A Dispensational Approach to the Study of the Bible

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[LISTEN] Table of Contents, Page 1 Acknowledgment , Page 4 Introduction , Page 5 Introduction , Page 6 Introduction , Page 7 Introduction , Page 8 Introduction , Page 9 Introduction , Page 10 What Is a Dispensation? , Page 14 Creation to Christ , Page 15 Dispensation of TIME PAST: Gentiles in Prophecy , Page 15 Dispensation of TIME PAST: Israel in Prophecy , Page 17 The Abrahamic Covenant The Mosaic Covenant , Page 19 Prophesied Davidic Covenant , Page 26 Prophesied New Covenant , Page 28 Israel’s History , Page 31 Gospel of the Kingdom , Page 33 Peter Re-offers the Kingdom , Page 37 Confusion: Law and Grace in the BUT NOW Dispensation , Page 40 Dispensation of the AGES TO o COME , Page 44 Why the BUT NOW Dispensation of Grace? , Page 45 Inconsistencies: Law and Grace , Page 48 Inconsistencies: Prayer and Signs , Page 51 Inconsistencies: Baptism , Page 56 Blaspheming the Holy Spirit , Page 62 Israel is Temporarily Blinded , Page 65 Jesus Came to Fulfill Prophecy , Page 69 Jesus Came

Acknowledgments: Page 4

[LISTEN] This study was requested by and prepared for Gloria Pierce, founder and leader of our neighborhood ladies Bible study, and Rob Strom, both dear friends, as well as those who are seeking knowledge in Dispensational Theology and The Mystery. Much appreciated is the encouragement I’ve received from Sharon Marosi, someone who challenged me to continue working on this study long after our neighborhood ladies had finished reading the incomplete original rough draft. I would also like to thank my son-in-law, Jeremy Lucas, for helping to prepare the material for publication. Most of the content in this study is a reflection of the study, meditation, teachings, writings, podcasts, and prayers of the pastors of Fellowship Bible Church, Orlando: Fred Bekemeyer—Gracious, Teacher, Lover of Genesis and Romans, Holding fast that all believers in all dispensations are saved by faith and have eternal security, “God’s Victory Program of Grace” and that “we are living in a sin cursed worl

Introduction: Page 5

[LISTEN] In the Bible, a dispensation is a unique administration; a stage in the outworking of God’s plan throughout history during which man is tested in respect of obedience to a specific revelation of the will of God. It concerns the accountability, responsibility, and faithfulness of man to that revealed will of God, and is incorporated into a literal interpretation of prophecy and mystery in the Bible. When we study in a dispensational manner, we can more easily see which of the scriptures are written specifically to us. These dispensations, labeled in the book of Ephesians, are TIME PAST, BUT NOW, and the AGES TO O COME, which is concluded with the FULLNESS OF TIMES. Satan’s activity will not be addressed again in this study and it is not the intent to focus on him, but to concentrate on God’s purposes and His great love for mankind. Satan has only limited authority and is under the sovereign will and power of God. God the Holy Spirit is actively restraining h

Introduction: Page 6

[LISTEN] To fully understand God’s entire plan for bringing order back in both the earth and in the heavens and back under His supreme authority, one must study all the scriptures. The faith of the Lord Jesus Christ and the faith of man are required for man’s redemption in two programs—the Prophecy Program for the restoration of the earth and the Mystery Program for the restoration of the heavens. Being grounded and settled in the covenants God made with the Nation of Israel, and knowing the distinctions between the Law/Prophecy program and the Grace/Mystery program enhances the spiritual growth and faith of all believers. In every dispensation, Man has resisted following God’s instruction, have sinned. Before receiving God’s judgment, God has always offered to man a way to be redeemed though faith. It is not God’s will that anyone should perish. His desire is to restore His relationship with all those He created and loves and has always provided the mean

Introduction: Page 7

[ LISTEN ] Past consequences for the continuous Gentile rebellious spirit toward God were: banishment from the Garden of Eden, the great flood, confounding of the language, separation of the earth’s plates. Having set His work with the Gentiles aside, for the next 2,000 years, God worked through the Nation of Israel, first establishing His unconditional Abrahamic Covenant. Abraham’s demonstration of saving faith is an example of what pleases God in all dispensations, faith in whatever God tells you to be true for you in the dispensation in which you are living. God promised to Abraham the future physical blessing of all the lands he would walk through and reclaim from Satan. The whole earth would be blessed by the seed of Abraham; the Nation of Israel and the future coming Messiah. Abraham and his family would be a special people, a chosen people and a light to the Gentiles. In the book of Exodus, we learn that Abraham’s descendants would be a Nation of Priests. I

Introduction: Page 8

[ LISTEN ] Even with the prophesied knowledge of the future seven-year period of the wrath of God, the nation had a spotted history of rebelling against God, their prophets, seeking other gods, and not fulfilling their commission to be a light to the world, to bring the Gentiles to God.. Prophets prophesied of a New Covenant, a future kingdom on earth. The Nation of Israel would be ministers of God, a Nation of Priests and would bring the Gentiles to God. The Gentiles would feed their flocks and serve them. Ten Gentiles would grab hold of the garment of a Jew and he would bring them up to God in Jerusalem. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven (Psalm 85:11). When John the Baptist and Jesus and the twelve apostles were introduced in the Gospel accounts, they continued to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom—the Gospel of the Circumcision—and that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. If the Nation of Israel would repen

Introduction: Page 9

[ LISTEN ] Paul fulfilled the scriptures, writing thirteen books of the Bible—Romans through Philemon. In these writings, we are told to study the scripture, to be Bere a a n s and come to the knowledge of the truth. Instructed in God accomplishment , members of this new Grace Church are by faith accepted in the Beloved into God’s family. In this new BUT NOW Dispensation, man’s salvation is a gift from God to anyone, Jew or Gentile, who puts their faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Gospel of the Un-circumcision, the complete sin debt atonement. At the moment of salvation, God the Father justifies souls with imputed righteousness, the righteousness of God, and man’s sin debt is imputed to Christ’s account. Christ, who had not known sin, has been made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. All believers can come to this knowledge and then reckon it to be so that they have been spiritually crucif

Introduction: Page 10

[ LISTEN ] This BUT NOW Mystery Dispensation will comes to a close with the Rapture of the Grace Church, the next event on God’s calendar; when the dead and alive in Christ will meet the Lord in the air, be clothed upon with their glorified bodies, and then go to the Bema Seat, the Judgment Seat of Christ, to be judged according to Paul’s Gospel. All the sin debt and punishment has already been paid for by the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. At that judgment, everyone will receive praise of God. The work that an individual does in this life while walking in the Spirit, co-laboring with the Lord, will be rewarded by the position of authority they will receive in the heavenly places at a set time, at a time after Satan and his angels are thrown out of heaven. The members of the Body of Christ will be rewarded for their good works and placed in seats in heavenly places, having administrative positions over the faithful angelic realm. From their heavenly

What Is a Dispensation?: Page 14

[ LISTEN ] What Is a Dispensation? In the Bible, a dispensation is a unique administration, a stage in the outworking of God’s plan throughout history during which man is tested in respect to obedience to a specific revelation of the will of God. A dispensation concerns the accountability, responsibility and faithfulness of man to that revealed will of God, and is incorporated into a literal interpretation of prophecy and mystery in the Bible. Each new administration is a new dispensation. The book of Ephesians offers three divisions, three distinct dispensations: TIME PAST, BUT NOW, and the AGES TO o COME, which is concluded with the FULLNESS OF TIMES. Studying the Bible’s dispensations is the key that unlocks the hidden wisdom of God revealed in the BUT NOW Dispensation of Grace. God has always had a Good News plan for sinful mankind. He has always offered the gift of eternal life to anyone who would choose to trust in what He has told them. When man has refused

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