[Unlocking your biblical understanding]

Once I had moved out of my guardians home in KwaZulu Natal, I made my journey into tertiary education or university. I really didn't know what I wanted to do, the life skills I needed to make decisions, wisdom and street smarts were lacking. My guardians, for the wonderful people that there were in taking me in to stay with, didn't take the time or opportunity to build me up, to encourage, to give me the tools to navigate life. Honestly it was enough that being an orphan, they were willing to feed me, clothe me, share their home with and their kids. And for that I am most thankful.

But being so young, and so ill-equipped I moved through life banging my head, running into endless walls and learning from the hard school of life. I didn't know how to select a career in university. I didn't know how to deal with the social circles. I struggled to understand the meaning and purpose of life. So in university, I did what everyone else. If they drank alcohol and got drunk, well that seemed like a norm, until I ended up at the bottom of a toilet floor of a friends house from over-consumption. Or going to night clubs in the pursuit of finding love, which in hindsight is where you more likely to find more pain then romance. Or being completely ill-equipped with understanding what wholesome, quality relationships were like and being a true friend. I ended up wasting countless hours in tears, in pain, destitute, and while being surrounded with so many friends.

The moral of the story here is a simple one, without the right tools, without being equipped, you going to end up with a tool-belt that consists of a hammer, and everything is going to look like a nail. Hammer's may appear to work well for most things, until you meet the situation, again and again and again. Pain in cycles.

You need the right tools

But here's the clincher. I had the right tools the entire time, I just didn't know how to unlock them. They were in a safe. And the key to their access was the Holy Spirit. And equipping myself with those tools, to use in the right situations, in the right context with the right timing, came from a study and living of God's Word - The Holy Scriptures.

2Ti 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

To equip yourself to navigate this life, you need to develop the tools from the Bible. Why? Because the Bible is the Word of God. If God has inspired His Bible, left us with His very own Words, through the personalities of men. Then these very words, are what we should ponder, consider and meditate on. The Bible is no ordinary book. It is bold in it's claims. Firstly, it does not align itself with other religions. The God of Bible has one identity, is a jealous God and has no tolerance for idolatry or philosophies of men. Secondly, God created the worlds, the universe through His words. His words have power. They form and shape matter, His words direct and define truth, and His words are life. The Bible is not some Neo-orthodox book. It is to be believed literally. It is to be read in a historical, grammatical and literal context. Either the Bible came from God, or it came from men. If it came from men, then I'm not interested in it or it's god. The Bible is not about ideas. The Bible is about words, that form truth. Every word matters.

Proverbs 30:5-6 - "Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."

But how do we get these tools

In order to understand the Bible, we need the Holy Spirit. And in order to have that, we need to be saved, by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and His work on calvary in paying the ultimate price for our sin. It involves in believing in His resurrection. It involves seeing you sin before a Holy God, and falling down on your knees and calling out to Him.

Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

The next aspect we need is to be able to understand how to read, study and digest the Bible. In order to do that, we need to see the natural divisions in the Bible. The first and most clear division is seen in the Old and New Testament. A born-again bible believing Christian, finds their doctrine in the New Testament, not the Old. That is, God's instruction to them is found in the New Testament. Their responsibility and how they will be held accountable is defined there. But also more so, the Old Testament and New Testament are written to two completely different sets of people. The Old Testament is written to Israel and is a record of Israel's history. The New Testament, is largely written to the Church. Following this natural division, is called Dispensationalism. For example, as a Christian, we don't have to obey all 600 plus laws in line with the Old Testament for our salvation. We don't have to sacrifice cows, sheep or turtledoves. Those laws, were for Israel. We are not the intended audience.

But theres more divisions

So if there are these two divisions, could there be more? Now that's a great question. And yes there is. Scripture can roughly be broken up into seven main dispensations. A dispensation is biblical word meaning - administration or a division in scripture. Websters 1828 Dictionary defines it as "The dealing of God to his creatures; the distribution of good and evil, natural or moral, in the divine government".

We see Adam and Eve in the garden, in their infancy of character, were given an instruction not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God told them what the repercussions would be, and it was not spiritual death, it was literal death.

Following that we see men being called to use their consciences, given their knowledge of good and evil. We see Cain and Abel as an example, instructed by God to bring worthy sacrifices, and we see cost and accountability of the actions of men, when they fail to heed God, but follow the evil of their own hearts. Cain kills Abel, and God curses him for the rest of his days.

And so this pattern repeats itself, God imparts instruction, progressive revelation or knowledge. He informs a set of individuals or group what that they are responsible to. And He states how He will hold them accountable to it. To quote Scofield, "A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect of obediance to some specific revelation of the will of God".

We will see more clarity to these seven dispensations in the next chapter, but let's understand why dispensations are so important.

Why dispensations are so important

It helps us understand what God requires of you in the dispensation you are in. Stated more simplistically,

It ensure you don't misapply the Bible to yourself or others. Stated differently, it separates Israel from the Church. They are not the same thing.
It separates the future promises of God, to the Church and Israel.
It separates the three gospels, Gospel of Circumcision, Gospel of Grace and Gospel of the Kingdom.

Getting your dispensations right, will help you correctly read, understand and live out the kind of life God desires from you. The Bible is not a book about salvation of men, the Bible is a book that reflects the nature of men, and the glory of God. Through our failures, we see God's faithfulness. Through our sin, we see God's sacrifice. Through our pain, we see God's Power. And through our trials, we see God's care. He is a God of wonder. And the Bible is His book. There are His Words. And not man's. We read the Bible to learn from men, from history but we never lose focus and sight, of the wonder of who the God of the Bible is. Omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent.

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

Resources for understanding dispensations

If you interested in understanding the dispensations in your Bible, I would encourage you to look at the following resources.