Bible Studies

The Four Major Dispensational Programs of the Bible

by Christopher Combs
09/21/09
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The principles of God found in the bible are settled rules of morality or conduct and have to do with God's character and His nature. Dispensations found in the bible have to do with God's dealings with men. The word dispensation comes from the Greek work (oikonomia) meaning, house management, and it is sometimes translated as stewardship. The word 'steward' (oikonomos) is translated to mean, house manager. Even though God never changes, His programs for mankind have changed throughout human history. God's program has not always been the same. The affairs of the Lord are administered or managed according to the program that He has determined. The four major dispensations are Conscience, Law, Grace, and The Kingdom with Christ's death on the cross falling between Law and Grace.

(1) The Dispensation of Conscience:

The first of the four major dispensations also had two subcategories, also called dispensations. These minor dispensations were government and promise, but the time from Adam to Moses includes these under the major dispensation of Conscience. This first major program is seen here in (Rom. 5: 13, 14) "For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come". Since the law had not yet been given in the dispensation of Conscience, a person's sins were not counted against them. This is the distinguishing feature of this dispensation. But their personal sins did have it's full effect and impact on their lives and they had to suffer the consequences of their own personal sin. The people in this dispensation died just like everyone else, not because of their sins, but because the sin of Adam was counted against them. The verses in Romans 5 show that Adam's sin was imputed to the whole human race. Mankind functioned based on conscience because the law was not yet given. (Rom. 1: 32; 2: 14, 15) (Gen. 4: 7; 6: 5; 11: 6)

(2) The Dispensation of The Law:

Many years after the fall of man, God used Moses to dispense a system of laws to His chosen people, Israel. Obedience to the entire Mosaic Law was required (Ex.19: 5-6) (Rom. 10: 5). The purpose of the Law was to demonstrate the sinfulness of man and his great need for salvation. God used the law to demand that man obey it, but because of the strict holiness required to accomplish this, man could not comply with the law. Fallen sinful man, with his old sin nature simply could not keep the law (Acts 15: 10, 13: 39) (John 7: 19) and (James 2: 10). "For by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:19-20; 5: 20; 7: 5-13) (Gal. 3: 19). The believers could offer a sacrifice to atone for their sin (Lev. 17: 11). As long as the believers obeyed God they could enjoy fellowship with Him, but once they sinned the fellowship was broken. They were still a child of God but they were out of fellowship with Him and could be restored to fellowship by offering the appropriate sacrifice. The law was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ and the bible says it was abolished in His flesh (Eph. 2: 15) and nailed to the cross (Col. 2: 14), (Matt. 27: 51), (Heb. 12: 7-18), (Gal. 3: 19-25).

(3) The Dispensation of the Grace of God:

Today we are living under a special dispensation called The Grace of God. Grace means 'unmerited favor' meaning we did nothing to deserve salvation, it was freely given to us by God's unfathomable love for us. The Dispensation of Grace is God's program He is currently dealing out to man. He has always dealt with man at the personal level on the basis of grace, but today we are living in the Dispensation of Grace which means believers in Christ as members of the Body of Christ live by faith through grace in our daily walk with Him. "For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of THE DISPENSATION OF THE GRACE OF GOD which is given me to you".(Eph. 3: 1-2). No longer is there a division between Jews and Gentiles. When sinners today receive salvation, they become members of the Body of Christ. Jews and Gentiles become new creatures in Christ Jesus and they are baptized into one body. (Rom. 12: 5) (Gal. 3: 27-28). Members of the Body of Christ are given a position 'in Christ' in heavenly places. God hath raised us together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (Eph. 2: 6). "God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 2: 6). "For our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven" (Phil. 3: 20). The Dispensation of Grace will end at the very moment of the Rapture of the Body of Christ, when believers will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the clouds, in the twinkling of an eye, which will occur in the upper atmosphere above the earth. Christ will not touch down to the earth at the Rapture. (1 Thessalonians 4: 15-17). The Great Tribulation will begin shortly after the Rapture occurs and will last for seven years.

(4) The Dispensation of the Kingdom:

(also called the Millennium) God's plan to set up the Messianic kingdom was well known and understood by the Jews of Christ's day. This is the Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth, not the catching away of the Body of Christ in the air at the Rapture, where He does not touch down to the earth. At the Second Advent, the Lord Jesus Christ will touch down on the earth at the Mount of Olives. The Millennium will last for 1,000 years on the earth. The earthly Kingdom is the very heart of Old Testament prophecy and is described there in great detail. Here are several facts that describe The Dispensation of the Kingdom of God:

1. It will be set up ON EARTH as a literal kingdom: "I shall give thee the uttermost parts of THE EARTH for thy possession" (Psalm 2: 8). "THE EARTH shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord" (Isaiah 11:9). "A King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in THE EARTH" (Jer. 23: 5). "Glory to God in the highest, and ON EARTH peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2: 14). "He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in THE EARTH" (Isaiah 42: 4). Christ himself even taught his disciples to pray: "Thy KINGDOM come. Thy will be done IN EARTH, as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6: 10). The kingdom that the twelve disciples of Jesus proclaimed and John the Baptist proclaimed, was the Kingdom of Heaven, but it was to be set up on the earth. The purpose of prophecy is the arrival of the deliverer on the earth and the establishment of His kingdom on the earth (Rom.11: 25-29).

2. It will be a theocracy: God Himself will reign on the earth in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. "The Lord shall be king over all the earth" (Zech. 14: 16). "And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9: 6).

3. It will be located at Jerusalem: The capital city of Israel will be where the Lord sets up His earthly kingdom. "Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2: 3).  At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord. (Jeremiah 3: 17).

4. It will reign over all other governments and nations on the earth: "Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve Him" (Psalms 72: 11). "And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him" (Daniel 7: 14).

5. The entire nation of Israel shall be saved: "I will save them and will cleanse them: so shall they be My people, and I will be their God" (Ezekiel 37: 23) (Romans 11: 26-27).

6. Israel's sufferings and sorrows will be over: "Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned" (Isaiah 40: 2) "They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Isaiah 35: 10).

7. Israel will become a blessing to all nations: "And Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising" (Isaiah 60: 3). See (Zech. 8: 13, 23).

8. Government theocracy executes justice: "A King shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth" (Jeremiah 23: 5).

9. War will end and be abolished: "And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2: 4).

10. Long life and health is restored to mankind: "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing" (Isaiah 35: 5, 6) (Isaiah 65: 20). 11. The wild nature in the animals is removed: "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them" (Isaiah 11: 6-9). 12. The curse is removed from the earth: "The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as a rose. It shall blossom abundantly, for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water" (Isaiah 35: 1-7).