Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday, March 14, 2014
This is the dispensation of no prophecy and a dispensation which continues on the basis of historical trends.
Historical trends = a period of time that even though human history is the record of man’s thoughts, decisions, actions and motivations, it is still controlled by Jesus Christ who ultimately controls all of history.
Inevitably, Jesus Christ controls history – He often uses the volition of evil people and evil nations to do so.
No matter how bad things get in this world, the Lord Jesus Christ still controls history, not Satan.
1CO 10:26 “for the earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains.”
1TI 6:10 the love of money which is a root of all sorts of evil,
God created all the wealth on this earth, for He says in HAG 2:8 ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ declares the Lord of hosts.
PSA 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.
PSA 50:10 – a man called Asaph who was a song writer and wrote around 10 psalms written by David wrote, The Mighty One, God, the Lord, has spoken, And our Lord said, “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills.
Even though Satan is permitted control of the world known as the cosmos which is the system of thinking of this world, Satan does not have control of the earth, the earth is still the Lord’s.
1CO 10:26 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness it contains and therefore, the resources belong to the Lord.
ROM 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
ROM 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Even though American influence has been challenged throughout the world especially in the Far East where China is flexing her military muscles desiring to impose her increasing power and influence upon the world.
With the evil of North Korea which is far worse than Russia under Stalin, or Germany under Hitler, Iraq under Hussaine, Al-Qaeda under Bin Ladin, Rome under Nero, we live in one of the most vicious and evil times in all of human history.
Africa is rocked by the AIDS epidemic, starvation and cruel military dictatorships as it continues to let loose and is out of control.
Then there is the Middle East where the Arab world continues to promote terrorism against Israel.
Israel, the only true ally of America in the Middle East, is surrounded by nations who wish to have her wiped off the face of the earth.
Many are desperately seeking for a peaceful resolution to a conflict, which originates 3000 years ago with Ishmael against the son of promise, Isaac.
In the West, the attacks of 911 on the Great Superpower of the United States have struck fear in the hearts in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the dismantling of much of its military industrial complex have created an even greater problem for the West and her allies.
Even though weapons of mass destruction are now no longer in the hands of a certain few nations but rather they are now available or will soon be available to nations that are drenched with evil dictators.
This is also a time of the greatest invisible warfare that has ever existed led by Satan and the Kingdom of darkness.
We, the Church, members of the body of Christ and the future bride of Christ must stand firm in the midst of this chaos since we know that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ sits on the throne seated at the right hand of God the Father waiting for His enemies to be made a footstool for His feet.
The doctrine of Jesus Christ Controls History should serve as anchor for the soul of the Christian as storms of life come crashing all around us.
The King of kings and Lord of lords, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man is still ultimately in charge as the sovereign ruler of the universe.
The events taking place in human history are simply the divine outworking of the Divine Decree, the object being the final manifestation of the glory of God.
MAT 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
The purpose of human history is to provide Satan and his legions of angels an opportunity to demonstrate their innocence of any wrongdoing when they rebelled against God in eternity past and sought to live independently of His sovereign will.
War, famine, hunger, murder, adultery, lying, cheating, stealing, child abuse, etc. are all the result of an attitude which originates from the greatest creature ever to come from the hand of God, Satan.
God is not to blame for the state of the world but rather He, in His infinite wisdom, based on upon His omniscience having all the facts, has permitted evil to exist.
Evil, which is the epitome of arrogance and independence from God, runs rampant in the world in order to demonstrate before all the angels and mankind that no creature of God can live independently from Him and prosper.
Arrogance is independence from and disobedience to the sovereign will of God.
The events of human history, past, present and future demonstrate that the rulership of Satan has failed, is failing and will fail in the future and will ultimately end in destruction for him and his followers.
God wants us to have confidence and assurance that history is not a haphazard set of events but that through His Son Jesus Christ
He has everything under control and is working out His eternal purpose that will ultimately glorify all three members of the Trinity.
This is the first dispensation in which Jesus Christ controls history from His Hypostatic Union, as the God-Man, true humanity and undiminished deity in one person forever.
Just because He controls human history that does not mean He is responsible for everything that takes place in human History.
Answer: Being angry at God is something that many people, both believers and unbelievers, have wrestled with throughout time.
We actually have the beginning of the Church-age prophesied by our Lord Jesus Christ and the end of the Church-age prophesied by TLJC concerning the doctrine of the Rapture.
We begin with the prophecy of the Church-age by our Lord Jesus Christ which would be the last prophecy before the Rapture and what we can expect to take place.
His hour refers to His time to face the cross, as we will see.
“He loved His own to the end” reveals that the Lord Jesus Christ was perfect” and therefore in His perfection, also known as,” A time of His impeccability”, He was totally honest, stabilized and fulfilled as JOH 14:6 says.
JOH 14:6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.
We, at one time, love and then for whatever reason, sometimes justified in our sight and in the sight of others, stop loving and our love changes as we change.
The Lord Jesus Christ is consistent and because of that, when He loves, He loves until the end, and that means to the end of His life which is why JOH 13:1 says He loved them to the end. – even Judas Iscariot.
HEB 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.
The same Lord who remains the same yesterday and today, and forever, also said in HEB 13:5 “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”
HEB 6:18, we are told that it was impossible for Him to lie.
His hour is a reference to the cross and really it is His hour of victory in the angelic conflict, JOH 12:23; JOH 17:1, MAR 14:41.
JOH 12:23, And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
JOH 17:1 “These things Jesus spoke; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee,”
MAR 14:41 And He came the third time, and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.
The very same one who was about to betray Him, we are told that the Lord even had love for Him unto the end.
PSA 41:9 “Even My close friend, in whom I trusted, who ate My bread, has lifted up his heel against Me.” fulfilled in Luke 22:47-48.
Luke 22:47-48“>LUK 22:47-48, While He was still speaking, behold, a multitude {came,} and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he approached Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
He knew what He had learned from the Old Testament passages that He was going to be betrayed by someone close to Him, PSA 41:9.
He knew someone was going to betray Him from the twelve apostles because He also studied the scriptures concerning this betrayal.
Our Lord also knew the amount which the betrayer would receive for the betrayal as well as what that amount would be used for.
Look at what the prophet Zechariah said and taught that our Lord, in His Humanity, would also study and learn from.
If we were studying the book of Zechariah, I would prove to you that Zec 10 and Zec 11 actually predicts and prophecies the betrayal of Judas to our Lord, and also the amount Judas would receive for the betrayal.
This means the thirty pieces of silver, and He also knew what the money would be used for which was a burial lot called the “Potter’s Field.”
That gives us some insight with the doctrine our Lord learned concerning the fact that He was going to be betrayed by one of His own.
Our Lord also knew that His betrayer would receive thirty pieces of Silver for His betrayal.
ZEC 11:12-13, And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give {me} my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty {shekels} of silver as my wages. Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter, {that} magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty {shekels} of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord.
He knew what the thirty pieces of silver would be used for which is to buy a lot from was is known as the potter’s field to bury the dead.