Ages are sometimes confused with dispensations, but they are different. An age is an epoch or period of time that has run, or is running, or will run, its course on earth. Such periods are called “the ages of time” (2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2). A dispensation, as we have already noted, is a public ordering of God in the administration of His ways pertaining to certain moral and spiritual requirements of those in His house. These administrations may change during an age, but they are not an age. Some have homogenized ages and dispensations and made them into the same thing. For instance, Unger’s Bible Dictionary says, “A dispensation is an era of time during which man is tested.” C. I. Scofield's scheme of “Seven Dispensations” is another example of this mixture. However, Scripture distinguishes these two things, as we have noted.
The Lord Spoke of Two Ages
The Lord spoke of two ages in particular in His ministry:
“This age” and “the age to come” (Matt. 12:32). “This age” is the Mosaic age, which began at Sinai and was in progress at the time of the Lord’s first coming. When He was rejected and cast out of this world, “this age” became “the present evil age,” in that the “princes of this age” committed the greatest sin of crucifying the Lord of glory (Gal. 1:4; 1 Cor. 2:6, 8).
Some have thought that the present calling of God by the gospel has put the Mosaic age in abeyance, and it will not begin again until some future day. But this is not true; the Mosaic age is still running its course on earth today. The coming of the Holy Spirit and the introduction of Christianity did not bring it to an end. Nor did it begin a new age; the age that was in progress when the Lord was here is still in progress now. However, while the Mosaic age is not suspended, God’s connection with Israel as a nation is in abeyance. Those who believe the gospel are called out of the Jews and the Gentiles to be part of the Church; they are delivered “out of this present evil age,” and are no longer part of it, as far as their position is concerned (Gal. 1:4). The Church, therefore, has no connection with the earth and the periods of time. Hence, to speak of this present period as “the Church age” is not doctrinally accurate.
The Church is on earth at this present time as a sojourner on its way to its heavenly home; its calling, character, and destiny are all heavenly (2 Cor. 5:1; Eph. 1:3; 2:6; 6:12; Phil. 3:20; Col. 1:5; Heb. 3:1; 11:16; 12:22; 13:14; 1 Peter 1:4). Since the Church is still on earth and passing through “this age” which is marked by evil, the exhortations of the Apostle are to keep ourselves separate from its character and ways. We are to “live soberly, righteously, and godly, is this present age” (Titus 2:12). Believers are to reject the wisdom of this age, because “God has made foolish the wisdom of this world” (1 Cor. 1:20). Also, Christians who are “rich in the present age” materially are warned to not “trust in uncertain riches” (1 Tim. 6:17). They are to distribute their possessions, and thereby lay “up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come” (1 Tim. 6:18-19). Sad to report, some Christians today are turning from their steadfastness, and are loving “this present age,” and are settling down in the world as a result. Demas is an example (2 Tim. 4:10).
We know from the prophetic Scriptures that this present age has at least 7 more years remaining to it, which will run their course after the Church is called to heaven. These years will be fulfilled in the seventieth week of Daniel (Dan. 9:27). This age is presently under the control of Satan who is its god and prince (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2), and it is going on to judgment. It will close at the Appearing of Christ in what is called, “the completion of the age” (Matt. 13:39-40, 49; 24:3; 28:20). At that time, the Lord will bring in “the age to come,” which is the Millennium (Matt. 12:32; Mark 10:30; Eph. 1:21; Heb. 2:5; 6:5). When the Millennium has run its course of 1000 years, the Eternal State will be ushered in. Scripture calls this, “The ages of ages” (Gal. 1:5; Eph. 2:7; 3:21; 1 Tim. 1:17; 1 Peter 5:11; Rev. 5:13; 22:5). Properly speaking, it is not really an age, because ages have to do with time, and there is no time in eternity.
Summary of an Age
In summary, an “age” is a period of time, and a “dispensation” is a moral and spiritual ordering of God during a period of time in relation to some specific revelation of truth He has given to His house. In accord with this, J. N. Darby spoke of being “in” an age, but “under” a dispensation (Collected Writings, vol. 10, p. 12).
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