The Eternal Purpose
(Ephesians 3:11).
The Dispensational Plan of the
Bible.
This
Is Appendix 198 From The Companion Bible.
A| THE
PRIMAL CREATION. HEAVENS AND EARTH. "The world (Greek
kosmos) that then was."
Genesis 1: 1,
2-. 2Peter 3:6.
B|
SATAN'S
FIRST REBELLION. The earth became waste and a ruin
(Hebrew
tohu va bohu). Genesis 1:2-. God created
it not a ruin
(Isaiah
45:18 ,
Hebrew tohu) nor waste ("confusion").
C| THE
EARTH RESTORED
AND BLESSED. "The
heavens and the
earth
which are now." Genesis 1:-2-2:3 . 2Peter 3:7.
D| SATAN
ENTERS AND THE CONSEQUENCE.
Genesis 3.
E| MANKIND
DEALT WITH AS A WHOLE.
Genesis 4-11:26.
F|
THE
CHOSEN NATION
CALLED AND BLESSED.
Genesis
11:27-Malachi
4: 6.
(Jehovah and His
kingdom
rejected. Israel scattered.)
G|
THE
FIRST ADVENT. (Micah 5:2. Zechariah
9:9). The Four Gospels (Romans 15:8). The
King
and the kingdom proclaimed and rejected,
and
the King crucified.
H|
THE
KINGDOM RE-PROCLAIMED. Acts 3:19,
20, etc. The church of God called and
taken
out, Acts 13 and on, and earlier
Pauline
Epistles. The kingdom again
rejected
and Israel again scattered.
H|
THE
KINGDOM POSTPONED
AND IN
ABEYANCE. "Not yet" (Hebrews 2:8). The
later,
or Prison Epistles (Pauline). The
MYSTERY
revealed and proclaimed.
Ephesians
3:2-11.
Colossians 1:25; 2:2, 3.
1Timothy 3:16. THE
NEW HOPE.
Philippians
3:11, 14. Titus
2:13. "The
church
which is His body" called, and
taken
up. Philippians 3:11, 14.
G|
THE
SECOND ADVENT. "The first
resurrection." The
kingdom established. The
King
enthroned. "The day of the Lord."
Matthew
24; 25:31. Luke
19:11-27.
Isaiah 2:11-
19. Joel 2; etc.
F|
THE
CHOSEN NATION
RECALLED AND BLESSED.
Romans
11:11-36. Acts
15: 16.
Isaiah 60, 61, 62.
Jeremiah
30, 31. Zechariah 12:13, 14; etc.
E| MANKIND
DEALT WITH AS A WHOLE. Joel
3:2.
Matthew
25:31-46. Acts 15:17. Romans 15: 8-12. Revelation 4-19.
D| SATAN
BOUND AND THE CONSEQUENCES. Revelations 20:1-
3.
C| THE
EARTH RESTORED
AND BLESSED.
Revelation 20:4-6.
Isaiah
35;
etc. The Millennium.
B|
SATAN'S
FINAL REBELLION. Revelation 20:7-10. Followed by the
second
resurrection and the judgment of the "great white throne".
The
destruction of "all things that offend". Revelation 20:11-15.
A| THE
NEW HEAVEN
AND THE NEW EARTH. The day of God. Revelation 21,
22.
2Peter
3:12, 13.
Isaiah 65:17; 66:22.
1. The
above Structure shows the respective dispensations in which God
has
been and is dealing with the Jew, the Gentile, and the church of God.
(1Corinthians 10:32) The "church which is His body"
occupies the
central
position, and its present standing is seen to be separated from its
future
destiny and hope. The two rebellions of Satan also are seen to be
in
direct correspondence; suggesting the necessity why he must be
loosed,
and the loosing, for a little season (Revelation 20:3, 7).
2. All
things were created by Him "Who is before all things and by Whom
all
things consist" (lit. hang together, Colossians 1:17); Who is now
"upholding
all things by the word of His power"
(Hebrews 1:3). The
Structure
shows in almost pictorial form the great lesson that God sets
before
us from Genesis to Revelation, viz. that no created being can
stand
(upright) apart from Christ the Creator. Hence the necessity for a
"new
heaven and a new earth" wherein abideth righteousness, inhabited
by
a "new creation"
of beings who have by grace been made "partakers
of
the Divine nature" (2Peter
1:4).
3. Further,
it will be seen that it is not God's purpose to bring in the new
heaven
and new earth by means of the "church". The new creation will
be
full of physical marvels, brought about by physical means and not
"spiritual
agencies". These means and their results are set before us in
Revelation. Well may we exclaim with Paul, - "O the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how
unsearchable
are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For
who hath
known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His
counsellor? Or
who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed
unto him
again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all
things: to
WHOM BE GLORY FOR EVER. AMEN."