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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 70^th 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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