THE ETERNAL PURPOSE (Eph. 3:11)THE DISPENSATIONAL PLAN OF THE BIBLEA. THE PRIMAL CREATION. HEAVENS AND EARTH. "The world (Gr. kosmos) that then was." Gen. 1:1, 2-. 2Pet. 3:6.B. SATAN'S FIRST REBELLION. The earth became waste and a ruin (Heb. tohu va bohu ). Gen. 1:2-. God created it not a ruin (Isa. 45:18, Heb. tohu) nor waste ("confusion").C. THE EARTH RESTORED AND BLESSED. "The heavens and the earth which are now." Gen. 1:2-2:3. 2Pet. 3:7D. SATAN ENTERS AND THE CONSEQUENCE. Gen. 3.E. MANKIND DEALT WITH AS A WHOLE. Gen. 4-11:26.F. THE CHOSEN NATION CALLED AND BLESSED. Gen.11:27-Mal. 4:6. (Jehovah and His kingdom rejected. Israelscattered.)G. THE FIRST ADVENT. (Micah 5:2. Zech. 9:9). The FourGospels (Rom. 15:8). The King and the kingdom proclaimedand rejected, and the King crucified.H. THE KINGDOM RE-PROCLAIMED. Acts 3:19, 20, &c.The church of God called and taken out, Acts 13 and on,and earlier Pauline Epistles. The kingdom again rejectedand Israel again scattered.H. THE KINGDOM POSTPONED AND IN ABEYANCE."Not yet" (Heb. 2:8). The later, or Prison Epistles(Pauline). The MYSTERY revealed and proclaimed.Eph. 3:2-11. Col. 1:25; 2:2, 3. 1Tim. 3:16. THENEW HOPE. Phil. 3:11, 14. Titus 2:13. "Thechurch which is His body "called, and taken upPhil. 3:11, 14.G. THE SECOND ADVENT. "The first resurrection." Thekingdom established. The King enthroned. "The day ofthe Lord." Matt. 24; 25:31. Luke 19:11-27. Isa. 2:11-19.Joel 2; &c.F. THE CHOSEN NATION RECALLED AND BLESSED. Rom.11:11-36. Acts 15:16. Isa. 60, 61, 62. Jer 30, 31. Zech. 12:13,14; &c.E. MANKIND DEALT WITH AS A WHOLE. Joel 3:2. Matt.25:31-46. Acts 15:17. Rom. 15:8-12. Rev. 4-19.D. SATAN BOUND AND THE CONSEQUENCES. Rev. 20:1-3.C. THE EARTH RESTORED AND BLESSED. Rev. 20:4-6. Isa. 35; &c.The Millennium.B. SATAN'S FINAL REBELLION. Rev. 20:7-10. Followed by the secondresurrection and the judgment of the "great white throne". The destructionof "all things that offend". Rev. 20:11-15.A. THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH. The day of God.Rev. 21, 22. 2Pet. 3:12, 13. Isa. 65:17; 66:22.[list type=decimal][*]The above Structure shows the respective dispensations in which God has been and is dealing with the Jew, the Gentile, and the church of God. (1Cor 10:32) The "church which is His body" occupies the central position, and its present standing is seen to be separated from its future destiny and hope. The two rebellions of Satan also are seen to be in direct correspondence; suggesting the necessity why he must be loosed, and the loosing, for a little season (Rev. 20:3, 7). [*]All things were created by Him "Who is before all things and by Whom all things consist" (lit. hang together, Col 1:17); Who is now "upholding all things by the word of His power" (Heb. 1:3). The Structure shows in almost pictorial form the great lesson that God sets before us from Genesis to Revelation , viz. that no created being can stand (upright) apart from Christ the Creator. Hence the necessity for a "new heaven and a new earth" wherein abideth righteousness, inhabited by a "new creation of beings who have by grace been made "partakers of the Divine nature" (2Pet. 1:4). [*]Further, it will be seen that it is not God's purpose to bring in the new heaven and new earth by means of the "church". The new creation will be full of physical marvels, brought about by physical means and not "spiritual agencies". These means and their results are set before us in Revelation. Well may we exclaim with Paul, --"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to WHOM BE GLORY FOR EVER. AMEN."[/list]
