Different Dispensations of Time

It has been quite a while since I blogged last. I have been really busy doing spring cleaning things (re-sanding and varnishing windows, painting ceilings, cleaning out closets etc.), so I haven't blogged, but that does not mean I have not been studying, and it does not mean I haven't wanted to blog. lol.

One thing I have been wanting to blog about, is the fact that there have been many "ages" or "dispensations" throughout human history. Understanding this helps us to "rightly divide" God's Word. This is what often confuses people and causes troubles when understanding God's will. I have learned that there are 7 "dispensations" (divisions in human history, each with its own conditions for stewardship and directions for having a relationship with God).

It is important to know that the "dispensation" of times that we live in today are unique. We do not need to follow the prescribed practices that were set forth in other dispensations. Those laws were for the people living in that time period. That is where we have gotten mixed up with misunderstanding which parts of the Old Testament are for us today. Do we tithe? Do we keep the Sabbath? Do we keep the dietary laws of eating God set out for the Israelites, such as, "You shall not seethe a seethe a kid in his mother's milk" (Ex.23:19, 34:26 and Deut. 14:21)? Many Bible teachers today are teaching that it is not good to eat pork because God told the Israelites that it is "unclean unto them". (Actually, this also includes shrimp and any seafood that does not have fins and scales - Deut. 14:9.)

I have learned that it is hugely important to read the Scriptures in their "context". Always ask yourself, "To whom was this written?" "What were the circumstances in which it was written?" Much error occurs when we read the Bible and interpret it with Western principles, when it was written to another culture. The values and the revelation of God in Scripture are timeless. The Holy Spirit can take any portion of the Scriptures and minister life to our spirits through them. But I believe we can get into error when we take Old Testament Scriptures and "spiritualize" them. In the Old Testament, tithes were always food. Teachers today have "spiritualized" it and declared tithes as money because we do not live in a mostly agricultural society.

The different "dispensations" of ages that I have learned about have been categorized in 7 dispensations.

1. The Age of Innocence -covers Adam and Eve in the garden, until the knowledge of good and evil enters in.

2. The Age of Conscience -the time period between the fall and Noah, when man's heart was his guide - apparently man's conscience was darkened and man grew increasingly wicked, bringing judgment in the flood.

3. The Age of Human Government -from the times of Noah to Abraham, when God scattered the people who were going to build a tower in a city that would make a name for themselves (man's government against God's).

4. The Age of Promise -the time when God found an upright man through whom He could do a work in the earth (Abraham), and God gives him a promise of inheritance and blessing.

5. The Age of Law - covers the times of Moses until Jesus when the way to have a relationship with God was through the keeping of His Laws (ceremonial, civil and moral laws) that He gave to the descendants of Abraham through Moses. The nation of Israel was established as a witness of God's holiness and power to the surrounding pagan nations. They witnessed of the one true God.

6. The Age of Grace -covers the times we live in today, from the time of Christ until the Church is raptured (the close of this age). Sin has been atoned for - God is not holding our sin against us and we are invited to come freely into intimate relationship with Him as our Father. None of the other people living in other dispensations had this available to them. God had not been revealed as "Father". The Gospel really is good news! God is not holding our sin against us, and each one of us can know Him intimately. All those living before us did not have this available to them! It was the mystery of the ages that Paul writes about: "The mystery of the ages which was hidden from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints." (Col 1:26)

7. The Age of Christ - the time period of the millennial reign of Christ on earth.

Read the words of our Covenant, the letters written to the Church, and notice the grace and love extended to us. When you read the Old Testament, there is a different flavor upon it, though there are glimpses of what we have received since it was prophesied in the Old Testament. But the words of our New Covenant are full of grace; words and phrases such as:

"Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27)

"You are complete in Him..." (Col 2:10)

"Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." (Phil. 1:11)

". . .to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God" (Eph. 3:19)

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you be rooted and grounded in love and be able to comprehend the breadth, length, depth and height of Christ's love" (Eph. 3:17,18)

"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons and daughters of God." (John3:1)

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (IICor. 4:6)

"We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." (II Cor. 4:7)

"But we all, with open face beholding . . . the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord." (II Cor. 3:18)

Kenneth Hagin ( a Bible and faith teacher) recommended that a person read through the letters to the Church (you!) and circle or highlight all the phrases, "in Him, in Christ, and in Whom." Then confess these Scriptures to yourself. Faith comes by hearing and hearing. Hear yourself speaking God's Word to you and about you. As you speak it, it will become more real to you. Actually there are other Scriptures that tell you who you are in Christ as well, such as I Cor. 3:16, ". . .I am the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in me."

I made a list of Scriptures like this for myself years ago, and it blesses me to just read down the list every so often. I believe it is worth your time to put this into practice.

Nightline Debate About God's Existence

Tonight I was able to catch Nightline's program featuring Kirk Cameron (an evangelist) in a debate with atheists. I was disappointed, because I had thought it was going to be a live debate. Instead they just played clips of the debate. They announced that you could join the debate at www.abc.com, so I logged on. I was happy to see so many Christians on the message board! The bad part was that I could not even find atheists to converse with. Oh well. It was great to read the messages from so many believers. Way to go!

Anyway, the subject of the debate was the question, "Does God Exist?" For me, the interesting question is: If I were talking with an atheist, what would I say? These are some of my thoughts:

Creation is too complex to be a coincidence.

Human beings are so intricately made, it would be absurd to think we just "happened". The human body is too amazing. The eye alone is beyond human ability to duplicate. A camera can never pick up the range, depth and sensory input of the eye with its ability to adjust to varying degrees of light. And that is just one organ.

All people have a "sense" about when they have been treated wrongly. Where did that "sense" of right and wrong come from. Some might think that a child must be taught the difference between right and wrong, and perhaps they do to a point. But no one has to be taught to recognize when they are treated unfairly. Where does that come from? (From being created in God's image, of course. He has given us all a conscience.)

Look at outer space. It all operates with precision, year after year. I have heard that if the earth were some slight, slight degree closer or farther from the sun, we would all freeze or burn up. The planets are all so unique too. Study outer space, and see if you can still deny a Creator with infinite imagination and ability. And the size of outer space is beyond what we can fathom. It speaks of an unfathomable God.

Read the prophecies of Scripture. King Cyrus was named in Scripture by Isaiah about 400 years before he existed. The remaking of Israel into a nation once again after they were scattered into all the nations was prophesied thousands of years ago. Look at the Jews! Their existence and history as a people can not be denied.

When you admit that mankind is sinful (just look at the world around you - lying, stealing, killing etc.), you can not deny that Scripture gives us an accurate picture of the condition we are in.

We can know that the Christian faith is the only accurate and true faith, above Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and all the rest, because it is the only faith that provides a Redeemer who gave His Life on our behalf, providing us a way out of our mess. Hinduism and Buddhism tell you to look within yourself and try hard to be a better person. Christian faith tells us the answer is not within ourselves, but in God. We can not take credit for saving ourselves. (We can't do it anyway.) These religions focus on oneself - trying to save yourself, improve yourself, and attain a "higher state". It is self-focused. Christianity is focused on the goodness of God - not the goodness of man. The god of Islam is not a god of love and forgiveness. It's followers have no way of coming to know their god. They just follow the rules of the religion and hope that god is pleased. Christians know that God is love, provides forgiveness, and wants to have an intimate relationship with His us.

Any other thoughts?

It is good to ponder these things. It makes me thankful that God has given me the gift of knowing Him. He has given me the gift of spending eternity with Him. He has given me the gift of the Holy Spirit to lead me into truth and give me peace. He strengthens me and teaches me to be like Him. He helps me to love and care for others in a way that I could not do on my own. The God of Scripture is the only true God. He is exactly what we need.

Jesus Washing Feet

While studying last week, I came across something that really struck me, and I forgot to post a blog on it until now. I don't remember where I read it, but I read an article about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples at the last supper (John13:4-8). The author of the article stated that usually a servant or the wife of the host would wash the feet of the guests that came into their home. This really made an impression on me, because I realized that Jesus does not hesitate to identify with servants and women. I thought about how this must have impressed upon the men. I thought also about how many teachers of the gospel in this day and age stress different "roles" for men versus women. Jesus didn't allow Himself to be conformed into the roles society designated.

A certain preacher I know teaches (and many people believe) that men and women have God-ordained "roles". Men are "leaders" and women are "helpers" they tell us. They give two different definitions of serving. Men serve by leading, women serve by helping. Well, in John 13, Jesus takes on the role of a servant or woman, and tells the men disciples that if they want to be great, they need to become a servant. He did not tell them to be leaders; but He leads them into being servants. I love what He says to them:

"Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me 'Rabbi' and 'Lord', and you are right, because I am. Now, if I, the Lord and Rabbi have washed your feet, you also should wash each others feet. For I have set you an example, so that you may do as I have done to you." John 13:12-15

In our day and age, we do not wash peoples' feet when they come into our homes - in America anyway. :-) But the underlying principle is the same. I remember reading about Anne Lotz, Billy Graham's daughter (I think that is how you spell her name); how one time she was preaching, and the whole first two rows of men (preachers) turned their chairs around, putting their backs to her in protest because she was a woman, and in their view, women were not allowed to teach men. How really sad! Jesus identified Himself with women. Jesus was not afraid it would take away from His "manliness", to do "women's work" As a matter of fact, He held women in high esteem. He washed His disciples' feet. The question still remains. Do we understand what He did?

Money and Tithing

Hi Bob!
I Hope you can read these chapters and verses for yourself and enjoy them!
Here are some verses from the Old Covenant that refer to money (which shows that they did use money - -but what they tithed was produce of land):

Genesis 17: 13 & 27 Abraham circumcised all the males in his household, including those bought with money.
Genesis 23: 9-16 Abraham paid for land to bury Sarah
Genesis 42: 1-38 also chapter 43- Joseph's brothers came to Egypt to buy corn - Joseph returned their money to them.
Exodus 21: 32 Money is restitution for an ox.
Exodus 30: 11-16 The Temple Tax is established.
If your translation of Scripture uses the word "shekel", the meaning of shekel is: - a weight, from three to six tenths of an ounce. In Jesus' day, the half-shekel was coined so that two people could pay the Temple tax mentioned here in Ex.30, with a silver shekel coin - as in Matthew 17:24.
Numbers 3:47-51 The redemption money is given to Aaron -the Temple priest.

Tithing was a well-known and common practice among all the nations (pagan nations) in the days of Abraham.

When Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek, he was following the Arab custom of war that was practiced in those days. Tithing was well known in Phoenicia, Egypt, Canaan and Mesopotamia. The war custom was to give 10% of the booty to the local king/priest. In Numbers 31:21-30, the war tithe of the Israelites was to give only 1% to the Levites, and one tenth of one percent to the priests.

Also, Melchizedek was a pagan priest. The true God, at that time, was known as Elohim or Yahweh. When Melchizedek blessed Abraham by the "God Most High", that name was the common Canaanite name for Baal, and Baal's father. The Hebrew words, "El Elyon", means "God Most High" and was used universally by Semitic people for the bull-god. (El is actually a generic term for "god")

When Joseph was made ruler over Egypt, in Genesis, he increased the tithe of the produce that Pharoah received, to 20%, in order to store it up (put into storehouses) during the days of plenty, for use when the famine came. (See Genesis 41:34,35). In Genesis 47 it says that Joseph ended up buying all the land from the people, except "he did not buy the priest's land because the priests were entitled to provisions from Pharoah and they ate from what Pharoah provided for them" (Gen. 47: 22-25).

Facts about tithing under the Law of Moses:

If the tithe was too much to carry to the Levites, the people were to sell it for money and go to the town where the Levite or Temple was. Then they were to go out and buy whatever they desired to eat, and bring the food to "the place where God chooses", and eat it in the presence of God, and enjoy themselves. See Deut. 14:22-26.

Every third year, the Levites were to put the 10% into storehouses in all the towns where they lived so that they and the poor, fatherless, widows and strangers in the land could come and eat and bless God. None of it would go to the priests in those years. See Deut. 14:27-29 and 26:12,13.

Also, the people were not to go back over a field to harvest what they missed the first time- the "gleanings" were to be left for the poor to come and eat and bless God. See Deut. 24:19-22.

The poor did not tithe, they were provided for by the tithes!

The Levites were considered poor - they are always listed along with the widows and orphans.

The tithe was tied to the land, to be kept as long as they lived in the land - Deut. 12:19.

First fruits were not the same as tithes. They were such a small amount, they could be carried in a basket and went to the priest. See Deut. 26:1-4

In conclusion, tithing as established under the law was always from the produce of the land or animals - not money, even though they had money and used it. Its purpose was to support the Levites and Priests, because they did not receive an inheritance of land, and to pay them for their service as priests - this is stated over and over again (see especially Numbers 18).

10% of the produce went to the Levites, who were helpers to the priests. Then the Levites gave 10% of that to the priests (which means that the priests received 1% of the peoples tithes).

The context of the book of Malachi is Nehemiah 13. Malachi 3:10 is often quoted to support tithing in the church today. But what happened is that Nehemiah had re-established tithing in Israel after the people had come back from Babylonian captivity and rebuilt the Temple. When Nehemiah went back to Babylon, the priest who was put in charge of the storehouse at the Temple, cleaned it out and gave it to Tobiah to live in. Since there was no food in the storehouse, the Levites (the Levites distributed the tithes) all left and went back to their farms. There were no Levites to bring tithes to. Everything fell apart. When Nehemiah returned, he was furious, and set the situation right once again - thus Malachi's prophecy was written to the priests (read it and see). The priests had robbed God of the tithes.

Also, it is kind of neat to realize that the verses in Malachi 3:1-5 are speaking of Nehemiah, who was a type of the Messiah to come.

This all took place between 536-400BC.

Also, it is interesting to note that when the system of tithes was set up under Moses, tithes were not money. And all these years later when Nehemiah re-established it, it still was not money. It was food.

If anyone is interested in reading more about this, a really good website is:

http://www.shouldthechurchteachtithing.com/

The author of the book has put it online so you can download it for free and read it when you have time. . .you can also buy the book. But I downloaded it. It is 288 pages long, and is full of great info.