GODS COVENANTS
Lesson 32
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Dispensationalism
A misunderstanding
of God’s covenants has led
to the rise of a concept called
dispensationalism. Proponents of
dispensationalism teach that
salvation is offered in different
ways at different times.
Dispensationalists have a point,
but their balance and message is
wrong. It is true that God has
required people at different
times to do different things. For
example, prior to the death of
Jesus, all who chose to accept
the terms of the original
bilateral covenant were required
to offer animal sacrifices –
from Adam down to the time of
Christ. But, the offering of
animal sacrifices did not provide
salvation. (Hebrews 10:4) nor do
sacrificial animals change the
means of salvation. (Ephesians
2:8,9) Faith in God has always
been the prerequisite for
salvation. Review the “Hall
of Faith” in Hebrews 11 and
notice: “By faith
Abel…” “By faith
Enoch…” “By faith
Abraham…” By faith
Moses…”
Dispensationalism teaches that
God starts over from time to time
by declaring a covenant obsolete
and creating a new one. Again,
dispensationalists have a point
but their emphasis is wrong. As
we shall see, it is true that God
can declare a covenant void and
create a new covenant. The
problem with dispensationalism;
however, is that it does not
properly define the covenants
that God created and discarded!
Basic Problem
The following
comments may appear to be
entirely out of context in this
study on God’s covenants.
However, I would like to address
the fundamental reason of
dispensationalism at this point.
Protestants are on the horns of a
dilemma. They have a thorny
problem with the fourth
commandment that will not go
away. The fourth commandment
states: “Remember the
Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do
all your work, but the seventh
day is a Sabbath to the Lord your
God. On it you shall not do any
work, neither you, nor
you’re son or daughter, nor
your manservant or maidservant,
nor your animals, nor the aliens
within your gates. For in six
days the Lord made the heavens
and the earth, the sea, and all
that is in them, but he rested on
the seventh day. Therefore the
Lord blessed the Sabbath day and
made it holy.” (Exodus
20:8-11) If Protestants honored
this commandment as they do the
other nine, the behavior of
millions of Christians would be
vastly different each weekend.
Saturday is God’s holy day,
the seventh day of the week.
Sunday is the first day of the
week. The Lord’s Day (Mark
2:27,28) was changed from
Saturday to Sunday by the Church
of Rome. This change came about
because of two factors. First,
Saturday was the Sabbath of the
Jews and early Christians in Rome
did not want any association with
those “repugnant” Jews,
especially after Jerusalem was
destroyed in A.D. 70. (The
theological impact of
anti-Semitism upon early
Christianity was mentioned in the
previous study.) Second, about
100 years before Christianity
arrived in Rome, the ancient
pagan religion of Mithraism
arrived in Rome and it quickly
gained a very large following.
Later on, the emperor Commodus
(A.D. 180-192) even made
Mithraism an imperial cult.
Mithraism centers around the
worship of the sun-god, Mirthra,
whose day of worship is Sunday,
the day of the Sun. Priests of
Mithraism were called
“father” and they
promoted a high moral code of
conduct. In fact, the
similarities between Mithraism
and Christianity were so striking
that Tertullian (A.D. 160-225)
believed the devil had created a
deliberate parallel of
Christianity even before
Christianity began. Converts from
Mithraism to Christianity brought
“the observance of
Sunday” with them into
Rome’s version of
Christianity. Remember, early
Christians in Rome wanted to
distance themselves from the
hated Jews, and since Sunday
worship was commonly placed in
Rome, why not worship Jesus on
Sunday? The first Sunday keepers
in Rome did not use a command
from Scripture to support this
transition, but they did attempt
to justify their actions. About
A.D. 150 Justin Martyr wrote:
But Sunday is the
day that we all hold our common
assembly because it is the first
day on which God, having wrought
a change in the darkness and
matter, made the world, and Jesus
Christ our Savior on the same day
rose from the dead. (Justin
Martyr, First Apology of Justin
Martyr, Ante-Nicean Christian
Library, (Boston 1887) p. 187
Chapter. 67)
Christian Groups
differed in theology and practice
because of distance, the lack of
communication, regional baggage
and anti-Semitism. Sunday
observance was a unique feature
that began in Rome and spread to
Alexandria. About the turn of the
fourth century, Socrates, a
church leader of that time
observed.
Such is the
difference in the churches on the
subject of fasts. Nor is there
less variation in regard to
religious assemblies. For
although almost all churches
through the world celebrate the
sacred mysteries on the Sabbath
of every week, yet the Christians
of Rome and Alexandria have
ceased to do this. (Socrates,
Ecclesiastical History, Book V.
Chapter 22. Ante-Nicean Christian
Library, Vol II, (Boston, 1887)
p. 132)
These facts are
presented because the Catholic
Church does not historically
defend the change from Sabbath to
Sunday on the basis of Scripture,
but on the basis of church
authority. After Constantine came
to power, law in A.D.321 affirmed
the sacredness of Sunday for
Christians. Eusebius, the trusted
confidant and advisor to
Constantine, defended this action
saying:
And all things
whatsoever that it was to do on
the Sabbath, these have been
transferred to the Lord’s
Day, as more appropriately belong
to it, because it has a
precedence and is first in rank,
and more honorable than the
Jewish Sabbath. All things
whatsoever that it was the duty
to do on the Sabbath, these we
have transferred to the
Lord’s Day. (Eusebius’s
Commentary on the Psalms 92,
quoted in Cox’s Sabbath
literature, Vol I, p.361,
insertion mine.)
These references
are presented because Protestants
separated from Catholicism
because of conflict between Bible
truth and church authority.
Protestants claim there is no
authority on matters of faith and
duty other than what is found in
Scripture. Catholics claim that
authority is found in either the
inerrant declarations of the pope
or decisions reached by scholars
and church leaders. So, the only
way Protestants have found to
void the fourth commandment that
mandates the observance of
Saturday, as a holy day is to
nail all Ten Commandments to the
cross. This is the primary
objective and the function of
dispensationalism. The scheme is
elaborate and complex but the net
effect is that millions of
Christians have been misled into
believing that the Sabbath
commandment was nailed to the
cross. However, if you ask most
Christians about murder,
adultery, stealing, they will
return to the Ten Commandments
for authority to show that these
behaviors are wrong. This is the
great mystery. Somehow, the Ten
Commandments were made void at
the cross only to have nine
commandments immediately
reinstated! This doctrine is one
of the harmful contributions of
dispensationalism to
Protestantism.
The Ten
Commandments Are Called a
Covenant
There is
sufficient evidence in the Bible
to conclude that the Ten
Commandments are a unilateral
covenant that God has imposed on
all mankind for the duration of
sin. Let us examine the evidence.
The Ten
Commandments are called “the
covenant” in the Bible.
“Moses was there with the
Lord forty days and forty nights
without eating bread or drinking
water. And he wrote on the
tablets the words of the
covenant-the Ten
Commandments.” (Exodus
34:28) The Israelites kept the
two tablets of stone in a golden
box that was called, “the
ark of the covenant.” The
Ten Commandments are not ten
suggestions and contrary to what
dispensationalists teach, they
are not included in God’s
bilateral covenant with Israel.
They are ten laws that were
unilaterally imposed upon all
mankind by divine authority when
sin began! We know that
obeying the Ten Commandments will
not bring salvation. They
are not a shadow of good
“things to come.” They
are not ceremonial. They
say nothing about sacrifices,
rituals or redemption.
Instead, they are ten profound
commandments from man’s
creator telling people on Earth
how to live. The first four
commandments define man’s
relationship to God. The
last six define man’s
relationship to man. Even
though God deposited them with
Israel as trustees of His grace,
He spoke them and wrote them down
for the benefit of all
mankind. There is nothing
Jewish in the Ten Commandments.
Consider this thought
question: When you study
the New Testament, do you get the
impression that obeying the Ten
Commandments is harmful? If
so, which commandment is harmful
to Christian growth and
development? Do you find
any behavior forbidden in the Ten
Commandments that is permitted or
sanctioned in the New
Testament? If
you answer yes
to either question, please send
the Bible text to me. In my
study of the Bible, I have found
that there is only one new
commandment in the whole New
Testament. Jesus said,
“A new command I give
you: Love one
another. By this all men
will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one
another.” (John
13:34,35) Have you wondered
why Jesus calla this a new
command? What makes this
commandment new and different
from anything said before in the
Old Testament? The answer
is that divine love was
demonstrated through the humanity
of Jesus. Jesus gave man a
new example of what it means to
love one another. He gave
His life for us, and we should
love one another enough to do the
same. Because we have a
living example to follow, a model
of perfection, we one new
command, we are to “love one
another as Jesus has loved
us.”
The Ten
Commandments Are a Unilateral
Covenant
I am convinced the
Ten Commandments are a unilateral
covenant that God revealed to man
at the fall. Prior to the
fall, Adam and Eve were in
perfect harmony with God’s
will. After all, they were
created in His image. A written
copy of Ten Commandments was not
necessary before sin occurred
because Adam and Eve had the laws
written in their
hearts. Stealing or lying
was foreign to Adam and Eve
before the fall. We know
from our study of the sealing in
Chapter 6 that God will remove
the carnal nature and write His
laws in our hearts and minds as
He originally wrote them in the
hearts of Adam and Eve. (Hebrews
8:10-13) Although the Bible
does not specifically mention the
Ten Commandments prior to Mt
Sinai, this silence does not
eliminate the presence or
knowledge of God’s law as
dispensationalists claim.
Moses says very little in Genesis
about the extent of man’s
knowledge as it pertains to
God’s laws. But Moses
does explain how sin began and
that God’s patience with sin
and rebellion reached its limit
during the time of Noah. (Genesis
6:5,6) The silence of Moses
does not prove the absence of the
Ten Commandments. Moses says
nothing about adultery prior to
the flood. Does this mean
adultery did not occur prior to
the flood? No! it is
inconceivable that God would wait
2,500 years after sin began to
give humanity a basic
understanding of right and
wrong at Mt Sinai. Did it
suddenly become wrong to worship
idols, profane God’s name,
violate His holy Sabbath, kill,
steal, lie and commit adultery at
Mt Sinai? No! If so, were
these sins unique to the Jews
only? No! From the
beginning, murder was a sinful
act and Lucifer as well as Cain
knew it. (John 8:44; 1 John 3:12)
It was also a sin to steal, to
commit adultery, to profane
God’s name, and to violate
God’s holy Sabbath day long
before events at Mt Sinai took
place.
A knowledge of
God’s law existed prior to
Mt Sinai. Noah faithfully
reminded the antediluvians about
God’s laws. Peter says
that Noah was a preacher of
righteousness for 120
years! (2 Peter 2:5) If
there were no commandments
defining sin and rebellion prior
to the flood, righteousness and
wickedness could not be
defined. Paul argues, where
there is no law, there is no sin.
(Romans 4:15) If there is no law
establishing a speed limit, there
can be no speeding! The
wholesale destruction of the
world by a flood convinces me
that millions of men and women
had a generous opportunity to
know God’s will (His laws),
but they rejected it. From
Genesis to Revelation, rebellion
is the only justification that
God ever uses to destroy
anyone! If humanity was
almost obliterated from the face
of Earth because every thought
was “only evil
continually,” then humanity
must have knowingly chosen a
course of rebellion. (Genesis 6:5
(KJV); 2 Peter 3) This is
why Jesus compares the end of the
age with days of Noah. When
men and women refuse to walk
according to the laws of the
Almighty. He has no other
option but total destruction.
(Matthew 24:37)
Consider the words of Paul:
“Therefore, just as sin
entered the world through one
(disobedient) man, and death
through sin, and in this way
death came to all men, because
all (have) sinned – for
before the (Mosaic) law was given
(at Mt Sinai), sin was in the
world. But sin is not taken
into account when there is no
(knowledge of)
law. Nevertheless, death
reigned (because it is mandatory
that sinners die) from the time
of Adam to the time of Moses,
even over those who did not sin
by breaking a (known) command, as
did Adam, who was a pattern of
the one to come.” (Romans
5:12-14, insertions mine.) Some
people offer these three
Verses to prove that there was
“no law” before God
gave the Ten Commandments at Mt
Sinai. If there was no law, how
could God condemn Adam or the
antediluvians? What were they
guilty of? They could not have
been declared lawless if there
were no law. We must be careful
to understand what Paul is
actually writing in Romans 5.
Paul is making the point in
Romans 5:12-14 that we cannot
escape the consequences of sin.
Even if a man does not know that
he is a sinner, even if he knows
nothing about God’s law,
death still reigns over him
because the law of God demands
death for all sinners. Paul is
clear that before the law was
given at Mt. Sinai, sin was in
the world. What is sin? Sin is
the transgression of God’s
law. (Romans 4:15; 1 John 3:4)
Paul is making the point that
God’s law was present from
Adam to Moses, but man’s
knowledge of God’s law was
limited in scope compared to what
was known about sin after Mt.
Sinai. Because man’s
knowledge was limited to the Ten
Commandments, God overlooked
certain sins because man had no
knowledge. God did not destroy
the antediluvians for their
sinful ignorance. Instead, he
sent “a preacher of
righteousness” who spoke
plainly about the authority and
presence of God’s law and
its penalty. God destroyed the
antediluvians because they
willfully rejected His laws.
God’s Ten Commandments
existed prior to the flood. In
fact, the holiness of God’s
Sabbath is declared in Genesis 2!
God reduced “oral law”
to written form at the time of
Mt. Sinai. The Ten Commandments
existed in oral form from the
beginning. Adam and Eve
instinctively knew the contents
of the Ten Commandments for these
laws were written in their minds
and hearts! They knew it was
wrong to lie or steal because
their lives were in complete
harmony with God’s
character. They knew of the
holiness of the Sabbath because
it was their first full day of
life with their Creator. (Genesis
2:1-3) But the day sin entered
their souls; rebellion clouded
their hearts and darkened their
minds. The offspring of Adam and
Eve became even more ignorant of
God. This is why eventually, God
wrote the law on tablets of stone
and God required the reading of
law every sabbatical year to make
sure that each generation heard
“the Word” with their
own ears. (Deuteronomy 31: 10,11)
Unilateral in
Content
It makes no sense
to include the Ten Commandments
with the Mosaic covenant because
the stipulations given in the Ten
Commandments are universal and
eternal. No born again Christian
will say that worshiping other
gods, committing adultery,
murder, stealing and using
God’s name in vain was
permissible before Mt. Sinai or
after the death of Jesus.
Therefore, scholars who abolish
the Ten Commandments with the
Mosaic covenant have to restore
nine of the Ten Commandments by
proposing these commandments are
mentioned in the New Testament
and stating that the Sabbath
commandment is not. This is
foolish reasoning. The authority
of the Sabbath commandment is
affirmed throughout the New
Testament. The underlying purpose
for this dispensational maneuver
is to eliminate the obligation of
the fourth commandment.
Christians do not want to observe
the seventh day Sabbath of the
Jews – actually though, it
is the seventh day Sabbath of
man’s Creator, Jesus Christ.
Thus far, we have
examined six unilateral covenants
and one bilateral covenant:
Unilateral
1. “Do not
eat of the Tree of the Knowledge
of Good and Evil.”
2. The Ten
Commandments
3. “I will
put enmity between the serpent
and the women and will one day
send a Savior.”
4. “I
will demand an accounting for
each man’s life. Murderers
are to be put to death.”
5. “I
will not destroy the world again
with a flood.”
6. To
Abraham: “Through you,
all nations will be
blessed.”
“I will make you father of
many nations.”
“I
will give you and your
descendants this land.”
Bilateral
1. To
Adam and Eve: “If you will
be my people, I will be your
God.”
We now turn our
attention to the bilateral
covenant offered to Israel. To
understand the origin of this
covenant, we must start with a
visit between Jesus and Abraham.
A bilateral
Covenant for Abraham’s
Offspring
A few years after
declaring His unilateral covenant
to Abraham, Jesus visited again
with Abraham and told him that He
was going to offer a special
covenant to his descendants after
400 years passed. This covenant
would be a bilateral covenant,
that is, based upon mutual
agreement. (Genesis 15) There is
a sharp distinction between the
unilateral covenant given to
Abraham and the bilateral
covenant that would be offered to
Abraham’s descendants 400
years later. God intended to make
Abraham’s biological
descendants a kingdom of priests,
a holy nation. (Exodus 19:6) In
other words, because of
God’s great love for
Abraham, God wanted to exalt
Abraham’s offspring as
“His finest sons” on
Earth. The sons of Abraham would
stand between God and the nations
of the Earth as priests, trustees
of His grace. God intended the
“Abrahamites” would be
men of faith like their father.
He wanted them to love Him with
all their hearts and their
neighbors as themselves –
just as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
did! God wanted the Israelites to
be a shining light to the Gentile
nations in darkness. He wanted
Israel to love the people of
other nations and hate their sin.
God wanted Israel to evangelize
the world with a testimony about
His love and gather a great
harvest of souls for His coming
kingdom. (Isaiah 49:6; Acts
13:47) Israel was to be a nation
of “Jehovah’s
Witnesses,” a literal
“Salvation Army,” a
“World-wide Church of
God.”
At the time of
this second visit, Abraham still
had no offspring. So, Jesus did
something that was customary in
ancient times. He made an oath to
Abraham assuring him that He
would offer a bilateral covenant
to his descendants. Jesus
ratified this oath when He walked
through animal parts that Abraham
laid upon the ground. (See
Genesis 15, also Jeremiah 34:
19,20 on this practice. This
event served as a witness to the
oath that Jesus made to Abraham.
In other words, Abraham killed
the necessary animals for this
oath and Jesus passed through the
animal parts signifying that He
would offer His covenant to
descendants of Abraham who were
not yet present on Earth.
Although Abraham knew he would
not live long enough to see
god’s pans fulfilled.
Abraham was satisfied that God
would keep vigil and honors His
oath. (Exodus 12:42) By requiring
blood at the declaration of this
oath, Jesus signified to Abraham
that He, the Great I AM, an
eternal member of the Godhead of
the Universe, would keep His
covenant with Abraham’s
offspring upon pain of death.
Ratification of
the Abraham Covenant
Although Jesus
gave Abraham an oath that He
would offer a bilateral covenant
with his offspring, the covenant
with the heirs was not ratified
(mutually agreed upon) for more
than 400 years. (Exodus 12:41;
Hebrews 9:18-21) In fact, the
bilateral covenant was not
ratified until after God gave all
of the details to Moses on Mt.
Sinai. (Exodus 24:1-8) Remember,
a bilateral covenant is
two-sided, based on performance.
Unlike a unilateral covenant,
both parties must agree and both
parties must be faithful to the
terms and conditions set forth in
a bilateral covenant. So, when
the time came to fulfill the oath
that God had promised to Abraham,
god directed Moses to come up the
mountain and meet with Him. Moses
was required to write down all
the terms and conditions of a
bilateral covenant. This covenant
would both perpetual (until
Messiah appeared on Earth) and
temporary (until Messiah should
die for mankind). This covenant
bound God and the seed of Abraham
together for more than fourteen
hundred years. When Moses
completed the task, he went down
the mountain and read the words
of this covenant to all of the
people. Notice how the story
unfolds in the Bible:
“Then he
{Jesus said to Moses, ‘Come
up to the Lord, you and Aaron,
Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of
the elders of Israel. You are to
worship at a distance, but Moses
alone is to approach the Lord;
the others must not come near.
And the people may not come up
with him.’ When Moses went
and told the people all the
Lord’s words and laws, they
responded with one voice,
‘Everything the Lord has
said we will do.’ Moses then
wrote down everything the Lord
has said. He got up early the
next morning and set up twelve
stone pillars representing the
twelve tribes of Israel. Then he
sent young Israelite men, and
they offered burnt offerings and
sacrificed young bulls as
fellowship offerings to the Lord.
Moses took half of the blood and
put into bowls, and other half he
sprinkled on the alter. Then he
took the Book of the covenant and
read it to the people. They
responded, ‘We will do
everything the Lord has said; we
will obey. ‘Moses then took
the blood, sprinkled it on the
people and said, ‘This is
the blood of the covenant that
the Lord has made with you in
accordance with all these
words.’” (Exodus 24:
1-8, insertion and italics mine.
The bilateral
covenant between God and the
descendants of Abraham was
ratified with the sprinkling of
blood. After hearing the terms
and conditions of the covenant,
the people voiced their agreement
twice. Since third party
witnesses were not present, Moses
stacked twelve huge stones (one
for each tribe) in a pile as a
witness to this event, signifying
Israel’s corporate
agreement. The shedding of the
blood put this covenant into
effect. (See Hebrews 9:18-22.)
The significance of the blood is
very important. A blood covenant
in ancient times was a life or
death for both parties. For God,
the only way out of this covenant
was their destruction. (Leviticus
26; Deuteronomy 28) If one party
proved to be unfaithful, then the
faithful partner had the right to
demand the blood (death) of the
unfaithful party.
Sunset Clause
The bilateral
covenant (or Mosaic covenant)
between God and Abraham’s
offspring was temporary from its
inception. It had a sunset clause
in it. (Matthew 26:28; Colossians
2:17; Hebrews 9: 15-10:4) Jesus
offered a covenant to the
descendants of Abraham because He
needed a special job done.
Basically, He needed a group of
informed people to reveal whom He
was about to an uninformed world.
(Acts 13:47; 26:22,23) As with
any covenant, the special
covenant that Jesus offered
Israel contained a number of
laws. The Mosaic covenant
included laws regarding food
(clean and unclean), tithing,
animal sacrifices, purification
ceremonies, the observance of
annual feasts days, new moon
celebrations, the observance of
sabbatical years, circumcision,
the priesthood of Aaron, and many
civil laws. All of these laws
served as illustrations of Jesus
as King and High Priest, His
coming kingdom and the shadows of
His death and ministry. When
“The Light of the
World” came to Earth, the
shadows expired. (Colossians 2;
Galatians 3) After the covenant
between Israel and God was nailed
to the cross, all believers in
Christ stand before God as one
flesh.
Israel’s
Prophetic Destiny
Because of
dispensational theology, many
Christians disagree with the
previous paragraph. Christians
widely believe that God’s
covenant promises given to
ancient Israel must last forever.
Many popular end-time scenarios
promoted by Christians affirm
this doctrine. But, all of the
terms and conditions put forth in
the Mosaic covenant were
conditional. A bilateral covenant
is bases on good faith and the
performance of the parties
involved. It is a distortion of
Scripture to teach that God is
still obligated to fulfill
promises He gave to ancient
Israel during a future 70th
week. God did not offer many
promises to Israel, but they were
based on terms and conditions. If
Israel had “keep faith”
with the Lord, loved Him
wholeheartedly, and walked
according to His commandments and
statutes, then God would have
fulfilled all of His promises.
(Deuteronomy 6:5; Ezekiel 20)
“If” is the key word on
this topic because God is not
obligated to keep a mutual
covenant with any party that
persists in rebellion. (See
Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28,
31:16-32:52; Romans 9-11;
Galatians 4.) Bible history
underscores Gods behavior
regarding this fact repeatedly.
For example “the
Israel” who experienced a
jubilant Exodus from Egypt
entered into a covenant with God
at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:4-8), but
they all perished in the
wilderness because of rebellion
(except Joshua and Caleb).
(Psalms 95:10,11; Hebrews
3:7-4:1) God’s plan for
leading Israel into the Promised
Land was ultimately fulfilled,
but not for these people to whom
the opportunity was first given!
(Hebrews 3:16-19) Furthermore,
honest Bible students cannot
overlook God’s subsequent
actions during 1,500 years of
Jewish history. Israel rebelled
and God sent the king of Assyria
to destroy ten tribes of Israel
in 722 B.C. Then, in 586 B.C.,
God sent King Nebuchadnezzar to
finally destroy Jerusalem and the
two remaining southern tribes.
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