God’s dispensations of the future

We have to note that in the Prophecies of the Bible show a coming failure at the end of this age as well.

You have the rise of a corrupt Babylon Church that is going to suppress the Gospel and persecute true believers, be antisemitic; you have end time apostasy with people turning away from God which in turn leads to the rise of the Antichrist and the end of the world scenario which we often talk about in this Fellowship.

The Bible also speaks about the restoration and the potential destruction of Israel but of its redemption too, the redemption of Israel at the Second Coming of Jesus. And the Second Coming of Jesus is the major act of Intervention which God brings at the end of this age, bringing in the final dispensation.

The final dispensation is one which much of the church has left out of it teachings. However, if you take the Bible literally, it’s going to come when Jesus comes again at the end of this age.

Then, He will judge the world in righteousness, he will cast off the powers of darkness, of the Antichrist and of false prophet, who will be thrown straight into hell.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. ² He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; ³ 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. Revelation 20:1-3

The Devil will be bound and unable to deceive the Nations and the unbelievers will be cast off the earth at the Judgment of the sheep and the goats:

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. ³³ And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Matthew 25:31-33

The righteous of all ages will be resurrected and rule with the Messiah over the redeemed creation.

⁴ And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. ⁵ But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. Revelation 20:4-6

That’s what Paul is talking about in Ephesians when he talks about,

¹⁰ that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. Ephesians 1:10

When Jesus comes again, He will gather together all those who have been redeemed throughout all the ages to enjoy the time when Jesus is going to reign on the earth. And the earth will be changed back to a restored creation with the Kingdom restored to Israel in fulfillment of the promise to Abraham.

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
² The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

³ His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
⁴ But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.

⁶ “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
⁷ The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
⁸ The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
⁹ They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰ “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”

¹¹ It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
From Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush,
From Elam and Shinar,
From Hamath and the islands of the sea.

¹² He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
¹³ Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart,
And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
¹⁴ But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west;
Together they shall plunder the people of the East;
They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab;
And the people of Ammon shall obey them.
¹⁵ The Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt;
With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River,
And strike it in the seven streams,
And make men cross over dry-shod.
¹⁶ There will be a highway for the remnant of His people
Who will be left from Assyria,
As it was for Israel
In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt. Isaiah 11

There will be changes on the earth; the earth becoming fertile, lifespan extended, animals changed from being ferocious to being vegetarian, no more war or destruction. That is the type of change that’s going to take place at the Second Coming of Jesus. Yet, a lot of the churches have left it out of their sermons. I think, if you leave it out, you leave out something very important in the purposes of God.

It will all end with Satan being released for a season, gathering together unbelievers who were born during that time for his final doomed rebellion against God preceding the end of the world as we know it.

So, that’s a brief sort of history of the world from the dispensational point of view. As you can see, there are changes which take place in how God administers His people during each of these times.

It does result in what we call a ‘premillennial interpretation’ of Christ’s Second Coming which means that there will be a literal One Thousand-Year Reign of Christ when He comes back the second time.

And we see that there are changes to take place as a result of a change in the dispensation. So, that’s something to look forward to. But there will also be the time of Tribulation on the earth before the Second Coming of Jesus the Messiah.

And that’s where the world is heading at this present time, the final dispensation which will be the One Thousand-Year Reign of the Messiah on the earth – the Messianic Kingdom, which will itself be followed by the end of the world, and the New Heavens and the New Earth for the redeemed, and Hell for the non- redeemed.

¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, ¹² looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? ¹³ Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3.10-13