SIXTH DISPENSATION | STUDY

1. Bible History 

a) In this panoramic Bible Story, we present the important events, and gradual development of Bible History, keeping in view, throughout,  the spiritual purpose of divine revelation.

b) It exhibits a part at a time, by being unrolled before the viewer. An unobstructed or complete view in every direction; hence a comprehensive presentation to aid viewer with a better understanding of Bible History.

c) It follows the stream of the Bible narrative, so as to aid viewer in visualizing and grasping the great truths of Bible History.

2. The Sixth Dispensation of Grace

- From Pentecost to the Second Coming of Christ

(Acts of the Apostles, Matthew 24 & 25, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Daniel, Revelation)

a) After the ascension, the disciples returned to Jerusalem, as Christ had instructed them, there to await "the promise of the Father", the enduement with power from on high. One hundred and twenty believers gathered and continued in prayer and supplication until the day of Pentecost (fifty days after the crucifixion) when they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and equipped with spiritual power to accomplish the great commission of witnessing to ends of the earth. Thus the birthday of the Christian Church began with the descent of the Holy Spirit as an abiding presence to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

b) The Apostolic period may be divided into three sections. The founding of Christianity among the Jews, or the Jewish Christian Church, under the lead of Peter. The founding of Christianity among the Greeks and Romans, or the Gentile Christian Church, under the lead of Paul. And the consolidation of Jewish and Gentile Christianity under John, who survived all the other apostles.

c) The Apostolic Fathers were the immediate disciples of the Apostles. The tile Father being given those divines of the early church who excelled in learning, judgment, piety and orthodoxy. After the union of the Church and State of Constantine, there was a decline of spiritual life and liberty, who found it lowest ebb in those centuries so appropriately called "the dark ages." The Reformation of the sixteenth century is, next to the Apostolic age, the most important part of Church History. It was a Revival of "the faith once given to the saints", against the tyranny of ecclesiastical tradition and corruption. It was the turning point from the middle ages to the "latter days", and the formative period of the Evangelical denominations, when the principles of Protestantism were staunchly declared in opposition to the Papacy.

d) The dispensation of the Holy Spirit, or "The Church Age", ends with the translation of the Church (ekklesia - called out ones). The resurrected dead in Christ, and the living "born again" believers being "caught up" to meet their descending Lord "in the air." Paul explains the "mystery"in his immortal chapter on the resurrection. "We shall not all sleep" (those "born again"believers, living and ready, in the day of Christ's returning shall not die) for this mortal (living ones) shall put on immortality. The dead (in Christ) "shall be raised" (the corruptible shall put on in-corruption). Thus "we shall all be changed" (the living and the dead) in "a moment", when Christ returns "to make up his jewels." Paul explained further. The living ones shall not precede the resurrected ones, for they shall rise first in the glorious procession of translated saints.

e) The next event is the manifestation of the Antichrist. "Then shall that wicked be revealed", whose short but diabolical reign brings upon the earth the greatest time of tribulation since there was a nation. This time of tyranny and lawlessness will be brought to a climax of hate and bloodshed at the great Battle of Armageddon. The cup of iniquity now full, "they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory to take vengeance upon the nations that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The armies of Antichrist shall be destroyed, and their infamous leader cast into the Lake of Fire. The Devil "that old serpent" shall be bound and imprisoned a thousand years, or during the reign of the earth's rightful ruler. The Prophet Zechariah declares that when Christ returns to earth again His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives. And all the earth shall be blessed by the glory of His presence. Then shall Christ, as the King of kings, and Lord of lords, sit upon "the throne of His Glory", and all nations shall be gathered before Him, and He shall separate them as sheep are separated from the goats. The nations which survive this judgment will become part of the Millennial Kingdom, acknowledging and worshiping the King, the Lord of Hosts. The judgment of the living nations shall be followed by an age of Universal peace on earth.

f) The Dispensation of GRACE ends in judgment, "The wine-press of His wrath."