moses (Exodus 19:5). Not only did the
Jewish people fail to keep the Law (2 Kings 17:7-17; Acts 2:22-23), but the only
man who ever did, they quickly and without regret tortured and executed that
man. Because of the Jews failure they
were taken away into bondage into Assyria and Babylon (2 Kings 17:6; 25:11),
then later scattered into the entire world.
God showed His Divine Mercy to the entire world by coming
down in Christ, dying for mankind’s sins, and providing the ultimate sacrifice
Himself.
Dispensation
of Grace: This dispensation time is
from Calvary to the second coming of Christ.
This dispensation time has lasted for over two-thousand years and
continues on to the present. This is our
age! At the start of this dispensation
the world is united again in the same dispensation again. Jesus Christ was the sacrifice for the sins
of all mankind. In this time all of our
sins are forgiven in repentance, and washed away in baptism in the name of
Jesus Christ, then comes the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
Mankind’s
responsibilities in this dispensation are to believe on Jesus Christ as God and
to worship and live for Him. From now on there are only two classes of
people in the world: saved sinners and lost sinners, all depending on our
response to Christ. Mankind will
ultimately fail and fall into unrepentant sin (1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy
4:3-4).
God has shown His Divine Mercy for over
two-thousand years. At the end of this
dispensation Christ will return to rule and judge the world. Those who die will be lost forever, those who
survive without Christ will live in the Kingdom age, believers will live in the
New Jerusalem and help Christ rule the rest of the world.
Dispensation
of God’s Kingdom: This dispensation
time is from the second coming of Christ to the Great White Judgment. This will be a one-thousand-year age. This is a future dispensation (Psalms 2 and
11). Mankind will be under the direct
rule of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom (Acts 15:14-17); Psalm 2:6; Matthew
24:29-30; Isaiah 24:23).
Mankind’s responsibility will be to worship King Jesus, be
obedient to the Kingdom and to worship (Psalms 2:12; 67:4; 86:9; Isaiah 65:20;
Zechariah 14:17. Mankind will ultimately
be deceived by Satan and fail and be judged.
After
one-thousand years mankind will rebel against God and march an army against His
Kingdom (Psalm 66:3; Revelation 20:7-9).
At which time fire coming down from God out of Heaven will destroy them
(Revelation 20:9). The earth will be
destroyed and all the saved will be in Heaven for eternity.
Some had taught that there are eight different
dispensations and that the additional one is the “Dispensation of
Tribulation.” They say that this one
would last for seven years during the tribulation period. This is simply not correct since there is
nothing in Scripture to prove the existence of this dispensation. Jesus did talk on a period of time He called
the tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31). But
how God deals with sin is the same as in the dispensation of Grace. We will still come to God through Acts 2:38
for salvation.
Summary
of the Dispensations: In each
dispensation the trend of man is away from God.
The responsibility of man in each dispensation is to believe the Word of
God and to obey Him. At the end of each
dispensation, God gives man up to his own way.
Each
dispensation shows that evil is headed up in a person or persons:
Dispensation of Innocence- Satan.
Dispensation
Conscience- Sinful fallen angels.
3. Dispensation of Human
Government- Nimrod.
4. Dispensation of Promise-
Pharaoh.
5. Dispensation of Law-
Scribes and Pharisees.
6. Dispensation of Grace-
Modernists.
7.
Dispensation of The Kingdom- Satan.
Each dispensation ends in a world crisis:
Dispensation of Innocence- Expulsion of man from the garden.
Dispensation of Conscience- The Flood.
Dispensation of Human Government- Confusion of Tongues.
Dispensation of Promise- Bondage oface.
Dispensation of Law- The Cross of Christ.
Dispensation of Grace- The Rapture of the Church.
Dispensation of Kingdom- Fire from Heaven.
In each dispensation God comes down:
Dispensation of Innocence- God came down to the garden.
Dispensation of Conscience- God talked with Noah.
Dispensation of Human Government “Let us go down.”
Dispensation of Promise- “I am come down.” (burning bush)
Dispensation of Law- Incarnation of Christ.
Dispensation of Grace- The Lord shall descend.
Dispensation of Kingdom- Still upon the earth.
William J. Roop, M.A.B.S.
