Lesson #07

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Syllabus

February 12, 2010

RETURN TO THE LIST OF LESSONS

COURSE IN BIBLICAL DOCTRINE
Lesson #07

• The Doctrine of Ages, Dispensations, and Covenants
• God has revealed Himself to man through time by means of His Covenants.
• Therefore, for a full understanding of God we need to see how he deals with man over time by means of the laws that He established in each age.
• We can divide Biblical time into ages or periods of time in the same way that man’s life is divided into stages of his development. For example:
• Infancy
• Childhood
• Teenager
• Young Adult
• Middle Age
• Old Age
• We can also discern that a father changes the rules of his family as the child grows older. For example:
• The rules of the household are different for the small child than they are for the teenager.
• In the same way, God’s rules of the household change through the different ages. These rules are called “dispensations”.
• Read Eph 1:10
• Read Eph 3:2
• The dispensations or rules of the household of God are written in the covenants of the Old Testament.
• The word “covenant” means = to bind together two persons (to obligate).
• In the Bible God initiates all the covenants with man.
• Then God tests man to see if man will live according to that covenant.
• There are two kinds of covenants in the Bible:
• =1= Conditional Covenants
• A conditional covenant states that if one person promises to do something, the other person will do something else.
• If one person fails to do what he promised, the second person is not obligated to do his part.
• =2= Unconditional Covenants
• An unconditional covenant is the promise of one person to do something, but the other person has no obligation to do anything.
• The obligation to fulfill the promise is only on one person.
• All of the covenants in the Bible are permanent and eternal except for one covenant.
• The covenant that was temporary was the covenant with Moses called The Law.
• The covenant with Moses ended at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ because he fulfilled all of it.
• Each covenant has a descriptive sign so that man remembers the lesson learned with each covenant.
• There are two types of dispensations in the Bible:
• =1= There are dispensations of Law where God established laws in a covenant that govern functions on earth at that specific period of time.
• =2= There are dispensations of Grace where God makes free promises in a covenant that function during that specific period of time. `
• The Bible can be divided into 7 ages that alternate between dispensations of Law and dispensations of Grace. (Number 7 is God’s number of completeness and perfection.)
• Each of the 7 ages is marked by one or more covenants that tell us the rules of God’s household (the dispensations) for that period of time.
• We are going to study the 7 ages of time, the dispensations of law and grace, and all of the Bible covenants.
• A note to remember: No person was ever saved by being obedient to any covenant of the Bible.
• Man is saved by faith in Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

THE SEVEN AGES and DISPENSATIONS OF TIME AND THEIR COVENANTS

TYPE OF DISPEN-SATION	AGE	COVENANT	INCLUSIVE SCRIPTURE
LAW	#1 THE AGE OF SIMPLICITY OR INNOCENCE	THE COVENANT IN EDEN GEN 1:28-29 GEN 2:15-19	GEN 1:28-GEN 3:23
GRACE	#2 THE AGE OF CONSCIENCE	THE COVENANT WITH ADAM GEN 3:14-21	GEN 3:24-GEN 8:19
LAW	#3 THE AGE OF SELF-GOVERNMENT	THE COVENANT WITH NOAH GEN 8:21-22 GEN 9:1-17	GEN 8:26-GEN 11:9
GRACE	#4 THE AGE OF PROMISE	THE COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM GEN 12:2-3,7 GEN 13:15-17 GEN 15:1, 5-6, 18 GEN 17:1-11 GEN 22:17-18	GEN 12:1-EXO 14:31
LAW	#5 THE AGE OF LAW	THE COVENANT WITH MOSES EXO 19-31 THE LAND COVENANT DEU 30:1-9 THE COVENANT WITH DAVID 2SAM 7:13-16	EXO 19:1-JOH 19:30
GRACE	#6 THE AGE OF GRACE	THE NEW COVENANT HEB 8:7-10	ACT 2:1-REV 3:22
LAW	#7 THE AGE OF MESSIAH	THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT MAT 5-7	REV 20:4-5

• #1 THE AGE OF SIMPLICITY OR INNOCENCE, A DISPENSATION OF LAW

(GEN 1:28-GEN 3:23)

• The Age of Simplicity or Innocence is from creation in Gen 1:28 to Adam’s sin in Gen 3:23.
• The rules of God’s household were marked by one law.
• Read Gen 2:17
• This law is the first covenant in the Bible called the Covenant of Eden.
• Notice that it is a conditional covenant. Man must obey this one law in order to live in Eden.
• God promises to bless Adam and Eve with eternal life and abundant provision if they obey this one law.
• In this Age of Innocence, man is like the infant that is told, “Don’t touch”.
• Adam and Eve broke this covenant and made it invalid. Therefore God had to make a new covenant.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COVENANT IN EDEN

• Read GEN 1:28-29 and GEN 2:15-19

GOD’S PROMISES:	MAN’S RESPONSIBILITIES:
MAN IS TO HAVE DOMINION OVER THE EARTH	MAN MUST REPRODUCE AND FILL THE EARTH
MAN IS PROMISED MATERIAL ABUNDANCE	MAN MUST SUBDUE THE EARTH
MAN WILL HAVE A CLOSE FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD	MAN MUST EAT A VEGETARIAN DIET
MAN CAN EAT FROM THE TREE OF ETERNAL LIFE	MAN MUST TAKE CARE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN
	MAN MUST NOT EAT OF THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL
	MAN MUST NAME THE ANIMALS

• God tested Adam to see if he would be obedient to this covenant. That test was the deception of Eve where Adam would have to make a choice between following God or following Eve.
• The sign or symbol of the Covenant of Eden is the two trees in the Garden of Eden.
• The tree of life.
• The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
• This covenant of Eden is an eternal covenant that God will fulfill in the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
• The sin of Adam and Eve temporarily set the covenant aside until its future fulfillment.
• Meanwhile, Christ partly fulfills this covenant in the life of the believer today.
• Man’s length of life was to be eternal, but sin brought death.

• #2 THE AGE OF CONSCIENCE, A DISPENSATION OF GRACE

(GEN 3:24-GEN 8:19)

• The Age of Conscience begins in Gen 3:24 and continues until Gen 8:19.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COVENANT WITH ADAM:

• Read GEN 3:14-21

GOD’S PROMISES	MAN’S RESPONSIBILITIES
GOD PROMISED TO CURSE THE SERPENT	MAN MUST NOW WORK HARD FOR A LIVING
GOD PROMISED TO SEND A MESIAH REDEEMER IN GEN 3:15	WOMEN MUST LABOR IN CHILDBIRTH
	MAN MUST EAT VEGETARIAN FOOD
	MAN MUST PERFORM ANIMAL SACRIFICE
	MAN MUST WEAR CLOTHING
	MAN MUST NOT ENTER THE GARDEN AND EAT OF THE TREE OF LIFE

• God tested man to see if he would be obedient to God in the warnings of the flood of Noah.
• The sign or symbol of this covenant is the animal skins that covered Adam and Eve after God did the first animal sacrifice as a model to man that sin must be covered by blood.
• The duration of this covenant will last until Satan is finally destroyed at the end of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ.
• The length of man’s life during this age of conscience is 900 years.