Ephesians 3:2
2 If [eige] ye have heard [akouo] of the dispensation [oikonomia] of the grace [charis] of
God [theos] which [ho] is given [didomi] me [moi] to [eis] you-ward: [humas]KJV-Interlinear
2 if
indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me
for you; NASB
The word for
dispensation, ‘oikonomia,’ means administration, stewardship, and generally is
in reference to ones responsibility to a household or estate. In this case it is Gods management of the
ages of history.
And as Paul develops this
passage, the household being referred to wherewith stewardship or oversight has
not been addressed in the past, will be in reference to the Church, or more
specifically to this Church Age, wherein our era of time was not revealed in
past times.
And this is an important
principle. Since our dispensation was
not revealed in the Old Testament, then all prophecies in the Old Testament
refer only to those dispensations. None of
them ever refer to this Church Age.
Likewsie, on another
note, since our dispensation will end with the Rapture, and since the Rapture
is always considered as imminent, then no prophecy could possibly apply to our
dispensation, otherwise the Rapture could not be considered as an imminent
event. The people back in Pauls day
expected it, just as people in all generations since that time, have expected
the Rapture to occur during their respective life times.
The Tribulation, which is
a seven year period that will occur immediately after the Rapture, is a
continuation of the previous dispensation, the Age of Israel. Likewise, the Millennium which will occur
immediately after the Second Advent, which is the termination of the
Tribulation, is a continuation of the Old Testament prophecy of the coming
Kingdom of God. Both periods skip over
our current dispensation, the Church Age.
These two principles
combined should be sufficient, to quash all of the speculation, of current
events as being fulfillments of prophetic events, which they are not. This is not to say that many of the current
events are alignments of the historical puzzle pieces of Gods plan, that will put
various things in place prior to when the Rapture occurs. But these events today only serve to give
credibility to Gods plan, where the world will boast that it has been too long
and that nothing really is ever going to occur.
God helps each succeeding generation with various events that help
maintain faith and expectaion of things to come.
The single event of what
has been referred to as the ‘great apostasy’ that will occur at the end of our
dispensation, could have easily been applied many times throughout that last
couple of thousand years. However, now
that we are in the year 2012, we who are alive today, have the unique
opportunity of historical hindsight to see the various contemporary events,
including the fast growing population, the fast pace of technology, the rise of
liberalism and secularism, the push of a one world currency, government, and so
forth, and which these things and many more, point to a far worse and greater
apostasy that will exist at the end of our current dispensation, than has ever occurred
before. Thus the reason for the extreme
evil that will be present during the Tribulation.
Remember that during the
Tribulation, one of the principle characteristics of that time, will be massive
and severe government regulation over nearly control and ruin every aspect of
peoples lives. This in turn will literally
cripple and cause massive suffering throughout the populations of the entire
world. This situation will not magically
occur instantaneously, but will develop over time due to more and more
government power, as populations will give away their rights and government will
usurp more and more of the freedoms and rights away from populations.
We are able to see the
patterns, even in other areas of life. The restored nation of Israel back in
1948, the development of the nations and world powers since the last world war,
the development of liberalism since early in the last century with the first
attempted League of Nations, and so forth.
God assembles things over
time. And in many cases, events occur
over the span of several generations.
And so Paul herein,
teaches us that God has revealed to him, these secrets, regarding our dispensation,
so that he could reveal them finally, to us.
No one knew of these
things prior to Christ.
As far as the Old
Testament believers were concerned, and as far as the apostles originally
thought, the Messiah would come, pay the price for sins, deliver everyone, and
then set up His Kingdom immediately. And
of course even though the sequence is correct, the insertion of our
dispensation into history, interrupted that sequence, thus postponing the end
days events as well as the Kingdom of God.
So, Paul states here,
that if you have heard of these things, then you know. But if you have not heard of these things,
then he, Paul, is going to reveal them so that all may know.
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