Lesson 6: The Sixth Dispensation
For by the grace of God we are saved through faith and not our works
Age of Grace
We have at last reached the dispensation to which we belong. It covers a period of time from the Crucifixion of Messiah to His Second Coming. For Christians, we are this age and this age of grace is us because grace is the ruling factor which uniquely characterizes the dispensation.
This dispensation covers events which are not accepted by all believers. These events center around end-time prophecy. Some of the events which we will not have time to cover are the (1)Rapture (2)Tribulation (3)Antichrist and (4)Mark of the Beast. I recognize that certain aspects of this dispensation may not be acceptable to you. Please know that I respect that. There is no attempt on my part to proselytize you. That is one reason why I will not include them here. However, if you are not familiar with pre-millennial end-time events, and you would like to delve into the study indepth, there will be an extensive resource list at the conclusion of lesson eight.
Please open your Bible to Matthew 27:57. The Scriptures which cover this time period are Matthew 27:57; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:50, and John 19:31 through Revelation 19:21.
There are five charges (stewardship, ruling factors, or tests) for the sixth dispensation. They are obedience according to conscience, restraint of evil by the Holy Spirit, government, promise, and the addition a new one - grace. You will note that the first four were also given to previous dispensations. The Mosaic Law is not a ruling factor in this dispensation, although it is still held on to by certain people and religious groups. In effect, it has been removed. Although the Holy Spirit is with us now, the Holy Spirit will be removed as a ruling factor toward the end of this dispensation (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8).
In connection with these charges, man has specific responsibilities which constitute the test. Our test is to obey God on the basis of the above charges or factors. We do not have to wait till the end to know that this dispensation is failing its test. How are we failing the tests? All we have to do is watch, not only the daily news on television, but some of the vile programming.
"During the fifth dispensastion, Christ came and shed His blood to make payment for the sin that entered the world during the first dispensation (Colossians 1:14 and Romans 5:8-21). Once the price had been paid, the only thing that remained was to get the word out about salvation. This is called the Good News, or the Gospel, and is defined in I Corinthians 15:1-9. To paraphrase these verses, the Gospel is the death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, all according to the Scriptures. It is through His sacrifice, death, and shedding of blood, and Resurrection, that we now have life through Him.God also wanted this payment of Christ to be free to all humankind. ALL. Salvation is a free gift offered by the grace of God, thus the name for this dispensation. We personally did not commit the original sin. Original Sin was passed on to us from the sin of Adam. Therefore, we are not made to pay or work to remove Original Sin from our account. All we have to do is accept the free gift God has provided. We also confess our daily sins to God through our mediator, Jesus Christ. For those who reject this free gift, the penalty is eternal separation from God."
What is in store for the climax of this sixth dispensation? Toward the end, according to Jewish and Christian Scriptures, God will remove the Holy Spirit's holding back of evil (2Thessolonians 2:7-8). The Rapture will occur (I Thessalonians 4:16-17), followed by the Tribulation period which will last for seven and one-half years. God will judge the world with the trumpet and bowl judgments of Revelation (6-18), and the world will endure the final catastrophic battle of Armageddon.
