PART – #01
“DISPENSATION is a ‘Biblical Word’, and one that always has been under a growing and severe attack.”
And this attack on ‘dispensation’ is probably at its peak, especially in these last and final days of human history.
Here is one of several Biblical truths about ‘dispensation’.
Dispensation is that ‘indispensable defining line’, clearly laid out by Scripture, between life and death, between heaven and hell.
And if we cannot recognize and accept it, both by faith and understanding, then we are in trouble.
For the eternal destinies of men are at stake here.
And we aim to teach and explain just that, in this particular series.
‘Dispensation’ is a word that most are tempted to refrain from using, when it comes to the Truth of God’s Word.
The reason is simply because too many people have heard nothing but bad things about the word.
And what is ironic is, even though they’ve heard bad things about ‘dispensation’, they have “no idea why”.
During a sermon recently, I heard the word ‘Dispensation’ and what it represents, being emphatically attacked as ‘insidious’.
That is an extremely strong attack on a ‘Holy Spirit Authored Word’ and His revealed New Testament concept.
Because if we check out the numerous connotations attached to the meaning of ‘insidious’, it is horrible!
And we bet a billion to one, that the hearers of the sermon that day, had ‘no clue’ as to why either!
For nothing was explained, just statements made with an emphatic ‘insidious’.
And the truth is that the statements were in fact, insidious!
‘Anything’ that comes against the ‘Truth of Scripture’, is undoubtedly nothing short of insidious.
But that is just but one of several examples, of how strongly ‘dispensation’ has come under attack!
Meeting It Head On
Sometimes, the most effective way to deal with an attack, more often than not, is by facing it head on.
And this is one of those times, and a crucial one at that!
And the most effective way is by spelling out the ‘truth of the Word of God’.
This all-out attack on the dispensation of God’s ‘doctrinal Grace’ is a severe ‘time of the end’ attack by Satan himself.
We have God’s ‘Attribute of Grace’, and there is God’s ‘Doctrinal Grace’, and there is a difference between the two.
And we will address that in this series too.
A Skilful Worker
Satan has authored untold, unprecedented confusion and chaos, and he’s a skilful master at his work.
We dare not sell him short! [CRUMB 0015]
His time is shorter than we can think, and he wants to take as many as he can with him.
Remember the Bible calls him ‘the god of this world’, and his prime mission is to keep people blinded through deception.
Here is how Scripture lays it out in [2nd Corinthians 4:4]:
“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not….
And who are the, “them which believe not”?
This is all inclusive, of not just unbelievers, but can also include many who supposedly profess faith in Christ Jesus.
…….lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
The unbelieving unbeliever is understandable.
For they have either ‘not heard’ the Gospel, or have turned their back on it.
For the most part, they want to have nothing to with it, for reasons best known to themselves.
But what about the supposedly professing Christian?
Where do they fit into this “them that believe not” category?
It is a vitally valid question, and one that we seek to throw some light on, through the Scriptures alone.
Let The Scriptures Do The Talking
We must, at any cost, allow the Scriptures to do the talking.
They speak to us with ‘great plainness of speech’ [2 Corinthians 3:12], if we allow them to do so, for God is not the author of confusion.
They are laid out clearly, and in a way as ‘God’ intends us to understand them.
The opinions of men have no place here, irrespective of their station or status in this life.
God wants us to ask questions, and HE wants to answer them clearly through His Word that we may truly understand.
He does not expect ‘blind faith’, because our faith has been divinely and inspiringly ‘documented’ by the Holy Spirit Himself.
And HE wants us to understand it!
“Faith” must come “by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” [Romans 10:17].
The Greek root word here for ‘hearing’ is ‘akoē’, which means, “to understand, perceive the sense of what is said”.
Looking at the writings of Solomon in the Bible in the Book of Proverbs, he talks about getting wisdom.
Look at what he writes in [Proverbs 4:7]:
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get (what?) understanding.”
Though this may be in the Old Testament, this same admonition comes to us through the pen pf the apostle Paul in this Age of Grace in [Ephesians 5:17]
“Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”
God wants every one of us to understand exactly what He has revealed.
A Spiritual Lethargy
There is a spiritual lethargy that has swept Christendom like a flood.
‘Spiritual fast food’ seems to be the order of the day, satisfying the palate and most prefer that.
The social media platforms of Facebook and Instagram, are the most popular launching pads for this.
They are saturated with all this and just about everything gets swallowed.
Church goers accept just about anything that comes across from the pulpits, as the truth.
This is in spite of the fact that deception is rampant.
This shows, that there are few who care to check for themselves, what the Scriptures are really saying.
And equally importantly, what they are ‘not saying’, instead of just going along with what is heard from the pulpits of Christendom.
We are not advocating that all are deceptive and false, but there are many that are, both false and in ‘doctrinal error’.
The call for discernment is the order of the day more than ever in these times.
And it’s only by right understanding of the Scriptures, ‘as revealed’, that can achieve that [Hebrews 4:12].
Like we mentioned earlier, our eternal destinies are at stake here.
We do not want to ‘think’ that we will make it, we need to know for sure that we ‘will’.
Only ‘that assurance’ can be our greatest strength, so we all need to roll up our sleeves and start digging.
And that calls for effort, for its only below the surface that the treasures of truth truly lie.
Called To Be ‘Berean’
‘Berean’ is a word, that is derived from the Scriptures in [Acts 17:10-11].
These were people who “received the Word of God with all readiness of mind”.
But they didn’t just stop there.
The Scripture tells us that they “searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things (that Paul spoke of) were so”.
These were just ordinary, the everyday life, ‘run-of-the-mill’ people like most of us today.
But they ‘checked it out’ for themselves, as we would say today,.
And every single one of us must strive for the same, or the devil ‘will’ take us for a ride.
“Do not be deceived”, was probably the strongest admonition Jesus gave when He came to minister to Israel.
The apostle Paul consistently gives us the same admonition, in his epistles.
“Beware lest any man spoil you…” comes as a strong warning to us from this designated apostle in [Colossians 2:8].
Then he tells us how this could happen.
“Through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”
Dispensation, An Unliked Word
‘Dispensation’ is a word that so many in Christendom, for some reason, just do not like.
They want to stay away from it like a plague, and as we mentioned earlier, they have no clue why.
And the truth is that, if understood, it is one of the most liberating words in the Bible.
The understanding of ‘dispensation’ sets us free from untold confusion and contradictions that have come about in a big way.
It sets everything in a perfect place of understanding, dispelling all doubts and confusion, and we can rest in it.
You only find the word, ‘dispensation’ in the epistles of the apostle Paul, and he mentions it on four occasions.
And it’s both an indispensable and integral part of God’s eternal plan of salvation for the human race.
We would all be doomed to a lost eternity without it!
What Is A Dispensation?
So what exactly is a ‘dispensation’?
Well, to qualify a dispensation, it’s just a simple word from which we get the word stewardship or dispensing.
If we go to a pharmacy and give him our prescription, he then dispenses what the doctor has ordered.
But along with dispensing the product, he also gives us explicit instructions.
We don’t just take that medicine haphazardly, but rather we follow the instructions that came with the dispensing.
Now let’s bring that concept of dispensation into the Scriptures, the Word of God.
A ‘dispensation’ is a period of time during which God lays particular ‘dispensational instructions’ to the human race.
A Secular Illustration And Analogy
The best way we can illustrate ‘dispensation’ from the secular world point of view is our government.
Take for an example, the US presidential administration or any other administration of a nation.
We’ll go back in time and use Carter and Reagan as the analogy.
They had the administration of Jimmy Carter, and then the one followed by Ronald Reagan.
These were men with two totally different ideologies.
But yet they both led the country under the same constitution, as would any other nation.
Going back to the Carter years, he builds his own administration and he appoints his own cabinet.
He appoints men who have the same ideology that he does, concerning how the country should be ‘administered’ to.
It wasn’t so much the 4 years he was in the White House that made his administration.
But rather what made the Carter administration, was the ideology that he promoted.
And this was by whatever he suggested to the congress or how he handled foreign affairs.
That’s what marked the Carter administration.
But it ended, when Reagan won the elections.
Then there was a ‘transition period’ (keep that in mind!).
And from that dispensation of the Carter years, they went to someone with a totally different view.
And that was Ronald Reagan.
He too was under the same constitution.
And his term of office also came to the place where it ended.
Whether he served 4 or 8 years is irrelevant.
What counted was the kind of ideology that his administration promoted for the country during that period.
Now that concept applies in every nation on the globe, when the administration or the headship changes, so does the dispensing and mode of operation.
So in short, what makes an administration was, “What were they dispensing?”
Bringing It Into Scripture
Now we can bring that concept into Scripture and we have a beautiful analogy.
When God called Moses and the Nation of Israel out of Egypt, he brought them around Mount Sinai.
He called Moses up into the mountain.
Then what did God give to Moses?
The Law.
And the Law was a dispensation.
It was a ‘dispensing’ to the Nation of Israel.
That is, God’s demands upon the Nation as to how they were to worship, and how they were to live.
And all these things were part of that ‘dispensation of Law’.
Whether it went for 500 years or 1500 years is of no consequence.
What’s important is, “what did God give Moses to tell the children of Israel?”
The Law.
And of course, the Law was in three parts.
It was first and foremost the ‘moral Law’, the Ten Commandments.
Then they had the ‘ritual law’.
That is, how they were to worship, and how to approach God with the sacrifices, and priesthood and so forth.
Then it also had the ‘civil law’.
And that was how to deal with your neighbour and how to settle disputes and so forth.
That was all dispensed at Mount Sinai.
But Grace ended all of that!
“The Cross ended the Law, because that was when everything of the Law was ‘dispensationally’ fulfilled.”
Click [HERE] for PART – #02 – “ACCORDING TO THE REVELATION”
(Please note, all that is written in the ORANGE COLOUR, are connecting links, so do refer to them. You will find them very useful.)
