Seven dispensations of GodDr. Phillip Richards
Dr. Phillip Richards
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Dispensation: (Gr. oikonomia, “management,” “economy”).
(1.) The method or scheme according to which God carries out his purposes
towards men is called a dispensation. There are usually reckoned three
dispensations, the Patriarchal, the Mosaic or Jewish, and the Christian. (See
COVENANT, Administration of.) These were so many stages in God’s unfolding
of his purpose of grace toward men. The word is not found with this meaning in
Scripture.
(2.) A commission to preach the gospel (1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 1:10; 3:2; Col. 1:25).
Dispensations of Providence are providential events which affect men either in
the way of mercy or of judgement.
For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my
will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are
on earth; even in him:
If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is
given me to you-ward:
Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of
God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
3622. oijkonomi÷a oikonomia, oy-kon-om-ee´-ah; from 3623; administration (of
a household or estate); specially, a (religious) “economy”: — dispensation,
stewardship.
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past
unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by
his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds; KJV
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Seven dispensations of GodDr. Phillip Richards
Dr. Phillip Richards
1.
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First Dispensation:
Dispensation of Innocence:
This is the time period from the creation of Adam
until the fall of Adam. We don’t know how long this time period lasted as it could have
been even thousands of years. We simply don’t know.
2.
Second Dispensation:
Dispensation of Conscience:
This time period began with the fall of Adam and
ended with the flood. The Bible says that during this time, every man did what was right
in his own eyes. Notice Gen. 6:1-7 and also:
For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as
many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law
(for not the hearers of the
law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified;
for when
Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not
having the law, are a law to themselves,
who show the work of the law written in
their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts
accusing or else excusing them)
in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by
Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
This time period lasted 1,656 years from Adam’s fall to the 600th year of Noah.
(Gen. 5:1-29; 7:6, 11)
3.
Third Dispensation:
Dispensation of Human Government:
This time period occurred after the flood.
Men repopulated the earth and set up their own form of government and then began to
build the tower of Babel. This time period ended when God confused their language and
scattered men upon the earth.
From Gen. 8:15- 11:32
4.
Fourth Dispensation:
Dispensation of Promise:
This time period is when God visited Abram and
called him and changed his name to Abraham. Called promise because of the covenant
that God made with Abraham and his seed. God told Abraham that his seed would be
Christ. The Abrahamic covenant is still in force today. We are the seed of Abraham.
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Seven dispensations of GodDr. Phillip Richards
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What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the
flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not
before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was
accounted to him for righteousness.”
just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the
Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to
Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those
who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to
seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the
promise.
5.
Fifth Dispensation:
Dispensation of the Law:
From Ex. 12:38 until Christ died on the Cross.
This was the Old Testament period that ended when Christ said, “it is finished.”
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he
bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of
transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made;
6.
Sixth Dispensation:
Dispensation of Grace:
This is the time period we are living in now. It is also
called the dispensation of the church. It began on the day of Pentecost and will end at the
Rapture of the church.
And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
For the law
was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. NKJV
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Come, and let us return to the LORD;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth. KJV
THE LAST DAYS IN SCRIPTURE IS REFERING TO 2000 YEARS
FROM CHRIST TO THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH.
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His
promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the
heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat;
both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. NKJV
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all
flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
dreams, your young men shall see visions:
And also upon the servants and upon the
handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
And I will shew wonders in the
heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
The sun shall be turned
into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD
come. KJV
But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.
I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness,
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And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the LORD
Shall be saved.’
7.
Seventh Dispensation:
The Millennium:
This is the 1,000 year reign of Christ on the earth. This begins at
the second Advent of Christ when He stands on the mount of Olives in Jerusalem and the
devil and his angels are bound for a thousand years in the bottomless pit.
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the
bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of
old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him
into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive
the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must
be released for a little while. NKJV
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