Deuteronomy 6:6-7, Genesis 10:5, Deuteronomy 32:8, Acts 17:26-28

“For this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you, the Gentiles -- inasmuch as you have heard about the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for your benefit…” Ephesians 3:1-2 RBT “…that through revelation the mystery doctrine was made known to me, just as I have already written you briefly. By reading this, you ought to be able to understand my technical knowledge about the mystery of Christ…” Ephesians 3:3-4 RBT “… which was not made known to mankind in other ages, so that now it has been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by means of the Spirit …” Ephesians 3:5 RBT

This presentation is a basic study of the dispensations, the divine outline of history. Before we begin our study, we need to ensure that we are filled with God the Holy Spirit. Without his ministry in our lives, there is no way we can even understand the simplest biblical truths, much less, apply them to our lives. The mechanic, which we have discussed before, is to simply name your sins to God the Father, as per 1 John 1:9. Let’s take a few moments of silent prayer to give you the opportunity to regain the filling of the Holy Spirit if you need to. Let’s bow our heads: Father, thank you for the work of your Son Jesus Christ on the cross on our behalf. Thank you for loving us from eternity past and providing perfectly for each one of us. How much we look forward to spending eternity with you. We pray that God the Holy Spirit will challenge us with these doctrines that we may apply them and grow in grace so that your Son will be able to introduce us to you as His friends. In His name we ask this, Amen.

The outline of our study looks like this: First we’ll define and describe dispensations. Then, we’ll briefly outline the epochs of history. Next, we’ll look closely at each different epoch of history, starting with the two Theocentric dispensations, the age of Gentiles and the age of Israel. Following the flow of history, we’ll study the two Christocentric Dispensations, the first advent of Jesus Christ and the Church Age. The next two dispensations are in the future so we call them the eschatological dispensations. They are the period of great tribulation and the 1000 year reign of our Lord on earth, the millennium.

1. When Jesus Christ created Adam He said, “not good that man should be alone.” -Therefore God provided the female. Jesus Christ constructed Adam’s wife. God created the woman specifically for Adam. He didn’t bring a couple of dozen women around for him to choose! You, unmarried persons, need to use your discernment in this: Make sure the person you choose fulfills your doctrinal norms and standards and so on. God will bring the right person to you. It’s a part of His plan for you, unless other factors over ride. Once you are married, don’t keep looking for anyone else! Their relationship, including all of it’s factors established in the garden, was continued after the fall. It has never been cancelled in any generation. 2. Marriage is the most basic and fundamental organization in the human race. Even the unbeliever, whose life is a total failure, can have great temporary happiness by marrying the right woman, Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:9. 3. The analogy to the monogamous relationship and our relationship to Christ is found in so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:26-33. 4. Under the authority of the laws of divine establishment, the marriage is the normal, legitimate expression of category two love, 1 Cor 7:9; 1 Tim 5:14; Eph 5:22, 23, 28, 33; Heb 13:4. Marriage is the beginning of authority in life for adults. The husband has all the authority; there are no exceptions or rationalizations. Violations of a principle do not change the principle. For example, God continues to use the local church no matter how badly it fails. We cannot deny the principle of marriage just because we’ve made a bad marriage. 5. Marriage is the basis for stability in society and for the formation of civilization. Marriage rejects the theory of revolution, anarchy, promiscuousness, or communal living. It is the protection for the home where the parents exercise authority over the children.

1. When Jesus Christ created Adam He said, “not good that man should be alone.” -Therefore God provided the female. Jesus Christ constructed Adam’s wife. God created the woman specifically for Adam. He didn’t bring a couple of dozen women around for him to choose! You, unmarried persons, need to use your discernment in this: Make sure the person you choose fulfills your doctrinal norms and standards and so on. God will bring the right person to you. It’s a part of His plan for you, unless other factors over ride. Once you are married, don’t keep looking for anyone else! Their relationship, including all of it’s factors established in the garden, was continued after the fall. It has never been cancelled in any generation. 2. Marriage is the most basic and fundamental organization in the human race. Even the unbeliever, whose life is a total failure, can have great temporary happiness by marrying the right woman, Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:9. 3. The analogy to the monogamous relationship and our relationship to Christ is found in so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:26-33. 4. Under the authority of the laws of divine establishment, the marriage is the normal, legitimate expression of category two love, 1 Cor 7:9; 1 Tim 5:14; Eph 5:22, 23, 28, 33; Heb 13:4. Marriage is the beginning of authority in life for adults. The husband has all the authority; there are no exceptions or rationalizations. Violations of a principle do not change the principle. For example, God continues to use the local church no matter how badly it fails. We cannot deny the principle of marriage just because we’ve made a bad marriage. 5. Marriage is the basis for stability in society and for the formation of civilization. Marriage rejects the theory of revolution, anarchy, promiscuousness, or communal living. It is the protection for the home where the parents exercise authority over the children.

1. When Jesus Christ created Adam He said, “not good that man should be alone.” -Therefore God provided the female. Jesus Christ constructed Adam’s wife. God created the woman specifically for Adam. He didn’t bring a couple of dozen women around for him to choose! You, unmarried persons, need to use your discernment in this: Make sure the person you choose fulfills your doctrinal norms and standards and so on. God will bring the right person to you. It’s a part of His plan for you, unless other factors over ride. Once you are married, don’t keep looking for anyone else! Their relationship, including all of it’s factors established in the garden, was continued after the fall. It has never been cancelled in any generation. 2. Marriage is the most basic and fundamental organization in the human race. Even the unbeliever, whose life is a total failure, can have great temporary happiness by marrying the right woman, Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:9. 3. The analogy to the monogamous relationship and our relationship to Christ is found in so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:26-33. 4. Under the authority of the laws of divine establishment, the marriage is the normal, legitimate expression of category two love, 1 Cor 7:9; 1 Tim 5:14; Eph 5:22, 23, 28, 33; Heb 13:4. Marriage is the beginning of authority in life for adults. The husband has all the authority; there are no exceptions or rationalizations. Violations of a principle do not change the principle. For example, God continues to use the local church no matter how badly it fails. We cannot deny the principle of marriage just because we’ve made a bad marriage. 5. Marriage is the basis for stability in society and for the formation of civilization. Marriage rejects the theory of revolution, anarchy, promiscuousness, or communal living. It is the protection for the home where the parents exercise authority over the children.

1. When Jesus Christ created Adam He said, “not good that man should be alone.” -Therefore God provided the female. Jesus Christ constructed Adam’s wife. God created the woman specifically for Adam. He didn’t bring a couple of dozen women around for him to choose! You, unmarried persons, need to use your discernment in this: Make sure the person you choose fulfills your doctrinal norms and standards and so on. God will bring the right person to you. It’s a part of His plan for you, unless other factors over ride. Once you are married, don’t keep looking for anyone else! Their relationship, including all of it’s factors established in the garden, was continued after the fall. It has never been cancelled in any generation. 2. Marriage is the most basic and fundamental organization in the human race. Even the unbeliever, whose life is a total failure, can have great temporary happiness by marrying the right woman, Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:9. 3. The analogy to the monogamous relationship and our relationship to Christ is found in “…so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:26-33. 4. Under the authority of the laws of divine establishment, the marriage is the normal, legitimate expression of category two love, 1 Cor 7:9; 1 Tim 5:14; Eph 5:22, 23, 28, 33; Heb 13:4. Marriage is the beginning of authority in life for adults. The husband has all the authority; there are no exceptions or rationalizations. Violations of a principle do not change the principle. For example, God continues to use the local church no matter how badly it fails. We cannot deny the principle of marriage just because we’ve made a bad marriage. 5. Marriage is the basis for stability in society and for the formation of civilization. Marriage rejects the theory of revolution, anarchy, promiscuousness, or communal living. It is the protection for the home where the parents exercise authority over the children.

1. When Jesus Christ created Adam He said, “not good that man should be alone.” -Therefore God provided the female. Jesus Christ constructed Adam’s wife. God created the woman specifically for Adam. He didn’t bring a couple of dozen women around for him to choose! You, unmarried persons, need to use your discernment in this: Make sure the person you choose fulfills your doctrinal norms and standards and so on. God will bring the right person to you. It’s a part of His plan for you, unless other factors over ride. Once you are married, don’t keep looking for anyone else! Their relationship, including all of it’s factors established in the garden, was continued after the fall. It has never been cancelled in any generation. 2. Marriage is the most basic and fundamental organization in the human race. Even the unbeliever, whose life is a total failure, can have great temporary happiness by marrying the right woman, Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:9. 3. The analogy to the monogamous relationship and our relationship to Christ is found in so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:26-33. 4. Under the authority of the laws of divine establishment, the marriage is the normal, legitimate expression of category two love, 1 Cor 7:9; 1 Tim 5:14; Eph 5:22, 23, 28, 33; Heb 13:4. Marriage is the beginning of authority in life for adults. The husband has all the authority; there are no exceptions or rationalizations. Violations of a principle do not change the principle. For example, God continues to use the local church no matter how badly it fails. We cannot deny the principle of marriage just because we’ve made a bad marriage. 5. Marriage is the basis for stability in society and for the formation of civilization. Marriage rejects the theory of revolution, anarchy, promiscuousness, or communal living. It is the protection for the home where the parents exercise authority over the children.

Era of negative volition was from the fall of humanity to Abraham. During this period, God added two more divine institutions: the family and nationalism. Again, let’s take some time to look at each of these carefully.

Divine Institution Number Three—Family. 1. Now, what forms a family from a married couple? The birth of a child. A child is born to a couple. That child is born physically, and God imputes human life human life at the moment of birth to it’s soul. Not only is human life imputed but also imputed is Adam’s original sin. So the human child is born both helpless and hopeless. God condemns every human being immediately, upon birth. We learn from this that our personal sins, the sins of any human being do not condemn us and are free therefore, to be imputed to our Lord on the cross. 2. When we or any human being believes in Christ, God’s imputes His perfect righteousness. Now every human has a wonderful purpose in life—the imputation of blessing to that perfect righteousness, which glorifies God. The laws of divine establishment give freedom to exercise our positive volition toward doctrine so that we can develop the capacity for these blessings. God has provided certain divine laws, such as the authority of parents, to protect, care, nourish, provide, train, and discipline children to prepare them for life. Not only prepare them for life but for to prepare them for belief in Christ at the moment of Gospel hearing. What prepares a human child for positive volition at the moment of Gospel hearing? Humility developed from authority orientation. Under authority orientation, a person accepts the authority of the Holy Spirit when confronted with the truth of the Gospel and then will believe. This is the importance of parental authority. So, parental authority is the way of preparing children for a normal life. Permissiveness destroys this. A child must be raised to recognize proper and bona fide authority (remember we talked about how to recognize bona fide authority) and therefore, to be oriented to certain principles in life. The highest expression of parental love is to inculcate through the forms of discipline. Children must be trained to respect the privacy, property, and rights of others, not to abuse freedom, and to have respect for authority. Adjustment to life and orientation to circumstances demand authority training. Parents must teach poise, objectivity, respect for police, patriotism, and willingness to serve to protect freedom. Christian parents must also evangelize and provide pre-doctrinal training for their children,

Deut 6:6-9, “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 It is the responsibility of parents to instill respect for the Word of God, the teaching of Bible doctrine, plus recognition of authority of the pastor-teacher. This is a spiritual responsibility over and above their establishment responsibility.

E. Divine Institution Number Four—Nationalism. 1. If the entire human race were under one rule prior to the Millennium, it would self-destruct. So internationalism is outlawed as being evil by the Word of God. 2. To perpetuate the human race and bring history to its logical conclusion, God has designed the nation to protect the freedom and rights of X-number of people on this planet. We call this nationalism. Only one language should be recognized in a nation. 3. With the divine judgment of the original united nations at the tower of Babel, the human race was then divided into nations. This division was originally based on racial, geographical and linguistic norms. As the human race continued in history, true racial distinctions were obliterated in the rise of civilization. Thus, racial purity is a myth except in pristine areas. Race is used by politicians to create false issues. 4. The formation of the Jewish nation set up the perfect standard of what a national entity should be.

Dispensations: The Divine Blueprint of History Lesson 4 Outline of the Dispensations Divine Institutions- Marriage Presented by Pastor Jim Oliver to Teleios Bible Church http://home.comcast.net/~jimoliverministries/ Deuteronomy 6:6-7, Genesis 10:5

“For this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you, the Gentiles -- inasmuch as you have heard about the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for your benefit, that through revelation the mystery doctrine was made known to me, just as I have already written you briefly. By reading this, you ought to be able to understand my technical knowledge about the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to mankind in other ages, so that now it has been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by means of the Spirit …” Ephesians 3:1-5 RBT

“Be filled with the Spirit....” Ephesians 5:18 Name your sins to God the Father. Opening Prayer Dispensations: The Divine Blueprint of History

3.2002 The Divine Blueprint of History 4 Outline Dispensations Defined Categorical Outline of the Dispensations Biblical Documentation The Age of Gentiles The Age of Israel The First Advent of Christ The Church Age The Tribulation The Millennium The Eternal State Theocentric Christocentric Eschatological

3.2002 5 Outline of the Dispensations The Theocentric Dispensations Principles God Provided the Woman. Heterosexual Organization Three Eras Positive Volition Age of the Gentiles Age of Israel

3.2002 6 Outline of the Dispensations The Theocentric Dispensations Three Eras Positive Volition Age of the Gentiles Age of Israel Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:9.

3.2002 7 Outline of the Dispensations The Theocentric Dispensations Principles God Provided the Woman. Heterosexual Organization Monogamous Three Eras Positive Volition Age of the Gentiles Age of Israel

3.2002 8 Outline of the Dispensations The Theocentric Dispensations Three Eras Positive Volition Age of the Gentiles Age of Israel For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31ff

3.2002 9 Outline of the Dispensations The Theocentric Dispensations Principles God Provided the Woman. Heterosexual Organization Monogamous Authority Issue Basis for Stability Three Eras Positive Volition Age of the Gentiles Age of Israel

3.2002 10 Outline of the Dispensations The Theocentric Dispensations Age of the Gentiles Age of Israel Three Eras Positive Volition Negative Volition

3.2002 11 Outline of the Dispensations The Theocentric Dispensations Principles Born Condemned Purpose in Life Importance of Authority Orientation Parental Authority Evangelization Age of the Gentiles Age of Israel Three Eras Positive Volition Negative Volition

3.2002 12 Outline of the Dispensations The Theocentric Dispensations “…You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” Deut 6:6-7 Age of the Gentiles Age of Israel 3.2002 Beginning: Creation of Humanity Positive Volition Negative Volition

13 Outline of the Dispensations The Theocentric Dispensations Principles Evil of Internationalism Nationalism & Freedom Age of the Gentiles Age of Israel 3.2002 Beginning: Creation of Humanity Positive Volition Negative Volition