Gracious teaches about Dispensations and Covenants
Growing in Grace Ministry
By Myrna D. Hughes
Today the sun was beginning to peak through the clouds, a welcomed sight, since it had been raining for the past several days, not that God's beautiful grass and flowers couldn't benefit from it. However, the sunshine, with it's warmth was much appreciated too. On the way to Children's Bible study, Gracious enjoyed the feel of the damp earth between his paws and the smell of the earth. Some people do not enjoy the aroma of fresh dirt, but Gracious did. It so reminded him of when he was a cub and used to make mud pies. They looked so good that one day, he tried eating one. Yuck that pie sure did not taste as good as his mom's cherry pie..
Gracious got there shortly before the children began arriving, just in time to get the chairs and tables out. He placed the stack of colorful charts in the center of each table, and as the children arrived, he greeted each of them. He smiled to himself as he noted that most of the children had remembered to bring their Bibles. I'm sure that the promise of a treat had something to do with their compliance.
The children seated themselves around the tables and when the last child was set, Gracious said" Good morning to each of you and Grace and Peace."
"Good morning Gracious", they all replied in unison.
Little Hanna raised her hand. "Yes", said Gracious
'What does Grace and Peace mean", she asked.
"Well I'm glad that you asked that question, because it has a lot to do with the lesson for today" This is the greeting that was used by the Apostle Paul, that is specific for the grace dispensation. The children looked puzzled, as they turned to one another and whispered "what is a dispensation"? One child Raymond raised his hand, excuse me Gracious, but what is a dis-sen-pation" he asked. Gracious could not help but laugh out loud. "The word is dispensation,' he gently corrected the young boy, as he chuckled.
"Well what does the word kind of sound like", Gracious asked of the children? One of the older children Matthew raised his hand. "If you break the word down it starts with the word dispense, which means to give out." That's correct replied Gracious. "and the suffix "ation" has to do with an action or process", continued Matthew. "Very good Matt", said Gracious. Each of you go ahead and pick up a chart from the center of your table. The children picked up the chart which read Dispensations and Covenants Chart.
Who would like to read the definition of dispensation from off the chart, asked Gracious? "I would", said Raymond.
"Dispensation: To give out a set of rules. God gives out certain instructions of obedience during different time periods. The issue is the instructions not the time period."
"Excellent job Raymond" First let's talk about the word time. Who can tell me what time is? asked Gracious. "I know" said Lauren, it's what the clock tells us about how long it takes for something to happen". "Real good Ms Lauren" answered Gracious. "Is there anyone else that would like to add anything to Lauren's answer." None of the other children said anything. Well said Gracious, time is actually a creation of God. It is an interval of space made by God, for the purpose of God fulfilling His plans. Remember when we talked about God being eternal? "Yeah" said Elisha" that means that He had no beginning and no ending". "Correct, said Gracious." On your charts, look at the line just below the pictures. At the ends of the line on both sides of the paper, you see 2 arrows, one points to the left of the paper and the other points to the right of the paper. Well, the arrow pointing to the left shows no beginning and the arrow pointing to the right shows no ending. When we use the word eternity or eternal we mean no beginning and no ending. God always was and always will be. Before He created time He planned out everything that would happen during the space of time. Remember another of His attributes is that He is Sovereign. Who remembers what sovereign means? I know said Ivana, ",God can do what ever pleases Himself without challenge." "Excellent", exclaimed Gracious. He was so pleased that the children were actually grasping the lessons. " Then if God is sovereign, what can He do", asked Gracious? "Anything He wants to", the children yelled out together. "You are all absolutely right" replied Gracious. "Because God is sovereign, He designed everything in eternity that was going to occur in time and He made specific rules which He chose to govern or rule certain people during different time periods. All the space you see between the 2 arrows show time. If you know anything about space it has boundaries or limitations. Even though we cannot come up with a number to measure the hugeness of the universe or what we call space, it actually can be measured. But eternity is endless and cannot be measured, because as Elisha said, it has no beginning and no ending."
"And as Matthew stated earlier the word dispensation has the root word dispense. "It means to give out something as does the word administer." So when we think of dispensation, lets think of a dispenser, or the giving out of something. Who can give me an idea of certain kinds of dispensers?"
"How about a soap dispenser", said Hanna, Good one said Gracious. "How about a gumball dispenser", said Marcus. That's good too said Gracious. "What about a paper towel dispenser replied Isaac. All very good answers. This exercise was to get you used to the concept of something being given out or administered. The important thing is what is given out. God established different instructions which governed over a certain time period. The importance is not on the time period, but on the rules.
"Another name for dispensations is administration or the way in which something operates or runs. During each dispensation or administration,, God changed the rules, so what went in one administration was not allowed in another. An example for each of you would be: in school each year you are promoted into a different teachers classroom. Each teacher has a different set of guidelines or rules to be followed. Ms Smith (3rd grade teacher) allowed you to turn in your homework late and still give credit, whereas Ms Jones(4th grade teacher) does not accept late assignments. No need of you telling her that Ms Smith let you turn in late work, because you are under a different administration. Different rules have been given out. Each teacher their set of rules. So you would have to know the rules you are expected to follow. In the Bible, the rules which were given out or dispensed were called covenants. A covenant is a pledge or agreement between 2 or more persons."
In God's dealings with man. There were 2 types of covenants:
1. Unilateral,- only God is responsible, there are no conditions that we have to meet. 2.Bilateral-Man is responsible to meet certain conditions.
We make covenants all the time. For example, you probably have an agreement with your parents that if you keep up with your chores you will receive an allowance. Or if you do your school work correct you will receive good grades. How about when you go into a videogame store, if you give the salesperson the right amount of money they will in return, give you the video game. These are examples of a bilateral covenant. Bi -means two. Did anyone notice anything in particular about this kind of covenant? " You used the word if so may times I almost lost count", noticed Raymond . "You're right" Raymond. So what type of covenant are these an examples of? 'It sounds like you have to do something in order to get something so I would say they are bilateral". "Very good,, think of a bilateral covenant as an "if" agreement. Another type of covenant is called unilateral, uni-,means one. In this type of covenant you do not have to do anything. Who can give me an example of a unilateral covenant?' "I can" said Hanna "My daddy and mommy love and take care of me, even when I do bad things". "That's an excellent example Hanna. There are no conditions attached. Your parents will continue to love and provide for you, even if you do not do your chores around the house or you get bad grades in school. God's relationship with us today is unilateral. His love for us is not dependent upon anything that we do, it is unconditional. There are no if's involved."
The Bible teaches that there are 7 dispensations: God chose certain people (the elect) during each dispensation. The rules which governed each administration was given to one man, called the Federal Head. Do not worry we will learn much more about this in a future lesson.
1. Innocence: Elect-included Adam and Eve- Covenant was Bilateral. Federal Head was Adam.
2. Conscience : Elect -included Adam and Eve and their children -Covenant was Bilateral Federal Head was Adam
3. Human Government: Elect -included Noah and his family - Covenant was Unilateral Federal Head was Noah
4. Promise: Elect -included Abraham-Israel and some others-Covenant was Unilateral Federal Head was Abraham
5. Law- Elect -included Moses and Israel-Covenant was Bilateral Federal Head was Moses
6.Grace- Includes Body of Christ made up of Jews and Gentiles-Covenant Unilateral Federal Head was the Apostle Paul
7.Kingdom- Includes Israel and Others- Covenant is Unilateral Federal Head is The Lord Jesus Christ
These 7 dispensations fill up the space called time. If you think about it time can be measured in 3 different classifications. Who can tell me what they are?
"I know said Chrissy", "Ok" said Gracious, "tell me what they are". "Past, present and future", she answered. "Correct, past deals with everything that has already happened, present deals with what is happening now and future deals with things yet to happen."
When we look at the 7 dispensations 5 of them are in the Past. We will call that- Times Past. One is currently in effect, it is called Grace and we will call that But Now. And 1 dispensation is yet to occur, we will call that Ages to Come.
"I see that most of you brought your Bibles. This is what I want you to do; take your bible and turn to Romans, then flip to Philemon hold those books between your fingers." Chrissy got up to assist the younger children in finding the books that Gracious instructed them to find. "Help me" cried Lauren impatiently. "Just a minute Lauren, I'll be right there" replied Chrissy.
"How much is this, compared to the rest of the Bible, asked Gracious? "Only a little bit said Hanna" holding up her small Bible. "Although this is only a small portion of the Bible, these books are very important for they reveal Gods hidden plans from eternity, that is why our covenant is called the Mystery." A mystery said Raymond,," that sounds kind of spooky" Gracious smiled, as he explained to the children what a mystery is. "A mystery is an unknowable secret until it is told to us." "Hey Isaac, how can you be sure that a secret is kept a secret?" That's easy, replied Isaac, "don't tell anybody else". "Very good, that is exactly what God did, He told absolutely no one. Not until He told the secret to the Apostle Paul and he wrote it down in the books of Roman-Philemon."
"What about the rest of the Bible," asked Ivana? That's a good question, answered Gracious. "The whole Bible is for us, in that we can learn many things, but the whole Bible is not to us. For example God gave instructions in the Old Testament that whenever you did something wrong you had to publicly walk through the street with a bullock, then you had to kill the animal and burn it on an alter, offering it up to God, so that you could be forgiven. Notice that there is a condition involved "If you bring a bullock, kill it and offer it as a sacrifice then you will be forgiven. This serves as history for us. But tell me Ivana, are those instructions to you today? Ivana grimaced, no, I should say not. Jesus died for all my sins. Yes and it is in the writings of Paul that we learn that Jesus' death paid for sin. We will see that the part's of the Bible written by the Apostle Paul, are directed towards us. God gave Paul a special message for us today and these books tell us about it. When we read other parts of the Bible and try and apply it to us, it's like reading someone else's mail. We learn the information contained in the letter, but the letter is not to us. During the present time, God is dispensing or giving out His unmerited or undeserved favor to us. This is called grace, God's gives us totally the opposite of what we deserve. Despite the fact that we have all sinned and deserve the punishment that God has designed for sinners (which is death or eternal separation from Him), but instead He lovingly draws us to Himself and grants us peace with Him. There are no if's in the dispensation of Grace. This is why the Apostle Paul used the greeting Grace and Peace.
Gracious looked at his watch, Oh my goodness he said, time belongs to God, but we have ran a bit over. Well, children we need to close for today, but I promise we will pick this up next time. Let's close in prayer, who wants to do the honors? "I do', said Marcus,
Father God in the name of Jesus, we thank you for everything that we have learned about you today. Thank you for Gracious and please bless him as he teaches us more about you and the Bible. In Jesus Name Amen.
Ok everyone see you next time. said Gracious. "Hey what about our treats you promised if we remembered to bring our Bibles", asked Raymond? "Oh I'm so sorry, I almost forgot", said Gracious. "I certainly have to keep my end of that bilateral agreement", he said reaching into his pockets. As each child filed out he gave them a lollipop inscribed with "Grace and Peace" on it. "Please wait until you get home to eat them".
As Gracious cleaned up the room, he reflected on the days lesson, Father God, I pray that the eyes of their understanding be enlightened and that they may come to know the wonderful doctrine of the Grace of God. He locked the door to the Children's Ministry room. And as he walked out into the afternoon, all remnants of the previous days rainfall was banished by the bright sunshine. The ground was no longer moist and the earth felt hard and warm under his paws. Gracious lifted his face towards the sky to enjoy the warm rays against his furry cheeks as he meditated upon the goodness of the Lord, who allows the sun to shine upon the just and the unjust, but thank God for His grace which enabled him to be counted among the just.
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