The Dispensations
Hal Molloy · Nov 24, 2002
Major Bible Themes (2002-03), No. 21
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262250123683

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

What I want you to do is turn to Colossians chapter 1 verse 24 and 25. Since I've got the King James here, I would like somebody to volunteer either out from the NIV or New American Standard to read Colossians chapter 1 verse 24 and 25. Okay, Gary. Correct. Correct.

Okay. now let me read it from the King James and I want you to listen closely when I read verse 25 so verse 24 goes like this who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake which is the church verse 25 of which I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you to fulfill the Word of God." Now, notice that in your American Standard or your NIV that in verse 25 you didn't have the word dispensation. You had the word what? Stewardship? Okay. And you're what, NIV? Commission? No, it's International. New International. And stewardship is New American Standard. Okay.

So, let me ask this question. How many have heard of the word dispensation before? Well, that's good. Because if you're grounded or if you utilize the New American Standard NID, you'll never see the word dispensation unless you come to a place like this. So that's our study this morning. We're going to look at this word, dispensation. Now it's interesting. The King James translates that word, dispensation, in four places. It's used 20 places in the New Testament, the word for dispensation. The word for dispensation is a compound word in the Greek.

It's oikonomia. comes from the word oikos, which means house or household. Namia comes from namas, which means law or principle. So literally, the word oikonamia, which is translated dispensation in those four places, means the principle of a household. That's simply what it means in the literal sense, principle of a household.

So, in all the other verses, in the other 16 passages, It is translated either stewardship or commission, stewardship, administration. Is that what it is in Colossians 124? But it is translated administration. And those are okay translations, because a dispensation is a principle of a household, the way a household would be run.

So when you look back in Matthew 24-25, when it talks about the master who leaves and goes afar, and the servants do not know when he's coming back, he leaves them the principle in terms of how he wants his household run. And he lays down the principles. So he lays down the principles of the household, and then there's the stewardship part of it, where the servants are the stewards, and they're to carry out the principles. So in a like manner, God has laid out, if you will, the principles of his household, entire world system in terms of all of mankind. He has laid down the principles and man is stewards in God's household. So you can look at dispensation in that sense. So what we're going to do is, first thing, we're going to look at it in five parts.

What is a dispensation? generally explain to you what are the dispensations, which, because what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at two models. There are many different models, if you will, in terms of dispensations, and you'll see what I mean by model in a moment. But there are many different models. We're just gonna look at two of them. We're gonna ask the question and answer it, which model is preferable?

And then, what's the importance of dispensation? So, why the big deal? Why the big deal that we make on these four verses in the New Testament of Oikonomia, where only in the King James is translated dispensation, as opposed to administration or what was your security commission or whatever. So, why? Why the importance? What occurs if dispensationalism is omitted? If you don't adhere to this system of dispensations?

As I pointed out, here are the four places in the Greek where the word oikonomia is translated dispensation. 1 Corinthians 9.17, Ephesians 1.10, and also Ephesians 3.2, and Colossians 1.25, which we just read.

So for the definition of oikonomia, It's in your notes, and it's basically what I just went through. And so, in terms of summary, with respect to what is a dispensation, if you read Dr. Charles Ryrie, his definition of a dispensation goes as follows.

A dispensation is a distinguishable economy. Now, I added for economy because when you think of economy, you think of economics, you know, and so in our vernacular, economy has to do with economics. So a dispensation is distinguishable economy, and economy means God's government and activity in the outworking of God's purpose. So that's his short definition of a dispensation. Now as you go through the word, as I just did in terms of the Greek, I put down dispensationalism views the world of mankind as a household running according to God's purpose where man is a steward. So there's another approach to looking at the word dispensation or what it means. So with that in place then, you ask the question, what are the dispensations? So there are these economies or dispensations, and the question is, what are they?

So we're gonna look at two models. And the first model is the most popular model. And I've just labeled it the seven-dispensation model because there's actually seven dispensations, and I had them numbered, and somehow when I transferred from one program to another, I lost the numbers.

But there's the dispensation, the first dispensation is innocence, the second is conscience, third is government, fourth is promise, fifth is law, sixth is grace, and seventh is kingdom. Now you see in here law or tribulation, but But the tribulation period, according to this model, is part of this dispensation here, the law. So there are seven distinct dispensations.

Now, so if you read, if you have a Schofield reference Bible, Dr. C.I. Schofield, if you read Dr. Lewis Barry Chafer, and how many read the chapter? No. But if you read Dr. Louis Sperry-Chaffer, he has the seven discrimination models, Dr. Charles Ryrie, Dr. I think Dwight Pentecost, Dr. Walvoord, all from Dallas Seminary. So this is the typical model that's presented. And the basic characteristics go something like this.

Each dispensation or economy has a different governing relationship into which God enters with man called God's administration. So God has an administration, and he sets up the principles with each of these dispensations. So he sets up the principles laid down for the dispensation of conscience, government, and so forth. Then, man has a responsibility in each of these dispensations, and he is to be a steward. And in each dispensation, as you read these men, it's characterized by three things.

It's characterized by a test that God gives man a responsibility, and then he gives him a test. And he tests him to see whether man is going to fulfill his stewardship or his responsibility. In each dispensation, man fails. Why would you think man fails? Because he is involved. And both answers, put them both together and you got him. He's involved because he has a sense of nature. So he fails.

Then there's a resulting judgment in that dispensation. Now there may be several judgments within the dispensation, okay? But there's at least one judgment. And as you look at this model, Judgment upon man doesn't necessarily define a dispensation. A dispensation is defined as God laying down certain principles in each of these dispensations. Now, let me ask you a question. Take a look at the first dispensation of innocence. What principle did God lay down with respect to because we're talking about Adam and Eve. What principle do you lay down with Adam and Eve? He created Adam and Eve, okay?

So, put him in the garden, said, this is all yours. You can eat freely of every tree in the garden, but of this one tree, the tree of what? knowledge of good and evil you can't eat. All the others you can partake. That's God's administration. He lays down the principles of the household. What happens? There's a test. Who comes along? Satan comes along. Tempts Eve. fails the test, and there's a resulting judgment. The judgment is what? They're put out of the garden.

You probably know all this, but huh? And thorns and thistles and weeds, and that's why we're out there today. Okay, so you get the basic flow, you get the basic idea. and the dispensation of conscience. There's a principle that's laid down, an operating principle in this model that now man has a conscience, he knows the difference between good and evil, and he's to do the good and not the evil. Yeah, because when they were expelled from the garden, that was the judgment. And now, according to this model, they were living in the dispensation of conscience. Knowing the difference between good and evil, they were to perform the good and not the evil.

And so what happens? As you get to Genesis chapter 6, you find that man hears God's commentary. Man was evil continually, moment by moment by moment. And he was so evil that God said, I repent that I made man, and I'm going to have to destroy man. And so man failed the test. And so there was a big judgment here. And the big judgment was what? The flood. and where only eight souls survived.

And so you see the progression. And this model looks very plausible, right? I mean, it looks great. There's a problem. So let me tell you up front. over the years. And this is what I taught. Twenty years back, or whatever it was, when I taught dispensations, this is what I taught. But the only reason I taught it is because that's all I ever read.

But as I interacted with Scripture, the more I interacted with Scripture, the more I found out that if someone hadn't given me this model, I would never have come up with this model, because I can't see it in Scripture. Because there's nothing in Scripture that says that there's a dispensation of innocence. Nothing in Scripture says there's a dispensation of conscience, or government, or promise, or law. The only place in Scripture In this model, there is the dispensation of grace, and we'll look at that in a moment. So anyhow, if you sense any bias, you know why. Not for the good model, no. All right, so there's another way to look at it. And the other way to look at it is this.

As you take a look at the Apostle Paul, who was an unbeliever, and he persecuted the church. He murdered Christians. He consented to the murder of Stephen. And he was observing Stephen being stoned. And then Stephen, as he was dying, he looks up and he sees the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, I see the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, Father, Lay not this charge against them, the ones who are stoning him. He's dying. And Paul is observing all of this. And of course, Stephen dies.

Paul is on the road to Damascus with a commission from all of the Pharisees in Jerusalem to go get the Christians in Damascus. He's on the road to Damascus. and you know the story, right? He gets blinded by the Lord, falls off his horse, whatever he was on, and the Lord speaks with him.

Think about it. Did the Lord just pick out Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul, and just zap him? to make him a believer? How does one become a believer? Think of Romans 10.17. Faith comes by how? hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Scripture doesn't say this. This is my own personal input in terms of what happened. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

When Saul or Paul was consenting to Stephen's death and observing this, and saw the belief and saw the faith of Stephen, And not only that, what he saw through Stephen was the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw the forgiveness and the love that Stephen had for the people who were murdering him.

And Paul, he's a Pharisee of Pharisees, he knows every scripture. I don't know how much of the Old Testament he had memorized, but he knew scripture intensely. He knew scripture. He knew the Word, but he didn't know the Lord. And there's a big difference. And I'm sure that he was pondering on that thought as he was writing to Damascus. That, I know Scripture, but I really don't know the Lord.

And I think at that moment, he says, hey, that Jesus Christ must be the Son of God. And he gets zapped and you know the rest of the story. But the thing is this, God takes Saul, or the Lord Jesus Christ takes Saul into the desert in Arabia for three years and reveals to him the whole dispensation of the church. God reveals to no one else the revelation in terms of the church, in terms of who we are in Christ, came through Paul, came through Paul only. He did not, Paul says, he did not get his message from anybody else but the Lord Jesus Christ.

So when we look at dispensations, I think we should look in the framework of Paul. And if Paul mentions a dispensation, then we should kind of go by that. And if other dispensations are not mentioned, we should be careful in terms of whether we define them as dispensations or not. So what was the ministry of Paul and what was Paul focused on in his ministry? Let's do this.

Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 32. We read what Paul said about the dispensation of the church. Paul looks at people, or groups of people. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 32. Here's what he says. He says, give no offense neither to the Jews, nor to the Greeks, or the Gentiles, nor to the church of God.

Now we notice that in Colossians 1.25 Paul mentions the dispensation of the Church.

Notice here in 1 Corinthians 10.32, he talks about the Church, the Church of God. He doesn't use the word dispensation here, but notice that with the Church of God, which is a group of people, he mentions two other groups of people, and that is the Gentiles and the Jews, or Israel. So, in looking at these passages of Scripture in the context of what Paul taught, there's another model that we can come up with, with respect to dispensations.

And we'll just call it the three dispensational models. where you have just what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10.32. You have the Gentiles, you have the Jews or Israel, and you have the church. And so, when God looks down on all of humankind, He sees these three groups of people.

The interesting thing about the word dispensation, is this, that the word dispensation, oikonomia, has no relationship to time. So that if we have the seven dispensational model, we've got time, beginning of dispensation, end of dispensation, beginning of another one, end of, beginning of another one, So if you read what Dr. Charles Rory says about the word dispensations and you go through the etymology of the word, it doesn't have to do with time. So then, wouldn't it be better to have a model of dispensations where time is not involved in terms of the dispensation as beginning? but no end. And so you have a dispensation of the Gentiles, have a beginning with Adam and Eve, but have no end. To all eternity, you're going to have Gentiles. And then, same thing with Israel. And so, it has a beginning, but no end. And then the church has beginning and no end.

Now, the other thing you have to factor in, I believe, in a model of dispensations is, what is God's eternal purpose? Because whatever God's eternal purpose is, it should fit with your model of dispensations. Does God have a singular purpose? I mean, does He change His purpose every millennium? Yeah, they say, uh oh, that didn't work, let's try this. God has a singular purpose.

And so if you go back in eternity past, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit all existed, had a fellowship of love, and they decided sometime in eternity past to create man, right? And to create you and me, to bring you and me into that fellowship of love with them, into that circle of love, that same circle of love that they've had for all eternity, to bring us into that circle of love. Isn't that awesome? To share that intimate fellowship that they had, that we can share that intimate fellowship with them for all eternity.

That's God's eternal purpose. So as you look at God's eternal purpose, what He does is He declares who He is, His glory. Remember all the steps. This is a test. I'm going to ask you over and over again. He declares His glory. Not only does He declare His glory, but He shares that very glory. with us.

Do you have the same glory as the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? Positionally, you have the same glory as the Lord Jesus Christ had as a man. Because before he went to die on that cross, He was praying to the Father in John 17, the true Lord's Prayer. He says, Father, the glory that you have given me, what?

I have given them, those who would believe in Him. He's perfect tense and has abiding results. You have that very glory. So that was God's purpose. However, when you became a believer, you had no clue that that was true of you. And now what we're doing in this life is trying to understand what that's all about. And the way we understand that is by the next aspect of His purpose is that He reveals His glory. How does He do that? How do you know who you are in Christ? Did you guys sleep last night? Through the Word. There is no other way that we could possibly know unless He reveals it to us. No other way. We know through the Word.

And then the last aspect of His eternal purpose is then to be glorified. When you know who you are in Christ, when I know who I am in Christ, and who He is, there is no other response, no other response than to glorify God. None. So Verne is going through the book of Revelation and you see the living creatures in heaven, you see the angels in heaven, in chapter after chapter after chapter, they're in the presence of the Lord and what do they do day and night? They glorify God. When they come to know who He is, there is no other response. than to glorify Him.

So whatever model we choose for dispensations has to include or has to be consistent with God's eternal purpose of declaring His glory, sharing His glory, revealing His glory, and then in turn to be glorified. As you go through the three dispensation model, knowing what God's purpose was back here in eternity past, the first thing he does, he creates the heavens and the earth. And guess what?

The heavens and the earth declare the glory of God. It's a declaration of the glory of God. It's a shouting out of the glory of God. you look at the stars, and you look at the moon, you look at this universe, especially now if you look through the Hubble Telescope, you see how the heavens declare the glory of God. I won't get into that, into the Hubble Telescope.

So the first thing he creates the heavens and the earth, which declare the glory of God. He creates man, and guess what? He makes man in His image and in His likeness. And the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit together said, in Genesis 1.26, let us create man in our plural image, and so He creates man in His image and His likeness. And in the Hebrew, better translated, in the likeness image of Him. Not the exact image, because there's only one who's the exact image, the express image of God, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, in Hebrews 1.3, when it talks about the Lord Jesus Christ, it says He is the exact representation, or the exact image of God. We are in the likeness image, not the exact image. So he creates man in his image, his likeness.

And then Adam walks in the cool of the day with God. God now reveals to Adam who he is. And of course then Adam sins. Now, did God go, uh-oh, and start biting his nails saying the plan didn't work? Here man sinned, no longer in fellowship with me, no longer in my presence, can't walk in the cool of the day with Adam anymore. So what did God do? Was His plan thwarted?

Absolutely not. Because before the foundation of the world, when they Let's see, how do I want to say this? Before the foundation of the world, they knew that Adam would sin. So in their omniscience, they knew that Adam would sin. But question, was that sin causative? Did it cause Adam to sin? Absolutely not. God's omniscience, God's foreknowledge is not causative.

Then God said, Okay, I'm going to choose one man. Because in his eternal purpose, he had to bridge this big chasm now between himself and man. Because there was a big separation between God and man because of sin. And so God said, I'm going to choose one man.

And through that one man, Abraham, is going to come a seed. And that seed is going to be His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's through that seed that He would share His glory with man. And so God chose Abraham, gave Abraham the covenants, and within those covenants, and we're going to look at that next week, there were promises. promises of a land, a seed, and a blessing, and that seed was the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave Him the Word of God, He gave Him the Law, the Father, and the Prophets. Now, as you look at Scripture, and as we'll look at next week, we'll see that these covenants that He made with Israel are everlasting covenants.

They go out into eternity. The land is theirs. and the seed is, they're going to be worshiping the seed of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're going to be blessed forever. So these are continual. And to understand covenants, I think it's best to understand the three dispensational model versus the seven, because this puts covenants in perspective. Okay, but then what happens?

Israel rejects the very Messiah. They reject Christ. They put him on the cross. And God says, okay, my purpose is not going to be thwarted. I'm going to choose out another people for my name. And that's the church. And it's those who believe that Jesus Christ truly came into this world, was the Son of God, came into this world to bridge that gap of sin, to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. And so here comes the church. The church, Ekklesia, called out ones. They're called out from where? The world. And looking at this model, where are they called out from? Okay? From the Gentiles or Israel. So they're called out ones. And even though Israel is blinded today, it's a partial blindness.

There are many Jews today that are putting their trust and faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I heard a figure on the radio the other day that was driving down the freeway, and it's something like 1 in 500 Jews believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I thought that was a pretty high number, 1 in 500. I really thought that was high. I personally know many Jews who are believers.

Anyhow, so we have the church, which starts at Pentecost. Of course, it's taken out at the rapture. The church comes back with Christ. He comes back to rule for the kingdom, during the kingdom, for a thousand years and we're going to rule and reign with Him.

But now, the interesting thing is this. So, and all of this is revealed in the Word of God. So, think of God's eternal purpose. To declare His glory, which He does, which He has done, and by the way, In terms of declaring His glory and announcing His glory, it's not only that the heavens and the earth declare His glory, but there are things that declare His glory. In fact, I'm working on a message now for Christmas, which I'm seeing for the first time that when Jesus Christ was born, and we're talking about the incarnation, that here you have the shepherds in the field, and guess what's in the field with them? The glory of God! And so there's another declaration, if you will, of the glory of God, God declaring His glory.

So, He shares His glory with those who believe in the personal work of the Lord Jesus Christ, today, now, through the ones who call that one the Church, and then He reveals His glory to us, and in the end, He's going to be glorified. And as you go through Scripture, you'll find that the Gentiles, in eternity, and you can see this, but in eternity, They will be glorifying God on earth and in eternity Israel will be glorifying God on earth and in eternity the church will be glorifying God in the heavenly city. I think that we're going to be residing with the Lord in the heavenly city. The heavenly city is going to come down and All of the nations of the world have access to the heavenly city, and they're going to come in. And as you read the passages of Scripture, they're going to bring their glory, their glorification of God with them. And they're going to be glorifying God on earth.

So, that's the three dispensational models. Any questions? I get concerned because you always get concerned as to whether you're communicating or not. Why the cross in all three? I can think of one passage of scripture in Acts 4.12 and it says this, neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved. So the reason for the cross, it's the only way that the Gentiles, Israel, or anybody else that are going to be saved. Salvation comes through the cross. Not only as a reference point, but also as a major point, the fact that salvation comes in no other way. but by believing... But once a Gentile becomes a believer, they're no longer under that church. Correct. Correct. They're under the dispensation of the church. Correct. So in the eternity, does that remove them from the church? Okay. Okay. Okay. No, that's okay.

The earth doesn't get destroyed as we think of the word destroyed in terms of annihilated where it goes poof. And the thing is this, as we look at the covenants next week, the land is given to Israel for eternal possession. So that land, that piece of real estate over there is theirs. They're going to be in that land. But what God is going to do is there is going to be a new heavens and a new earth. The word new is kynos, which is new in quality. There is going to be a whole new quality of earth.

So what is going to happen is you find out, which Peter tells us, that this earth is going to be purged. It is going to be purged by fire. So everything man made is going to be purged. And so we're going to have a renovated earth, okay? Is that number one or two? Okay. Now, in your handouts, I didn't want to put this up here.

But what I've tried to do is put in some passages of Scripture in reference to the three-dispensational model, and the way I got to the three-dispensational model, because you'll find, I believe, when it talks about the dispensation of the Church, it talks about the dispensation of the grace of God.

I think that's synonymous with the Church. It talks about the dispensation of the preaching of the Gospel, which I think is synonymous with the dispensation of the Church. It talks about the dispensation of the fullness of times, which I believe is consistent with the dispensation of the Church, and not something yet future. Now, other expositors interpret this passage as yet future. I think all of the fullness is in Christ, and we're in Christ, and the fullness is here, right now.

And then there are prior dispensations, But the prior dispensations, you'll never find something that says the dispensation of the Gentiles or dispensation of Israel, but I think that they're implied in these passages of Scripture that I listed. Which dispensation is preferable? You take your choice. I think the three dispensational models is preferable.

We will end here. Okay, next week we'll look at the covenants. And hopefully we'll see that the covenants, as you take a look at the covenant and looking at the dispensations, some interaction between them. Let's pray. Father, we are again just thankful for this time together. We thank you, Father, for your word. Apart from it, we would not know who we are in Christ. And we just thank you for the revelation that you've given to us in terms of understanding your eternal purpose. And Father, how we do thank you and glorify you for it. In Christ's name, amen.