Mackay, Harold G: The Dispensations 08 ~ Conclusion

The only thing I'm interested in is seeing the work of God go forward. The material surroundings are immaterial. They're important to a certain extent, but after all, they're immaterial. Suppose this building, sometime was standing here empty, was to be the recipient of a bomb. And, uh, when you and I gathered, there just wasn't much left. What would we do next Sunday morning? We'd gather somewhere to carry on just the way we had, wouldn't we? We could gather in a basement. We could gather in a home. We could gather in a field. It's not the building that makes what we have, it's the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst. And I could be much happier knowing the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst if I were sitting in a damp basement, than I could in the most palatial building that you'd find in America if I didn't know that the Lord was there in the midst of his people. But I wouldn't likely be able to get many unsaved into that damp basement to hear the gospel. So I'd much rather that the Lord would give us a comfortable building so we get the unsaved in too, and others the Lord's people. Let's be praying, let's come together. As has been said, let's try and get all of our brethren to be, uh, with us, sisters, so we'll have a good time. Now, very briefly, so much of this will just come back to you immediately, as you see, we're taking on this from a past eternity to a coming eternity. Those terms, of course, are almost contradictory. There's no such a thing, in one sense, as a past eternity, nor a future eternity. Eternity is just always. But because we're going to think of time, a little period of time here, we talk about a past eternity, before God had created man, when the triune God were in eternity in happy fellowship together. And then we look on ahead to that eternity when God shall wind up his great redemptive purposes toward man, and when alas, those who have rejected those redemptive purposes will be in a lost eternity. To just glance over the chart will not take much time tonight. I hadn't intended saying as much as I did on the other, but I felt that we need to be prepared for next Thursday night. We again and again have noticed that God undoubtedly created all things originally in a perfect condition. I think that you can't know the God of your Bible and believe that God would create anything that wasn't perfect. But sin entered in, and as a result there was chaos, and that is where we find things in the opening, uh, chapters of our Bible. Then God, in those six days of what we would correctly call recreation, God prepared the earth for the habitation of man, and created man and placed him in Eden's garden. That is the third circle here. But of course, we all know that the fall took place. Man in the Garden of Eden was in a state of innocence. I'm just mentioning these without going into detail. We studied that. He was in a condition, a state of innocence, but he failed, and he received a conscience. One of the results of the fall, just one of them, was that henceforth he had the knowledge of good and of evil, that which we call a conscience. But man left under conscience ends with the earth in a state of corruption and of violence, so that God has to pour out the flood upon it. We know that story well. And that's a significant thing, that each one of these dispensations, no matter what the conditions may have been, man fails, and God's judgment falls. Man failed under innocence, and he was driven out of the Garden of Eden. A sin. Now under conscience he fails, there's the flood. God gives human government, institutes human government, wherein man was placed in authority over his fellow man. This too ends in failure, and idolatry becomes rampant. Then we have this here. It says the patriarchs here. During this period of time, God's dealings with man seem to center around the patriarchs as individuals, or more properly, as heads of family. And at that time, we have the call of Abraham. God calling him out of the idolatry of Ur of the Chaldees, giving to those promises that we've discussed again and again and again. And with that, there begins this green calling. Now, I believe that what the designer of this chart had in mind in painting this part with Israel green is to remind us that Israel is God's earthly people. Sometimes expressions become current, popular, but sometimes expressions can be wrong if you examine them carefully. In some quarters, it's quite popular to talk about Israel as God's ancient people. That seems to suggest that they were God's people in the past, but never will be again. Therefore, it's not a scriptural term. They're God's earthly people, connected with the earth. And so the era of Israel begins. And here is the background. You have the red, notice running all the way through, the red brings before us the Gentile nation. Abraham is chosen, his seed eventually becomes the nation of Israel, and they occupy a special, central place in the dealings of God. This over in here is to represent the carrying away of the ten tribes to Assyria. You notice the green represents Israel, dips down into the red a little further. Well, the ten tribes were carried away to Assyria because of their continued sin against God. Testimony continues. Then there was the carrying away to Babylon of the two tribes. And you'll notice that this comes down here and stops. Now those ten tribes never returned to the land of Palestine as tribes. Undoubtedly, there are individuals from those tribes that are mentioned, but as units or a unit, they were never restored again to the land. But you notice here, when the two tribes were carried away to Babylon, it continues on here for seventy years, and then it goes back up. You know why? Well, there are many reasons, but one most important is that there had to be in the land of Palestine, there had to be some members of the tribe of Judah, so that God's beloved son would be born into this world at Bethlehem, according to the prophecies. Now, you see, that couldn't have been fulfilled if they had continued down in Babylon. And that's one of the very interesting things in the story of Israel, how God stirs up a heathen king, Cyrus by name, a Persian. God stirs him up, and he issues an edict which permits a remnant to go back again to Jerusalem, to rebuild the city, and to, uh, recommence the worship of Jehovah, the God of Israel. That was that there might be in the land, at the right time and in the right place, the right people for the coming into this world of God's beloved Son. And we are familiar then, of course, with the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ at Bethlehem and the great event of the cross. That to which the past looks forward and the future will look back, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, followed by the descent of the Holy Spirit. And notice this is the all green here. And I was trying to point out, we took several weeks on it because it's an important thing. I think it's very clearly taught in scripture that Christ, Christ's sojourn here on earth was spent in connection with Israel, his people, and under the law. When Christ was here on earth, the scripture is very specific, as we studied, he was here under the law. It was only after he died on the cross that the dispensation of grace was brought in. So we have two circles here. You notice this is a blue one, and this is a church. Contrast to the green of Israel, the earthly people of God, we have the blue of the church, God's heavenly people. Now, this is where you and I are. We are here in the church, the true church, that which is composed of born-again believers, made possible through the death of Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit. Well, you say, what is this larger circle here? You notice that it includes the church, but it's much larger. Now that's the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven includes all who profess the name of Christ, no matter how empty and shallow and unreal or even hypocritical their profession may be, they are in the kingdom of heaven. But they're not in the church. Now, the church is in the kingdom of heaven, but the kingdom of heaven is not in the church. And you just think that's true. These circles, when they're completed, you'll notice that there is a continuation of the, the green. After God takes his church home at the coming of Christ, the rapture of the saints, the kingdom of heaven in its mystery form, the mixture of presently of professors and real, will become just those who are the professors. The real will be all taken away when Christ is gone, but they'll be left behind the professing church, the false church. That which is spoken of will be spoken of then, which is indicated in scripture as Babylon, the great, the harlot. Now, you and I are living in days when we're hearing all kinds of talk about the ecumenical movement. You may wonder what in the world that is. Well, it's simply man's efforts to unite all those who profess to be Christians into one, and they're going to be successful. But their success is not of God, even though it's prophesied by God. The unity of the church is a spiritual unity. It's the body, that's the true church, but Babylon is going to be left behind to go into, with Israel and the nation, the time of the tribulation, time of the awful outpourings of God, the judgment of God upon this earth. Now we come to two other circles. You notice in the center we have a green one, not a blue one. The blue one's up here. The green one is right in the heart. This is the millennium, of course, the millennial reign of Christ. And during the millennial reign of Christ, you are going to have three classes of people. You have a heavenly people, the church, each one of whom has a glorified body. May I take just a minute or two here, possibly to help you to clarify your thinking regarding some things that people have gotten confused on, and because they have been confused, they've asked quite a few sarcastic questions. Uh, in the church, they will have glorified bodies. There'll be no such a thing as family life, the birth of children, anything like that, that we're accustomed to now in connection with the church, because they'll be glorified beings. And that's what the Lord meant when he said that the carryover of his words, when he said they shall, they neither, he said of the angels, uh, the children of the resurrection he was speaking of actually, says they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but as the angels of God in heaven. Now there's no marriage or giving in marriage in heaven. The angels of God do not marry in heaven. These ones then that were caught up when Christ came, whether they had died in Christ or were still living, they received glorified bodies, and we will always be glorified beings. Now, I believe that as glorified beings, it'll be quite possible for us to visit the earth. If it so fits in with the will of God and the works of God, it'll be quite possible for us to visit the earth. But we will have a glorified body that will be independent of earthly things. But here on earth, there will be Israel, redeemed, restored to their land, regenerated in fellowship with God, and they'll be the center of all God's dealings here with the earth. The nation that accepts the Lord will be blessed through Israel. Now, these will be human beings. They haven't died. They haven't been raised from the dead. They haven't glorified bodies. They'll have families. Children will be born throughout the millennia, by the hundreds of thousands. Families will be larger undoubtedly than today because the curse will be lifted. There'll be no such a thing as birth pains or pangs. There'll be no such a thing as infant mortality. Now imagine the number of children that there'll be. Imagine the number of people that there'll be who weren't in existence at the beginning of the millennium that will be at the end of it. Death will be the exception. Birth will be the rule, death will be the exception. That means that there'll be millions of people that have been born during that thousand years, and every one of them will need to be born again. Every one of them will need to be saved. You see, the fact that they are born of believing parents will no more make them believers than it made you and me. Some of us had good believers as parents, but didn't make us Christians. So they will need it then. And that's why at the end of the millennium, there will be a rebellion, an insurrection against God on the part of those who were born during the millennium but were never born again. And they'll rally to the standard of the devil, because unregenerate man would rather have the devil than God. He would rather have sin than righteousness. He would rather rebel than obey. And so it'll be the final rebellion that'll be crushed like fire from on high, and then there'll be the judgment of the great white throne from which the wicked dead, this is preceded by a resurrection, and there at the great white throne will stand all the wicked dead of all ages, and from thence they'll be cast into the lake of fire. And throughout all eternity, I believe there will be three conditions. There'll be the new heavens, peopled by these glorified beings. There'll be the new earth, peopled by these righteous human beings, and there will be the loss in the lake of fire. I believe that's the teaching of the Word of God. So I hope that just looking at this chart will help you in your further understanding of it, and, uh, you want to get a little one here to put in your Bible and say it a little more, you do so, and I trust it'll be a blessing to you. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, we thank thee that as we think of further expansion and progress in connection with this thy testimony, we thank thee we can count on thee for the wisdom and the guidance that will be needed. We pray that we may be very conscious of thy leading. Now, Father, we thank you for thy ways with man. We understand just a little of it, but what we do understand fills our hearts with adoring wonder and worship, that thou should so deal with thy creature man in grace and in patience, in long suffering, with the desire to bring blessing to him. Now we pray thou will separate us with thy blessing. Remember those that are sick, Father, put thy good hand upon. And for those that, while not actually sick, are not too well, may they be preserved from sickness, we pray thee, in our Savior's precious name. Amen.