A knowledge of “dispensational truth,” as it is often termed, is indispensable for the intelligent reading of the Bible. Yet many Christians seem to have hardly given it a thought.
God has been pleased to deal with men at different times in various ways. Fresh revelations of Himself and of His will have ushered in new modes of dealing with men, new dispensations.
“Dispensational truth” teaches us to rightly distinguish these changes, and to discern their nature, so that the salient features of each may not be obscured. The importance of this for us Christians is that we thereby learn the true character of the calling wherewith we are called from on high, and of the age in which our lot is cast.
Up to the time of Christ a dispensation ran its course in which the prominent feature was Israel, the chosen nation of the stock of Abraham. The period in which we live, from Pentecost to the coming of the Lord, is marked by altogether different features. Not Israel, but the Church is prominent in God’s thoughts today.
Before dwelling on the important distinctions between the two, let us be quite sure that we understand exactly what we are speaking about.
By ISRAEL we do not mean the Jews, the scattered nation as they are today, nor as they were in the time of our Lord, a remnant still clinging to their ancient capital, Jerusalem. We do not allude to them as they actually existed at any time, but rather to what that nation was according to God’s original plan for them.
When we speak of THE CHURCH we do not refer to any ecclesiastical building nor to any denomination, nor to any number of professed Christians banded together into what is called nowadays “a church.” We use the term in its scriptural sense. The Greek word rendered “church” simply means “called-out ones.” Those, who are called out of the world by God during this period of Christ’s rejection, are by this means, and by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, banded together into God’s assembly, the church.
It may be helpful to notice that in Scripture the term “church” is used in three ways: —
2. As the aggregate number of all Christians upon earth at any given time (1 Cor. 10:32; 12:2832Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: (1 Corinthians 10:32)
28And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:28); Eph. 1:2222And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, (Ephesians 1:22), etc.). In this aspect the church is like a regiment which abides the same, though the units which compose it are constantly changing.
Of these the last is the sense in which we use the word here; though, if we speak of the church as it exists on earth today, we obviously allude to it in its second aspect.
Be it remembered, however, that we refer, as in the case of Israel, not to what the church actually is, or has at any time been, but to what it is according to the original design and thought of God.
Having defined our terms, let us observe a few necessary distinctions.
1. John, the forerunner of the Lord, was the last of the long line of the prophets of the past dispensation. With him, God’s utterances under the old covenant reached their full stop. With Christ, the new utterances began. “The law and the prophets were until John; since that time the kingdom of God is preached” (Luke 16:1616The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. (Luke 16:16)).
The advent of Christ into the world was described by Zacharias as the coming of the dayspring (or, as the margin reads, “sun rising”) from on high. His appearance on earth heralded the dawn of a new day. Not that this new day was there and then inaugurated. The Lord Jesus had a mission to fulfill in the midst of Israel, and He must needs present Himself to that nation as their long-promised Messiah. Moreover, the broad foundations of purposed blessing must be laid amid the sufferings of Calvary. But when all this was past, when the Son of God had died and risen again, when He had ascended to heaven and sent down the Holy Ghost, then was inaugurated a dispensation that was new indeed, utterly different from all that had gone before.
2. The characteristic feature of the old dispensation was law, that of the new is grace. The giving of the law at Sinai ushered in the former. God formulated His demands upon men. He was to receive, and they were to give, that which was His due. The fact that failure came in immediately, failure so great as to amount to a total collapse, did not relieve men of their newly incurred responsibilities in the smallest degree. God, however, announced to Moses that He would have mercy (Ex. 33:1919And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. (Exodus 33:19)), and withhold the threatened destruction in view of the coming of Christ. The law still held sway as “schoolmaster,” and continued so to do until Christ came (Gal. 3:2424Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24)).
In Christ a power mightier than the law was present. The case of the sinful woman in John 8 beautifully illustrates it. Under the potent influence of grace, the hypocrites were convicted far more effectually than under law, and the sinner was forgiven, a thing which the law never professed to do. Now God gives and man receives. The new dispensation is marked by grace reigning through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 5:2121That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:21)).
3. The old dispensation centered round Israel, the new is connected with the church.
The law was given not to everybody, but to one nation, Israel. Upon that nation, therefore, God’s attention was focused. The privileges of the children of Israel belonged to them nationally rather than individually. God always had His own secret dealings with the souls of individuals, and these dealings came into greater prominence in the days of national apostasy. But at the beginning God took them up nationally without reference to the spiritual state of individuals, and their standing before Him was on a national basis.
On the other hand, there is nothing national about the church. Peter declared, corroborated by James, that the divine program for this dispensation is the visiting of the nations by God, “to take out of them a people for His name” (Acts 15:13, 1413And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: 14Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. (Acts 15:13‑14)). God is now making an election from all nations, and those thus gathered out for His name compose “the church.”
The church, then, is not national, nor is it international, it is rather extra-national, i.e., altogether outside of all national distinctions, and totally independent of them. Instead of being constructed on a national basis, it is represented in Scripture as “one flock” (John 10:1616And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. (John 10:16), R.V.), as “one body” (1 Cor. 12:1313For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13)), as “a spiritual house, an holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:55Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)), as a family composed of the children of God (1 John 2:12; 3:112I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. (1 John 2:12)
1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (1 John 3:1), etc.).
Moreover, in connection with the church God begins with the individual. It is composed of those who have personally been set in right relations with God. Only as forgiven, and as having received the Spirit to indwell them, do they become members of the one body, and “living stones” in the spiritual house.
4. Connected with Israel was a ritualistic worship, the value of which lay in its typical significance. The church’s privileges are connected with the eternal realities themselves, with the substance rather than with the shadows. Her worship does not consist of sacrificial offerings, symbolic ceremonies, and the like, but is “worship in spirit and in truth.”
The law had only “a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things” (Heb. 10:11For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. (Hebrews 10:1)). The good things have come, and are realized by Christians today. Christ has established them (Heb. 9:24; 10:1224For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: (Hebrews 9:24)
12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; (Hebrews 10:12)), the Spirit has revealed them (1 Cor. 2:9, 109But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9‑10)), and the believer may gaze upon them with the eye of faith (2 Cor. 4:1818While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)).
5. Israel’s blessings and privileges were largely of an earthly and material order, the church’s are heavenly and spiritual.
In the Old Testament instructions were given as to the way in which the children of Israel should return thanks to God when they were actually in possession of the Promised Land. They were to take the first of all their fruits and set them in a basket before the Lord their God, with an acknowledgment of His goodness on their lips (Deut. 26:1-111And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein; 2That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there. 3And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers for to give us. 4And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God. 5And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous: 6And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: 7And when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression: 8And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: 9And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. 10And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God: 11And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you. (Deuteronomy 26:1‑11)).
Is the Christian to approach God in this way? On the contrary, when Paul wrote to the Ephesians as to the heavenly inheritance of Christians, far from speaking of material things, he said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3)).
How complete the contrast!
6. While Israel’s destiny is to be the channel of blessing to all nations, during the golden years of the millennial age, the church’s destiny is association with Christ in heaven. Isa. 60 well describes the future of Israel. Rev. 19 and 21, under various figures, present to us the destiny of the church as “the Lamb’s wife.”
Was there a definite time when God’s ways with
Israel ended and when the church period began?
It has already been pointed out that the death of Christ marked the close of God’s dealings with Israel as a nation; and that His resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost inaugurated the present dispensation. Compare Acts 2:41-4741Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 42And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. (Acts 2:41‑47) with 1 Cor. 12:1313For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13).
Two qualifying remarks must, however, be made.
Firstly, that though God’s ways with Israel reached their great climax in the cross, He, nevertheless, continued certain supplementary dealings with them until the death of Stephen, and perhaps even until the destruction of Jerusalem. Nor were the full designs of God as to the church made known in their entirety at the very outset of the present age. They were gradually revealed through the apostles, particularly through Paul, though the church itself began its corporate existence as stated.
Secondly, that God’s ways with Israel have only ended for a time. Later on, in a day still future, they will be resumed, and the glorious promises made to that favored nation be literally fulfilled. Israel has been sidetracked, as it were, while the church occupies the rails. When the church has been transferred to heaven, Israel will again be brought out upon the main line of God’s dealings.
In Acts 7:3838This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: (Acts 7:38) Stephen speaks of “the church in the wilderness.” And the headings to many Old Testament chapters refer to the church. Does it not appear from this that the church was in existence before Christ came.
Israel was undoubtedly “the assembly in the wilderness.” Is there anything in this which would warrant our identifying Israel with the church of the New Testament? No more than the use of the same word in Acts 19:4141And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly. (Acts 19:41) warrants our confounding the church in that city with the unruly mob of Diana’s worshippers.
The application to the church of prophetic utterances in Old Testament headings of chapters (which are no part of the original text) is due to the mistaken views of well-meaning men.
But the mistake is a serious one, because it is by the confusion of Israel with the church that men have sought to justify the introduction into Christianity of Jewish elements and principles.
Were not such men as Abraham, Moses, and Elijah in the church? Does it not put a slight upon these honored men to deny them a place therein?
By no means. Their lot was cast in the dispensation that is past. Viewed morally, these men tower as giants, while many of us Christians are but pigmies. Yet even John the Baptist, than whom none was greater, was, when viewed dispensationally, less then the least in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 11:1111Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (Matthew 11:11)). He belonged to the age of servitude, we to the age of sonship (see Gal. 4:1-71Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 2But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 3Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:1‑7)).
The Lord’s words in Matt. 11 concerning John were followed by those of Matt. 16:13-1813When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:13‑18) concerning Himself. He was not a mere prophet like Elijah, Jeremiah, or John, but the Son of the living God, and on that rock, said He, “I will build My church.” Mark those two words: “will build.” It was a future work of which the Lord spoke, and one in which these great men of old had no part.
What was God’s object in calling out Israel into the special place they occupied?
Incidentally also, in that nation as a sample separated from the corruptions of the surrounding peoples, and privileged beyond all others, was made God’s last trial of the human race. The records of their own law as cited in Rom. 3:9-189What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17And the way of peace have they not known: 18There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Romans 3:9‑18) testified to their irremediable failure, and proved in this way the hopelessly fallen conditions of all. If, as Rom. 3:1919Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. (Romans 3:19) puts it, the law utterly condemns the sample nation of the Jews, who were under it, then every mouth is stopped, and all the world is “guilty before God.”
What is God’s object and purpose in connection with the church?
The church is Christ’s body (Eph. 1:2323Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:23)). Therefore in it He is to be expressed; just as your body is that in which you live and express yourself.
It represents Him here during the time of His rejection and personal absence in heaven. Satan has got rid of Christ personally from the earth, but He is here as represented in His people. To touch the church, or any who belong to it, is to touch Him. Do not His own words to Saul imply this: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” (Acts 9:44And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? (Acts 9:4)).
It is God’s house, the only house He has upon earth at the present time. God will not be turned out of His own world! He dwells, therefore, today in a house which no Nebuchadnezzar, no Titus can burn to the ground, and which no Nero, no Torquemada has been able to destroy.
God’s ultimate purpose is to have a bride for Christ (Eph. 5:25-2725Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25‑27)), a people who, sharing now as heavenly strangers His rejection, find their eternal portion as sharers of His heavenly glory.
Can you enumerate some of the blessings we Christians have, which even the best in Israel had not before Christ came?
The knowledge of God as Father, fully revealed in Christ, is one of the greatest of these blessings. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (John 1:1818No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18)).
Another blessing is, instead of promises, we have the fact of accomplished redemption. The promissory bank note has been exchanged for the fine gold of the finished work of Christ.
Lastly, our relationships with God are on an entirely new footing in Christ. We are no more servants, but sons (Gal. 4:4-64But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:4‑6)).
Much more might be added, but these four facts will serve to show the wealth of blessing that belongs to the Christian.
Shall we not thank God that our lot is cast on this side of the cross of Christ?
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