INTRODUCTION:  The Bible is divided into two main sections – the Old Testament and the New Testament.  These two sections cover three periods of time (or dispensations of time) that reflect three different ways God gave His law to the people. The first way God gave His law was through the Patriarchs, or heads of the families. The second was through Moses, and was a law given only to the Jews.  The Old Testament and the New Testament gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John deal with the first two periods of time. The third way God gave His law was through Jesus Christ, which was revealed through the apostles, and is a law for all mankind. We are living in the final period of time (or dispensation) that we call The Christian Dispensation. It will end when Jesus Christ returns at His second coming.

The Patriarchal Dispensation

The Creation of the World
In the first verse of the book of Genesis we’re told, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1). The word “God” is from the Hebrew word “Elohiym” which is “God” in the plural sense.  Throughout the Bible we read of the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit.  All three are called “God” in the Scriptures, and all have the same qualities, characteristics and attributes. 

God created everything in the proper order – first creating that which sustains life before creating life. In the process of creation God made it possible for everything to reproduce after its own kind. This creation was followed by procreation.  (Read: Genesis 1:3-25)

The Creation of Man
The Scriptures tell us, Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)

The word “Us” in Genesis 1:26 is referring to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and not the angels or other heavenly creatures. We know this because God created man in “His OWN image” (Genesis 1:27). In the New Testament Jesus said, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24)   Man is also a spirit that inhabits an earthly body.  The spirit of man is the thinking, reasoning part of man, and is destined to live for eternity somewhere, either with God or separated from Him.

When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them a simple law to follow. They could eat of every tree in the Garden of Eden except one – the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. (Read: Genesis 2:16-17) The day they ate of that tree they would die (be separated from God by their own sin). Sadly, they disobeyed God and were cast out of the garden of Eden, and denied right to the “Tree of Life” by which they could live forever. (Read: Genesis 3:1-24)

In Genesis 3:20 the Bible says, Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. The name “Eve” means giver of life. Therefore, after Adam and Eve were created, every other person who lived was conceived and born.  We do not know exactly how many children Adam and Eve had, but among them were Cain and Able. Cain was a farmer while his brother Able was a shepherd. Both offered sacrifices to God, but only one sacrifice was acceptable – Able’s sacrifice which was a sacrifice that required the shedding of blood. (Read: Genesis 4:1-15)

In the New Testament book of Hebrews, we are told; By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. (Hebrews 11:4). Since faith comes by hearing God’s Word (Romans 10:17), it seems obvious that God told Cain and Able the kind of sacrifice He wanted.  Abel obeyed God, but Cain made a substitute that seemed reasonable to him. But he was wrong. God doesn’t allow substitutes for what He commands, no matter how reasonable it may seem to us.

The Flood (Approximately 1656 years after Adam and Eve)
The earth was filled with wickedness, and God was compelled to destroy the earth. However, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Read: Genesis 6:5-8). God commanded Noah to build a great ark and was very specific about the materials to be used, as well as being specific about the dimensions and the layout. (Genesis 6:14-22)

If Noah had disregarded God’s very specific instructions, do you suppose the ark would have survived the flood? Absolutely not! Noah did everything exactly as God commanded (Genesis 6:22), and so must we.

It took Noah 120 years to complete the ark. Only Noah, his wife, their three sons and their three daughters-in-law (8 people), and the animals taken into the ark were saved from the flood. They had to be in God’s ark to be saved, just as we need to be “in Christ” today to be saved.

Abraham (Approximately 500 years after the Flood)
With the call of Abraham, God begins to fulfill His plan to bring a Savior into the world. Therefore, God told Abram (whose name would later be changed) to leave his homeland and go to a land God would show him. Once there, God would begin to fulfill His promise by making of Abraham a great nation – the Jewish nation, through whom the Messiah would eventually come. (Read: Genesis 12:1-3 and Genesis 15:13-18)

Abraham was promised a son.  After several years God finally fulfilled His promise to Abraham that he would have a son born through his wife Sarah.  That son was named Isaac.  Isaac became the father of Jacob whose name is later changed to Israel. Jacob, in turn, became the father of twelve sons whose children become the twelve tribes of Israel – the beginning of the Jewish nation.

Eventually, the entire family moved to Egypt during the time of a severe famine, and prospered there until they became so large that the Egyptians feared them, and subsequently forced them into slavery. For 400 years, the children of Israel were in bondage to the Egyptians, and, according to some estimates, grew to around 2-3 million people.

Moses (Approximately 1,500 years before Christ)
God heard the cries of His people and raised up a deliverer named Moses. Through the power of God, Moses brought about the deliverance of the people, who left the land of Egypt and fled through the Red Sea until they arrived at Mount Sinai, where God through Moses delivered His Law to the children of Israel. This Law, or Covenant (contract), was contained in what we know as The Ten Commandments. (Read: Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 4:10-13)

The Law was given only to the Children of Israel (the Jews) who were present on that occasion. (Read: Deuteronomy 5:1-3) The giving of the Law of Moses to the children of Israel brought in the second dispensation of time, the Mosaic Dispensation.

The Mosaic Dispensation
 

The Judges (15 Judges or Military Leaders in Israel)
After the death of Moses, Joshua was selected to lead the people of Israel to the land of Canaan – the same land God had promised to Abraham. (Read: Genesis 15:13-18).  After the children of Israel conquered the land, they lived through periods of peace followed by periods of conflict with their neighbors. After Joshua died the people had no one to lead them into battle against their enemies. Therefore, God raised up Judges (military leaders), as needed, to lead the people of Israel into successful campaigns against their enemies – including one woman, Deborah. The period of the Judges lasted for just over 300 years.

3 Kings (Saul, David and Solomon)
Eventually, the people of Israel wanted a king to rule them.  Therefore, and God agreed to gave them their first king whose name was Saul.  Unfortunately, Saul didn’t always follow God’s commandments. (Read: 1 Samuel 15:7-9, 13-15, 23). Because he was disobedient to God, the Lord told him he would eventually be replaced as king of Israel.  During a battle in which Saul’s armies suffered a terrible defeat, he took his own life.

David became the next king of Israel. Even though David sinned, he deeply loved God and always repented of wrongs he committed.  God promised that the Messiah (the Savior of the world) would be a descendent of David.

After David’s death, his son Solomon became king and built the Temple in Jerusalem.  Solomon also expanded the kingdom through heavy taxation.

The Divided Kingdom (Judah and Israel)
When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam came to the throne.  The older, wiser men of Israel came to Rehoboam to ask him to reduce the heavy taxation of his father Solomon.  When Rehoboam refused the Jewish nation of Israel erupted into civil war in BC 975 and divided into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom of Israel (10 tribes under the rule of Jeroboam) and the southern kingdom of Judah (2 tribes under the rule of Rehoboam). In the years that followed, the northern kingdom of Israel had 19 kings in 9 dynasties, while the southern kingdom of Judah had only 12 kings in 1 dynasty.

16 Prophets
Although both kingdoms were frequently led by wicked kings, the northern kingdom of Israel was more wicked. During this time God raised up a number of prophets. These prophets spoke to the political and religious leaders of both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah in an effort to get them to repent. The prophets also warned them of the consequences they would suffer if they didn’t repent. The “literary” prophets (the prophets who wrote their prophecies) who came out of the northern kingdom of Israel were Jonah, Isaiah, Joel, Amos, Hosea, Micah. The “literary” prophets who came from the southern kingdom of Judah were Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah.

Many of these prophets (such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and others) also prophesied of the coming of the Messiah, and also spoke of the spiritual kingdom the Messiah would establish in the last days (the last dispensation of time).

The Captivity 70 Years and Return
The division between Israel and Judah continued for more than 250 years from BC 975 until the Assyrian Empire conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in BC 721.  Thousands upon thousands of Jews from the northern kingdom of Israel were taken away into Assyrian captivity.  The southern kingdom of Judah stood alone from BC 722 until she became as wicked as her northern counterpart had been. During this time the Babylonian Empire conquered the Assyrians and eventually turned their attention toward the southern kingdom of Judah.  In BC 587 the Babylonians captured the city of Jerusalem and thousands of Jews from the southern kingdom of Judah and from the city of Jerusalem were taken away as captives into Babylon.  The southern kingdom of Judah lasted approximately 135 years longer than her northern counterpart.

Eventually, the Babylonian Empire fell to the Empire of the Meads and the Persians (sometimes called the Medo-Persian Empire). After the Jews had been in exile for approximately 70 years the leaders of the Medo-Persian Empire allowed as many of the captive Jews (from all 12 tribes) who wished to do so to return to their homeland to rebuilt the city of Jerusalem and the Temple – both of which had been destroyed. During this time the events recorded in books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, take place, and the prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi give their prophecies.

Prophecies of a New Kingdom and a New Covenant to Come
As stated earlier, many of the prophets whom God raised up spoke of a new Messianic kingdom that would someday be established.  They also prophesied of a new covenant (agreement) that God would make with His people.

The prophet Isaiah said that “in the latter days” (“last days” KJV), God would establish a “mountain of the Lord’s house” that “all nations” would come to, and the Law would go forth from Zion (one of the mountains on which Jerusalem is built – the “Temple Mount”), and the Word of the Lord would go forth from Jerusalem. (Read: Isaiah 2:2-3)

The prophet Daniel was called to interpret the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar,  the king of the Babylonian Empire. Daniel said Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a great image made up of four metals – a head of gold, arms and chest of silver, belly and thighs of brass, and legs and feet of iron (the iron of the feet were mixed with clay). These four metals represent four empires.  Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that his Babylonian Empire was represented as the head of gold.  After him would come another empire, followed by a third, and eventually a fourth empire that would rule the world.  From history we know that following the Babylonian empire, the Medo-Persian Empire came to power followed by the Macedonian Empire (Alexander the Great), and finally the Roman Empire.  Daniel said it would be during the days of the kings of the fourth empire (Roman) that God would set up a kingdom that will rule over all the others.  This kingdom would never be destroyed, and would never be conquered (left to another people). (Read: Daniel 2:31-44)

Jeremiah prophesied that a day will come when God will make a “new covenant” (agreement) with Israel and Judah, not like the one He made when He brought them out of Egypt, because they broke that covenant (agreement). (Read: Jeremiah 31:31-34)

The Life of Christ (Recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John)
Eventually, God fulfilled His promise about a Messiah when Jesus Christ was born.  Jesus is the Son of God (the Messiah) and the One through whom “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” – just as God had promised Abraham thousands of years earlier. (Read: Genesis 12:3)

Jesus was born, lived and died under the Old Testament Law of Moses, but His death on the cross brought an end to that Law. (Read: Colossians 2:14-17 and Galatians 3:24)

Following the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and His ascension back into heaven, Jesus delivered a New Covenant through the apostles. This covenant is the Law of Christ that was is not only for the Jews, but for Jews and Gentiles (non-Jew) alike.

The giving of a New Covenant brought an end to the Mosaic Dispensation, and begins the final period of time known as the Christian Dispensation. God shaped and molded the course of history to bring His people to the moment in time when salvation through Jesus Christ would be offered to all, and when the church (the spiritual kingdom of promise and prophecy) would be established.

The Christian Dispensation

The Church was Established (Acts 2)
On the first Pentecost following the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Peter and the other apostles of Jesus preached the first gospel sermon, proving Jesus was the Son of God.  When the people realized they had crucified the Son of God, they called out to Peter and the rest of the apostles asking what they could do to be saved.  Peter told them to repent and be baptized into Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins. (Read: Acts 2:37-38) Those who received his word, were baptized (approximately 3,000 on the first day), and were added by the Lord to the church. (Read: Acts 2:41, 47)

The Church Spread (Acts 8)
The numbers of believers grew from 3,000 on Pentecost (Acts 2:41), to about 5,000 (Acts 4:4), to “multitudes” (Acts 5:14), to multitudes that “multiplied greatly” (Acts 6:7). Not even persecution could keep the church from spreading (Acts 8:1-4). The church first began in Jerusalem (Acts 2), but quickly spread to the northern province of Samaria (Acts 8:5,12), and beyond.

Jews and Gentiles (Acts 10 and 11)
At first, only Jews heard the message that Jesus was the Son of God.  But that message soon reached Gentiles as well. The first was a Roman centurion by the name of Cornelius. (Read: Acts 10:1-6, 34-48 and Acts 11:13-18)

Church/Kingdom (Colossians 1:13-14)
The Old Testament prophets repeatedly spoke about the establishment of a Messianic kingdom that would be established in the days of the Roman Empire (Daniel 2:44). Even John the Baptism and Jesus Christ had preached that the kingdom was “at hand” (Matthew 3:1-2 and Matthew 4:17).

Following the establishment of the Lord’s church on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2), the apostle Paul wrote to one of those congregations, the church at Colosse, telling those Christians that they had been translated into the kingdom. (Read: Colossians 1:13-14. Also read: Hebrews 12:28; Revelation 1:9)

Before the Day of Pentecost, the kingdom was said to be “at hand.”  But following the Day of Pentecost, the kingdom was always spoken of as being in existence.

New Covenant with New High Priest (Hebrews 8:7-13; 9:11-15; 10:1-18)
When God gave a new covenant to His people (spiritual Israel – the church), He also made changes in the priesthood. There would no longer be priests who offered daily sacrifices according to the Old Testament Law of Moses.  The reason is because Jesus Christ, our High Priest, has offered His body once for all time for the sins of the world.

This Dispensation will end with the 2nd Coming of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
When Jesus returns at the end of time, the Scriptures say the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain will join them in the air – “and thus we shall always be with the Lord.” The Bible doesn’t speak of a supposed 1,000-year reign of Christ on the earth during a millennial kingdom.  His kingdom has already been established (the church), and Jesus is reigning at the right hand of God now. In fact, when Jesus returns, the heavens (the universe), the earth, and all the works in the world, will be destroyed. (Read: 2 Peter 3:10-13) The words Peter used to describe the destruction of the heavens (the universe), the earth, and the works on the earth, indicate complete and total destruction of everything – these words are “pass away,” “melt,” “burned up,” and “dissolved.”

We need to be ready for that day. It’s coming! (Read: Matthew 7:21-23)