The End is Near!! (right??) Part Ten

Remember,

“Dispensationalism views the world as a household run by God.  In His household-world God is dispensing or administering its affairs according to His own will and in various stages of revelation in the passage of time.  These various stages mark off the distinguishably different economies in the outworking of His total purpose, and these different economies constitute the dispensations.  The understanding of God’s differing economies is essential to a proper interpretation of His revelation within those various economies.”

Definition:

     A dispensation is a distinguishable economy in the out-working of God's purpose.  A dispensation will normally contain a (1) distinctive revelation from God to man, (2) testing, (3) failure, and (4) judgment.

The third Dispensation is Civil (or Human) Government

   As mentioned previously, the next dispensation begins with the Noahic Covenant:

Genesis 8:20-9:17 (NIV)  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.  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.  “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 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.  Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 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.  “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.   As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:  “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you  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.  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.”

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:  I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 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. 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.”

 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

The Noahic Covenant has the following highlights:

·  Man's responsibility to populate the earth is reaffirmed.

·  The subjection of the animal kingdom to man is reaffirmed, but now it will be administered under a new relationship. Whereas previously man and animal coexisted in peace and animals most likely fully cooperated with man’s care and maintenance, now the animal kingdom would fear man and be dominated by him.

·  Man is permitted to eat the flesh of every "moving creature" outside the realm of man. It is suggested that initially man was a vegetarian but after the curse of the Flood, man's allowable diet was expanded to include the animal kingdom (meat) -- which involved killing an animal. The only exception, which is in fact carried over into the New Covenant, is that man is to refrain from eating blood, the "life of the flesh".

·  The sacredness of human life is established. Since man is made in the image of God, one who commits murder shows not only contempt for man but also contempt for God.

·  Whatever sheds man's blood, whether man or beast, must be put to death. This is seen as the institution of human self-government..

·  The covenant is confirmed with Noah, his sons, their descendants, all the animals on the ark and their descendants.

·  The earth will never again be destroyed by a universal flood. The next time God destroys the earth, the means will be fire (2 Peter 3:10).

·  The rainbow is established as a sign of the Noahic Covenant to both God and man signifying that God will never again destroy the earth by a universal flood.

Note from Dr. Renald Showers:

“The second dispensation of God’s rule demonstrated that man- kind would not obey God on the basis of the human conscience and the restraint of lawlessness by the Holy Spirit. Thus, once the Noahic Flood ended God started a new dispensation by instituting a new ruling factor.

Since the fountainhead of all human corruption prior to the flood was the continued existence of the first murderer, Cain, God determined that never again would He allow murderers to infect the rest of mankind with their rebellious attitudes.  Shortly after Noah and his family left the ark, God ordained capital punishment for murderers (Genesis 9:5-6).

Capital punishment requires a human government agency to investigate the murder, and  then apprehend and try the murderer, and administer the sentence of execution. God commanded that the murderer’s blood be shed by mankind.  Thus, when God ordained capital punishment, He thereby instituted human government as a further restraint against the lawless rebellion of mankind.  In Romans 13:1-7 the Apostle Paul indicated that human governmental authority derives its existence from God, that it was ordained for the purpose of restraining evil, and that it functions as the minister of God when it administers capital punishment.

Human government, then, with its authority to administer capital punishment, was the new ruling factor that God instituted for the third dispensation.  The human conscience and the restraint of lawlessness by the Holy Spirit continued on as ruling factors in this new dispensation. In fact, Romans 2:14-15 and 2 Thessalonians 2:7, together with other pas- sages, indicate that they continue as ruling factors even into today’s dispensation. Thus, the third dispensation had three ruling factors which God used to administer His rule over mankind: human conscience, restraint of lawlessness by the Holy Spirit, plus human government. Dispensational theologians have named the third dispensation after the new ruling factor, since that is the factor which made the third dispensation distinct from the second.”

  Man was given the authority for ultimate punishment, life for life.  Man given instructions to "fill" the whole earth.  Instead of dispersing and inhabiting the whole earth, man banded together in one spot to build a tower so that they could reach the heavens.  There is thought that Nimrod (Gen 10:8-12; 11:1-9) was the first world dictator and founded the world's first false religion based on astrology, which is why they would build a tower or observatory.  Their unity of language and system of government had done away with their need of fellowship with God.

Genesis 11:5-9 (NIV) But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 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. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.  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.

For all of the ramifications and a little bit of history, please go to one of my favorite websites:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v24/i3/babel.asp

Summation:    1. Distinctive Revelation – Noahic Covenant

2.  Testing – Man to multiply and scatter

3.  Failure – Disobedience and Conceit

4.  Judgment – Babel and Scattering

Note:  I know that by now you are wondering what any of this has to do with the last days.  I beg your indulgence a little longer.  We are almost there.  If we don’t fill in the earlier the later will make no sense, whereas if we do fill it in, you will understand and see the flow.  I promise you, it will all make sense.  Really………….would I lie to you?

The End is Near!!!! (right??) - Number Nine

Again,

“Dispensationalism views the world as a household run by God.  In His household-world God is dispensing or administering its affairs according to His own will and in various stages of revelation in the passage of time.  These various stages mark off the distinguishably different economies in the outworking of His total purpose, and these different economies constitute the dispensations.  The understanding of God’s differing economies is essential to a proper interpretation of His revelation within those various economies.”

Definition:
     A dispensation is a distinguishable economy in the out-working of God's purpose.  A dispensation will normally contain a (1) distinctive revelation from God to man, (2) testing, (3) failure, and (4) judgment.

The second Dispensation is Conscience or Self-Determination

   As mentioned previously, the next dispensation begins with the Adamic Covenant:

Genesis 3:16-19 (NIV) 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.”

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.  It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field. 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.”

The Adamic Covenant as the result of Adam’s sin has the following highlights:

·         Enmity between Satan, Eve, and her descendants.

·         Painful childbirth for women.

·         Marital strife.

·         The soil cursed.

·         Introduction of thorns and thistles.

·         Survival to be a struggle.

·         Death introduced.

·        

There were also a couple of more revelations

Genesis 3:21 (NIV)   The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

Genesis 4:4 (NIV)   But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,

Note from Clarke’s Commentary on Genesis 3:21:

“God made coats of skins - It is very likely that the skins out of which their clothing was made were taken off animals whose blood had been poured out as a sin-offering to God; for as we find Cain and Abel offering sacrifices to God, we may fairly presume that God had given them instructions on this head; nor is it likely that the notion of a sacrifice could have ever occurred to the mind of man without an express revelation from God. Hence we may safely infer 1. That as Adam and Eve needed this clothing as soon as they fell, and death had not as yet made any ravages in the animal world, it is most likely that the skins were taken off victims offered under the direction of God himself, and in faith of Him who, in the fullness of time, was to make an atonement by his death. And it seems reasonable also that this matter should be brought about in such a way that Satan and death should have no triumph, when the very first death that took place in the world was an emblem and type of that death which should conquer Satan, destroy his empire, reconcile God to man, convert man to God, sanctify human nature, and prepare it for heaven.”

So immediately Adam and Eve see the consequences of their sin; death of the innocent for the guilty sinner.  God provides the sacrifice to replace the clothing they had manufactured themselves with their “good works”.  The Bible says:

Hebrews 9:22 (NIV)   In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Why? Because,

Deuteronomy 12:23 (NIV)   But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

Because the blood is what gives life to the flesh, a blood sacrifice is a picture of putting off of the flesh, embracing the spirit.

During this particular age, man’s conscience is all that governs his actions, therefore:

Genesis 4:3-7 (NIV)   In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?  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.”

Note in the above passage “if you do, if you do not”. Cain was to listen to his conscience and respond to it properly, like his brother Abel did.  Abel sacrificed the first of his flocks in an appropriate blood sacrifice.  Cain brought God some vegetables.  So instead of doing the right thing:

Genesis 4:8 (NIV)   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.

Cain was merely the first murderer, there were plenty of others leading God to conclude:

Genesis 6:5-7 (NIV) 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.  The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.  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.”

After this comes the judgment of this particular dispensation:

Genesis 6:8-8:19 (NIV) But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.  This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.  Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.  God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.  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. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.  I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.  You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.  You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”  Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”  And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.

Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.  And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.  And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.  They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth.  The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet.   Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.  Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left and those with him in the ark.  The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 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.

After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.  Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground.  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. He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 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. He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

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. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

Then God said to Noah,  “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.  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.”

 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. 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.

Summation:    1. Distinctive Revelation – Adamic Covenant, Sacrifice System

2.  Testing – Man’s Conscience

3.  Failure – Utter corruption of mankind

4.  Judgment – Flood

The End is Near!!! (right??) - Part 8

Again,

“Dispensationalism views the world as a household run by God.  In His household-world God is dispensing or administering its affairs according to His own will and in various stages of revelation in the passage of time.  These various stages mark off the distinguishably different economies in the outworking of His total purpose, and these different economies constitute the dispensations.  The understanding of God’s differing economies is essential to a proper interpretation of His revelation within those various economies.”

Definition:

     A dispensation is a distinguishable economy in the out-working of God's purpose.  A dispensation will normally contain a (1) distinctive revelation from God to man, (2) testing, (3) failure, and (4) judgment.

Okay here we go.  First up is the Dispensation (or Economy) of Innocence (or Freedom)

Genesis 1:26-30 (NIV)
  Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”   So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.   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.”

  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.  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 2:16-17 (NIV)
  And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;  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.”

Highlights of the Edenic Covenant:

·         Mankind (male and female) created in God’s image.

·         Mankind’s dominion (rule) over the animal kingdom.

·         Divine directive for mankind to reproduce and inhabit the entire Earth.

·         Mankind to be vegetarian (eating of meat established in the Noahic covenant).

·         Eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil forbidden (with death as the stated penalty).

   “When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree they both acquired something they before thought desirable but soon turned out to be a curse; that is, knowledge. After they ate they both quickly learned the knowledge they obtained was quite different from what the Serpent represented it to be. It was not just "knowledge" for knowledge's sake, but the knowledge of EVIL. Not all knowledge is beneficial; there are some things a person should not try to learn or seek after, and the greatest of these is a knowledge of evil (Rom. 16:19; 1 Co. 14:20). It is the knowledge of evil that condemned Adam and Eve to death, and it is the same that separates one child who is accountable for his actions from another who is not. In fact, it is the knowledge of evil or sin that condemns every man as a sinner and every person born of Adam inherits the capacity for this knowledge. That the Serpent deceived Eve and led her to think all knowledge was desirable is immaterial. Adam knew exactly what God said; he made his choice for Eve knowing they both would die (1 Tim 2:14).

    After he ate, Adam knew at least three things he didn't know before. He knew he had eaten of the forbidden tree and would die; he knew he had broken God's covenant; and he knew he was naked. This new knowledge caused him to feel fear and guilt for the first time and these in turn caused him to flee from God's presence. In spite of Adam's blatant sin, God did not abandon him. Though the Edenic Covenant was now broken, God did not cast aside His new creation. By His foreknowledge and grace He made another covenant with Adam, and unlike the first one this covenant was unconditional and is still in effect today. It is called the Adamic Covenant.”

Taken from www.biblebelievers.com Copyright 1997, Timothy S. Morton, All Rights Reserved

The Adamic Covenant:

Genesis 3:16-19 (NIV) 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.”

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.  It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field. 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.”

The Adamic Covenant as the result of Adam’s sin has the following highlights:

·         Enmity between Satan and Eve and her descendants.

·         Painful childbirth for women.

·         Marital strife.

·         The soil cursed.

·         Introduction of thorns and thistles.

·         Survival to be a struggle.

·         Death introduced.

·         Death will be the inescapable fate of all living things.

“Although these curses are severe and inescapable, a wonderful promise of grace was also included in the Adamic Covenant. Genesis 3:15 is often referred to as the “Proto-Gospel” or “First Gospel.” Speaking to Satan, God says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, / And between your seed and her seed; / He shall bruise you on the head, / And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

Here God promises that one born of a woman would be wounded in the process of destroying Satan. The “seed” of the woman who would crush the Serpent’s head is none other than Jesus Christ (see Galatians 4:4 and 1 John 3:8). Even in the midst of the curse, God’s gracious provision of salvation shines through.”

Taken from www.gotquestions.org Copyright 2002-2011 Got Questions Ministries

So, summation:        1. Distinctive Revelation – Edenic Covenant

                                    2.  Testing – Life in the Garden of Eden

                                    3.  Failure – Fall of Adam and Eve

                                    4.  Judgment – Adamic Covenant

The End is Near!!! (right??) Part 7

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD DISPENSATION

The English word dispensation is an anglicized form of the Latin dispensatio that the Vulgate (Vulgate, the authorized Latin version of the Bible. In the late fourth century, Pope Damasus commissioned Jerome to bring order to the existing Latin versions. The resulting translation was called the Vulgate (‘common text’)) uses to translate the Greek word.  The Latin verb is a compound, meaning, "to weigh out or dispense."  There are three principal ideas connected with the meaning of the English word:

1.  The action of dealing out or distributing.

2.  The action of administering, ordering, or managing the system by which things are administered.

3. The action of dispensing with some requirement.

The same dictionary adds that a dispensation is "a stage in a progressive revelation, expressly adapted to the needs of a particular nation or period of time, also, the age or period during which a system has prevailed.

The Greek word oikonomia comes from the verb, which means to manage, regulate, administer, and plan.  The word itself is a compound whose parts mean literally "to divide, apportion, administer or mange the affairs of an inhabited house." In recovered ancient papyri of the times the officer (oikonomos) who administered a dispensation was referred to as a steward or manager of an estate, or as a treasurer.

SCRIPTURAL USE OF THE WORD DISPENSATION

A. Usage of the word

The various forms of the word dispensation are used in the New Testament twenty times.  The verb oikonomeo is used once in Luke 16:2 where it is translated "management."  The noun oikonomos is used ten times (Luke 12:42; 16:1, 3, 8; Rom 16:23; 1 Cor 4:1, 2; Gal 4:2; Titus 1:7; 1 Pet 4:10)

Luke 16:2 (NIV)

So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.

Luke 12:42 (NIV)

  The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time?

Luke 16:1 (NIV)

   Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.

Luke 16:3 (NIV)

  “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg

Luke 16:8 (NIV)

   “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.

Romans 16:23 (NIV)

   Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city’s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 (NIV)

   So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

Galatians 4:2 (NIV)

   He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.

Titus 1:7 (NIV)

   Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.

1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.

The noun oikonomia is used nine times (Luke 16:2, 3, 4: 1 Cor 9:17; Eph 1:10; 3:2, 9: Col 1:25; 1 Tim 1:4)

Luke 16:2-4 (NIV)

So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’

“The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.

1 Corinthians 9:17 (NIV)

   If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.

Colossians 1:25 (NIV)

   I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—

Ephesians 1:10 (NIV)

to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

Ephesians 3:2 (NIV)

  Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you,

Ephesians 3:9 (NIV)

  and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.

1 Timothy 1:4 (NIV)

nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work—which is by faith.

As always all quotes are The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan

Let's look at some of the features that are associated with the word itself.  In Jesus' teachings around this word in Luke 12 and 16 there are, in both cases, the management of a household by a steward, but the parable in Luke 16 gives some important characteristics of a stewardship or dispensational arrangement. They are:

1.    Basically there are two parties. The one whose authority it is to delegate duties and the one whose responsibility it is to carry out these duties.

2.    There are specific responsibilities.  In the parable the steward failed in his duties.

3.    Accountability is required as well as responsibility.  A steward may be called on the carpet to give an account at any time.  Accountability is required and expected.

4.    A change may be made at any time by the Master at any time that there is found unfaithfulness in the existing administration.

Paul's teachings on this subject will bring us some more characteristics that we need to look at. They are:

1.    God is the one to whom men are responsible. (1 Cor 4: 1,2; Titus 1:7)

2.    Faithfulness is required of those to whom a dispensational responsibility is given (1 Cor 4:2).

3.    A stewardship may end at an appointed time (Gal 4:2)  Change due to different purpose.

4.    Dispensations are connected with the mysteries of God (1 Cor 4:1; Eph 3:2; Col 1:25) with specific revelations from God.

5.  Dispensation and age are connected ideas (Eph 3:9) but the words are not interchangeable.

Putting all of this together it is clear that the definition should involve the ideas of a definite time period, stewardship, administration, oversight or management of others' property.  It should involve responsibility, accountability, and faithfulness on the part of the steward.  A dispensation is basically the arrangement involved, not the time involved.  But a dispensation does last a certain amount of time.

A short definition of a dispensation is this:  A dispensation is a distinguishable economy in the outworking of God's purpose.  Part of the description of a dispensation would include other things such as: distinctive revelation, testing, failure, and judgment.  By using the word economy, we stay closer to the original biblical meaning and the word suggests that as the dispensations change they may or may not retain characteristics of the previous economy.  By using the phrase outworking of God's purpose, it tells us that it is up to God to change the dispensations or economies because this is His "household".

Once more with feeling Charles Ryrie says:

“Dispensationalism views the world as a household run by God.  In His household-world God is dispensing or administering its affairs according to His own will and in various stages of revelation in the passage of time.  These various stages mark off the distinguishably different economies in the outworking of His total purpose, and these different economies constitute the dispensations.  The understanding of God’s differing economies is essential to a proper interpretation of His revelation within those various economies.”

I know this is all so riveting you have probably lost the original question.  “What the heck does this have to do with the last days?”  Well, patience grasshopper, and if you can’t be patient how about a little tolerance?  It is coming, but first we are actually going to talk about some of the Dispensations.  Next.