As a suffering remnant of godly Israelites is frequently brought before us in the Psalms, it may be well now to point out briefly some of the distinctions which scripture makes in dispensations. Without some knowledge of dispensational truth, it cannot be understood what are the characteristics of the remnant, and where, in the order of events, their future history will come in.
Dispensations.
1. In Adam, before he fell, we behold man in innocence. (Gen. 2)
2. After sin came in, we see men from Adam to Moses, going on as having a conscience and responsible to God for what he saw of His ways in creation. During this period man turned god-maker, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator. (Rom. 1:19-32.)
3. From Moses to Christ, we see men under law; and they fell into such gross idolatry, that God gave them into captivity to their enemies. (Exod. 24:3-8; John 1:17.)
4. From the death and resurrection of Christ, and the descent of the Holy Ghost to the Lord’s coming, God is calling out and forming the church—the body of Christ; and preaching grace to sinners—to every creature under heaven. His ancient people being for the most part in hardness of heart, scattered because of their sins—Israel outcast, and Judah dispersed. (Eph. 2:15-22; 4:10-13; Matt. 16:15; Rom. 11:25)
5. Between the rapture of the saints at our Lord’s coming, and the Lord’s appearing with His saints, the Spirit of God will move the hearts and consciences of a remnant of Jews; for though many Jews will be cut off in the time of the great tribulation, a remnant will be spared, brought through this time of “Jacob’s trouble,” and introduced into their promised blessing in the land spoken of by the prophets. It is of these godly ones that the Psalms so often speak. (Matt. 24:21, 22; Zech. 13:9; Dan. 12:1.)
6. At our Lord’s appearing in glory, He will bring in the millennial period of blessing, by judging the living, and putting all enemies under His feet; and, at the close of the thousand years, He will execute the judgment of the wicked dead at “the great white throne.” (Isa. 11; Rev. 20)
7. Everything now having been subdued by Jesus the Son of Man, it will be followed by “a new heaven, and a new earth,” in which righteousness will dwell—the eternal state. (Rev. 21:1-8.)
Man was created in a state of innocence; he was “made upright;” after the fall and before law, he was “filled with all unrighteousness;” under law, righteousness was demanded from man in the way of works; by the gospel, righteousness is reckoned by God to man on the principle of faith; in millennial times, righteousness will reign, and, in the eternal state, righteousness will dwell.
In thus taking a hasty glance at the various ways in which God has been pleased to try man and to make Himself known, we cannot fail to see, that it has seemed good to Him to show what His creature man was in a state of innocence; what he was as a fallen creature having a conscience without law; what he was in responsibility to God as under law; what he is now under the ministry of the gospel of the grace of God preached by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, while the church is being formed; what man will be after Satan has been bound for a thousand years and the personal reign of Christ, before the eternal state. In all these changes as regards man’s responsibility, we must remember that God is the same, and that He always acts agreeably with the perfection of His own nature. These various ways of God with man at different periods, are what are generally known by the name of “Dispensations.”
Properly speaking, we cannot say that the time of the deep exercises through which a godly remnant of Jews will pass, so often referred to in the Psalms, is a dispensation; it is more of a transition state which comes in between the rapture of the saints and the Lord’s being manifested with us in glory. It is rather a preparatory process of deep sifting and of God’s governmental dealing with them, before they are brought into their blessing.