Defining Dispensationalism.

Jordan Bradley

Prophecy Bible Study • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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A general overview of Dispensationalism.

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Why a study on Dispensationalism?

There is always a need to remind ourselves of the truth, reposition our glasses, so to speak, so that we are able to interpret the Bible correctly. Be on our toes when it comes to Biblical Interpretation will keep us from falling down the slippery slope of errant teaching.

Within the last 3 or 4 decades there has been quite the resurgence of the teaching and its accompanying doctrines called “Covenant Theology”. This doctrine has influence much of the “Christian Communication” in the world today, whether it is the music we hear on the radio, or even popular teaching we may come into contact with. We are going to spend some of our time critiquing Covenant Theology tonight.

Covenant Theology’s influence:

It influences our understanding of the Kingdom of God.

There is a well-known song called “Build Your Kingdom” by Rend Collective.

The Chorus:

“Build Your kingdom here, let the darkness fear, show your mighty hand, heal our streets and land, Set Your Church on fire, win this nation back, change the atmosphere, Build your kingdom here, we pray.”

innocent enough right, until you see that the Kingdom Age and the Church Age co-exist in this understanding.

Post-millennialism, the eschatology of Covenant Theology, believes and teaches that it is our job by Christ’s authority, and the power of the Gospel, to Christianize the nations (Matthew 28:19, 20), thus bringing in all the Kingdom Blessings like “healing our streets and land” (that is the reversal of the curse that only Christ brings at His return).

Only Christ reverses this curse in the Kingdom Age,

Isaiah 11.

vv. 1-5, Christ is reigning on the Earth, establishing true justice from His throne.

vv. 6-9, The Curse is reversed as sin is abated.

vv. 10-16, The Kingdom is exercised over Israel’s enemies, and the Nations will seek after the Messiah.

Again, this only happens when Christ is present, and ruling and reigning on the Earth.

A follow-up issue to this, is that we, as Christians, are a part of the Kingdom of Christ,

What does it mean to be a part of Christ’s kingdom?

Philippians 3:20, 21, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by His working through which He is able to even subject all things to Himself. (Legacy Standard Bible).

We see that Paul says that our Citizenship is in Heaven, not here on Earth.

What then is our relationship to the Kingdom of Christ, as He rules an reigns on Earth?

I trust, that as we continue our discussion on Dispensationalism tonight, we will begin to see how we fit into that Kingdom.

It influences our understanding of the plan of God.

As Christians, we love and adore the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see the crimson thread of salvation running throughout all of the Scriptures, beginning with Genesis 3:15, and ending in eternity as we praise, exalt, and honor Christ for all that He has done for us.

But this is not the only thing that our God is accomplishing in His Universe.

Covenant Theology states that God is seeking to glorify Himself, through the redemption of His elect, by the Work of Christ on the Cross.

Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14, “to the praise of the glory of His grace...” Amen and Amen.

That is not the only thing by which God is glorified by.

Dispensationalism recognizes that God is accomplishing multiple plans and is glorified by them all.

Namely:

Creation:

Genesis 3:17, 18.

Romans 8:18-23.

Isaiah 11:6-9.

Revelation 22:3.

Israel:

Genesis 12:1-3.

Romans 11:25-29.

Zechariah 12:10; Isaiah 53.

The Nations:

Psalm 2.

Daniel 2:20, 21.

Daniel 4:34-37.

Zechariah 14:9, 16-19.

Salvation:

Genesis 3:15.

Ephesians 1:3-7.

Revelation 5:9-10.

Renald E. Showers says in his critic of Covenant Theology, “Although the redemption of elect human beings is a very important part of God’s purpose for history, it is only one part of that purpose. During the course of history, God not only has a program for the elect but also a program for the nonelect. In addition, God has different programs for nations, rulers, Satan, and nature. Since God has many different programs which He is operating during the course of history, all of them must be contributing something to His ultimate purpose for history. Thus, the ultimate goal of history has to be large enough to incorporate all of God’s programs, not just one of them (“There Really Is A Difference,” page 20).”

Ephesians 1:7-10. All things, summed up in Christ.

It influences our understanding of the Old Testament.

There is a teaching called “Supersessionism” or “Replacement Theology” that teaches that the Church has replaced Israel.

Or even, that the Church is the continuation of Israel.

Lord willing, I plan to do an entire teaching on this topic in the Future, so I don’t want to get lost in the weeds on this specific point.

However, “Replacement Theology: has influenced Christianity’s view of the Old Testament through the hermeneutic (method of study) they used to interpret the Old Testament.

The best method to study the Scriptures, that is general agreed on by all reputable theologians, Covenant and Dispensational alike, is that of the Historical/Grammatical Hermeneutic, which is what is commonly known as “Literal”.

This is where we seek to find what the Bible means by what it meant to the first readers of it. When God wrote to Israel about a future Messianic Kingdom Age, He gave great detail about how all of it was going to take place (Zech. 14). We take that naturally, we don’t spiritualize it to mean something completely different, to fit our preconceived understanding of the passage. That is “isegesis”, reading into the text something that simply isn’t there.

This is precisely what the Covenant Theologians do with the Nation of Israel and its relation to the Church, even though they “subscribe” to the Historical/Grammatical Hermeneutic, they spiritualize Israel, the Land, and the Kingdom.

This comes from the historical reality that the Jewish people, for 1900 years were not in the Promised Land in any meaningful way.

Augustine wrote “City of God”, which is commonly seen at the first prominent foray into Replacement Theology, as he spiritualizes the future City of Zion, from which Christ rules and reigns in His Millennial Kingdom.

This is also why 1948-1949, and the creation of the modern Jewish State of Israel is entirely amazing, because for the first time since the 2nd Century A.D., the reality of salvation of the Jewish People was in sight.

Dispensationalism is found to be true when the Historical/Grammatical Hermeneutic is applied consistently to the entire text of the Bible.

Dispensationalism is not itself a hermeneutic.

If it becomes a hermeneutic, we fall into the trap of Ultra-Dispensationalism.

Dispensationalism.

Definition:

Dispensational Theology, or dispensationalism, is ordered way of understanding the ways that God has revealed Himself to and worked in His creation.

What is this word “dispensation”?

We get this word from the book of Ephesians 1:10, which says, “for an administration of the fullness of times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and the things on earth in Him.”

The word “administration” is the Greek word “oikonomia”.

it has the idea of a management of a household. Oftentimes as butler was put over a household to manage it or take care of it in the that their master has commanded them.

The way that the master has commanded is the administration, it is the “oikonomia” or dispensation of the master.

The administration of the Government. Right now we are under the Biden administration, and his staff are to be carrying out his “plan”.

Definition: A dispensation is a distinguishable economy in the outworking of God’s purpose.

Historically, dispensationalists have seen 7 dispensations that God has revealed in His scriptures.

This means that God has worked, or will work, in His world in 7 different ways.

Determining the dispensations. Before we look at the 7 dispensations, lets look at some criteria on how we would determine between dispensations.

There are two primary characteristics:

There is a different way that God communicates His Word or His Will to the world.

Mankind has certain responsibilities when responding to the revealed will of God.

Inherent in this is the understanding of progressive revelation. This is easiest to see in the fact that there are Old and New Testaments.

Israel did not have the New Testament.

Paul even talks about the “Mystery” hidden in times past (Ephesians 3:1-7)

There are two secondary characteristics: (secondary in that they are not always found specifically).

A Test: Will a person respond favorably toward the responsibility of the particular economy under which he is living?

A Judgment: The consequence of failing to respond favorably is a judgment from God.

The Dispensations:

The Dispensation of Innocence: Genesis 1:28-3:6.

God communicated His will personally to Adam and Eve in the Garden.

Adam and Eve were to obey God by managing the Garden and being fruitful and multiplying (Genesis 1:28-30).

The test was to not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:15-17).

The judgment was expulsion from the Garden, Spiritual and Physical death (Genesis 3:14-19).

The Dispensation of conscience: Genesis 4:1-8:14.

God communicated His will through the prompting of man’s conscience.

Man was to respond accordingly to God, even through sacrificing in God’s prescribed way (only Abel, Enoch, and Noah are shown in Scripture to do this rightly).

Sin reigned unchecked (Genesis 6:5).

The judgment was the cataclysmic flood (Gen.6-8:14).

The Dispensation of Civil Government: Genesis 8:15-11:9.

God instituted Civil government after the flood by Capital Punishment.

Man was to be obedient both to God and to the government and FILL the earth.

They failed in their responsibility, so much so they wanted to get to God their own way, by building a Ziggurat, or the Tower of Babel.

The judgment was the mass confusion of languages (Genesis 11:7-9).

The Dispensation of Promise, or Patriarchal Rule: Genesis 11:10-Exodus 18:27.

God marks out one family to be His faithful followers on earth.

The responsibility of the patriarchs was to believe God and obey (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob).

The specific test? Some believe that they were a representative test for all. All three failed and succeeded in some capacity…

Slavery in Egypt.

The Dispensation of Mosaic Law: Exodus 19:1-Acts 1:26?.

God gave a specific set of 613 commands to the Children of Israel to follow, called the Torah. It governed every aspect of their lives.

Their responsibility was to follow God’s commands. Exodus 19:3-8.

Obedience also acted as their test. Deuteronomy 4:14-27.

They were judged repeatedly by multiple “oppressions” and captivities, culminating in their rejection of the Messiah they were to be looking for. Deuteronomy 28:64, 65.

I believe this includes the 7 Year Tribulation, finished the 70th Week of Daniel, meant only for the Jewish People. It also acts as the judgement of the world for rejecting Christ in the next dispensation. (Daniel 9:24-27)

The Dispensation of the Church (Grace): Acts 2:1-Revelation 4:1.

God is dealing primarily with the whole world, through the written word of God, preached by the Body of Christ.

Their responsibility is to place their faith in Christ. Acts 17:30, 31.

the test is the same as B. John 3:16-18.

The judgment is the removal of the Church and the deluding influence that brings (2 Thess. 2:7-8).

The Dispensation of the Millennium.

God reveals Himself to mankind by God physically ruling and reigning for 1000 years. Revelation 20:1-6

Man is responsible to obey and believe Him (Zech. 14:16).

The test is the same as B.

Any disobedience during the Kingdom is dealt with swiftly. Culminating in the Great White Throne Judgement.

Overlap in Dispensations:

As you may have seen, there can be a limited amount of overlap between the dispensations.

Consider the overlap between the Dispensation of Human Government and every dispensation following.

From that time on there were government who exercised oversight of their God-ordained areas.

Even to this day: Romans 13:1-7.

The Dispensation of Human Government provided the means by which God established the Ancient Kingdom of Israel, AND the means by which He will establish the Messianic Kingdom in the future.

Can you think of any other overlaps that there may be between the dispensations?

Gentiles in the Messianic Kingdom.

Isaiah 49:5-7; Zechariah 14:16.

Ephesians 3:1-10.

2 Timothy 2:12.

Revelation 5:9-10.

Revelation 20:1-6

Conscience is still in effect today (Romans 2:12-16).

Condemned and shown the need of the Messiah by the Law of God (Galatians 3:19-26).

Different ways of Salvation?

Regardless of Dispensation, salvation has always been by faith in the Promised Messiah, either looking forward to Him, or looking back at what He has done.

The Seed of the Women (Genesis 3:15).

The Seed of Abraham (Genesis 22:15-19).

The Greater Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18-19).

The Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53).

The Branch (Zechariah 3).

The Greater David (Ezekiel 37:24-28).

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