God's ways with man (see Eph. 1:10)
FOREWORD
We read in 2 Tim. 2:15 about the importance of "rightly dividing the word of truth" and it is with this in mind that we feel a scriptural understanding of God's dealings with man in the seven dispensations is helpful to this end. It has been remarked that Eph. 1:10 is the key verse of the Bible for it tells us the final purpose of all God's ways "That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him." This verse makes it clear that in the purposes of God there are two distinct spheres of blessing, heavenly and earthly.
The nation of Israel and the earthly Jerusalem are the center of the earthly-blessing and in the millennium all the nations of the earth will acknowledge, as the Scripture says, that Jerusalem is the city of the great King (Christ) (Psa. 48:1,2) and they will come there to worship Him (Zech. 14:16).
The church the bride of Christ (Rev. 21:4,9) will be in heaven with the vast heavenly company called "the friends of the Bridegroom" (John 3:29, Rev. 19:9) when He reigns over the earth in the millennial day.
The seven dispensations teach us how God has worked and is working to accomplish all this (Eph. 1:11) and to fulfill His eternal purposes to bring in a scene of glory with Christ in manhood with His bride, the church, the center of it all. The cost was great, for the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God became a man, bore the judgment of God for our sins, and as the risen glorified Man is to be the Center on this new creation scene of glory, heavenly and earthly.
"Of the vast universe of bliss,
The center Thou, and Sun;
Th' eternal theme of praise is this,
To heaven's beloved One:
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou,
That every knee to thee should bow."
Hymn 150 L.F.
THE SEVEN DISPENSATIONS OF SCRIPTURE
It is wonderful to trace the order of the revelation God has given to us in His Word from Genesis to Revelation for it is inspired by the Spirit of God, as we read in 2 Tim. 3:16, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
What a marvel to think that all these different writers, writing over a period of about 1500 years should write in perfect harmony giving to us an outline of the ways of God, from the beginning of the material creation, through the process of time on to the eternal state. Who among men would know these things if God had not told us? He has not told us all that our curious minds would like to know, but as we read in 2 Peter 1:3, "His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue."
Another wonder of the Bible is that because it is inspired by the Spirit of God, it is unlike all the books written by men and women. A man or woman who has the same measure of intelligence as the writer of books written by other men or women will understand such books. But since the Bible is inspired by the Spirit of God one must receive the Spirit of God to understand many of the wonderful things revealed in the Bible (1 Cor. 2:11,12). At the same time God has made the way to he saved, and to receive the Spirit of God very simple, so that even a child can understand, can receive eternal life and receive the Spirit of God. A person must come as a lost sinner to the Lord Jesus, for He is the Door, as He said, "I am the door, by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved" John 10:9. When we are saved, cleansed from all our sins in the precious blood of Christ then we delight to read the Bible for we love the Lord Jesus and want to learn more about Him, His love and His truth. May this be the prayer of our hearts "Lead me in Thy truth and teach me, for Thou art the God of my salvation" Psa. 25:5.
With these thoughts in mind, 1 would like to give a little outline of the ways of God with man as revealed in the Scripture. The Bible as we have said reveals to us the history of mankind from the time of his creation on this earth until his final destiny in blessing or under the righteous judgment of God. There are "seven dispensations" revealed to us in the Bible. A dispensation is a period of time in which God offers blessing to man on certain conditions, for God delights in blessing, as we read in Prov. 8:31 "rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and My delights were with the sons of men."
God created everything for man's good and happiness for we read in Gen. 1:31, "and God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good." He put the man (Adam) whom He had made in His own image (representative) and His own likeness (moral) with his helpmeet (Eve) who was to share this special position of headship over the wonderful creation fresh from the hand of God. He only gave him one command to keep, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen. 2:16,17.
This was the dispensation of innocence. It was a question of simple obedience, not knowing good or evil—just obeying what God said in the simplicity of a child. They chose to disobey God and this was the cause of the fall, "As by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin." Rom. 5:12. Having disobeyed God they now have the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:22). They now have a bad conscience without the power to do good or to refrain from evil. They know they must answer to God, and because they have a conscience they feel their nakedness and try to cover it with aprons of their own handiwork made with fig leaves.
God now becomes a seeking God, and He calls in grace to Adam, the responsible head, "Where art thou?" Adam and Eve were afraid because they were naked, and the fig leaf aprons of their own making did not satisfy their newly acquired consciences. This is why the Lord said, "Who told thee that thou wast naked?" Gen. 3:11. This was the conviction of a guilty conscience. Man has now failed when tested in innocence, but God is the God of all grace. He solemnly brings their sin before them, for God is Light, and as the Psalmist said, "Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance." Psa. 90:8. But in wondrous grace He made the promise that although Eve had yielded to Satan's temptation and Adam had followed her, both eating of the forbidden fruit, yet God said, that the Seed of the woman (Christ) would bruise the serpent's head (Gen. 3:15).
They must forfeit this beautiful garden of Eden, but before driving them out of the garden, God Himself clothed them, not with fig leaf aprons, but with coats of skins, obtained through the death and blood shedding of a victim that died in their place. God also placed the Cherubim and a flaming sword to keep them from reentering Eden. They could not obtain favor in God's sight by their own efforts, but because the sword of judgment for sin fell upon Christ the promised Seed of the woman, redeemed men and women will enter the heavenly city washed from their sins in the blood of the Lamb of God (Rev. 5:9;21:4).
Now let us look at what follows this dispensation of innocence. God has met man in grace in spite of his failure in innocence, and now He puts him to a test whether he will, as people say, let his conscience be his guide. Will he maintain a good conscience? Very soon we find that Cain approached a holy God with an offering of the fruit of the ground which God had cursed, while Abel avails himself of God's gracious provision for fallen man and approaches God with the sacrifice of an animal to die in his stead. God accepts Abel's sacrifice (Heb. 11:4) and Cain is angry, refusing to offer an acceptable sacrifice (Gen. 4:6,7) and he kills his brother. God had not yet given the authority of government to man to punish the offender. It is now the dispensation of conscience, and Cain goes out from the presence of the Lord and builds a city and his descendants make harps and organs and become artificers in brass and iron, while Lamech has two wives. Cain had a conscience but he and his posterity try to forget their guilt in a life of pleasure, knowledge, and entertainment (Job 21:11-15). There was no government in the earth, though God raised up a testimony warning of coming judgment, and He also tells us that Enoch walked with God (Gen. 5:22, Jude 14,15).
But things become worse and worse in this dispensation of conscience, with men going on in sin without the restraint of government and we read in Gen. 6:5, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Also in Gen. 6:11, "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence."
Again we see the wonderful grace of God. He told Noah, a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5) that He was going to bring a flood that would destroy man from off the earth, but He gave instruction to him to build an ark, a place of safety and shelter from this flood of water. Noah believed God, and he prepared this huge boat in which shelter was provided for all those who entered. Only Noah, his wife, and family (eight persons in all) entered, as well as all the animals, birds, and creeping things which Noah was instructed to take unto it. All those outside the ark perished in the flood.
After the waters were abated from the earth those eight souls, with the animals, birds, and creeping things came out to start afresh the population of the earth. The first thing that Noah did was to offer a sacrifice to the Lord of all the clean animals, and the Lord smelled a sweet savor and promised that He would not send such a flood of water again. God did not say that He now expected men and women to improve, but because of the sacrifice Noah had made (the death of those animals and birds), He acted in grace (Gen. 8:20-22). The only way of blessing for man is through the death and shedding of the blood of a substitute. All this pointed on to Christ, and His death and blood-shedding for sinners at Calvary.
Man had failed to get blessing through his conscience for he had filled the earth with violence and corruption, and God had wiped out the record of this with a flood. Now man is about to enter the third test—the dispensation of human government, and God says, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed" Gen. 9:6. He put human government into the hands of man as we read in Rom. 13:1. "The powers that be are ordained of God."
Sad to say, Noah, to whom this authority was first committed, became drunk (Gen. 9:21), so we see again that as soon as man is placed in a position of responsibility he fails in it, and if there is to be blessing it comes on the ground of a sacrifice, as we have noticed.
Men now attempted to establish themselves on the earth, because all mankind at this time spoke the same language. They start to build a tower in independence of God, and at this point idolatry began (Josh. 24:2), and Abraham was called out from this wickedness. Men worshipped the works of their own hands and said to God "Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways" Job 21:14.
The call of Abraham begins the dispensation of promise. God intervenes in grace in man's evil course and we read that the God of glory appeared to Abraham (Acts 7:2) and called him out from this idolatry to reveal Himself as the one true God and to give him and his posterity the land of Canaan for a possession (Gen. 13:14-17). This, as we have said, is the beginning of the dispensation of promise. The land of Canaan is promised to the nation of Israel, through the promised Seed which is Christ (Gal. 3:16) and when Abraham asked how could he know this, it was confirmed to him on the ground of a sacrifice (Gen. 15:5-21). In spite of Israel's sad history of sin, and of passing through the furnace of trial, there was the "burning lamp" of God's unfailing promises.
We know how, not long after this, Jacob's sons sold Joseph their brother into Egypt and then, because of the famine which God sent, they all went down into Egypt. But even though they had not yet received the promise of the possession of the land of Canaan, God had sworn by Himself to give it to them through the promised Seed which is Christ (Gal. 3:14-18), and He could not break His Word. Faithful to His promise God delivered them from their slavery in Egypt, sheltering them from judgment through the blood of the Passover Lamb (a picture of Christ the true Passover, 1 Cor. 5:7) and bringing them out of Egypt, setting them on their way to Canaan, the land of promise.
At this point the people are put to a test. Could they obtain the blessing God purposed for them by their own efforts? They said they could, and if God would tell them what to do, they would obey. "And all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord" Ex. 19:8.
As we have noticed, they had left the land of promise and had become slaves in Egypt. God in grace had delivered them from Egypt and its slavery, sheltering them from judgment by the blood of the lamb. He had by His power brought them through the Red Sea and set them on their way to Canaan. He had met all their murmurings in grace, for His purpose was to bless them, not because they had earned His favor, but by grace alone. But they are now put to another test. Could they keep God's holy law? At Mount Sinai, God gives the Ten Commandments and this is the beginning of the new test—the dispensation of Law. Man had failed in Innocence. He had failed under Conscience. He had failed under Government. He had failed under Promise. Now, could he keep God's holy law which in Ex. 20 is made known at Mt. Sinai and written by the finger of God on tables of stone? (Ex. 32:15,16)
We know the sad story only too well. Moses had gone up to Mount Sinai to get these tables of stone, and before he came down the people had broken the first commandment and were worshipping a golden calf saying, "These be thy gods, 0 Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt" Ex. 32:4. It is the same sad story as before, but also the record of how God meets them in grace. Moses then goes up to the mountain the second time and God gives him the pattern for the tabernacle providing a way of approach into His presence for a guilty lawbreaking people through the blood of a sacrifice. Moses had broken the first tables of stone at the foot of the mountain, so they did not come into the camp, for it would have brought certain judgment. But when he went up the second time God wrote the same law on tables of stone again (Ex. 34:1-8) and he put these in the ark (Deut. 10:1,2) and the mercy seat was above it where the blood was sprinkled on the day of atonement (Lev. 16:14). God did not change His holy law but in grace provided a way that He could go on with a guilty people until the one perfect Sacrifice was made at Calvary by the Lord Jesus whose precious blood alone could put away sin (Heb. 10:4,14).
This, as we have said, is the beginning of the dispensation of law, and it continued until the Lord Jesus bore the curse of the broken law on Calvary's cross, as it is recorded in Gal. 3:13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." As we trace the history of the nation of Israel we see how they turned away from the Lord, not only breaking the law, but seeking happiness and security by other means rather than in the path of obedience, as we read in Jer. 2:13, "My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water."
God dealt with them in chastisement allowing their enemies to triumph over them, sending famine and trials among them, and then ten of their tribes were carried into captivity by the Assyrians. At the same time He raised up prophets to warn them and also to tell them of God's unchanging love (Jer. 31:3-9) and of His purposes of blessing. But the remaining two tribes were no better than the ten and, sad to say, even after the longsuffering patience of God, they did not turn to Him. He then allowed these remaining two tribes to be carried into captivity to Babylon (2 Chron. 36:11-21) where they remained in captivity for seventy years.
Surely we can see in this dispensation of law that Israel was only a sample of the heart and ways of the natural man. They not only could not keep God's holy law, but they had no heart to do so, as we read in Isa. 53:6 "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way." God desired their blessing for "He loved the people" (Deut. 33:3) and did not forsake them in all their sin and rebellion.
We see here, as in each of these dispensations, that the grace of God and the government of God are displayed. When they had failed and He must deal with their sins in His governmental ways, He reached out to them in grace, ever seeking their good and blessing. He brought a remnant from the two tribes back to their land, as we read in Ezra and Nehemiah and raised up prophets to encourage them to honor the Lord by obedience to Him while waiting for the promised Messiah to come. So we read in Mic. 5:2 "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel: whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting." He gave prophecies of their future blessing and then at last, as we read in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John how the promised Messiah came into this world. "Thou shalt call His Name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins" Matt. 1:21.
Man had failed in every dispensation but "where sin abounded grace did much more abound" Rom. 5:20. The greatest test for man now came when the Lord Jesus was born into this world, but we read in John 1:10,11, " He was in the world and the world, was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." They boasted of the law which they had not kept, and rejected their Messiah who in grace went about in kindness and love healing their sick, cleansing lepers, opening blind eyes and even raising the dead. At last that favored nation cried, "Away with Him. We will not have this Man to reign over us." (John 19:15, Luke 19:14). Pontius Pilate who was a Gentile delivered Him to be crucified, and we read in Rom. 3:19, "Now we know that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God."
The Lord Jesus then became the Sin Bearer at Calvary, and as we read in Isa. 53:6, "He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." He also bore the curse of the broken law (Gal. 3:13) putting an end to the dispensation of law. God is no longer asking man to keep the law, for He has said "They that are in the flesh cannot please God" Rom. 8:8. God is a holy God and each dispensation has only proved that man is a lost sinner and has never been able to fulfill God's holy requirements.
We are now living in the dispensation of the grace of God and "grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord" Rom. 5:21. God now comes to men and women requiring that they will acknowledge themselves as guilty lost sinners having no righteousness of their own, and that they are unable to please God (Rom. 8:5). He gives a new life, eternal life, the very life of Christ to the sinner who believes. "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" Rom. 5:21, "for He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" 2 Cor. 5:21. When we are saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God, the earnest of our inheritance (Eph. 1:13) "and blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" Eph. 1:3. We become part of the church of God, not by joining a man- made church organization, for we read in Acts 2:47, "The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
It is important to understand what the church of God is. Now in this dispensation of the grace of God, the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile has been broken down (Eph. 2:14-16), and both are brought together and made members of the one body of Christ, "for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jew or Gentile" (1 Cor. 12:13). The nation of Israel had promises of earthly blessing, and God has not forgotten these promises and will in a future day bring them nationally into their earthly inheritance as we shall see later.
But now, in this dispensation of the grace of God, in this church period, Jews and Gentiles, as we have remarked, are made one in Christ. The church is a heavenly company, the inheritance is laid up for us in heaven (Col. 1:5, 1 Peter 1:4) and in Eph. 2:6 we are seen as already seated there. We have the privilege of proclaiming God's wonderful message of pardon and peace to a lost world, as ambassadors, (2 Cor. 5:20,21) but as the Lord Jesus said, "They are not of the world even as I am not of the world" John 17:16. We also have the privilege of gathering at the Lord's table as members of the one body of Christ to remember Him in His death till He comes to take us to our heavenly Home (1 Cor. 10:17,11:26).
We must never forget that this wonderful place of blessing is all through sovereign grace, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast" Eph. 2:8,9. Grace is the undeserved favor of God, we cannot earn it, we must receive all by faith, because the work of redemption was accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. We are saved by grace (Eph. 2:8), we stand in grace (1 Peter 5:12), and it is grace that will be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13).
Now we are "created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" Eph. 2:10. Good works in the believer's life are not done to obtain salvation, but out of gratitude for what the Lord has done for us, and to be acceptable to the Lord they must be in obedience to His Word. As soon as Paul was saved on the road to Damascus he said, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do" Acts 9:6.
As mentioned before, we are now living in this dispensation of the grace of God, but it will soon end at the coming of the Lord Jesus, closing the door of grace on all who have refused the gospel of the grace of God, as we read in Matt. 25:10 "And they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage: and the door was shut." The Lord's coming will be followed by seven years of trouble or tribulation which will come on all the earth, (see Rev. 3:10) but especially on those who have refused God's gracious offer of salvation, and on the Jews, who still continue to reject the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah, the One who came in grace. God will then send a strong delusion on all those who have rejected the gospel of the grace of God and they will believe Satan's lie (2 Thess. 2:10-12).
But He will at this time raise up a godly remnant among those Jews who have not rejected the gospel of the grace of God, and they will go out and preach the gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 25:14) announcing that Christ is coming to set up His kingdom in righteousness on the earth (Isa. 32:1). Some of this godly remnant will be put to death for their testimony, and if so they will have part in the first resurrection and have a heavenly portion (Rev. 20:4-6). The ones who are not put to death will have part in Christ's earthly kingdom (Rev. 7:1-8) which He sets up on earth for the thousand years of which we are about to speak. There will also be a great multitude of Gentiles who had not heard and rejected the gospel of the grace of God, who will believe this gospel of the kingdom and they will share in this blessing of Christ's kingdom reign on earth (Rev. 7:14,9-17:1-5).
At the end of this seven years of tribulation when evil will have risen to its full, Christendom having worshipped "the beast" (Rev. 13:1-8) the apostate Jews having accepted the Antichrist (John 5:43) and Satan will be worshipped instead of God, (Rev. 13:4) then the Lord will come out of heaven with His redeemed ones (Rev. 19:11-21) to execute judgment on the ungodly and to set up righteous government in the earth (2 Thess. 1:7-10, Acts 17:31, Matt. 25:31-46). Here we have the judgment of the living (2 Tim. 4:1).
This will bring in the dispensation of righteous government (Isa. 11;32). This is the last trial of man on the earth. Men blame the devil for leading them to sin, so in this last test of man, the devil will be bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-3) and man is tested as to whether he will sin without a tempter. If any one sins openly during this thousand year reign of the Lord Jesus, he will be cut off in righteous judgment (Zech. 5:1-4, Psa. 101;7;8). The desert will then blossom as the rose (Isa. 35:1,2), the wolf will lie down with the lamb and a little child shall lead them (Isa. 11:6). It will be a wonderful time of blessing in happy family life (Isa. 65: 19-25, Psa. 125) and righteous government.
There will be no death of believers during this thousand years, only of those who have not been born again who are cut off in judgment if they sin openly (Psa. 101:8, JND, Zech. 5:4).
At the end of this thousand years of happiness and blessing on the earth Satan is released and goes out to deceive the nations, and sad to say those who have not been born again make their final choice, and follow Satan and come up against Jerusalem the center of the earthly millennial glory. Then fire comes down from heaven and devours them, and Satan is cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:7-10).
This ends the seven dispensations of man's trial on the earth and the great white throne is set up. The judgment of the living had taken place at the beginning and during the thousand year reign of Christ, (the millennium), (see Matt. 25:31-46), and now we read of the judgment of those who have died in their sins. They are judged according to their works, and "whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" Rev. 20:11-15.
The first heaven and the first earth are burned up and pass away with a great noise and the elements melt with fervent heat (2 Peter 3:12,13) and God creates new heavens and a new earth (2 Peter 3:13) where sin and its results can never enter. "And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" Rev. 2:1:4.
There will be two places of eternal blessing: heavenly and earthly. The church, the bride of Christ will be in the heavenly glory (2 Cor. 5:1, Col. 1:5, Rev. 21:9, 1 Peter 1:3,4). The church is composed of all those who have been saved from the day of Pentecost which was the beginning of the church period foretold by the Lord Jesus in Matt. 16:18. It began on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:47,1-4) and continues until the rapture which is the coming of the Lord Jesus as the Bridegroom for His bride (Matt. 25:1-10, 1 Thess. 4:15-18). Also in this heavenly glory will be a great company called "the friends of the Bridegroom" (John 3:29), who have a heavenly portion but are not part of the bride. These are the Old Testament believers who died in faith previous to the day of Pentecost (Heb. 11:39,40,12:23) with all the martyrs of the tribulation period (see Rev. 20:4) and babies who died before the age of accountability (Matt. 18:11,14). All these will have glorified celestial bodies (1 Cor. 15:40) fashioned like Christ's glorious body (Phil. 3:21).
The earthly company will be those of faith who were on the millennial earth and who will enter the eternal earth with glorified terrestrial bodies as their eternal abode (1 Cor. 15:40).
It is all summed up in 1 Cor. 15:24-28. "Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For He hath put all things under His feet, But when lie saith all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, which did put all things under Him. And when all things shall be subdued under Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all."
When it says here "that God may be all in all", it refers to God in trinity. God the Father had purposed this final scene of eternal blessing. God the Son came to do His Father's will and to accomplish the work of redemption which is the foundation of all blessing. The Holy Spirit is the power by which all is accomplished, as we read in Heb. 9:14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God."
How wonderful that God should reveal His eternal purposes to us and bring us in to enjoy all that is in His heart, in association with Christ, as His bride for all eternity.
"How blest are we who have a part
In the immortal song;
Wonder and joy become our heart,
And praise and thanks our tongue."
Hymn 335 L.F.
When we read all these wonderful things in God's precious Word, the Bible, it fills our hearts with wonder and praise when we think of His marvelous grace that has blessed us so abundantly. Surely these seven dispensations reveal the wretchedness of our natural hearts, and how we have failed in every test. God's purpose was our blessing, but the cost was great.
God in love sent His beloved Son to bear our sins in His own body on the cross of Calvary (1 Peter 2:24,25) and has secured our eternal blessing through this glorious work of redemption. May we praise Him more, and may we show our gratitude by living to please the One who loved us and gave Himself for us.
If the one who reads these lines is unsaved we beg you to come now to the Lord Jesus and receive His gracious pardon for all your sins through His precious blood, and you will share in the home He has prepared for His redeemed people.
G.H.H.
"Decide for Christ today,
And God's salvation see,
Yield soul and body heart and will
To Him, who died for thee."
Echoes of Grace 79
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