Dispensationalism II - Lesson 6
Attached Audio:
- THE DISPENSATION OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT (Genesis 8:15-22) (Continued)
- This ends the first 2,000 years of history where God’s focus is on the Gentiles as a whole. The next 2,000 years will focus on the Jewish people and nation.
- THE DISPENSATION OF PROMISE (Genesis 12:1-3)
- Content
- From Abram’s Call to the Exodus From Egypt
- Genesis 12 to Exodus 19
- Duration: about 600 years
- Called the dispensation of promise because of its connection to the promise given to Abraham. Also called the dispensation of the patriarchs because of its emphasis on family (patriarchal) rule.
- Condition
- Gentiles
- Continue to be dealt with under conscience (Romans 2:12-15)
- As such, they experience God’s longsuffering (Acts 14:16-17; Acts 17:29-30)
- Patriarchs
- God works through the singular family line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 3:6). They, along with the twelve sons of Jacob, are known as the patriarchs – the fathers (Acts 7:8-9)
- Chosen to be God’s special people (Genesis 12:1-3); the people through whom God will do His special works
- Set up as a family rule (Genesis 18:17-19; Genesis 31:11-18). Although they are promised to be a nation, they are not called a nation until they are removed from the land of Egypt (Deuteronomy 4:34; Exodus 33:13)
- Covenant – the Abrahamic Covenant
- Scripture References
- Given to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3, 6-7; Genesis 13:14-17; Genesis 15:1-21; Genesis 17:1-14; Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:15-18)
- Confirmed to Isaac (Genesis 26:1-5, 24)
- Confirmed to Jacob (Genesis 28:13-15; Genesis 35:1-15)
- Provisions of the covenant
- Promise of a land (Genesis 12:1; Genesis 13:14-17; Genesis 15:18-21)
- Promise of a great nation (Genesis 12:2; Genesis 18:18)
- Promise of many nations (Genesis 17:4-6, 20)
- Promise of blessing (Genesis 12:2; Genesis 22:17)
- Promise of a great name (Genesis 12:2; Genesis 17:5)
- Promise of a multiplied seed (Genesis 13:16; Genesis 22:17)
- Promise to be a blessing to all families and nations (Genesis 12:2-3; Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:18)
- Promise of a seed (Genesis 3:15; Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:16)
- Kind of covenant – unconditional
- Made by God alone (Genesis 15:7-21; Jeremiah 34:18)
- Made to be everlasting (Genesis 17:7-8, 13, 19)
- Token of the covenant – circumcision (Genesis 17:9-14)
- Commission
- To Abraham
- Leave country and kindred (Genesis 12:1)
- Walk through the land (Genesis 13:17; Hebrews 11:8-10)
- Believe in God’s promise of a son (Genesis 15:1-6; Romans 4:17-22)
- Give your son Isaac (Genesis 22:1-2, 18; Hebrews 11:17-19)
- To Abraham’s seed
- Receive the token of circumcision (Genesis 17:9-13)
- As “an everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17:13)
- Failure to get circumcised does not destroy the covenant but it does take that individual out of the covenant (Genesis 17:14) – “that soul shall be cut off from his people”
- Look for the fulfillment of the promises (Hebrews 11:13-16; Genesis 48:21; Genesis 50:24-25; Exodus 2:23-25)
- Crisis
- Sojourn in Egypt (Genesis 45:16-20; Genesis 50:26)
- Destruction by Egypt (Exodus 1:7-22)
- Absorption by Egypt (Exodus 14:10-12; Exodus 16:3; Leviticus 18:3; cp. Exodus 32:1)
- Condemnation
- They lost their freedom (Exodus 1:7-12)
- Their burdens were made heavy (Exodus 1:13-14)
- Their sons were to be killed (Exodus 1:15-22)
- They cried by reason of their bondage (Exodus 2:23)
- Compassion
- The disobedient midwives saved many of their children (Exodus 1:17-21)
- God heard their cries and groaning (Exodus 2:23-25)
- God called Moses to deliver the Israelites from Egypt (Exodus 3:7-10)
- God brings them out of Egypt with a might hand (Exodus 20:2; Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 7:6-8); NOTE: This is a defining point in Israel’s history and is referred to numerous times as a description of the greatness of God. Jeremiah 23:5-8 tells of a time when this frame of reference will be changed.
- Change – Transitional Man: Moses
- Born in Egypt under the sentence of death (Exodus 2:1-3)
- Raised in the palace as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2:10)
- Choose his people over the advantages of royalty (Hebrews 11:24-26)
- Rejected by his own people as deliverer (Acts 7:22-25)
- Spent the “prime of his life” isolated on the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1; Acts 7:29)
- Did his best to excuse himself from God’s call to deliver Israel (Exodus 3:11-14; Exodus 4:10-15)
- Used to deliver Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 12:28-39)
- Used to give God’s law to Israel (Exodus 19:1-9)
- Led Israel for forty years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 29:5)
- Refused entrance into the promised land (Deuteronomy 3:23-26)
Reagan, David