Bible Prophecy: God's program: Dispensations

We've got a big subject ahead of us. It's absolutely impossible to cover this chart in one week. You might say, well, maybe I'm looking for an invite back.

Well, that all depends how the week goes. Maybe it might not be worth your time. We trust it will be.

It has been a great encouragement to me. One of the main reasons why we want to look at a broad structure of the Bible is, like I said, it will help you understand when you're looking at a tree or a certain part of Scripture to know where does it fit. And why that's so important is because, I don't know what it's like here in mid-United States, but back where I come from in the Maritimes, Prince Edward Island, the eastern seacoast of Canada, there seems to be an upsurge in what's known as Reformed theology.

And mostly, generally speaking, a lot of Reformed theology denies dispensations, and they are heavy on covenants. Okay, they will add a number of covenants into the Word of God that are personally not in the Word of God. I'll show you that tonight.

But what they'll also do is they take all the promises that God had given to the nation of Israel. Because the nation has failed, they have something called the Replacement Theology, where God now has taken all those promises and he's moved them over to the church. So there's a whole number of things that spin out of that.

They then claim that there's no literal future history for Israel. It's done. That's what they say.

And then they will deny, as I think I might have mentioned this on Sunday, they deny that there's going to be a literal future for the nation of Israel, the city of Jerusalem. They deny that Christ himself will literally sit on a throne. They end up denying then a literal thousand-year reign, which the Word of God clearly teaches.

So we have to look at the structure of the Word of God, and as I said, I'm going to prove it to you tonight, we're going to look at the three different programs that God has going through all of time. And when you discover those three different programs, and as you're reading the Word of God, you will find these verses apply to the Jews, these verses apply to the church, these verses apply to the Gentiles, and that way you won't be taking verses out of their context. Because what's happening today in a lot of denominational circles is they are taking verses from the Old Testament that in their context refer to the nation in the millennial reign.

And they're saying, oh, this is being fulfilled today. No, it's not. And I will prove, I will show you a number of places where those mistakes are being made.

So we just have to get things straight, and the Word of God is our teacher, it's our only source, and that is what we want to go through. So before we start, I want to look at just, like I said, the broad, broad thing, and then we're going to start to zero in on covenants, because we don't hear a whole lot of ministry on covenants, and I'm going to explain what a covenant is to you in a few minutes. But while we start, we're going to start in Psalm 103, just to start here.

Psalm 103 would be our starting point. There's a lovely verse that we have here, and it's really an umbrella that we can put over this entire chart, this whole program. This chart just represents a program, okay? And we'll look at a few things to set it in its context.

So Psalm 103, we have a Psalm of David. We'll pick up at verse number 19. This is just picking up from where I had gave a little ministry on Sunday.

We introduced you to a title of God called El Elyon, the strongest strong one, and that is God working in humanity. Verse number 19 of Psalm 103, the LORD, now you'll notice in your Bible that it's all capital letters, so that's telling you that that is the Hebrew word Jehovah, the covenant-keeping God. The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens, notice, and his kingdom ruleth over all.

Now that's a wonderful verse. That just once again reaffirms what we said yesterday, that the hand of God is over everything. Nothing falls outside of his hand.

Interesting, if you look at the Hebrew grammar for the word prepared, it's what's known as a perfect. That means something that has been done and the effects of that are still ongoing. So nobody can change this.

God's throne is established. It was established, it still is established, it always will be established. Then you come to the next one, and his kingdom ruleth.

Same again, it's a perfect. God has always ruled, God still rules, and God will always be the one that will be ruling. So like I said, when you look at that massive chart which represents all different events of time, you can just put a big half moon over the whole thing, and right above it, just right, God's kingdom ruleth everywhere.

No exception. So keep that in mind. Now let's go to Daniel chapter 4 for a minute, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentation, Ezekiel, and then comes the book of Daniel.

Sometimes, one thing that'll happen at the end of this week, we'll try to remove the arthritis from your fingers, because we turned a lot to chapters, and you'll know where Daniel is. It would be an awful thing, you know, to meet Daniel in heaven and go, oh, you wrote a book? I hardly read it. These are sometimes the clean white pages of our Old Testament, so we want to make sure we get this straight.

Daniel chapter 4, there is an expression that comes up four times in the book of Daniel, only in the book of Daniel, and I mentioned Nebuchadnezzar to you yesterday. He was the first king of the Babylonian Empire, which commenced the times of the Gentiles. I'll explain that later to you, but I want you to notice chapter 4 and verse number 32.

We're going to the last part of the verse. This is a judgment pronounced to Nebuchadnezzar. Seven years, he's going to eat grass, and here was the end result.

Until thou know that the Most High ruleth, there's our word again, in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. So there's a lot of simple things we can learn just from that simple verse. Every form of government is given of God.

Every ruler that has ever lived, who was ever ruled in this earth, who will ever rule on this earth, has been given of God. Now there are individuals that have popped up in history that would challenge our thinking on that, like a Hitler. You might look at me and say, how could that man have been raised up of God? Well, I'll give you another character, Pharaoh.

I'll take you to Romans chapter 9 in the New Testament. You know what the Word of God says about Pharaoh, the man that afflicted the children of Israel for 400 years? He didn't himself, he didn't live 400 years, but he was in a long line. Here's what the Word of God says.

God says this, for this cause have I raised thee up. Now that's clearly said about Pharaoh. Now there's not one of us here that would have put our hand up and voted for Pharaoh, it would be in power, but that's the man that God wanted at the time.

So that's only one example. So this verse just simply tells us this is this man, Nebuchadnezzar, who thought he was a god, and God is gonna teach this man a lesson. Here's the lesson, that God ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

Go over to verse number 25, you get the same thing again. Verse number, actually I read in the wrong verse, let me read verse 17 again. To the intent, the last part, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and setteth up over the bases of men.

There's the first time that appears. Go down to verse 25, the last part. Till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

Go to verse number 32, the last part of the verse. This is actually the verse I read, didn't read my numbers carefully enough. Until thou knowest that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

And then the final one appears in chapter 5 and verse number 21, the latter half of the verse. And this is actually Nebuchadnezzar telling it, this is Daniel speaking about Belshazzar referring to Nebuchadnezzar. Till he knew that the Most High God ruleth in the kingdom of men and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

So that just reaffirms for us and it should give you a measure of peace because your nation is about to elect a new president. You don't need to fear and I would encourage you from the Word of God that you don't even need to vote as Christians. In fact I would say a Christian should not vote.

I could take you, the reasons I say that is I could take you to the Bible in Revelation during this period here called the Great Tribulation, right at the midpoint when Satan is cast out of heaven and he comes down into this earth. You know what has happened just prior to that? The ten toes of Daniel had been functioning. What that simply means is this, after the rapture of the church there is going to come into this world, pushed by the devil of course, there's going to come a ten nation Confederacy and that ten nation Confederacy is going to rule.

It'll be the body that will rule over the habitable world. Behind it will be the man of sin. Now what will happen for the first three and a half years of the tribulation period is that ten nation Confederacy will allow multiple religious beliefs.

They will encourage it. Now you see that even amongst the religious circles today where they're trying to encourage all this unity, right? Forget doctrine, we're all worshiping the same God they say but we're all just taking different paths to that God. Well that will be pushed big time after the rapture of the church and the devil will be behind it.

What will happen at the midpoint when the devil comes down? He'll say enough of that. I want to be worshipped. I want to put my image in the temple in Jerusalem that would be rebuilt and I want the entire world and I want those ten nations, those heads to be encouraging all the world to worship me.

Do you know what you read in the book of Revelation? God will put it into their minds to turn against world religion, unite and focus all attention upon the man of sin. God will do that, not man. Now we might find that strange but I'll tell you the reason for that is because God is longing to get to this point here where a son comes back to this earth.

You see this line here? This is known as the apostasy line. You read about it in 2nd Thessalonians. There is a wickedness that is ongoing in this world right now and as we advance to the rapture of the church, this line, that wickedness gets greater and greater and greater.

So don't expect the world to get better. It will not. Don't expect the world to become more Christianized.

It will not. The devil is the God, the present God of this world and the God is allowing him to have so much movement and he's actually moving it not out of control because God's over the whole thing. I always remind people don't forget that the devil is God's devil and even what the devil does still advances the program of God because if it is ultimately heading to this time here when the Lord Jesus will be glorified.

So I'm just I just gave you those very simple verses in the book of Daniel to prove to you once again that our God rules in all of the kingdoms of men. So we discovered from Psalm 103 that there's this is the kingdom of God and within that kingdom of God there's all of these different kingdoms of men right from the beginning of time right up until the end but always remember God's kingdom rules over the entire thing. Now I want to give you an example of this just in the life of this man here Nebuchadnezzar.

Go to Jeremiah chapter 27. We're very familiar with this expression today. You've probably heard of a G20 summit okay or G8 it all depends on what particular thing they're meeting over and how many nations are involved but did you know that there was a G6 summit in in the city of Jerusalem way back at the time of Jeremiah the Prophet and we're just going to read a little sample about it and this will just prove once again I mentioned it yesterday Nebuchadnezzar in the Word of God you might find this hard to believe but do a search Nebuchadnezzar became a Christian near the end of his life but at the first of his life do you know what God calls him three times in the Bible my servant my servant my servant not even saved he doesn't even acknowledge the God of heaven he worships rocks and trees and stars and everything else and yet God calls him my servant now just keep that in mind as we read this so here's what's happening in Jeremiah 27 you might know this Babylon they swept into Jerusalem three different times the first time they swept in they took Daniel he was a young boy second time they swept into Jerusalem they took Ezekiel and then the final time they swept into Jerusalem in 606 they destroyed the whole they destroyed the whole thing and burnt the temple and wiped it all out and they left it just completely desolate right where we are here in Jeremiah 27 the first invasion has happened sorry 606 we're just about up to the second invasion now look what's happening look at verse number two thus saith the Lord to me make thee bonds and yokes and put them upon thy neck and send them now notice these kings send them to the king of Edom and to the king of Moab and to the king of the Ammonites and to the king of Tyrus and to the king of the Zion by the hand of the messengers which to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah and command them then pause for a minute what's happening here because of the threat of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian military do you know what was happening down here in Jerusalem Zedekiah was the last king on the throne of Judah he was the final king and he's eventually gonna be carried away five nations around Jerusalem they all come into Jerusalem and they had what I call a g6 summit with Zedekiah they said look we've got to unite our militaries if all six of us put our military together we just might be able to stop this Babylonian war machine from taking us over now God knew about this and God actually got Jeremiah to build you know the old-fashioned wooden yoke that you put on two animals you imagine this now and and Jeremiah says now I want you to give that wooden yoke to one of your messengers your your servants and he's gonna put it around his neck and he's gonna go down into Jerusalem and he's gonna break into this room where these six kings are meeting around the table and here's what I want you to tell them well let's read it look at verse number four and say on to their masters thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel thus shall ye say unto your masters I have made the earth the man and the beast that are upon the ground by my great power and by my outstretched arm and have given it on to whom it seemed meet unto me and now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him and all nations shall serve him and his son and his son's son until the very time of his land come that's 70 years we know and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him and it shall come to pass that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon notice and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon that nation will I punish saith the Lord with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence until I have consumed them by his hand isn't that something I mean that that must have been quite a meaning now to interrupt and can you imagine the just the way that must have hit those six kings what the God of heaven is wanting us to place ourselves under the his yoke this Babylonian that Nebuchadnezzar no we're not gonna do it what was the rest of the message if you don't do it you know God's gonna do to you I'm gonna destroy you by famine and war and pestilence ah because listen this is God speaking God says I've given him all this land I've given him even all the beasts all to serve him you say you're getting a little worked up I am getting worked up because this is exciting stuff there's nothing like the Bible to uncover what is actually happening in this world you know what I long for I long for a bit well they wouldn't give me 20 minutes but even if they gave me five minutes I'd love to go to one of these present-day g20 summits and you know what I tell every single nation I'd like to go to UN and do it you know that little despised nation that is now the tale called Israel the Bible says that one day she'll be the head with Christ God's Son at the top and every nation will flow down from her you imagine how that would strike them hey look at me as if I was if I had antennas on my head but I got the Word of God because that's what the Word of God says is gonna happen there is coming a time when the Lord Jesus will be acknowledged as the head and along with him will be his nation you go through the Word of God you don't you discover there's only one piece of land nation that God actually calls my land it's Jerusalem Israel my land you know what's fascinating about your country and every other country maybe you know this every embassy is always in the capital of a nation probably knew that why is it that when you go to Israel everybody's embassy is in Tel Aviv not Jerusalem Jerusalem is the capital of Israel you can go over to Jerusalem today and your tour guide will take you to a plot of ground I saw it with my own eyes when I was there and your country owns that plot of ground in Jerusalem it's just full of grass all these buildings all around it do you realize that when your present your present president Obama ran for office eight years ago do you remember one of his speeches he said I will put the US Embassy in Jerusalem they didn't get too far did he you know why because no nation of the world wants to upset the Arab Kingdom that's what they will do you go over to you go over and travel over in Egypt you go buy a map they will not even print the name Israel Jerusalem on the map nobody wants to acknowledge her and that's just coming right into the Word of God God says in the end times the end times prior to the rapture here I will make that little nation of burdensome stone to every single nation and every nation that picks her up she'll actually get cut from it that's tremendous to think of like we don't realize I've often heard I've often quoted it one brother was asked years and years ago he says give me a proof that the Bible is the Word of God one word the Jew there is not a nation like it on the face of the earth that has been able to retain their nationality in spite of being dispersed into the world so many times we get pictures of it in the Word of God remember Jonah Jonah's a picture of the Gent of the of the Jewish nation cast into the sea the seas always speak of the Gentiles swallowed by the whale but you know what the whale did not assimilate him he came out all he came out the way he went in just a little more stickier when he came out but that was Jonah that is a picture of that little nation there is not I don't have times often I spend a whole night on just the nation of Israel and you go through history not a nation has experienced more wars than that nation that nation has experienced over 36 wars do you know how many times the city has been devastated 25 times flattened that's why when you go over there today and they'll take you on these tours you got to go down about 60 80 feet to get to the streets where the Lord Jesus walked on in some places because he's literally built upon rubble rubble upon rubble that's why there's so much archaeology being done over there in that little tiny nation because there's so much history that is buried underneath so just keep that in mind this in Jeremiah 27 Jeremiah had a tough he had a tough job to do in the spite of a nation that would not listen to him yet he stood faithful to God and of course we can learn something from that today as well now let's go into the New Testament 1st Corinthians chapter 10 that was just by way of introduction oh my dear and we already got 30 minutes gone okay 1st Corinthians chapter 10 this is where we go for the three different categories three different programs unique programs that God is actually doing in the world today under this kingdom of God ruling and in all of these different times of men and women ruling here's what we have 1st Corinthians chapter 10 in verse number 32 here's what we read 1st Corinthians chapter 10 verse 32 give none offense now here it is neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God there are your three separate categories three separate programs that God is working I told you on Sunday if you go into your Bible and read Genesis 1 to the end of chapter 11 it's amazing that God covers 2,000 years of Gentile history you start Genesis chapter 12 and there's a man called Abram called out the Gentiles and he is the fountainhead of the Jewish nation you go from Genesis 12 all the way to Acts chapter 2 where the Spirit of God came down from heaven you've got almost 2,000 years again of Jewish history and at that point God put the Jewish program on hold right we all know this then from Acts chapter 2 right up until now we've almost got 2,000 years of church history I believe there's more in Genesis 1 in the six days of creation and the one day of rest then we might want to admit this here is referred to as a rest in Hebrews for God and you got six days of God actually working in Genesis 1 then you got God resting I look at you know this might sound strange to us okay time is going to end one day do we believe that or do we just think that time is just gonna keep on going no no no it is going to end let's just refresh ourselves with that okay God simply out from eternity just simply put like I call he just drew a line in the sand time started in the beginning God created and God has the end of it just another line in the sand the world is not gonna keep going the way it's going now if we're living outside of the Bible and we're just down at this level we think of that the advancement of man and now they're talking about putting colonizing Mars and save your breath to cool your soup you'll never never never put a colony on Mars I can guarantee from the Bible oh we're spending all this money to find life there is life out there it's called God and the angels yeah there's life out there there's no human life out there you know why there's such a push from the ungodly humanistic scientists of the world to find other worlds out there it's to deny the uniqueness of God's Son dying here dying here I'm a firm believer that the earth is the center of God's program no problem with that at all I go I I line up two scriptures getting off in a rabbit hole now but that's fine Genesis and Romans do you know what God was thinking of when he was forming the man on the ground we read it in chapter 4 Adam was only an image a type of him that was to come that's all don't ever think that the reason the Lord Jesus has two arms and two legs is because Adam had two arms and two legs you're looking at it all wrong the reason that God gave two arms to Adam and two legs and two eyes and two ears is because he was thinking of what his son would have down the line of time okay so that's where God's mind was it all of what you get in Genesis there God creating the garden and the and the and the environment the paradise for the man do you know where God's mind was his son reigning here that's where his mind was when God put the man to sleep and he took the rib out of the man where was his mind was on you and I the church that's where it was oh I I was in a Bible study in a man a man tried to tell us that men today have one less rib oh come on I said check your ribs for Pete's sake I ever heard so much food just not my life as I love God has placed a lovely little sheath over every rib do you know what you can do you can cut that sheath pull out the rib sew it back up again and that sheath will grow a new bone it will so men we all got the same ribs as women so don't don't get carried away this is interesting now those that want to discover what day did Christ die Thursday or Friday what day was Adam put to sleep oh now I got you thinking well what day did God rest Saturday Adam was put to sleep on Friday and from his side came a woman I just leave that for you to consider hope I didn't blow all your ministry apart you're thinking he died on Thursday but whatever leave that as it is I think at the time of the rapture we're gonna have a whole lot of I told you souls when we're going up to meet the Lord so we're just we'll just leave it there for now so before we jump from 1st Corinthians chapter 10 these are the three programs that God is presently and the only three that he has and what you'll discover when you come into the book of Revelation even when we get to the eternal state where everything is static you still have your distinctions of the Gentile you still have the Jew and you still have the Church of God the Bride of Christ so that's something to keep in mind this is this will always be sometimes people think that when we come to the new heavens everything is just amalgamated together and it's all just one big happy family well it is one happy family but within that family there are distinct listen the father will have a wife she's called the nation of Israel Christ will have a bride a wife it's called the church and there will always be the Gentiles rejoicing in in that union so keep that in your mind now let's go back to Genesis 13 for a minute I want to show you just what I'm going to build I'm actually you might not think this but I'm actually building to something I think a week of ministry like this you have to build you have to go in building blocks okay so that means you can't miss a night because if you miss a night you're gonna miss a bunch of building blocks what I'm what I'm actually heading to if you want to look at the chart for a minute is you see this blue that's going along here and then all of a sudden it breaks and then it in comes this red and then the blue picks up again when we look at the program that God has for the Jewish nation there is an aspect in which it was physical at one point it was very much taken up with the nation and the people we know that but there came a turning point in the nation's life when they rejected their Messiah you know what the Lord Jesus did he turned away from the nation and what is God doing now God has turned to the Gentiles and out from the Gentiles and the Jews he's taking the church right interesting go through the Word of God what does Galatians teach us about the church there's neither Jew nor Gentile do you realize that the Jew will always be a Jew Gentile will be a Gentile but in this dispensation of grace you lose that distinction and you're now in Christ that's something unique to this dispensation so what you have is you have the physical kingdom comes to a stop God now brings in the spiritual aspect of the kingdom which is this the Church of God after the the spiritual kingdom is done then he picks up the physical kingdom again so the reason I'm stressing that I want you to see from the Word of God is this people are reading the Old Testament taking verses that apply to the physical kingdom they're trying to fit them in here doesn't work you see all of your Old Testament prophets every single one of them there was their focus the physical kingdom that was their focus so when you read something a quote like in the Old Testament where it talks about the trees will grow again in Israel you know what you hear now everybody that goes on a tour over Israel they plant a tree and they say here's the fulfillment of this verse trees are growing in Israel wrong context it's referred to this year okay it's just the wrong context there's there's many many many different verses like that that they're taking out of the Old Testament and they're actually applying it to today for instance I could take you into the New Testament Matthew 24 do you know what you're reading Matthew 24 you read about the fig tree budding when you see the fig tree bud go read your commentaries you know what just about every one of them will say well that happened in 1947 when the nation of Israel became a nation for the first time don't believe it for a minute why would I say that because the context of Matthew 24 what has happened before it the rapture has happened so Matthew 24 has taken me into this period here what is the budding of the fig tree when the Antichrist signs the peace treaty with the nation of Israel do you know what will happen for the first time all nations will accept her Israel will be convinced we've come into our glory this is it this is what we have been waiting for to be finally given our rightful place and that man of sin will give back the temple mount they will build their temple they will think this is it the fig trees buddy it's coming to life what happens mid point the covenant is broken and that nation then plunges into they discover it's been a contract with death we read from the Old Testament so you see how important context is in the Word of God you just can't pick a verse out and just say oh it looks like this is fit no no no no you got to see everything in its context so that's what I want to show you for a few minutes here I always remember Genesis is a seed plot of the Bible there are so many things in Genesis that we just we kind of read it so too quickly but I want you to show you I want to show you even Genesis you've got this physical aspect of the kingdom and you've got this spiritual aspect look what we have in Genesis 13 this is God speaking to Abram when he calls him out of the Gentile nation he's gonna start a nation from him the Jewish nation and notice this expression here verse 14 and the Lord said unto Abram after that lot was separated from him lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art northward southward eastward and westward for all the land which thou see is to thee will I give thee and to thy seed forever notice that forever okay that verse alone will prove to me that the nation will never exit and never go out of existence this is what God is promising notice for 16 and I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth so obviously we're right down at the dust where we're dealing with that something physical right now come over to chapter 15 it's very interesting for those of you that like to study the Word of God in chapter 13 just notice the promise of the land with the dust okay that's important go to chapter 15 look at verse number 5 and he God brought him Abram forth abroad and said look now toward heaven and tell the stars if thou be able to number them and he said unto him so sell thy seed be you see the difference you know what you'll notice Genesis 13 when he mentions your seeds gonna be like the dust he promises the land physical land when he now talks about his seed being as many as the stars no land see the two different groups we are the stars we are not linked with this physical earth we're not that's why in a coming day this will be our home the satellite city that will hover over the physical millennial earth no no no this is this shows how perfectly the Word of God blends together God is promising Abraham seed as plentiful as the dust seed as plentiful as the stars what does the book of Romans and Galatians do for us it calls Abraham our father you ever notice that it even calls Sarah our mother she is the mother of us all but you know what you'll notice in the Word of God nowhere is Abraham ever called a Jew or Sarah because if that was the case and there are mother we'd be Jews but no no no member in Christ in the spiritual kingdom we lose our distinction of Jew and Gentile we are now in Christ were up if any man be in Christ he's a new creature so I find it how perfect this it just shows you the one author of the Word of God how that we are tied because of faith Abraham exercised faith in what God had said here and because we are now the stars the spiritual just the same way Abraham exercise faith we have extra so in that sense Abraham is our father Sarah is our mother so that's just something when you are reading the Word of God just see how the whole thing kind of blends together now you want to see something interesting come over to Genesis 22 let me give you a broad this shows you the spectrum okay of scripture you're you and I are familiar with Genesis 22 right Abraham and Isaac a picture of the Father and the Son going to the place of sacrifice number one you never read of Isaac leaving the mountain in Genesis 22 you only read of Abraham coming back to the servants I see one brother not in his head he saw that good that is a picture of the ascension of the Lord Jesus okay because Isaac's out of the picture now what do you read in the very first verse of Genesis 23 Abraham's wife Sarah dies come to the chart what happened when the Lord Jesus died a picture of Isaac on the altar he were not told he came off the mountain it's a picture of the Lord ascending back to heaven what happened to the nation she died to God dead God turns from her God now turns to the Jew and the Gentile and now he's gonna start to call the spiritual kingdom is starting okay Genesis 23 Sarah dies what happens in Genesis 24 Abraham turns to a servant and says go find a bride for my son you realize that in the book of Genesis Genesis 24 is the longest chapter 68 verses it's a picture of the length of the dispensation of grace to date and nothing will come close to it the dispensation of grace this age in which God is moving into the spiritual kingdom is the longest of all of the dispensations of the Bible God administrate or God dealing with humanity what you care getting this structure even back in the very first book of Bible so Genesis 22 you got a picture of the the crucifixion the Ascension Genesis 23 the nation dies pictured in Sarah Genesis 24 you have a bride being sought for a son that he's gone we don't know where he is what happens at 25 well let me take to the end of 24 Isaac meets the bride and marries her right what happens in Genesis 25 verse 1 Abraham takes another wife there's the rebirth of the nation pictured way back in Genesis 22 23 24 and 25 now you try to tell me that this Bible is not inspired you say oh you're making all that up I'm not making all that up you just take time to read it and just allow things of the New Testament just a just a flow in and as you stand back you will see this this structure now there's even a there's even a better one look go to Genesis 22 where I asked you to to turn now remember just coming up to Genesis 22 remember what we read we are first introduced to the seed the dust and then second the seed the stars okay look what happens in Genesis 22 after the altar experience come down to verse number 17 that in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars notice the dust the land is not first this is this is after this the altar experience after the crucifixion we could say keep reading stars of heaven and as the sand there's your dust which is upon the seashore you notice the orders reversed look at the chart who are the first people to come into the blessing of Calvary stars of heaven not the dust not the land not the Jewish nation that will come in a coming day so the importance is prior to Genesis 22 you have the land first stars second once Genesis 22 happens which is a picture of the cross the Spirit of God reverses the order blessing first to the stars then comes blessing to the land come a little further look at what it says verse 17 and thy seed shall possess the gate of his not their his enemy up until this point seed has been plural plural plural dust plural stars you see your mind should be going to Galatians Galatians teaches this that when this was being written God wasn't thinking of seeds plural he was thinking of seed singular Christ okay now you got the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus which leads to what blessing comes to the stars then blessing will come to the land and what happens right here the Lord Jesus will possess the gates which speaks of authority of his enemies that's bringing us right there to the start of the millennial reign when the Lord Jesus comes back from heaven now keep on reading in verse 18 as a result of the Lord being in his place and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed do you know what you actually have in Genesis 22 remember the three categories that we read in 1st Corinthians 10 right after the death of the Lord Jesus you got the Church of God the seed of heaven then you get the Jew the land and what's the next group all nations of the world are blessed you see that isn't the Bible incredible what a book a there is God laying out the program and now what what God is going to do is as time advances he's going to start to develop that program you see the Lord Jesus could not have been born during the time of Abraham God wasn't ready yet that's why you read that lovely verse in Galatians 4 but in the fullness of time just at the right time no no there had to be five dispensations what a dispensation like sometimes what we do is when we give ministry is we because we over emphasize dispensations we almost tend to say oh there's no such thing as covenants but I'm going to show you obviously time is gone I'm going to jump into covenants tomorrow night I'm going to show you that covenants and dispensations all work together to move God's program ahead a dispensation very easy to figure this out a dispensation simply is the idea if it comes from the idea of someone who is administering a household it's how God is administering a certain time period do you know the thing I put over dispensations it's just God testing man God proving the character of man so what do you hear today these are these are people that don't know the Bible and not say well if you just give us enough money we'll solve the human heart problem if you just give us the perfect environment we'll be able to solve the all of the woes of humanity if you just give us this what has God done he's put man in a garden perfect innocency what was the outcome man failure okay then he put then he put man under conscience what was the outcome total failure then he put man under government human government perfect government what was the outcome total failure okay then God says I'll put man under promise what was the outcome total failure okay God says okay you hear people they just give us laws okay God says I'll put you under law what was the outcome total failure God says okay I'm going to test man under the dispensation of grace where I'm actually going to hold back judgment that's deserved our brother was preaching on that last night and what does man do because judgment is withheld ah I got away with it look how man's cold it what's the outcome total failure but there's one more God says I'm gonna finally test man when the devil is bound for a thousand years in the bottomless pit so you can't blame the devil for your sin the burning city as a result of Babylon the city being crushed and burned you get this in Revelation chapter 17 it becomes the cage the prison house of every foul spirit so all of the devil's demons are going to be caged in that burning mess of Babylon for a thousand years what does that mean there's no demonic influence whatsoever for a thousand years what's the end result a massive rebellious group that wants to dethrone Christ seven dispensations God does a lot of things in sevens which always shows completeness you know what God will prove to humanity at this point here you are absolutely corrupt but for my son he's the only answer that beautiful what do covenants prove okay if dispensations prove the character of man covenants prove the character of God because you know we're gonna touch on tomorrow night we're gonna touch on this covenants come at a very low point and a lot of them and God is going to re-emphasize I have a plan irregardless of how men fail how nations fail I doesn't matter for instance there's a covenant the very first covenant in the Bible is given to to a man by the name Noah how did Noah end drunk and naked that's how he leaves the Old Testament you know God says God could have right there says I am done with this mess I am finished Oh God then picks up a man by the name of Abraham okay I'm gonna start again here how does how does how does that whole thing end children original in captivity in Egypt God could have said that's it I'm finished now hope next one God comes to David I'm gonna make covenant with David his son how did Solomon end he brought the nation to more idolatry than the Everhead God could have said that's it I'm finished with the whole mess nope God comes out with another covenant so covenants prove God is dedicated to doing something irregardless of how men fail whereas dispensations prove the total and absolute failure of mankind so that's where we're going to end tonight I hope that's been a bit of a an encouragement to you I heard the beep there so that means I'm done so as you look at the Bible what I want you to see is before you get into the detail I want you to see just the broad structure of what God is actually doing and I think that will help me to understand certain parts of the Bible that become kind of difficult so thank you very much for listening we'll bow our heads and we'll speak to God in heaven