Editorial

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 8
The way that God tests man changes from time to time. These times are called dispensations. This very word is used in the first chapter of Ephesians and verse ten where it speaks of "the dispensation of the fullness of times." The three prominent dispensations we frequently speak of are Law, Grace, and the Kingdom or Millennium.
The dispensation of the Law began when God gave the law to Moses from Mount Sinai with a great outward display of awesome glory. It was only given to one nation, Israel.
The next dispensation called Grace begins in the book of the Acts with the descent of the Holy Spirit and free and full salvation by grace offered to all —to whosoever, not just to one nation.
There is something important for us to notice about this change of dispensations from Law to Grace. It is this: they overlap. This is readily understood from the special book addressed to the Hebrews who were the people to whom God had given the law as a test for them. Chapter 9 and verse 10 speaks of "carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation." The whole of the book of the Acts and still a few more years were the time of reformation. It was about forty years. This is what we speak of as the overlap of these two dispensations of Law and Grace.
Now we ask a question: Will there be a time of overlap between this dispensation of Grace and the soon coming Kingdom? We believe that there will. Another question: Are we now in that brief period of the overlap? There are at this time, signs that God is behind the scenes preparing Israel for her necessary tribulations and then the Kingdom. Many Jews are again gathered in and around Jerusalem where their forefathers rejected and crucified their Messiah and said, "His blood be on us, and on our children." Matt. 27:2525Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. (Matthew 27:25). Surely God's dealings with His earthly people are beginning and yet His heavenly people, the Church, are still here awaiting the rapture which we can rightly expect any day. Meanwhile the gospel of God's grace is still offered to all.
In other words, it is still the time of the dispensation of Grace but behind the scenes God is preparing for the time of the Kingdom. We believe we are in the overlap. Ed.