Dispensationalism and Its Relevance: A New and Living Way

I've been picking up the mail for Mom and Dad since they've been in Nova Scotia, so one thing I've been inheriting is Dad's copy of "Israel My Glory", a publication of Friends
of Israel.
Wow. This magazine has impressed me so much. I like to read, a lot, but seldom have I read modern writing like this. One thing that postmodernism has done to our society's writings is to splinter thought. That is, topics are almost always divided into micro-topics; interest groups are divided even further. Another thing modernism did, and postmodernism has flown with, is make humanity the centre of everything. It hardly ever occurs to us anymore to consider anything except in the way that it concerns us. Rarely do we even contemplate that anything in our world, even our imagination, might have a focus that is other than US! Hence, "Christian" writings comprise a "Christian" viewpoint on, for instance, politics; family; personal interests; career. We tend to read the Bible as a "history of me", and an explanation of "God's dealings with me". The fact that God cares for me has become THE grand idea of our Book of books. Because of our ego-centric focus on God's usefulness for humanity rather than God's character and ultimate purpose in creation, our generation is serious when they ask questions about the Bible's failure to deal with humanitarian issues like slavery. It has led to the idea, now so widespread in the Christian community, that the entire universe was created 6000 years ago, with us as the centre and the purpose. We as Christians end up mixing Old and New Testament approaches in our theology, and too often this results in the goal of our lives being righteousness alone.

"Israel My Glory" makes an excellent argument for a whole new view of God.
It clearly and concisely outlines the idea behind dispensationalism, which is really just a way of looking at the history of God's dealings with humankind as a series of themes - an object lesson, if you will, for heavenly beings. Dispensationalism is not a new idea, but an old one, and one that is supported both by the text and the context of the Bible, but the view that it gives of God has generally been lost in the shuffle betwixt and between doctrinal arguments for pre-millenial and post-millenial raptures. I believe, gentlemen, that we have thoroughly missed the point.

Dispensational Timetable (a quick run-down):

Innocence
From the restored earth (Genesis 1:28)...
To the fall of Adam (Genesis 3:6).
Goal of humans as stewards of the earth:
-to glorify God by governing the earth in worshipful submission to and fellowship with God

Conscience
From the fall (Genesis 3:7)...
To the flood (Genesis 8:14).
Goal of humans as stewards of the earth:
-to glorify God by walking before God with a clear conscience

Human Government
From the Flood (Genesis 8:15)...
To the call of Abraham (Genesis 11:32).
Goal of humans as stewards of the earth:
-to glorify God by governing one another with a view to promoting God's righteousness

Promise
From the call of Abraham (Genesis 12:1)...
To the giving of the Law (Exodus 18:27).
Goal of humans as stewards of the earth:
-to glorify God by living by faith in God's promises to the Patriarchs

The Law
From the giving of the Law (Exodus 19:4-24)...
To the Cross (John 19:30).
Goal of humans as stewards of the earth:
-to glorify God by living in conformity to the Law

Grace or Church
From the Cross (Acts 2:1; Ephesians 3:2-7)...
To the return of Christ for His Church (1 Thess. 4:17)
Goal of humans as stewards of the earth:
-to glorify God by walking under the control of the Holy Spirit

The Kingdom
From the return of Christ for His Church (Rev. 19:11-20:4)...
To the new heaven and earth (Rev. 21 & 22)
Goal of humans as stewards of the earth:
-to glorify God by living in New Testament harmony with the risen, glorified King

Dispensationalism answers this question: Righteousness was good enough for Abraham - why not for us?
My friends, Abraham had no Christ. He had no in-dwelling Holy Spirit. Far, far more is required from us, because we have been given so much more. God doesn't ask us to be righteous only. He asks us to be led daily by his Spirit. This requires thought as well as obedience. We are not asked to live by the law - but by love. Think that's easier? Try it sometime! It is only possible through the Spirit! We are not asked merely to abstain from satisfying the flesh - rather, we are to fill ourselves with Christ, to drink from him deeply and be filled, so that the cries of the flesh do not move us. The will-power given by their faith was enough for the patriarchs - it will never be enough for us. We must be daily led and fed by the indwelling Spirit of God, or we fail in our particular mission on this earth.

Even the world is sick of our paltry attempts at "righteousness". How are we to teach angels, if we cannot even demonstrate to our peers who the Christ of God is that has lifted us out of sin and given us heavenly standing?
Keeping ourselves from drunken parties is a poor goal for one for whom Christ died. We were meant for so much more. We are offered so much more. Let us lift our sights and drink deeply from the unique blessings that God has given our generation. Let us show who God is in a world hungry for mercy and love mingled with truth. These couldn't be in under the old covenant. They exist ONLY in Jesus Christ.

Let us remember again who God is, and who we are to show him to be in THIS generation.

Jenny's gift, and my "pleasant stones"

O, thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires, and I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. Isaiah 54:11-12

Last week as I was frantically setting up chairs for the Korean/English kids club I coach(?) teach(?), (frantically because I was in the middle of telling a story, but one little girl saw a spider on the floor and started off a squealing chain of excited little arachnophobes, forcing me to get them off the floor before finishing the story…) a little girl named Jenny brought me a little blue box with a bow - the kind you get when you buy jewellery from a schnazz store. She stood tippy-toe and whispered, “for you, teacher.”
Lucky for me, it is impolite in Korean culture to open a gift immediately. I put it in my bag and focused on getting the kids into chairs.
After the class, I opened the box. Inside, on a puff of cotton, was a horse-head bracelet charm; an orange bead; and two round cardboard circles with cartoons and Korean writing on them - I assume they were the equivalent of what we called “pogs” in the late ’80s.
Most Koreans delight in giving gifts, but there are unspoken guidelines for what the gifts should be. Many times my students’ parents have given me food, perfume, soap, even money. This gift was different. Jenny hadn’t asked her mom to buy me some glittery piece of jewellery. She had given me her own store of little treasures, collected one by one and saved in the beautiful little blue box.
This blog is meant to be my own little blue box. Here I will store some of my thoughts and experiences from God, collected one by one. Sometimes, like Jenny’s "pogs", no one but I will know why they are valuable. These are the "pleasant stones" that form the borders of my life - laid there by a God who wants me to remember that the very stones I have stumbled over are the ones that will protect me and make my life beautiful.
I welcome your comments and ideas, but this is not where I want to be discussing the basics (ie. Is the Bible true? Does God exist?). Such questions are valid and important, but I have looked at them long and hard and I am satisfied with the answers that I have. I hope that all of you have examined such questions under the harsh light of reason and mature thinking and tested your answers. If you don’t yet have answers, I hope you will be committed enough to search for the kinds of answers that will satisfy you. If God is there, then the answers are, too.