THE SON WHO IS BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN

When writing yesterday's blog entitled "Progressive Revelation - Progressive Accountability," I was unaware of a false teaching known as "Progressive Dispensationalism," clearly nothing more than the work of a "liberal in a conservative's clothing," attempting to legitimatize Replacement Theology, without setting off theological alarms.  Replacement Theology, simply put, teaches that God has rejected Israel as His chosen people, and has replaced them with the Church.  It teaches that the promises made to Israel, now belong to the Church.  For the life of me, I cannot understand how any serious Bible student could come up with such a heresy, especially in light of the Apostle Paul's teachings to the contrary (Rom. 9 - 11)!

What I was trying to say in yesterday's blog is this:  the more light one has about God's will, the more responsible one is to live accordingly.  Let me use an illustration to try to explain what I mean.  Think of the seven dispensations as a seven-way light bulb.  With each "click," one can see a little more of reality.  In the first dispensation, Innocence, Adam thought so little of God, that he honestly believed by eating a piece of fruit, he could become equal to Him.  Once Adam partook of the forbidden fruit, he not only lost his status of being innocent, he became aware that God was to be feared; he had a conscience (Gen. 3:1-10).  Humans did not cease to have a conscience with the beginning of the third dispensation, Human Government.  Again, men still have a conscience, and human governments continued, as is obvious by our world today. 

In the fourth dispensation, Promise, God chose one family to create a nation of His own; this dispensation has never really ended.  Neither has the fifth dispensation, Law.  Israelites still have a conscience, still have a government, still hold title to the Land of Promise, and are still bound by the Law.  But new light, The Light (Isa. 9:2; Jn. 8:12), has taken out of Israel, and out of every nation, the Church, in what is known as the Dispensation of Grace.  There yet remains one dispensation, the world's final dispensation:  the Dispensation of the Kingdom, which will last for one thousand years (Rev. 20:1-7).

So, as can be seen by the ongoing and accumulative revelation of God in His relationship to man, not only does each "click" add light to that which already existed, with the increased light comes a greater accountability.
  
1)  INNOCENCE - God is greater than man - Adam sinned (Gen. 3:1-10).
2)  CONSCIENCE - Man should fear God - Human kind was wicked (Gen. 6:5).
3)  GOVERNMENT - Man to govern the earth - Man refused (Gen. 9:1 w/ 11:4).
4)  PROMISE - One family to inhabit God's land - They went to Egypt (Gen. 12:1 w/ 50:22).
5)  LAW - The Law reveals a need for a Savior - They killed Him (Mt. 27:25; Gal. 3:24).
6)  GRACE - God provided for man's lack of righteousness - The Church fails (Rev. 2 - 3).
7)  MILLENNIUM - God tabernacles and governs - Man rebels against Him (Rev. 20:7-9).

How much "light" can the lost soul see when he looks at you?