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Covenants, Dispensations, and the Ten Commandments

Part One    Part Two    Part Three


Introduction

Throughout human history, God has administered or dispensed His authority in different ways during different time periods. According to Easton's Bible Dictionary, a dispensation is "The method or scheme according to which God carries out his purposes towards men" (Easton's Bible Dictionary Offsite Link).

What are the different dispensations? Which dispensation are we in now, and how does it affect us? In this article we will examine the dispensations and try to find the answers to these questions.


The Dispensations

It's probably safe to say that most Christians recognize that there is a division between the Old Testament and the New Testament, because Christians in the New Testament period are not required to follow the commandments that the Jews were required to follow throughout the majority of the Old Testament (such as the animal sacrifices, etc.). When we recognize this division, we are acknowledging that there are at least two dispensations in the Bible. It's important to recognize and understand the various dispensations because commands which applied to one group of people during a particular dispensation do not necessarily apply to other groups of people during other dispensations. As we will see, properly distinguishing between the various dispensations can help us understand some of the difficult passages in the Bible.

In his "Come and See" series of free audio lessons (Come and See Offsite Link), Dr. Fruchtenbaum teaches that each dispensation is distinguished by several key features:

  • In each dispensation there is one person who receives the revelation of how the new dispensation will operate.
  • In each dispensation, mankind has a certain responsibility of obedience.
  • In each dispensation there are one or more tests.
  • In each dispensation there are one or more judgments for failing the tests.
  • In each dispensation there is a display of God's grace.

In addition, there tends to be a new covenant between God and mankind which initiates or begins each dispensation, although a dispensation can come to an end before the covenant has come to an end (as we will see). Every dispensation tends to begin with a new covenant between God and mankind, but every covenant between God and mankind does not necessarily begin a new dispensation.

Keep in mind that the names for each of the dispensations (below) are based on the names that various Christian scholars and authors tend to use, but the Bible never refers to any of the dispensations by any names.

Here are the dispensations:

  1. The Dispensation of Innocence

    This dispensation began with the introduction of the Edenic Covenant in Genesis 1:28 (which we examined in Part One), and it covers the period until the Fall (when Adam and Eve sinned) in Genesis 3:6-13:
    Genesis 1:28: "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.""
    Genesis 1:29: "Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food."
    Genesis 1:30: "And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so."

    Genesis 3:6: "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it."
    Genesis 3:7: "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves."
    Genesis 3:8: "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden."
    Genesis 3:9: "But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?""
    Genesis 3:10: "He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.""
    Genesis 3:11: "And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?""
    Genesis 3:12: "The man said, "The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.""
    Genesis 3:13: "Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate.""
    People sometimes assume that when we receive salvation through faith in Christ then we are restored to the pre-Fall state of innocence which Adam and Eve enjoyed before they sinned. However, that is not really the case. Recall that after Adam and Eve sinned, they (and all of Creation) were cursed by God:
    Genesis 3:14: "So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life."
    Genesis 3:15: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.""
    Genesis 3:16: "To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.""
    Genesis 3:17: "To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life."
    Genesis 3:18: "It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field."
    Genesis 3:19: "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.""
    Notice that even after receiving salvation through faith in Christ, we still sweat and toil and have pain in childbearing and return to dust, etc., because we are still under the above curses. We are not restored to Adam's and Eve's pre-curse state of innocence when we receive salvation. In addition, the New Testament specifically says that all Christians commit sins:
    Romans 7:18: "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out."
    Romans 7:19: "For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing."
    Romans 7:20: "Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it."
    Romans 7:21: "So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me."
    Romans 7:22: "For in my inner being I delight in God's law;"
    Romans 7:23: "but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members."

    1 John 1:8: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."
    1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
    1 John 1:10: "If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."
    So when we receive salvation through faith in Christ, this does not restore us to Adam's and Eve's original state of innocence.

    Now, here's another interesting point about Adam and Eve. First, notice that righteousness is not automatic, but instead it comes through faith/belief/trust in God:
    Genesis 15:5: "He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be.""
    Genesis 15:6: "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness."

    Romans 4:4: "Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation."
    Romans 4:5: "However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness."

    Romans 4:18: "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be.""
    Romans 4:19: "Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead."
    Romans 4:20: "Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,"
    Romans 4:21: "being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised."
    Romans 4:22: "This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness.""
    Romans 4:23: "The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone,"
    Romans 4:24: "but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness--for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."

    Hebrews 11:4: "By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead."

    Hebrews 11:7: "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith."
    When we pass the test of faith by believing in Jesus for salvation then we are credited with righteousness (Romans 4:24, above), just as other people were credited with righteousness when they passed tests of faith in the other passages above.

    But notice that when Adam and Eve were in their original state of innocence, they were neither righteous nor sinful because they had neither passed nor failed any test of faith. They were innocent of sin, as we know, but they were also innocent of righteousness. When God provided a test of faith which would demonstrate whether or not they would obey the simplest of commands, He promised that they would die if they failed the test. We don't know how much Adam and Eve understood about death, but they were given a test of faith and a promise of negative consequences for disobedience. Notice that when the devil tempted Eve, he specifically said that God's promise was false, and he claimed that God had other motives for commanding them not to eat the fruit:
    Genesis 2:15: "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."
    Genesis 2:16: "And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;"
    Genesis 2:17: "but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.""

    Genesis 3:1: "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?""
    Genesis 3:2: "The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,"
    Genesis 3:3: "but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'""
    Genesis 3:4: ""You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman."
    Genesis 3:5: ""For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.""
    Genesis 3:6: "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it."
    Adam and Eve failed the test when they believed what the devil told them and obeyed their own desires, rather than believing and obeying what God had told them.

    When Adam and Eve sinned, there were several consequences. They died spiritually (which is separation from God - see my article called Do Babies Automatically Go To Heaven?), and they were not allowed to physically live forever, and they were banished from the Garden of Eden, and curses were placed on them and on all of Creation:
    Genesis 2:16: "And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;"
    Genesis 2:17: "but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.""

    Genesis 3:22: "And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.""

    Genesis 3:23: "So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken."

    Genesis 3:14: "So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life."
    Genesis 3:15: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.""
    Genesis 3:16: "To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.""
    Genesis 3:17: "To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life."
    Genesis 3:18: "It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field."
    Genesis 3:19: "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.""
    In addition to the above judgments, God displayed His grace in Genesis 3:15 (above) by promising that the offspring of the woman (prophetically referring to Jesus) will crush our enemy (the devil), which will ultimately result in the removal of the above curses (for more on that, see my series of articles on end-times prophecy). Notice that God prophetically described the future Redeemer as being the offspring of the woman, even though throughout the Bible, inheritance always comes through a person's father, not through the mother. Thousands of years later, the prophet Isaiah explained this by saying that the future Redeemer will be born of a virgin:
    Isaiah 7:14: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."
    Since Jesus was born of a virgin, He was literally "the offspring of a woman" because He did not have a human father. So in addition to the above judgments, God displayed His grace by promising that a Savior will come.

    Notice that there is no other time in history when people were innocent of sin and innocent of righteousness and commanded to work in the Garden of Eden and commanded not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and so on. That was a unique age. After Adam and Eve sinned, the human race entered into a new period in which they had a sin nature and were under the curses described above, which is a clear dividing point in the relationship between God and the human race. In this article we will see several more of these "dividing points," and the periods between these dividing points are often referred to as "dispensations."

    To summarize, here are the main features of the Dispensation of Innocence:

    • The key person in this dispensation was Adam, because sin and death came through him. Even though Eve received and failed the same test as Adam, Adam is the one who was held responsible (Romans 5:14-19 and 1 Corinthians 15:22).
    • The covenant which introduced this dispensation was the Edenic Covenant.
    • The responsibility in this dispensation was to obey the Edenic Covenant.
    • The test in this dispensation was to obey a simple command not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
    • The failure in this dispensation occurred when Adam and Eve ate the fruit.
    • The judgments in this dispensation were spiritual death, physical death, banishment from the Garden of Eden, and the curses which God placed on men, women, and all of Creation.
    • The display of God's grace in this dispensation was the promise that the offspring of the woman (prophetically referring to Jesus) will crush our enemy (the devil), which will ultimately result in the removal of the above judgments.

    During this dispensation, mankind was tested with one simple commandment ("Don't eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil"). Mankind failed.

  2. The Dispensation of Conscience

    This dispensation began with the introduction of the Adamic Covenant (which we examined in Part One), and it covers the period from just after the Fall (Genesis 3:14) until just after the Flood (Genesis 8:5-14):
    Genesis 3:14: "So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life."
    Genesis 3:15: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.""
    Genesis 3:16: "To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.""
    Genesis 3:17: "To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life."
    Genesis 3:18: "It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field."
    Genesis 3:19: "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.""
    Genesis 3:20: "Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living."
    Genesis 3:21: "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them."
    Genesis 3:22: "And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.""
    Genesis 3:23: "So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken."
    Genesis 3:24: "After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life."
    Genesis 4:1: "Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.""
    Genesis 4:2: "Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil."

    Genesis 8:5: "The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible."
    Genesis 8:6: "After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark"
    Genesis 8:7: "and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth."
    Genesis 8:8: "Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground."
    Genesis 8:9: "But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark."
    Genesis 8:10: "He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark."
    Genesis 8:11: "When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth."
    Genesis 8:12: "He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him."
    Genesis 8:13: "By the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry."
    Genesis 8:14: "By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry."
    We looked at Genesis 3:14-19 (above) under the Dispensation of Innocence (dispensation #1, above), because those verses describe God's judgments after Adam and Eve failed the test of obedience. Those verses are part of the Adamic Covenant, which ended the Dispensation of Innocence and began the Dispensation of Conscience.

    In Part One we saw that the Adamic Covenant contains no specific laws or commandments for people to follow, which means that people were apparently governed through their consciences, as the New Testament describes:
    Romans 2:14: "(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law,"
    Romans 2:15: "since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)"
    In the above passage, "the law" refers to the Law of Moses. However, Paul's point was that in the absence of a specific law, people still have a conscience to guide them. Since there were no laws or commandments in the Adamic Covenant, people during that dispensation were apparently free to follow their consciences. This does not mean that the conscience was no longer needed after the Dispensation of Conscience had ended, it simply means that the conscience was the means of governing people during this dispensation. As Romans 2:14-15 (above) explains, the conscience is still important even to this day, and throughout the New Testament we see the importance of keeping a clear conscience:
    Acts 24:16: "So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man."

    Romans 9:1: "I speak the truth in Christ--I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit--"

    2 Corinthians 1:12: "Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God's grace."

    2 Corinthians 5:11: "Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience."

    1 Timothy 1:18: "Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight,"
    1 Timothy 1:19: "holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith."

    1 Timothy 4:1: "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons."
    1 Timothy 4:2: "Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron."

    Titus 1:15: "To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted."

    1 Peter 3:15: "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,"
    1 Peter 3:16: "keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander."
    In the above passages we can see the importance of keeping a clear conscience, and we can also see that people's consciences can become "seared as with a hot iron" and "corrupted" (1 Timothy 4:2 and Titus 1:15, above). During the Dispensation of Conscience (and continuing to this day), people had the choice of keeping a clear conscience or letting their conscience become seared and corrupted.

    Now, Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, and then they had another son, Abel (later they had other sons and daughters as well - see Genesis 5:3-4). Cain worked the soil, and he brought some of his crops as an offering to the Lord. Abel kept flocks of animals, and he brought portions of some of his flocks as an offering to the Lord. God looked on Abel's offering with favor, but He did not look on Cain's offerings with favor:
    Genesis 4:2: "Later she [Eve] gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil."
    Genesis 4:3: "In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD."
    Genesis 4:4: "But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,"
    Genesis 4:5: "but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast."
    Some people believe that Abel's offering was favorable to God because it was a bloody sacrifice, anticipating the bloody sacrifices under the Law of Moses and Christ's blood on the cross. They also point out that soon after Adam and Eve sinned by eating the fruit, God made "garments of skin" for them (see Genesis 3:21), which again would involve killing an animal. However, in neither of these cases (Genesis 4:4 and Genesis 3:21) is there any Scriptural evidence that those were "bloody sacrifices" in the sense of being an atonement for sin. There is also no Scriptural evidence that God required Cain and Abel to offer any "bloody sacrifices." Instead, the above passage simply says that God looked on Abel's offering with favor but did not look on Cain's offering with favor. This doesn't mean that Cain sinned by not bringing a bloody offering (since we have no evidence of any command which Cain had disobeyed), and in fact it is possible that God was simply teaching Cain and Abel what He wanted from them by letting them know which offering He favored. Also, keep in mind that many centuries later under the Law of Moses there were a number of required offerings which consisted of various crops (see Leviticus 23:10-14, for example). Therefore, we can't be dogmatic that crops have ever been unacceptable offerings to God, so it would be erroneous to assume that Cain's offering was unfavorable simply because it consisted of crops rather than "bloody sacrifices." In fact, since Cain worked the land (Genesis 4:2, above), it would be natural for him to offer crops as the fruit of his labors. An offering of crops might have been perfectly acceptable to God, but perhaps there was something wrong with Cain's attitude. For example, Hebrews 11:4 says that "By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he [Abel] was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings." So it appears that Abel had a level of faith which Cain did not have, and the fact that Cain had an "attitude problem" can be seen in his reaction:
    Genesis 4:4: "But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,"
    Genesis 4:5: "but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast."
    Genesis 4:6: "Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?"
    Genesis 4:7: "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.""
    Genesis 4:8: "Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him."
    In Genesis 4:6-7 above, notice that God asked Cain why he was angry, and notice that God said that if Cain does not do what is right then sin is crouching at the door to take hold of him. In those verses, God did not condemn Cain, nor did God punish Cain, nor did God treat Cain as if he had sinned by not offering a "bloody sacrifice." The Bible does not say that Cain and Abel were required to offer a "bloody sacrifice," and the Bible does not say that Cain sinned by offering "the fruits of the soil."

    Now, when Cain killed Abel (Genesis 4:8, above), notice that he did not break any of the Ten Commandments because the Ten Commandments were not given to mankind until many centuries later, during the time of Moses. In fact, Cain did not break any direct command of God against murder, because there were no direct commands or laws from God during the Dispensation of Conscience. Instead, Cain violated his conscience. Since capital punishment was not in operation during this dispensation, Cain did not receive the death penalty for committing murder:
    Genesis 4:9: "Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?""
    Genesis 4:10: "The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground."
    Genesis 4:11: "Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand."
    Genesis 4:12: "When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.""
    Genesis 4:13: "Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear."
    Genesis 4:14: "Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.""
    Genesis 4:15: "But the LORD said to him, "Not so ; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him."
    Genesis 4:16: "So Cain went out from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden."
    People are sometimes confused by the fact that even though murderers must receive the death penalty according to Genesis 9:5-6, the above passage shows that Cain did not receive the death penalty for murdering his brother Abel. The reason why Cain did not receive the death penalty is because capital punishment was not in operation during the Dispensation of Conscience. The death penalty for murder was instituted during the Dispensation of Human Government, as we will see in the next section. When we recognize that God deals with people differently during different dispensations, this helps us understand some of the confusing passages that we see in the Bible.

    As the population of the world increased, the vast majority of the people did not follow their consciences:
    Genesis 6:5: "The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time."
    Genesis 6:6: "The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain."
    Genesis 6:7: "So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them.""

    Genesis 6:11: "Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence."
    Genesis 6:12: "God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways."
    Genesis 6:13: "So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth."
    Genesis 6:14: "So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out."
    The above passages tell us that the population of the earth was so wicked that God wiped all of mankind from the face of the earth (in the Flood), with the exception of Noah and his immediate family.

    Now, recall that during the Dispensation of Innocence (dispensation #1, above), mankind was innocent of sin and innocent of righteousness. But during the Dispensation of Conscience, all of mankind had a sin nature and was governed through the conscience, and the vast majority of the human race fell into wickedness. God then wiped the earth clean of mankind and began again with Noah and his immediate family, initiating a new period in which mankind was governed in a different way than ever before (as we will see in the next section). These are very clear dividing points in the relationship between God and the human race, and again, the periods between these dividing points are often referred to as "dispensations."

    To summarize, here are the main features of the Dispensation of Conscience:

    • The key person in this dispensation was Adam, because even though Eve also received the new revelation concerning the covenant for this dispensation, it was Adam who was responsible for the sin nature which characterized this dispensation (Romans 5:14-19 and 1 Corinthians 15:22).
    • The covenant which introduced this dispensation was the Adamic Covenant.
    • The responsibility in this dispensation was to obey the conscience.
    • The failure in this dispensation was that "all the people on earth had corrupted their ways" (Genesis 6:12, above), and "every inclination of the thoughts of [man's] heart was only evil all the time" (Genesis 6:5, above).
    • The judgment in this dispensation was the Flood, which killed every human on earth except for Noah and his immediate family.
    • The displays of God's grace in this dispensation were the salvation of Noah and his family during the Flood, and the fact that God gave mankind centuries to repent before He punished their wickedness.

    During this dispensation, mankind was apparently governed through the conscience. As in the previous dispensation, mankind failed due to the rebellion in his heart.

  3. The Dispensation of Human Government

    This dispensation began with the introduction of the Noahic Covenant (which we examined in Part One), and it covers the period from just after the Flood (Genesis 8:15) until the time of Abraham (Genesis 11:27-32):
    Genesis 8:15: "Then God said to Noah,"
    Genesis 8:16: ""Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives."
    Genesis 8:17: "Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you--the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground--so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.""
    Genesis 8:18: "So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives."
    Genesis 8:19: "All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds--everything that moves on the earth--came out of the ark, one kind after another."
    Genesis 8:20: "Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it."
    Genesis 8:21: "The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done."
    Genesis 8:22: ""As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.""
    Genesis 9:1: "Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth."
    Genesis 9:2: "The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands."
    Genesis 9:3: "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything."
    Genesis 9:4: ""But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it."
    Genesis 9:5: "And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man."
    Genesis 9:6: ""Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man."
    Genesis 9:7: "As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.""
    Genesis 9:8: "Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:"
    Genesis 9:9: ""I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you"
    Genesis 9:10: "and with every living creature that was with you--the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you--every living creature on earth."
    Genesis 9:11: "I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.""
    Genesis 9:12: "And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:"
    Genesis 9:13: "I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth."
    Genesis 9:14: "Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,"
    Genesis 9:15: "I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life."
    Genesis 9:16: "Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.""
    Genesis 9:17: "So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.""

    Genesis 11:27: "This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot."
    Genesis 11:28: "While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth."
    Genesis 11:29: "Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah."
    Genesis 11:30: "Now Sarai was barren; she had no children."
    Genesis 11:31: "Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there."
    Genesis 11:32: "Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran."
    In Genesis 9:5-6 (above), God gave people the authority to judge and execute murderers, so here we see the death penalty for the first time in history. This new authority implies a system of human government (which is why this period is often referred to as the Dispensation of Human Government) in which certain people ruled and passed judgment over other people, and it is during this dispensation that we see the rise of kingdoms and nations and rulers (below).

    In Genesis 9:1 (above), notice that God told Noah that the human race must increase and fill the earth:
    Genesis 9:1: "Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth."
    In chapters 9 and 10 of Genesis we see that mankind did spread out over the earth (eventually):
    Genesis 9:19: "These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth."

    Genesis 10:5: "(From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)"

    Genesis 10:8: "Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth."
    Genesis 10:9: "He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.""
    Genesis 10:10: "The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar."
    Genesis 10:11: "From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah"
    Genesis 10:12: "and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city."

    Genesis 10:15: "Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,"
    Genesis 10:16: "Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites,"
    Genesis 10:17: "Hivites, Arkites, Sinites,"
    Genesis 10:18: "Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. Later the Canaanite clans scattered"
    Genesis 10:19: "and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha."

    Genesis 10:20: "These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations."

    Genesis 10:31: "These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations."

    Genesis 10:32: "These are the clans of Noah's sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood."
    So God had commanded that mankind must spread out over the earth, and in the above passages we can see that Noah's descendants grew into kingdoms and nations which spread out over the earth after the Flood. It appears that people were finally being obedient to the Lord (unlike mankind's failures in all of the previous dispensations), but unfortunately this was not actually the case. Notice that Noah and his descendants all spoke the same language at first, and as the people moved eastward they decided to settle together in Shinar specifically so that they would not be scattered over the face of the earth:
    Genesis 11:1: "Now the whole world had one language and a common speech."
    Genesis 11:2: "As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there."
    Genesis 11:3: "They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar."
    Genesis 11:4: "Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.""
    Once again the human race had rebelled against God (by disobeying His command for them to spread out over the earth), which caused God to take action:
    Genesis 11:5: "But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building."
    Genesis 11:6: "The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them."
    Genesis 11:7: "Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.""
    Genesis 11:8: "So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city."
    Genesis 11:9: "That is why it was called Babel --because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth."
    In chapters 9 and 10 of Genesis (above) we saw that Noah's descendants eventually spread out over the earth as God had commanded them to do, but it took an act of God to break their rebellion and force them to scatter across the earth.

    Immediately after the account of Babel (above), we see a genealogy of the line of Noah's son Shem:
    Genesis 11:10: "This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad."
    Genesis 11:11: "And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters."
    Genesis 11:12: "When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah."
    Genesis 11:13: "And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters."
    Genesis 11:14: "When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber."
    Genesis 11:15: "And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters."
    Genesis 11:16: "When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg."
    Genesis 11:17: "And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters."
    Genesis 11:18: "When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu."
    Genesis 11:19: "And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters."
    Genesis 11:20: "When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug."
    Genesis 11:21: "And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters."
    Genesis 11:22: "When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor."
    Genesis 11:23: "And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters."
    Genesis 11:24: "When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah."
    Genesis 11:25: "And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters."
    Genesis 11:26: "After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran."
    As we'll see in the next section, "Abram" in Genesis 11:26 (above) is Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel. The above genealogy demonstrates that during this dispensation God was preserving a family line from Noah through Abraham, which would continue on through King David and reach its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

    To summarize, here are the main features of the Dispensation of Human Government:

    • The key person in this dispensation was Noah, because God gave Noah the new revelation concerning this dispensation.
    • The covenant which introduced this dispensation was the Noahic Covenant.
    • The responsibility in this dispensation was for people to govern themselves properly.
    • The test in this dispensation was to spread out over the earth.
    • The failure in this dispensation was mankind's rebellion when they stayed together at Babel.
    • The judgment in this dispensation was the confusion of languages.
    • The display of God's grace in this dispensation was the preservation of a particular family line, which ultimately reached its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

    During this dispensation, mankind was ruled through human governments (e.g. the numerous nations mentioned in the passages above). But as in all of the previous dispensations, mankind showed that he had a heart of wickedness which rebelled against God's commands.

  4. The Dispensation of Promise

    This dispensation began with the introduction of the Abrahamic Covenant (which we examined in Part One), and it covers the period from Abraham's initial calling (Genesis 12:1) until just before the giving of the Law to Moses (Exodus 19:1-2):
    Genesis 12:1: "The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you."
    Genesis 12:2: ""I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing."
    Genesis 12:3: "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.""
    Genesis 12:4: "So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran."
    Genesis 12:5: "He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there."
    Genesis 12:6: "Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land."
    Genesis 12:7: "The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him."
    Genesis 12:8: "From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD."
    Genesis 12:9: "Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev."

    Exodus 19:1: "In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt--on the very day--they came to the Desert of Sinai."
    Exodus 19:2: "After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain."
    In the Dispensation of Innocence (#1, above) and also in the Dispensation of Conscience (#2, above), we saw that God was dealing with the family line of Adam (i.e. the entire human race). In the Dispensation of Human Government (#3, above), we saw that God killed off virtually the entire human race, and then He started over with Noah's family line. In the Dispensation of Promise we see that God was dealing specifically with Abraham's family line. This period is often referred to as the Dispensation of Promise because of the many great promises that God made to Abraham and his descendants (which we examined in Part One).

    Now, Abraham successfully passed several tests because of his faith in God, as in these examples:
    Genesis 12:1: "The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you."
    Genesis 12:2: ""I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing."
    Genesis 12:3: "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.""
    Genesis 12:4: "So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran."
    Genesis 12:5: "He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there."

    Genesis 22:6: "Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,"
    Genesis 22:7: "Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?""
    Genesis 22:8: "Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together."
    Genesis 22:9: "When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood."
    Genesis 22:10: "Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son."
    Genesis 22:11: "But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied."
    Genesis 22:12: ""Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.""
    Genesis 22:13: "Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son."

    Romans 4:18: "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be.""
    Romans 4:19: "Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead."
    Romans 4:20: "Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,"
    Romans 4:21: "being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised."
    Romans 4:22: "This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness.""
    Romans 4:23: "The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone,"
    Romans 4:24: "but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness--for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."
    So Abraham successfully passed several tests of obedience and faith, but inevitably there were times of faithlessness and rebellion and sin in the lives of Abraham and his descendants. For example, even though God told Abraham to go live in the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:1-5, above), Abraham didn't have enough trust in God to stay there during a famine, so he went down to Egypt (Genesis 12:10). When he got to Egypt, he told his wife to be deceitful about her relationship with him because he didn't trust God to protect him, and he allowed his wife to be taken into Pharaoh's harem (Genesis 12:11-20). Later we see him doing the same thing again (Genesis 20:1-18), and then we see Isaac doing something similar (Genesis 26:1-11). When Isaac was dying, his wife Rebekah devised a plan to deceive Isaac so that their second son Jacob would receive the blessing from Isaac which should have gone to their first-born son Esau (Genesis 27:1-30). Eleven of Jacob's sons sold their brother Joseph into slavery, and they deceived Jacob into thinking that Joseph was dead (Genesis 37:12-35). When Joseph became the second-in-command of Egypt and his brothers came to him for aid (not realizing that the second-in-command of Egypt was their brother Joseph), Joseph deceived them for a period of time before revealing who he was (Genesis 42:1-45:3). The Israelites eventually left the land of Canaan and settled in Egypt, where they fell into idolatry by worshiping foreign gods (Joshua 24:14 and Ezekiel 20:4-10). This appears to be the reason why God allowed the Israelites to be forced into slavery in Egypt for 400 years, but God also promised that a remnant of the Jews will be preserved and will return to the Promised Land with great possessions (which happened when Moses led the Israelites out of slavery and into the wilderness - see Exodus 12:33-36).

    Abraham was the original "patriarch" (father) of the nation of Israel, followed by his son Isaac, followed by Isaac's son Jacob, followed by Jacob's 12 sons. They were the patriarchs of the nation of Israel, to whom the promises were made:
    Hebrews 7:4: "Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!"

    Acts 7:8: "Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs."

    Romans 15:8: "For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs"
    Since this dispensation was focused on Abraham and his descendants, who were ruled by the patriarchs, this period is sometimes called the Dispensation of Patriarchal Rule. The New Testament also refers to King David as a "patriarch" or "father" (e.g. Acts 2:29), and in the next section we'll see that David lived during a different dispensation when the rule of authority came through the Law of Moses rather than directly through the patriarchs.

    While God was specifically dealing with Abraham's family line during this dispensation, the rest of the world continued to be ruled through human governments and individual consciences.

    To summarize, here are the main features of the Dispensation of Promise:

    • The key person in this dispensation was Abraham.
    • The covenant which introduced this dispensation was the Abrahamic Covenant.
    • The responsibility in this dispensation was that Abraham's descendants (through Isaac and Jacob) must obey God through the rule of the patriarchs.
    • The failures in this dispensation were that all of the patriarchs were deceitful at times, and most of them did not stay in the land that God had given to them, and the Israelites in general fell into idolatry in Egypt.
    • The judgment in this dispensation was the slavery in Egypt for 400 years.
    • The display of God's grace in this dispensation was the continued preservation of a particular family line, which ultimately reached its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

    During this dispensation, God focused on Abraham's family line, which was ruled by the patriarchs. As in all of the previous dispensations, mankind showed the rebellion in his heart.

  5. The Dispensation of Law

    This dispensation began with the introduction of the Mosaic Covenant (which we examined in Part One), and it covers the period from the giving of the Law of Moses (starting in Exodus 19:3) until just before the Church Age began (Acts 1:24-26):
    Exodus 19:3: "Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:"
    Exodus 19:4: "'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself."
    Exodus 19:5: "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,"
    Exodus 19:6: "you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.""

    Acts 1:24: "Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen"
    Acts 1:25: "to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.""
    Acts 1:26: "Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles."
    With this dispensation, once again we see a change in the way that God dealt with humans. This dispensation specifically involved the Jews, who were required to obey the 613 commandments in the Law of Moses.

    During this dispensation, God raised up a succession of "judges" who defeated Israel's enemies and freed the Jews from each period of oppression or slavery caused by their idolatry and rebellion against God (see the book of Judges). But eventually the elders of Israel went to the prophet Samuel and said, "appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have" (1 Samuel 8:5). When Samuel asked God about this, God replied that the Jews had rejected the Lord as their King, just as they had done from the day that He brought them out of Egypt (1 Samuel 8:6-8). So once again we see mankind repeatedly rebelling against God. However, God gave the Jews what they wanted by anointing kings (such as David) to rule over the Jews (see the books of 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles).

    Most of the Jewish kings did not follow the Law of Moses, but instead they led the Jews into idolatry (for example, scan through the books of 1 and 2 Kings). In His grace and patience, God put up with their idolatry for many centuries, but eventually He caused the vast majority of the Jews to be taken into slavery (as we saw in Part One). When they finally returned to the land of Israel, they began to follow the Law of Moses again (see the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, for example). However, it wasn't long before they went right back into rebellion and idolatry. For centuries, God sent prophet after prophet to warn the Jews in order to turn them back to Him (such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, Malachi, etc.).

    After the last book of the Old Testament was written (the book of Malachi), approximately 400 years went by until the birth of Jesus. By the time of Christ, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had created so many of their own interpretations of the Law over the centuries that the Jews were no longer keeping the Law of Moses properly (as we can see throughout the Gospels when Jesus repeatedly denounced the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, and also in Romans 10:1-3). Then they committed the unpardonable sin, the blasphemy against the Spirit, by accusing Jesus of being demon-possessed (Matthew 12:22-32), and they rejected Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. Because of this, judgment came in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, causing a world-wide dispersion of the Jewish people which continues to this day (for more on these things, see my article called The Second Coming).

    While God was specifically dealing with the Jews during this dispensation, the rest of the world continued to be ruled through human governments and individual consciences.

    To summarize, here are the main features of the Dispensation of Law:

    • The key person in this dispensation was Moses, because God gave Moses the new revelation concerning this dispensation.
    • The covenant which introduced this dispensation was the Mosaic Covenant.
    • The responsibility in this dispensation was obedience to the Law of Moses.
    • The failures in this dispensation were that the Jews kept turning to idolatry, and they did not obey the Law of Moses, and they tried to create their own interpretations of the Law, and they rejected the Messiah.
    • The judgments in this dispensation were the periods of oppression or slavery (in the book of Judges), and the Assyrian and Babylonian Captivities (as we saw in Part One), and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. which caused a worldwide dispersion of the Jewish people that continues to this day.
    • The display of God's grace in this dispensation was the system of animal sacrifices under the Law of Moses which covered the Israelites' sins (but did not remove their sins, as we saw in Part One). God's grace was also displayed as He waited for centuries and centuries, sending prophet after prophet to call the Jews to repentance, before His judgment fell on them. His ultimate grace was seen when He sent Jesus to the earth.

    During this dispensation, God ruled the Israelites through the 613 specific commandments in the Law of Moses. As in all of the previous dispensations, mankind failed.

  6. The Dispensation of Grace

    This dispensation began shortly after the introduction of the New Covenant (which we examined in Part One), and it covers the period from the birth of the Church on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1) until after the Second Coming of Christ (Revelation 19:11-21):
    Acts 2:1: "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place."
    Acts 2:2: "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting."
    Acts 2:3: "They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them."
    Acts 2:4: "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them."

    Revelation 19:11: "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war."
    Revelation 19:12: "His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself."
    Revelation 19:13: "He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God."
    Revelation 19:14: "The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean."
    Revelation 19:15: "Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty."
    Revelation 19:16: "On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."
    Revelation 19:17: "And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come, gather together for the great supper of God,"
    Revelation 19:18: "so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great.""
    Revelation 19:19: "Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army."
    Revelation 19:20: "But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur."
    Revelation 19:21: "The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh."
    For the Scriptural reasons why Bible teachers tend to say that the Church was born on the day of Pentecost, see my series called The Rapture of the Church.

    For some fascinating things that the Bible tells us about the Second Coming of Christ (such as when He will return to the earth, why He will return, how He will return, where He will return, who will return with Him, what will happen after He returns, and much more!), see my article called The Second Coming.

    God's grace was displayed in various ways throughout all of the previous dispensations, but our current age is called the Dispensation of Grace based on the fact that Jesus came to the earth "full of grace and truth":
    John 1:14: "The Word [Jesus] became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
    The apostles and the human authors of the New Testament received a certain amount of new revelation (or at least divine inspiration), but the apostle Paul received more revelation concerning the Law of Christ than anyone else, which is why roughly half of the New Testament was written by Paul. For example, Paul said:
    Ephesians 3:1: "For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles--"
    Ephesians 3:2: "Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you,"
    Ephesians 3:3: "that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly."
    Ephesians 3:4: "In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,"
    Ephesians 3:5: "which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets."
    Ephesians 3:6: "This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus."
    Our test of obedience during this dispensation is to receive God's free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior. After receiving salvation, our responsibility is to obey the Law of Christ and to become more and more like Christ, by doing things such as:
    Earlier we saw that the Dispensation of Promise (#4, above) and the Dispensation of Law (#5, above) only applied to Abraham and his descendants, but the present Dispensation of Grace applies to the entire world.

    Sadly, the New Testament reveals that the majority of mankind will not accept God's free gift of salvation. In addition, the New Testament tells us that a number of Christians and churches will turn "apostate," meaning that they will turn away from the truth, and we can already see this happening throughout the world (for example, see my article called Signs of the Times in End-Times Bible Prophecy).

    Because of mankind's wickedness, the Bible describes a future seven-year period of unprecedented suffering and distress during which God will pour out His wrath on the earth. It will begin when Israel signs a treaty with the Antichrist, and it will end at the Second Coming of Christ. This seven-year period of time is often referred to as "the Tribulation." However, God will display His grace by "snatching" all Christians off of the earth before the seven-year Tribulation period begins (for more on these things, see my series of articles on end-times prophecy).

    To summarize, here are the main features of the Dispensation of Grace:

    • The key person in this dispensation was the apostle Paul, who wrote almost half of the New Testament based on the new revelations which God gave him concerning the Law of Christ. The apostle John received a lot of new revelations as well (see the book of Revelation), but those were prophecies of future events rather than revelations of how we must conduct ourselves under the New Covenant.
    • The covenant for this dispensation is the New Covenant.
    • The responsibility in this dispensation is to obey the Law of Christ, which is described throughout the New Testament.
    • The test in this dispensation is to receive God's free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus as our Savior.
    • The failures in this dispensation are the rejection of Jesus by non-Christians, and the sin and disobedience in the lives of Christians.
    • The judgment in this dispensation will be the seven-year Tribulation period.
    • The displays of God's grace in this dispensation are the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the pre-tribulational Rapture (see my series called The Rapture of the Church).

    During this dispensation, mankind is meant to be led by the indwelling Holy Spirit. As in all of the previous dispensations, mankind will display rebellion against God, either by non-Christians who reject Jesus, or by Christians when we do not obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit within us.

  7. The Dispensation of the Millennium

    After Christ returns to the earth at the Second Coming, He will begin to reign in a Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and prosperity on the earth. This Kingdom will last for one thousand years, which is why Bible teachers refer to it as "the Millennium." My article called Beyond the Second Coming describes some fascinating things that the Bible tells us about what life will be like during the Millennium and on into eternity.

    The Bible does not describe a "Millennial Covenant" which will introduce the Millennium, so we'll just have to wait and see what laws and commandments are introduced for that dispensation!

    The Dispensation of the Millennium will cover the period described in Revelation 20:1-10:
    Revelation 20:1: "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain."
    Revelation 20:2: "He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years."
    Revelation 20:3: "He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time."
    Revelation 20:4: "I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years."
    Revelation 20:5: "(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection."
    Revelation 20:6: "Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years."
    Revelation 20:7: "When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison"
    Revelation 20:8: "and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth--Gog and Magog--to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore."
    Revelation 20:9: "They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them."
    Revelation 20:10: "And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
    The above passage tells us that the devil will be locked away in "the Abyss" during the thousand-year Kingdom of Christ on the earth, so the devil will be unable to deceive people during the Millennium. The above passage also says that certain people will reign with Christ during the Millennium, and my article called Beyond the Second Coming explains that they are the Church Age Christians who had been Raptured before the seven-year Tribulation period began, and also the believers who had been killed during the Tribulation period.

    The above passage goes on to say that when the thousand years are over, the devil will be released from his prison (Revelation 20:7, above). It is shocking to learn that even after 1,000 years of peace and prosperity on the earth, with Jesus living right here alongside us, the devil will still be able to raise a vast army of people ("like the sand on the seashore") to do battle against the Lord! (Revelation 20:7-9, above). But God will supernaturally defeat that army and send the devil to hell for all eternity (Revelation 20:9-10, above).

    To summarize, here are the main features of the Dispensation of the Millennium:

    • The key person in that dispensation will be Christ.
    • The covenant (if any) which will introduce that dispensation has not been described to us in the Bible.
    • The responsibility in that dispensation will be to obey the laws and commandments which will be given at that time.
    • The test in that dispensation will be for every child born during the Millennium to accept Christ as his or her Savior, perhaps by his or her 100th birthday (as explained in my article called Beyond the Second Coming).
    • The judgment in that dispensation will be the fiery destruction of the devil's army after the thousand years have ended.
    • The display of God's grace in that dispensation will be 1,000 years of righteousness, peace, and prosperity on the earth (with no more wars), and immortality for those who receive salvation. As my article called Beyond the Second Coming describes, the only people who will die during the Millennium are Gentiles who fail to receive salvation during that period.

    During this dispensation, mankind will be ruled directly by Jesus. As in all of the previous dispensations, mankind will display the wickedness and rebellion in his heart.

Conclusion

We have seen that there are several clear "dividing points" in the way that God has dealt with humans throughout history, and the periods between those dividing points are often referred to as "dispensations." It's important that we try to recognize and understand the various dispensations because commands which applied to one group of people during a particular dispensation do not necessarily apply to other groups of people during other dispensations. As we have seen, properly distinguishing between the various dispensations can help us understand some of the difficult passages in the Bible.

When God gave mankind a simple command in the Garden of Eden, mankind rebelled against God. When God governed mankind through the conscience, mankind rebelled against God. When God allowed mankind to be ruled through human governments, mankind rebelled against God. When God provided patriarchs to govern the Jews, the Jews rebelled against God. When God gave the Jews a set of specific, written laws to follow, the Jews rebelled against God. When God gave mankind a simple requirement to have faith in His Son, mankind in general is rebelling against God. When Jesus dwells among us on earth and reigns over a thousand-year Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and prosperity, mankind will rebel against God.

In all of the different ways that God has dispensed His authority and governance over us, mankind in general has continually displayed the wickedness and rebellion in his heart. It is only through the grace of God expressed through Christ's atonement on the cross that anyone will be allowed into heaven!


May the Lord greatly bless you in every way as you study His Word!


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  • 04/03/2007 - New article