THE BIBLE STUDENT'S MOST COMMON MISTAKE!

UNDERSTANDING GOD'S WORD 

BY UNDERSTANDING DISPENSATIONS!

The Bible is not a single statement of God's will for all of humanity throughout time; it is a series of statements which reveal God's will to be obeyed during periods of time, some short, and some lasting for centuries.  For instance, God's told a sinless Adam to tend to His garden, and His only stipulation was the Adam refrain from eating from the forbidden tree.  Of course, we all know how that turned out.  Adam went from being being like God, to being like us!  His transgression is known as The Fall.  And, like Adam, humanity has learned what God wants for it, only to do the opposite.  This pattern has, or will have repeated itself seven times .  These seven periods are known as dispensations.

A dispensation, then, is God revealing His will, man rejecting it, and the consequences.  Each period has a name, and they are as follows:

INNOCENCE - Adam before The Fall.
CONSCIENCE - Adam and his offspring after The Fall, until The Flood.
HUMAN GOVERNMENT - Noah and his offspring until The Tower of Babel.
THE LAND OF PROMISE - Abram and his offspring until The Egyptian Bondage.
THE LAW - The Law of Moses until The Crucifixion.
THE AGE OF GRACE - The Law of Love until The Apostasy.
THE MILLENNIUM - The rule of Christ until The Final Rebellion. 

One of greatest mistakes of Bible students, is the failure to "rightly divide the truth" (see 2 Tim. 2:15). That is, student's of God's Word try to apply something written to a specific group of people in one dispensation, to that of their own.  The most obvious and frequent mistake is to apply the Law of Moses, written for the nation of Israel, to the Church Age.  Israel and the Church are two separate and distinct entities!  The Apostle Paul fought this error throughout his ministry, and nearly the entire Book of Galatians is focused upon correcting his readers.  A key passage states:

Galatians 3:21-26 - Is the Law then against the promises of God?  God forbid:  for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law.  But the Scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.  But before faith came, we were kept under the Law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.  Wherefore the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.  For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

So Christian, remember to which dispensation you belong, and live your life doing the will of God for your time!  Your job is to spread the Gospel of Christ, the only message which has the power of God to save lost souls (see Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-4), and in so doing, you are keeping God's commandments for the Church Age:  love God, and love your neighbor (see Mt. 22:36-40; Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:23-24; 1 Jn. 3:23-24; Rev. 3:7-13*). 

* Note that the Revelation passage refers to the Church known for its brotherly love (the meaning of the word Philadelphia)!  And, it is the Church that is promised to escape the wrath of God that is to come upon the whole earth; the Church of the Rapture!