Beginning with this issue we plan, Lord willing, to present a series of articles on the vitally important truth of dispensationalism as taught in the Word of God.
Introduction
During the last 20 years or so, there has been a strong reassertion of classic Amillenialism, a system of teaching which denies the Millennium as a definite period of 1000 years, still in the future. This movement, which seems to be carrying away a large number in professing Christianity, is marked by the giving up of the truth of dispensationalism a truth once held by many Christian leaders. This course is in sharp contrast to an earlier trend among several well-known, conservative evangelicals, who along with some large, evangelical Bible colleges have embraced and taught dispensational truth. The dispensational writings and teachings of J. N. Darby and other brethren of the 1800s were a fundamental tenet in the propagation of this truth.
Current opposition to dispensationalism may be due at least in part to the rapid expansion and increasing popularity of certain Christian radio programs, whose commentators categorically reject the Biblical truth of dispensationalism.
The question may be asked, “Does the move away from a dispensational view of the Scriptures matter all that much?” We believe that the answer is a resounding “Yes, it does matter very much!”
There is potential for much confusion and misunderstanding of Scripture when God’s differing ways of dealing with man down through the ages are not clearly understood. Failure to discern the unique position of the church in the counsels and purposes of God affects almost all aspects of our lives. It affects our goals and how we live our lives more than we might suspect. If we do not clearly understand the dispensational dealings of God with man, there is a real danger that we believers becoming in our ways like “earth-dwellers” with our horizons and hopes connected to this world will forget that our true place is with Christ, as part of His bride, in that glorious world to come.
Though capable and respected brothers have differed as to the number and names of the dispensations, they saw and understood the major change in God’s dealings when Israel was set aside and God began to do something new in taking out of the nations (Gentiles) a people for His name (Acts 15:14). Romans 9-11 examine that line of things in the light of the special place Israel enjoyed in the purposes of God in the previous dispensation or administration.
Understanding God’s dispensational dealings is, we feel, fundamental to our walking as heavenly pilgrims, in a way which is pleasing and glorifying to our Lord Jesus Christ. Confusion or ignorance of this important subject may easily result in believers becoming involved in the politics and social programs of the world. “Ye are not of the world” ( John 15:19). “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” (1 John 2:15).
R. K. Gorgas