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STUDY IV
THE EPOCHS AND DISPENSATIONS
MARKED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
THE DIVINE PLAN
God's Plan Definite and Systematic--Three Great Epochs of the World's
History--Their Distinctive Features--"The Earth Abideth Forever"--
The World to Come, the New Heavens and Earth--Subdivisions of
These Great Epochs--The Important Features of God's Plan thus
Brought to View--Order Recognized Discloses Harmony--Rightly Dividing
the Word of Truth.
AS SOME ignorantly misjudge the skill and wisdom of a
great architect and builder by his unfinished work, so also
many in their ignorance now misjudge God by his unfinished
work; but by and by, when the rough scaffolding of
evil, which has been permitted for man's discipline, and
which shall finally be overruled for his good, has been removed,
and the rubbish cleared away, God's finished work
will universally declare his infinite wisdom and power; and
his plans will be seen to be in harmony with his glorious
character.
Since God tells us that he has a definitely fixed purpose,
and that all his purposes shall be accomplished, it behooves
us, as his children, to inquire diligently what those plans
are, that we may be found in harmony with them. Notice
how emphatically Jehovah affirms the fixedness of his purpose:
"Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have
thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so
shall it be." "The Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who
shall disannul it?" "I am God, and there is none else; I am
God, and there is none like me,...My counsel shall stand,
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and I will do all my pleasure:...Yea, I have spoken it, I will
also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it."
(Isa. 14:24-27; 46:9-11) Therefore, however haphazard or
mysterious God's dealings with men may appear, those
who believe this testimony of his Word must acknowledge
that his original and unalterable plan has been, and still is,
progressing systematically to completion.
While the mass of mankind, groping in the darkness of
ignorance, must await the actual developments of God's
plan, before they can realize the glorious character of the
Divine Architect, it is the privilege of the child of God to see
by faith and the light of his lamp the foretold glories of the
future, and thereby to appreciate the otherwise mysterious
dealings of the past and the present. Therefore, as interested
sons of God, and heirs of a promised inheritance, we
apply to our Father's Word, that we may understand his
purposes from the plans and specifications therein given.
There we learn that the plan of God, with reference to man,
spans three great periods of time, beginning with man's creation
and reaching into the illimitable future. Peter and
Paul designate these periods "three worlds," which we represent
in the following diagram.
Great Epochs Called "Worlds"
Creation
WORLD THAT WAS
The Flood
THE PRESENT EVIL WORLD
God's Kingdom established
WORLD TO COME
These three great epochs represent three distinct manifestations
of divine providence. The first, from creation to
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the flood, was under the ministration of angels, and is
called by Peter "THE WORLD THAT WAS." 2 Pet. 3:6
The second great epoch, from the flood to the establishment
of the kingdom of God, is under the limited control
of Satan, "the prince of this world," and is therefore
called "THIS PRESENT EVIL WORLD." Gal. 1:4; 2 Pet. 3:7
The third is to be a "world without end" (Isa. 45:17)
under
divine administration, the kingdom of God, and is
called "THE WORLD TO COME--wherein dwelleth righteousness."
Heb. 2:5; 2 Pet. 3:13
The first of these periods, or "worlds," under the ministration
of angels, was a failure; the second, under the rule
of Satan, the usurper, has been indeed an "evil world"; but
the third will be an era of righteousness and of blessing to
all the families of the earth.
The last two of these "worlds" are most particularly mentioned,
and the statements relative to them are in strong
contrast. The present, or second period, is called "the present
evil world," not because there is nothing good in it, but
because in it evil is permitted to predominate. "Now we call
the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set
up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered." (Mal. 3:15)
The third world or epoch is mentioned as "THE
WORLD TO COME--wherein dwelleth righteousness," not because
there will be no evil in it, but because evil will not predominate.
The blotting out of evil will be gradual, requiring
all of the first thousand years. Evil will not rule then; it
will not prosper; it will no longer be the wicked that will
flourish; but "the righteous shall flourish" (Psa. 72:7), the
"obedient shall eat the good of the land" (Isa. 1:19),
and
"the evil doer shall be cut off." Psa. 37:9
Thus seen, the next dispensation is to be so dissimilar as
to be the very reverse of the present one in almost every particular.
Our Lord's words show why there is to be a
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difference between the present and the future dispensations.
It is because he will be the prince or ruler of the
world to come, that in it righteousness and truth will prosper;
while, because Satan is the prince (ruler) of the present
evil world, evil prospers and the wicked flourish. It is because,
as Jesus said, the prince of this world "hath nothing
in me"--and consequently no interest in his followers except
to oppose, tempt, annoy and buffet them (John 14:30;
2 Cor. 12:7)--that in this present evil world or epoch,
whosoever will live godly shall suffer persecution, while the
wicked flourish like a green bay tree. 2 Tim. 3:12;
Psa. 37:35
Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world," and until
the era or "world to come" does come, Christ's kingdom will
not control the earth. And for this we are taught to hope
and pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth."
Satan is the "ruler of the darkness of this world," and therefore
"darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the
people." He now rules and works in the hearts of the children
of disobedience. Eph. 2:2; 6:12
There must be some very important part of the great Architect's
plan for man's salvation not yet fully developed--
else the new prince and the new dispensation would have
been long ago introduced. Why it was postponed for an appointed
time, and also the manner of the change from the
present dominion of evil under Satan to that of righteousness
under Christ, are points of interest which will be
more fully shown hereafter. Suffice it now to say, that the
kingdoms of this world, now subject to Satan, are at the
proper time to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his
Christ. (Rev. 11:15) The context shows that the transfer
will be accomplished by a general time of trouble. In reference
to it Jesus said, "No man can enter into a strong man's
house and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the
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strong man, and then he will spoil his house." (Mark 3:22-27)
Thus we are taught that Satan must first be bound, restrained
and deposed, before Christ's reign of righteousness
and peace can be established. This binding of Satan is accordingly
shown to be the first work of the new dispensation.
Rev. 20:2
It should be remembered that this earth is the basis of all
these "worlds" and dispensations, and that though ages
pass and dispensations change, still the earth continues--
"The earth abideth forever." (Eccl. 1:4) Carrying out
the
same figure, Peter calls each of these periods a separate
heavens and earth. Here the word heavens symbolizes the
higher or spiritual controlling powers, and earth symbolizes
human government and social arrangements. Thus the first
heavens and earth, or the order and arrangement of things
then existing, having served their purpose, ended at the
flood. But the physical heavens (sky and atmosphere), and
the physical earth, did not pass away: they remained. So
likewise the present world (heavens and earth) will pass
away with a great noise, fire and melting--confusion,
trouble and dissolution. The strong man (Satan), being
bound, will struggle to retain his power. The present order
or arrangement of government and society, not that of the
physical sky and earth, will pass away. The present heavens
(powers of spiritual control) must give place to the "new
heavens"--Christ's spiritual control. The present earth (human
society as now organized under Satan's control) must
(symbolically) melt and be dissolved, in the beginning of
the "Day of the Lord," which "shall burn as an oven."
(Mal. 4:1) It will be succeeded by "a new earth," i.e.,
society
reorganized in harmony with earth's new Prince--Christ.
Righteousness, peace and love will rule among men when
present arrangements have given place to the new and better
kingdom, the basis of which will be the strictest justice.
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Paul was given a glimpse of the next dispensation, or, as
he calls it, "the world to come." He says he was "caught
away" (physically or mentally, or both, he could not tell,
things were so real to his view) down the stream of time to
the new condition of things, the "new heaven," hence the
"third heaven." He thus saw things as they will be under
the spiritual control of Christ, things which he might not
disclose. (2 Cor. 12:2-4) Doubtless these were the same
things which John afterward saw, and was permitted to express
to the Church in symbols, which may only be understood
as they become due. John, in the revelation given to
him by our Lord on the Isle of Patmos, was in vision carried
down through this Christian Age and its changing scenes of
church and state, to the end of the present evil world, or
epoch, and there in prophetic visions he saw Satan bound,
Christ reigning, and the new heaven and the new earth established;
for the former heaven and earth were passed
away. Rev. 21:1
Ages or Dispensations
We now notice the ages into which these great epochs are
subdivided, as illustrated in the diagram below.
WORLD THAT WAS
WORLD THAT NOW IS
Patriarchal Jewish Gospel
WORLD TO COME
Millennial
Ages
The first of these great epochs ("worlds") was not subdivided:
God's method of dealing with men did not vary during
all that time--from Adam's fall to the flood. God had
given man his law, written in his very nature; but after he
had sinned he left him measurably to his own course, which
was downward, "evil, and that continually," that thus man
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might realize his folly, and that the wisdom of God in commanding
absolute obedience might be made manifest.
That dispensation ended with a flood, which took away all
but faithful Noah and his family. Thus the first dispensation
not only manifested the disastrous effects of sin,
but showed that the tendency of sin is downward to greater
degradation and misery, and proves the necessity of Jehovah's
interposition, if the recovery of "that which was
lost"--man's first estate--is ever to be accomplished.
The second epoch, or "world that now is," includes three
ages, each a step in the plan of God for the overthrow of
evil. Each step is higher than that preceding it, and carries
the plan forward and nearer to completion.
The third great epoch--"the world to come"--future
from the second advent of Christ, comprises the Millennial
Age, or "times of restitution"; and following it are other
"ages to come," the particulars of which are not revealed.
Present revelations treat of man's recovery from sin, and
not of the eternity of glory to follow.
The first age in the "world that now is" we call the PATRIARCHAL
AGE, or dispensation, because during that period
God's dealings and favors were with a few individuals only,
the remainder of mankind being almost ignored. Such favored
ones were the patriarchs Noah, Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. Each of these in turn seems to have been God's favored
one. At the death of Jacob, that age or order of dealing
ended. At Jacob's death, his descendants were first
called "the twelve tribes of Israel," and were together recognized
of God as his "peculiar people"; and through typical
sacrifices they were typically "a holy nation," separated
from other nations for a particular purpose, and therefore
to enjoy certain special favors. The time allotted to this feature
of the divine plan, beginning here and ending at the
death of Christ, we designate the JEWISH AGE, or the Law
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dispensation. During that age God specially blessed that
nation. He gave them his law; he made a special covenant
with them; he gave them the Tabernacle, whose shekinah
glory in the Most Holy represented Jehovah's presence with
them as their Leader and King. To them he sent the prophets,
and finally his Son. Jesus performed his miracles and
taught in their midst, and would neither go to others himself,
nor permit his disciples to go to the surrounding nations.
He sent them out, saying, "Go not into the way of the
Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not;
but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Matt. 10:5,6)
And again he said, "I am not sent but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel." (Matt. 15:24) That this
national
favor ended with their rejection and crucifixion of
Jesus is shown by Jesus' words, when, five days before his
crucifixion, he declared, "Your house is left unto you desolate."
Matt. 23:38
There, at Jesus' death, a new age began--the CHRISTIAN
AGE or GOSPEL DISPENSATION, wherein should be heralded
good tidings of justification, not to the Jew only, but to all
nations; for Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death
for every man. During this Gospel age also there is a class
called to special favor, to whom special promises are made;
namely, those who by faith accept Christ Jesus as their
Redeemer and Lord, following in his footsteps. The gospel
proclamation has gone hither and thither through the
earth for nearly nineteen hundred years, so that it can now
be said that it has been preached more or less in every nation.
It has not converted nations--it was not designed to do so in
this age; but it has selected here and there some, in all a
"little flock," as Jesus had foretold (Luke 12:32), to
whom it
is the Father's good pleasure to give the Kingdom in an age
to follow this.
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With this age the "present evil world" ends; and mark
well that while God has been thus permitting the predominance
and reign of evil, to the seeming detriment of
his cause, nevertheless his deep designs have been steadily
progressing according to a fixed and definite plan, and in
the exact order of the seasons which he has appointed. In
the end of this age, and the dawn of its successor, the Millennial
age, Satan is to be bound and his power overthrown,
preparatory to the establishment of Christ's kingdom
and the beginning of "the world to come, wherein
dwelleth righteousness."
Millennium, signifying a thousand years, is by common
consent used as the name for the period mentioned in Rev. 20:4
--the thousand years of Christ's reign, the first age in
the "world to come." During the Millennial age, there will
be a restitution of all things lost by the fall of Adam (Acts 3:19-21),
and before its close all tears shall have been wiped
away. Beyond its boundary, in the ages of blessedness to follow,
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor
crying; neither shall there be any more pain. The former
things will have passed away. (Rev. 21:4) God's revelations
particularize no further, and there we stop.
We have here only glanced at the mere outline of this
plan of the ages. The more we examine it, the more we will
find in it perfect harmony, beauty and order. Each age has
its part to accomplish, necessary to the complete development
of God's plan as a whole. The plan is a progressive
one, gradually unfolding from age to age, upward and onward
to the grand consummation of the original design of
the Divine Architect, "who worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will." (Eph. 1:11) Not one of these great
periods is an hour too long or too short for the accomplishment
of its object. God is a wise economist of both time
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and means, though his resources are infinite; and no power,
however malicious, for a moment retards or thwarts his
purposes. All things, evil as well as good, under divine supervision
and overruling, are working together for the accomplishment
of his will.
To an uninstructed and undisciplined mind, which can
see only a little of the intricate machinery of God's plan, it
appears like anarchy, confusion and failure, just as the
whole, or even a part, of an intricate machine would appear
to a child. To its immature and untutored mind it is incomprehensible,
and the opposite motions of its wheels and
belts are but confusion. But maturity and investigation will
show that the seeming confusion is beautiful harmony,
working good results. The machine, however, was as truly a
success before the child understood its operation as after.
So, while God's plan is, and has been for ages, in successful
operation, man has been receiving the necessary discipline,
not only to enable him to understand its intricate workings,
but also to experience its blessed results.
As we pursue our study of the divine plan, it is essential
that we keep in memory these ages and their respective peculiarities
and objects; for in no one of them can the plan be
seen, but in all of them, even as a link is not a chain, but several
links united form a chain. We obtain correct ideas of
the whole plan by noting the distinctive features of each
part, and thus we are enabled to divide rightly the Word of
truth.
A statement of the Word which belongs to one epoch, or
dispensation, should not be applied to another, as things
stated of one age are not always true of another. For instance,
it would be an untruth to say of the present time
that the knowledge of the Lord fills the whole earth, or that
there is no need to say to your neighbor, Know the Lord.
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(Isa. 11:9; Jer. 31:34) This is not true in this
age, and it cannot
be true until the Lord, having come again, has established
his kingdom; for throughout this age there have been
many seducing deceptions, and we are told that even in the
very end of the age--"In the last days...evil men and seducers
shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."
(2 Tim. 3:1,13) It will be as the result of Messiah's
reign during the Millennial age that knowledge and righteousness
shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
A similar mistake, and a very common one, is to suppose
that God's kingdom is now established and ruling over the
earth, and that his will is now done among the nations. This
is manifestly far from the truth, for the kingdoms of this
world are supported and enriched through oppression, injustice
and deceit, to as great an extent as the increasing intelligence
of the people will permit. Satan, the present
"prince of this world," must yet be displaced, and these
kingdoms, now under his control, must become the kingdoms
of our Lord and of his Anointed, when he shall take
unto himself his great power, and reign.
By the light now due to the household of faith, we discern
that system and order which mark the stately steppings of
our God through the ages past, and we are forcibly reminded
of the beautiful lines of Cowper, inspired by a living
faith, which trusted where it could not trace the Almighty
Jehovah:
He Will Make It Plain
"God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform:
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
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"Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will.
"Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
"Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace.
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
"His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour.
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
"Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain.
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain."
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"I know not the way that's before me,
The joys or the griefs it may bring;
What clouds are o'erhanging the future,
What flowers by the wayside may spring.
But there's One who will journey beside me,
Nor in weal nor in woe will forsake;
And this is my solace and comfort,
'He knoweth the way that I take.'"
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