#5. The Dispensations.

     We have seen that the Bible records the purpose of the ages, and that those ages are the periods during which various phases of that wondrous purpose are developed. 

     In a great house there are rooms set apart for different purposes, the performance of which is proper in their place.  In an army, or a kingdom, there are varying ranks and duties.  So also it is with regard to the development of the purpose.  The ages are not only characterized by some one covering title, viz.,  “this evil age”,  “the age to come”,  etc., but are also subdivided into what we may call dispensations.  The word is not used of all these divisions in the Scripture, but we use it because no other word seems so fitting.  Nothing is included in the Scriptures that is irrelevant to the unfolding of this purpose.  Creation is a part of this great plan.  To grasp this will alter to a great extent our outlook.  Traditional orthodoxy seems to teach that having created man upon the earth, and man having failed, God then devised the scheme of redemption.  We shall find that this is not so.  Redemption, as a part of the purpose of the ages, was settled before man was made. 

     Creation must be considered in two aspects.  First there is the primal creation recorded in  Gen. i. 1.  Although the earth is full of the geological remains of a creation prior to that of the six days, no details are given in the Bible.  We must not suppose, however, that this primal creation of heaven and earth has no place in the purpose of God.  It was in that creation that angels and principalities were created.  In that creation Satan had a place of honour and that creation ended with darkness and judgment.   Hebrews.ix.  tells us that the heavenlies need the cleansing of redemption as well as the earth.  As that early creation, however, has not so much to do with the first revealed truth concerning man, two short verses suffice at the commencement of the Bible.  The creation that follows is given with more detail;  the six days’ work ending with the seventh day’s rest being typical of the earthly and manward development of the purpose of the ages.  Earthly we say, by way of excluding that calling enunciated in the prison epistles, but kept secret since the ages, but not earthly to the exclusion of the heavenly calling as set forth in Hebrews, I & II Peter, and Revelation.  The term, “the heavens and the earth”, opens the Bible.   Genesis i. 1 tells us of the first which ended in the darkness and chaos of verse 2.   Gen. ii. 1  tells of the second which continues until the day of God;  while  II Pet. iii. 13  tells us that there shall be a new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. 

     It is necessary to make a distinction between the “earth” and the “world”.  The word “world”   indicates  arrangement  and  order,   and  it  has  been  pointed  out  to  us  that  II Pet. iii. 16  tells us that the “world”, not the earth, perished in the time referred to by Peter. 

     Covering the great span of the ages we find “times and seasons”.  “Time” (chronos) conveys the idea of periods that are measured of, within which certain events take place, whereas “seasons” (kairos) speaks rather of the fitness of those times to the event.  We use two words in English with similar distinction, The time that some event happened may be 30^th September at 4p.m.;  the season would be summer.  Several “days” are mentioned too.  There is “man’s day”, translated “man’s judgment” in  I Cor. iv. 3,  there is also the day of the Lord, the great and terrible day of the Lord, the day of God, and there is also (hidden by our A.V.) the day of (the) age (II Pet. iii. 18).  Coupled with this we read of “the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God”.

     When we examine in greater detail these various phases of the great outworking, we shall see that the six days’ creation, followed by the seventh day’s rest, is the great initial foreshadowing of the purpose in boldest outline, afterwards filled in with more and more detail during the various “times”, “ages”, “seasons”, & “days”, and including the heavens and the earth, time past, present, and to come, until the cycle of the ages shall have become completed in the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. 

     These times, seasons, ages, and days are subdivided into what are termed “dispensations”.  Do not use the terms “dispensation” and “age” as though they meant the same thing.  During one age many dispensations may have run their course.  During one age two or more dispensations may be running side by side.  The very fact that God has a purpose of election will necessitate this.  It is not pretended that the following series of dispensations is necessarily true either in number or in the period covered.  All we can hope to do is to point out obvious changes in God’s administrations, leaving an open mind for further light and fuller detail.  Perhaps it would be more correct if we say that this series keeps close to the central thread of the purpose, closely following its development along the line of election of man, nation or church, leaving nations and individuals who are outside the elective sphere unaccounted for. 

     For instance, during the time that the dispensations covering Israel’s existence were in operation, there was a distinctly different dispensational attitude toward the nations.  It was a period when God condoned (“winked at”) their ignorance.  Following, however, the main line of purpose from Adam, through Seth, to Noah and Abraham, we shall find the following sub-divisions to be helpful in our study, and fairly close to the division that Scriptures indicate. 

The   Dispensations. 

1^st.       The six days’creation to the fall of Adam. 

2^nd.       From the fall of Adam to the flood. 

3^rd.       From the renewed world after the flood to the call of Abraham. 

4^th.       From the call of Abraham to the Exodus from Egypt. 

5^th.       From the deliverance from Egypt to the entrance into Canaan. 

6^th.       From the entrance into Canaan to the setting up of the kingdom. 

7^th.       From David to the Babylonian captivity. 

8^th.       From the captivity to the birth of Christ. 

9^th.       From the birth to the death and resurrection of Christ. 

10^th.     From the day of Pentecost to Israel’s rejection in Acts xxviii. 

11^th.     The prison ministry of Paul called “the dispensation of the mystery.”

12^th.     Commences with the recognition of Israel 
                       and is characterized by wrath. 

13^th.     Occupies the thousand year reign of Christ.  The millennium. 

14^th.     Occupies the period that follows the millennium 
                       unto the great white throne. 

15^th.     Completes the series commencing with the new creation 
                       and ending with “God all in all.”

     In one sense of course numbers 4-10 might be included under one head, from the call of Abraham to the rejection in  Acts xxviii.,  but we feel that the divisions suggested will make the unfolding of the purpose clearer.  While we keep before our mind the divisions of the Word, and note the different aspects of truth that are peculiar to each dispensation, it will be well to remember that underlying all dispensations are one or two items of the greatest importance that enter the first dispensation and remain until the last.  We refer to sin and death.  Without the awful presence of sin and death the dispensational unfolding of God’s purpose could never have taken the form it has done.  Accompanying sin and death are varying manifestations of law, grace, mercy and judgment.  In some dispensations one will be found more prominent than another, so that one dispensation will be known as that of law, although grace and mercy are very evident in many of the dealings recorded. 

     We shall devote our attention, the Lord willing, to the consideration of these fifteen dispensations, and we believe that when these are seen in their large outlines, the difficult and detailed study of the dispensation more closely to do with ourselves will be entered with greater profit. 

     Without promising to reply personally to letters on this subject, should any point need further clearing up as we go along, a card or letter from any enquirer will be kept in mind and if possible dealt with in its place in the series.