the dispensation of human government, i.e., the period after the Flood when Noah and sons received rulership over the world.
(4) the dispensation of promise, i.e., the period beginning with Abraham in which God unconditionally promised care for the father of all believers.
(5) the dispensation of law, i.e., the period following the revelation of the Ten Commandments to Moses/Israel when Abraham’s descendants allegedly had to prove faith by works.
(6) the dispensation of grace, i.e., the period of the New Testament, the Church, a New Testament institution which came into existence only at Pentecost, to be removed, raptured, before the Tribulation and the Millenium. Until God removes the Church from world history, he more or less ignores Israel.
(7) the dispensation of the Kingdom, i.e., Christ’s thousand-year reign after the Rapture and the Tribulation in which Israel receives a second chance to prove faith by works.
In this Dispensationalist scheme one recurrent theme consists of two ways of salvation, contrary to every word of the Bible. For example, “Note carefully that while God refuses works for salvation today, He required them under the other dispensations. This was not . . . because works in themselves could ever save, but because they were the necessary expression of faith when so required.”12 As if works are not a necessary expression of faith today. James 2:17, “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” Dispensationalists appear to advocate two methods of salvation, one for the Jews by works and one for the Church by grace; this is an unbiblical distinction: the Church lives by grace, while Israel must earn salvation. This double approach to salvation continues as an undercurrent in all Dispensational writings; authors perceive conflicting forms of salvation for the Church and for Israel.
More radical Dispensationalists even perceive another temple, a third. “Many prophesies indicate that Israel will build its Third Temple after the Jewish people have returned from their worldwide captivity and before the return of the Messiah to set up His Kingdom.”13 The eye is more on Israel than on Jesus Christ, the LORD, contrary to Scriptures. This bears out elsewhere too. “An understanding of the prophecies in the Bible makes it clear that Palestine’s past, present, and future is a key to what will happen next in the world.”14 However, this longing for a return to the glories of Old Testament Israel in the future lands Dispensationalist writers in the Pharisaic problem. Gal 3:10a, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse.” The same appears in Phil 3:2, “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evil workers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.” This circumcision Dispensationalists do not wish this for themselves; much less ought they, out of love for neighbors, prophesy this for the people of Israel.
Never in the Bible, particularly not even in the Old Testament dispensation from Adam to Christ, did the Savior require salvation by works. Salvation by works became a Pharisaic invention, adapted from idolatry, for only in idolatry must followers earn salvation.
Popular in Dispensationalism is Premillennialism, the theory that the Church will be raptured, i.e., suddenly and unexpectedly taken out of the earth before the great Tribulation, or mid-Tribulation, and thus spared its agonies. Premillennials misjudge that upon the Rapture/Tribulation, Christ will institute his thousand-year reign, during which the Jews receive the last opportunity to earn salvation by obedience to the Law, all Old Testament sacrifices included, as well as reconstruction of a temple in Jerusalem, plus rediscovery of the Ark of the Testimony.
In effect, the Church in the dispensation of grace comes out as an oddity, a people and an institution out of sorts with the Christ’s regular way of imputing salvation.
The key is that especially Dispensational Premillennials for believing the Gospel shall escape the terrors of the Tribulation. Everyone else living may suffer, but not they. “I personally believe that the Bible teaches the Church will escape these calamities. Although believers may well experience severe persecution as the day of Christ’s return draws near, I believe Scripture teaches clearly that believers will be kept from the ‘time of trial’ which God will send upon the world to try unbelievers (Revelation 3:10).”15 This is love for neighbors in rapturism.
Dispensationalism imposed historical divisions, which on the surface only seem believable; yet such superficiality causes confusion particularly with respect to the place of the Church in history. This type of historical interpretation controls much of the Evangelical/Dispensational world.
Dispensationalists, Premillennials especially, seem to ignore the reechoing power of Isa 6:9–10, a terrible word of condemnation first to the Old Church.
Hear and hear, but do not understand;
see and see, but do not perceive.
Make the heart of this people fat,
and their ears heavy,
and shut their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.
Thus the LORD made separation in Israel; in Isaiah’s time he already began the distinction between Church and idolatry. He made the distinction between Church and Synagogue clear in Matt 13:14–15/Mark 4:12/Luke 8:10/John 12:40. Given the conclusion to the Acts, Apostle Paul ended his ministry on this note, when with righteous anger he denounced Israel, the Old Church. Acts 28:26–28,
Go to this people, and say,
You shall indeed hear but never understand,
and you shall indeed see but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and their ears are heavy of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed;
lest they should perceive with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart,
and turn for me to heal them.
Let it be known to you then that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.
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Isaiah prophesied with respect to Israel’s rebellion; Paul declared it an accomplished fact. The future belonged to the New Church. Isaiah often prophesied of the remnant which the LORD chose as the ongoing Church. At first there were only one hundred and twenty, Acts 1:15.
Unless Scripture is rightly divided, 2 Tim 2:15, the focus of Bible interpretation will be on Israel, rather than on the Christ who since the beginning founded and created the Church.
THE NEW CHURCH
The LORD’s Church is a many-sided revelation, not the least of which appears in the development of her newness; in the past whenever she showed signs of aging, that is, falling into revolution, he recreated her, most frequently beginning with a remnant. In the ongoing history of the Church this was so at the time of the sixteenth-century Reformation:
