Abraham's call marks the beginning of the third dispensation, which spans from Abraham to Christ and is characterized by God's dealings with Israel. This dispensation is divided into four periods: Israel's establishment (Abraham to Moses), education (Moses to Solomon), engulfment (Solomon to Babylonian captivity), and exclusion (captivity to Christ). The sermon emphasizes God's faithfulness to His promises to Abraham and the nation of Israel, despite their repeated disobedience and rebellion, highlighting the importance of understanding Israel's history within God's broader plan.
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Let's turn to Genesis chapter twelve, shall we? Genesis chapter twelve, and some of us have already, a little earlier today, read from this chapter. But since this begins for us, the third dispensation will read the verses again, or part of them, because just as the first dispensation took us from Adam to Noah, and the second dispensation took us from Noah to Abraham, so the third dispensation takes us from Abraham to Christ. Now this means we go from Genesis chapter twelve all the way through to the end of the four Gospels.
My, that's a long dispensation, or at least there's a lot written about it. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and indeed shall all the families of the earth be blessed, saved and departed, as the Lord had spoken. and deliverance. I'd like to return, if you will, please, to Daniel chapter nine.
Daniel chapter nine. And let's read at the beginning of that chapter. In the first year of the Laird, the son of Laird Laird, as the king of the mead, which was made soon over the realm of the Torah being, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by book the number of the years where at the word of the Lord, it came to Jeremiah the Sabbath that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolation of Jerusalem.
Now that period of time, that seventy years is significant. Let's go now to verse twenty-four. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
Now here reference is made to seventy weeks. Now those weeks are not weeks of seven days each. You'll notice it says seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to accomplish what? to seal up the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the prince shall be seven weeks and three-score and two weeks.
Now let's do a little addition here. Seven weeks. and rescore that sixty and two weeks. Now add seven weeks to sixty-two weeks, and what do you come up with? You come up with sixty-nine weeks, all right? Now it says, know therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be sixty-nine weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times, and after those three-score and two, thus the seven that have been mentioned, that is sixty-nine altogether, shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.
And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war, desolations are determined, and he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. Now what do sixty-nine and one make? Seventy. And isn't that where we began? Seventy weeks are determined. But you'll notice there are seven weeks, sixty-two weeks, and then one week. Now that's what I want you to keep in mind, particularly sixty-nine and one, because between the sixty-ninth week and the seventieth week there's a gap.
And we're going to talk about that in a moment or two. Let me get Pido out now and put him on so that I can wander around a little. if indeed he stays where I put him. He's like my dog at home. He doesn't do that very often or very willingly. By the way, I have some books here. I place them up here just to try to arouse your interest because I don't know whether you keep on expanding your library, but let me mention these, though I'm going a little ahead of myself here. Armageddon, Oil and the Middle East Crisis.
That sounds interesting, doesn't it? Only God can prophesy. By John Phillips, that's becoming a classic. And every one of you should have that in your library, especially since it's not so very expensive being a paperback. Only God can prophesy. Satan, his person, work, faith, and destiny by F.C. Jennings. Now, there's an older work on Satan, but a very good work. Jesus' prophetic sermon... the Olivet Key to Israel, the Church and the Nations by Watergate Christ, and here by John Walwood, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. I looked for our brother John's book on Revelation, but apparently we've sold out in the book nook, but we can get it, I'm sure, if you're interested in that book on Revelation too.
But that's taking us a little ahead of ourselves. Now, let me take a little pointer here. It's really a curtain rod. It comes apart, as you can see. However, perhaps we should go over the chart again just to catch up with ourselves. We're going from eternity to eternity. We may mention, just in passing, of the eternal God, the eternal Son, the eternal Spirit, and God's eternal purpose, which he purposed from the beginning, from way back, and which nothing can thwart it. Now, by way of illustration, Mr. Booze, who produced this chart, chart which is familiar, to some of you, some of you have been reminding me that this is bringing that memory for you when you were knee-high to a grasshopper.
You know, that's one of the reasons why I chose to put it up here and to talk about it this week because it's probably been years and years since you refreshed your memory with the chart. All right, now the suggestion is that God created the earth, and it came through some cataclysm chaotic. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Then the Spirit of God moved, and a recreation took place. God said, let there be light, and there was light, and so on, and he went through six days. Now, why six days when God could have done it in an instant?
He didn't need to take six days, but he chose deliberately to take six days for the creation or the recreation, and he rested on the seventh. Now, I have an idea that maybe God had two things in mind, although I haven't time to deal with it now. If you will take these six days of the creation, you will find that they give us the steps in the conversion of a soul. Light, that's the first thing. No man ever gets converted until God brings light into his soul and from the Word of God instructs him. After light there comes order. He has to sort things out and realize that he must put first things first.
After that the earth appears and it brings forth and light springs into being. So a man hears the Word of God. He learns he must put first things first. He sorts them out, and as he faces up to his relationship with God, then he is born again, and he who's dead in trespasses and in sin is brought to life. On the fourth day, the heavens are garnished, the sun, the moon, and the stars are created, and he who brings life into being on the third day, then provides the means of sustaining that life. So a man receives light from the word of God. He sorts it out and determines to put God first and to get into a right relationship with God.
As he does that, he comes to spiritual life, and then he finds that God is supplied in the Lord Jesus everything that is necessary to sustain and to nourish that light. After that, there is the fifth day when the waters bring forth, and for the first time we have action. All there was movement when the wind passed over, the grass that had been produced upon the earth, and perhaps swayed the trees, but no real activity. But on the fifth day, God created the whales and the fishes and the birds and the insects, and there was great activity. So a man, when he gets life from the Word of God, puts God first in his life, and he comes to know life in himself.
He is sustained day by day and nourished in that life. And then there begins for him a brand new activity, activity for God. And then finally we come to the sixth day when man is created and man walks with God in the cool of the evening. And here's the man who having received light and been born again, now has God's life which is nourished day by day, he becomes active for God, but he learns that the greatest exercise of all is to worship God. These six days, then, illustrate for us the conversion of a soul. They also, Mr.
Booth suggests, illustrate for us six different dispensations. Now, we've called the first one the introduction of light, and we've seen that during this dispensation, from Adam to Noah, God introduced three kinds of light, the light of creation, the light of conscience, and the light of command. God communicated with men. The introduction of light. The second dispensation, that second day, the introduction of order. This is where we get human government. This is where we learn, you'll remember, among other things, that if a man takes another man's life, his blood must be shed, and we see how God brought a special kind of order into this dispensation from Noah to Abram.
Now we come to the third day when the earth appears, the dry land appears and brings forth, and Mr. Booth suggests that this is the dispensation when God's earthly people... are coming to being by Abraham, and they are indoctrinated, taught, instructed. So we have the introduction of light, the institution of order, and now the indoctrination of Israel. We read about the beginning with Abraham, and I reminded you that he goes on through the rest of the Old Testament, and through the four Gospels, because this dispensation goes from Abraham to Christ.
And the cross is what ends this dispensation. Like these other two, it ends shaded. This one, you'll remember, ended with immorality. This one ended with idolatry. And this one ends with infamy when the Messiah is taken and nailed to a Roman gibbet where he dies in agony and shame. Now, it's very interesting because This particular dispensation in time falls into four parts that have to do with the children of Israel, with the nation of Israel. And interestingly enough, these four parts are roughly each as long as the other.
Approximately five hundred years for each of these four parts. Five hundred here, five hundred here, five hundred here, five hundred here, and five hundred here. So the period covers roughly two thousand years. Now that then brings us, is roughly the area, this last, this third dispensation that we want to cover tonight. Now I don't know how interested you are in the Jew, but because you're a Christian you should be very interested in the Jew. You should be concerned about the nation of Israel. You know, God never abrogated the promise he made to Abram.
He that blessed thee shall be blessed, he that cursed of thee shall be cursed, and this is true of the people of whom Abraham was the father, the nation of Israel. Let me read a little poem to you. Stattered by God's avenging hand, afflicted and forlorn, sad wondrous from their pleasant land, do Judah's children mourn, and even in Christian countries few breathe thoughts of pity for the Jews. Yet listen, Gentile, do you love the Bible's precious page? Then let your heart with kindness move to Israel's heritage, who traced those lines of love for you.
Each sacred writer was a Jew. and many years and ages passed, and nations rose and fell, though clouds and darkness oft were cast or captive Israel. The oracles of God for you were kept in safety by the Jews. And when the great Redeemer came for guilty man to bleed, he did not take an angel's name, no, born of Abram's seed, Jesus, who gave his life for you, the gentle Savior. was a Jew. And though his own received him not, and turned in pride away, whence is the Gentiles happy a lot?
Are you more just than they? No. God in pity turned to you. Have you no pity for the Jews? Go then and bend your knee to pray, for Israel's ancient race. Ask for their Savior every day to call them by his grace. Go for a debt of love is due from Christian Gentiles to the Jew. So our study tonight is important and very much relevant. Let's look then at this dispensation which is divided into four parts.
Now I've divided it like this. In part number one of this third dispensation, we have Israel established as a nation. In part number two, we have Israel educated as a nation. In part number three, we have Israel engulfed as a nation. And in part number four, we have Israel excluded as a nation. In part number one, we're taken from Abraham to Moses. In part number two, we're taken from Moses to Solomon.
In part number three, from Solomon to the captivity in Babylon. And in part number four, from the captivity in Babylon to Christ. Those then are the four periods that make up this third dispensation. Let's think about the first. The nation of Israel established. Now, two things were involved here. One is the call of Abraham that we read about, and some of us thought up this morning out of chapter twelve of Genesis, the call of Abraham, and the second is the call of Moses. Now, these two things, in a broad sense, underscore for us the first quarter of this third dispensation.
God said to Abraham, Get me out. And we saw this morning the cost of that meant to Abraham, and we saw how he demanded of him implicit trust and obedience. God said, Get out. And Abraham, we find, obeyed God, though we're told elsewhere, he knew not whither he was going. God called him. and Abraham went. Now from Abraham we travel through the early preparation for the founding of the nation of Israel to Isaac and to Jacob and to the twelve patriarchs.
Now most of you know in a sketchy kind of way this history. And then we see how that the God who called Abraham... As time went by and the foundation for the nation of Israel was laid in the beginning of this third dispensation, eventually the time comes when the people, not so very many of them, are brought into Egypt as captives. And what happens? God, while they are slaves there, begins to move and they begin to multiply, so much so that the nation that has them in captivity begins to get scared and says if they get much bigger, much more powerful, they're going to overthrow us.
And so they devise a plan how that they can destroy this nation within a nation that has been born, albeit born in captivity. But you remember how God had gone ahead of this new nation, and he had placed in a position of authority a man named Moses. Oh, I know you know that he was floated on the Nile in a basket, the child of captive, and yet he was wonderfully preserved and found himself in Pharaoh's palace. You know the story of Moses, and he grew up.
Moses became, by adoption, the son of Pharaoh's daughter. And so he was educated, he was well prepared for the job that was his. And when God had gotten him ready, then the God who called Abraham way back now calls Moses. And Moses again responds as Abraham did. And eventually we see... how the God through Moses delivers the children of Israel out of Egypt, and how he does marvelous things for them. The nation has been born, and now it is brought out of captivity. Do you realize that a half a chapter is given to the birth, a story of the birth of Moses, and then four whole books to his life and leadership?
So two things make up the first quarter of the third dispensation, and that they are the call of Abraham and the call of Moses. Now we move into the second five hundred years, into the second part of these four parts, in this third dispensation, in which we have the indoctrination of Israel. Having established Israel as a nation, now God begins to educate. Israel as a nation. And he does it by doing two things in the wilderness, and by doing two things in Canaan in the promised land. In the wilderness, God gave them law to govern their conduct, and in the wilderness, God gave them lessons to strengthen their faith.
That's the reason why as they wandered in the wilderness, times came when they had no water. And God said to their leader, Strike a rock. And water came out of the rock. God was teaching them lessons to strengthen their faith. You remember they gave them a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, so that at his command they would move or they would stay. When the cloud moved, when the pillar moved, they moved. When the cloud rested or the pillar rested, then they rested. They were learning lessons in the wilderness. God gave them, you will remember, manna from heaven.
And he gave them instructions as to when they should gather it and when they should not gather it, how much they should gather. And if they gathered more, it stank and was no good to them. You'll remember how many lessons the God who gave them the law gave to them that he might spring from their face. Faith, there's a lesson for us here. Sometimes, in fact, we know, for we read the history of the children of Israel during this period, and we know that there were times when they murmured. There were times when they were afraid. There were times when they asked why. There were even times when they said, forgetting their slavery, we remember the lakes and the garlic.
They're way back there in Egypt. Why did you bring this out of Egypt to perish in this wilderness? And yet God was merciful. Although he chided them, indeed he punished them for their lack of faith and for their murmuring, yet he still provided for them. My, I hope we learn lessons from that. We know basically nothing's ever to be gained by grumbling. But still we grumble, and God doesn't like it. And God will, from time to time, discipline us if we insist on it. You remember that hymn that goes? Oh, they grumble on Monday, grumble on Tuesday, grumble on Wednesday, too. They grumble on Thursday, grumble on Friday.
They grumble a whole week through. They grumble when it's raining and they grumble when it's dry. I won't go on. I hope that speaks to your heart if you're inclined to grumble. God isn't happy with murmurers. And of all the Christians in the world, those who have least caused to grumble... those who live on this continent and enjoy the plenty that there is on the North American continent. God gave them law to govern their conduct, and he gave them lessons to strengthen their faith. That was in the wilderness. The day came when they marched into the promised land, and then God gave them leaders to marshal their forces.
Sometimes they were warriors. Sometimes they were judges. Eventually they were kings. Though we read God gave them a king in his anger and he took him away in his wrath. God had intended to be their king. But they'd moved among other nations and looked enviously at the sovereigns of other nations and said, we want a king of our own. And so God gave them what they asked. Well, there's a lesson there, you know. Sometimes we are so insistent. Sometimes we almost demand from God an answer to our prayers. And he who knows what's best for us turns aside from his will for us and gives us what we so insistently demand.
And then we find out it wasn't good for us. God gave to them a king in his anger and took him away in his wrath. So in the promised land, God gave to them leaders to marshal their forces And finally he gave them land to settle their families. That takes us back to the beginning, you know, to Abraham, because when he was in that land, God says, this is the land I'm going to give to you. And to your seed asks to you. So that second of these four sections of the third dispensation is the one in which the nation having been established is now educated.
Step by step God leads them. Little by little God teaches them, so that he might produce for himself a people that would honor his name. When we come to the third part of this third dispensation, we find that Israel, as a nation, having been established, and having been educated, hasn't learned its lesson. And so it becomes engulfed. It was a gradual process. It took many, many years to bring it about.
But eventually this nation was swallowed up. You remember how it all started? King Solomon came to the throne. And eventually he died like the kings before him. And his sons. He came to the throne, and he consulted with the children of Israel, or the leaders of the children of Israel, and he said, Now, these people are saying that my father Solomon's projects were too grandiose, and they laid too grievous burdens upon us. Said Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, I want your advice.
He went to the old men, and he said, Now what shall I do? They said, if you're wise, you'll remember the burdens that the children of Israel have borne, and you'll relieve their burden. You'll lift their burden. Then he turned to the young men, and he said, what shall I do? And they said, Rehoboam, this is your opportunity. You say to them, take a tough stand and say, my little finger shall be thicker than my father's loin. If he scourged you with whips, I'll scourge you with scorpions. If he laid heavy burdens on you, I'll lay heavier burdens on you.
What foolish advice? That was the advice of the hotheads. That was the advice of the young men who had no experience. And wonder the Bible says, listen, wisely listen to the voice of experience. Rehoboam didn't. And so the people rebelled, and there rose a man named Jeroboam, and he was a more forceful leader, and the people who didn't want any heavier burdens, and they didn't want a despot, and a tyrant to rule them, they rebelled, and so the nation of Israel split into two of the death of Solomon. And thereafter it was the northern kingdom, and the southern kingdom of Judah.
Jeroboam ruled in the northern kingdom, the rebel, and the sons of David ruled in, Jeroboam ruled in the northern kingdom, and the kings, the sons of David and Solomon, they ruled in the southern kingdom. And so the line was continued in the south. Now time went by, and after that division, that took place when the rebel Jeroboam led the people in revolt after that division, two centuries and a half past, two hundred and fifty years. And during that period of two hundred and fifty years, Elijah prophesied, Elijah prophesied, Isaiah, five minor prophets wrote their prophecies, two hundred and fifty years, and then suddenly Assyria sweeps into the north, and carries away the northern kingdom's captive.
Another one hundred and thirty years go by, and the southern kingdom continues those one hundred and thirty years, and during that period, Jeremiah and four minor prophets prophesy for the southern kingdom. But what does Jeremiah prophesy? That as for the north? So for the south, and for the same reason the north was rebellious against God. The south has become rebellious against God. And so God tells them through Jeremiah and the other minor prophets, what happened to the north is going to happen to the south.
And as Assyria had come in and swept away the north into captivity, so a hundred and thirty years after that captivity, the Babylonians come up from the south and they carry away the south. So the whole of the nation of Israel is engulfed and carried away into captivity, either to Assyria or to Babylon. That's the third part of this third dispensation. Now, after the captivity, after seventy years, the children of Israel still go back again to Jerusalem.
And during this time Ezekiel is prophesying, and Daniel is prophesying, and the people return from captivity. And in the last period there of this dispensation, we have the period of the return. And the last three minor prophets are prophesying during this period of the return. Now that's a very fascinating history. Israel is a fascinating nation. Now, the nation has been scattered. We said it was first of all established, then it was educated, then it was engulfed.
But something happened during the last period. God excluded the nation. Let's go to the chart here. I want you to notice something. There's a red line. and you can't know what this represents because you can't read it from where you are. So I'm going to read it to you because this red line represents Israel, the nation of Israel. That's the reason why it goes right the way through this dispensation. It begins here, it goes on here, and overspills from this third dispensation. Now you'll notice also that there is a branch that goes down here.
Ten tribes carried into captivity, for you'll remember the northern kingdom was ten tribes, and here they are, lost among the Gentiles, which is this green line. It is Judah that is captive for seventy years and then returns and goes on to the end of this dispensation. Now these seventy years are the seventy years referred to in Daniel nine that I read to you earlier in that chapter, seventy years. That was this one week of seventy years here, or seven weeks, seven weeks, and then we have sixty-two weeks to Messiah the Prince.
Now notice that red line stops here. But it starts again here. The reason being that although God, having established the nation and educated the nation and caused the nation to be engulfed and finally excluded, has not finished with the nation of Israel. Instead, he has interrupted this dealing of his with the children of Israel. This is the church age, the age in which we are finding ourselves. That's the next dispensation that we're going to talk about. But you'll notice that while the red line stops here, it starts again here because during this period, God is going to be dealing with both Jew and Gentile, but he's not going to be dealing with a Jew as a Jew.
In Christ, there's neither Jew nor Gentile. And so, the way it is sometimes described is this. God's prophetic clock. has been ticking, ticking, ticking, down through the ages. But it stops right here. And it doesn't start ticking again until this age comes to an end with the rapture when the Lord Jesus comes and takes his own, his converted people, both Jews and Gentiles, to be forever with himself. Then, after that, God will take up the Jew again, and while here we've had seven weeks, And sixty-two weeks, and seven and sixty-two make sixty-nine, over here we come to the seventieth week, Daniel's last week, and that, of course, is dispensation number five, and we haven't arrived there.
But I did want you to get oriented with regard to these weeks of Daniel mentioned in chapter nine. You've got them. We have seven weeks. That's sixty-two weeks. That's sixty-nine. And then we have the seventy-year's week. And God goes into detail about that seventy-year's week. And we'll talk about that later, if the Lord will. But before then, we have to talk about this fourth dispensation, which is the message for tomorrow night. Now, we have talked about the introduction of light, dispensation number one. The institution of order, dispensation number two. The indoctrination of Israel, dispensation number three, tomorrow night we're going to talk about the interruption of grace, for that's precisely what it is.
That's why Mr. Buzari's chart has given to us a bracket. That is not meant to be a sphere or an orb, it is actually a bracket. And that's because this next dispensation, which incidentally is the one that we are living in, is actually an interruption in God's dealing with the Jew. But please remember, God hasn't finished with the Jew. Now, I mentioned to you in our introductory study that what the dispensationalist does is keep the Jew and the church separate.
Now, the non-dispensationalist doesn't do that. Therefore, these things are very hazy in his mind. That's why he has to keep on spiritualizing and taking the Bible figuratively because he cannot take it literally. When we read of seven weeks, when we read of sixty-two weeks, when we read of the seventieth week, we have no problem. because to us the word of God is clear if indeed time is divided up into periods of this kind. Again, I remind you that it's possible to have more than six dispensations.
We're just simply taking it this way in order to deal with its convenient flow. I think that's as far as we'll go tonight. Shall we have a word of prayer together? Our Heavenly Father, once again we thank you for thy word, and we know that apart from thy Holy Spirit, there is so much that we could not understand. But Lord, we pray that that so-called same Holy Spirit, who has been responsible for the penning of these things without error in thy holy words, might open up to our hearts, so that we might learn the things that thou would have us to learn, and to learn the lessons from these things that thou would have us to receive.
He submits us with thy blessing, we pray thee, but grant that thy word shall stay with us. And as we quietly meditate, while the instrument is played, grant, Lord, that we might be asking ourselves some questions. if the children of Israel could not get away with their disobedience and their rebellion, but were disciplined and disciplined severely. We ought to realize that we cannot get away with disobedience either. We cannot get away with rebellion either. So, Lord, as we ask ourselves some questions in these quiet moments, the ground that we might go away fortunately, concerning our life and dry will form.