Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries |
The introduction to the dispensation of the most dramatic exhibition of divine love.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Theocentric Dispensations = Old Testament periods of time emphasizing and glorifying God the Father’s purpose in the divine provisions for the human race and His ultimate glorification in the midst of the angelic conflict.
The angelic conflict is the result of prehistoric creatures being in opposition to God, which began with the fall of Satan and continued until all angelic creatures had made a decision for or against God.
It refers to two trials of Satan and the fallen angels, one in prehistoric times, the other during human history.
You are a part of that historical phase of the courtroom trial of the angelic conflict which is called human history.
You have been created to honor, to love, to respect, to obey, to serve and ultimately glorify God with thankfulness and in gratitude towards Him.
EPH 5:20 “Be always thankful for all things.”
1TH 5:18 “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you.”
1CO 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
2CO 5:15 and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
MAT 5:16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
The main purpose of the Theocentric dispensations found in the Old Testament was to reveal to the human race the grace and mercy of God the Father.
Two Theocentric Dispensations
1. The age of the Gentiles in the Old Testament, from Adam to the Exodus generation, 1441 B.C.
2. The age of the Jew, from 1441 B.C. to the First Advent of Christ, 4-5 B.C.
Christocentric dispensations - where the Lord Jesus Christ is the center of the dispensation.
1. The dispensation of the Hypostatic Union which refers to the period of time when Jesus Christ, who is God, lived on this earth around 4-5 B.C. to His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, around 30 A.D.
2. The Church-age, which began around 30 A.D. and will end at the Rapture of the Church, ? A.D.
The dispensation of the Hypostatic Union is not only the period of time when the Lord Jesus Christ lived on this earth, but it was also the climax or culmination of all the dispensations.
Members of the Trinity describing their function or their roles in language of accommodation for us to understand, not their position of rank or authority because they are all co-equal and co-eternal.
It was the greatest moment and the turning point in the historical phase of the courtroom trial of the angelic conflict. It was also a time in human history when the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the Mosaic Law and at the same time interjected the spiritual life for the Church-age.
He lived “under the Law” to redeem those who were under the law, and He lived by means of the power of the Spirit for the fulfillment of the Father’s plan for the incarnation and became the prototype or example of living the spiritual life for the Church-age believer.
JOH 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
1JO 3:16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
This was the period of time in human history when God chose to reveal, this time by sight, the ultimate manifestation of His love for us.
With the virgin birth of Christ, the Christocentric ages or dispensations began, the Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union and the Dispensation of the Church.
“Hypostatic union” is the theological term for the incarnate person of Christ, the union of God and man.
At the virgin birth, God the Son took upon Himself true humanity and became a new person - the God-Man, the unique person of the universe, JOH 1:1-14; ROM 1:2-4; PHI 2:5-11; 1TI 3:16.