THE DISPENSATION OF GOD
[p. 448] THE DISPENSATION OF GOD
1 Timothy 1:4; Hebrews 8:1; Mark 16:19 - 20; Mark 13:1; Mark 12:41
I ask your attention in an endeavour to connect these scriptures. What I wish to speak about is the dispensation of God, and how it may be, to use the word in the New Translation, furthered by believers. In order to show how it may be furthered I must first show, as briefly as I can, what the dispensation of God is. The word dispensation is frequently used by us, covering a past economy of God, that of the Old Testament, what we call the Mosaic; also covering Christianity; and in the future covering what we call the millennium. The word “dispensation” is used commonly by Christians to designate these three great eras in the ways of God.
I wish to speak only of the present one, which is said, as the passage reads in Timothy, to be “in faith”. The past dispensation was in sight. It was, we may say, a dispensation of sight. Moses was visible; Aaron was visible; the tabernacle was visible; and the temple was visible. It was therefore a dispensation of sight. And in the future, what we call the millennium; that is to say, a thousand years of time in which there shall be an administration by the Lord Jesus, will be also a period of sight. It will be inaugurated, by the manifestation of Christ. “shall appear to those that look for him”, it is said, Hebrews 9:28. He shall appear, and He remains, as it were, in evidence in the administration of that period, so that it shall be a dispensation of sight; whereas what the apostle refers to in 1 Timothy he calls “God’s dispensation, which [is] in faith”, 1 Timothy 1:4.
Now I want you to follow that. Having believed on Christ, you have the Holy Spirit, and, as having the Spirit, you have Him, as it were, on the principle [p. 449] of dispensation. He has been dispensed to you, and, as having the Spirit, you are brought into the house of God; you have in that way a part in the dispensation, and, as in it, you are to further it.
Now, to say another word as to dispensation; the idea of it is, as the word denotes, that things are dispensed or administered. In other words, it is a stewardship which the blessed God Himself has undertaken. All the wealth dispensed is His own; but He undertakes to dispense it; and, in doing so, He has committed all into the hands of a Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we learn in John’s gospel, “The Father loves the Son”, John 3:35. Everyone who loves the Lord Jesus receives that statement with satisfaction. “The Father loveth the Son”, and, as loving Him, He has committed all things into His hand. The administration, therefore, is in the hands of the Son; and so in turning to Hebrews, with considerable deliberation, I wish to show you how the administration is carried on.
The writer says, summing up the previous seven chapters: “We have such a one High Priest”. Such a one. Who is this one? Well, the Spirit, through the writer, enlarges on the glories of the Lord Jesus in the first chapter. He says, “God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days has spoken to us in [the person of the] Son, whom he has established heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; ... upholding all things by the word of his power, having made [by himself] the purification of sins, set himself down”, Hebrews 1:1 - 3.
Does it not fill your hearts that the Spirit of God can employ such language of the Lord Jesus? “He set himself down” as it reads, “on the right hand of the Majesty on high”. “The Majesty!” That word “Majesty” conveys to us all that God is in dignity and glory; and this lowly Man, whom you have come to love, has “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty”. There is really no other majesty. Jesus has seated Himself down by the right hand of that; Jesus, as I have said, whom we have come to love and revere!
Now the writer says here in chapter 8, “We have such a one High Priest who has sat down on [the] right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens”. He is more explicit in this chapter; it is “in heaven” instead of “on high”, for he is coming to deal now with the new system, with the official system I might say, in which Christ administers What is it? Where is the centre of it? it is in heaven. That is where it is. Where is your centre? Where is your centre religiously? I do not ask you where it is politically, because this is not a political scene we are dealing with. It is a religious centre of which I am speaking. On earth men have their religious centres and their political centres; I am speaking of the religious. The Christian’s centre is heaven, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. The house of God on earth corresponds with this.
And then the apostle goes on to say, “Minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched, [and] not man”. It is not pitched by man. Are you connected with a religious organisation which is set up of men? Where is its centre? Whence is it administered? Test your religious connections with this passage. See if they measure with it. He says “We have such a one”. We have. Who are the “we”? If there is one thing about the epistle to the Hebrews more than another, it is the mutuality suggested in the terms employed by the writer. The writer is simply a Christian. He does not write to them as an apostle. He is a Christian. Hence he says, “We have such a one”. Can you place yourself in that company?
[p. 451] As I said, the words he employs denote mutuality. You will find constantly throughout the epistle “we” and “us”; that is, the writer is one of a company, and if something is to be done he joins in it; if something is to be enjoyed, he is to have part in it. Hebrews is characterised in this way.
Well, it says, “We have such a one High Priest, ... minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched, [and] not man”. It is not pitched by man. It is a great deliverance for his soul when the believer sees that what is merely of man has to pass away. However ancient, however fortified by learning, repute and prestige it is to pass away. All religious systems set up by men, then, are contrary to God’s mind and so pass away. It is serious to be connected with any of them. As believers, our only connection spiritually should be the tabernacle which the Lord pitched.
Well now, Jesus, with all His glorious dignity in heaven, is the Minister of that; so that the dispensation of God in that way works out, as one might say, housewise. Indeed one is bold to suggest that the term “dispensation of God” involves the house. The teaching of 1 Timothy is quite plain as showing that what God has to dispense now is in connection with His house. The apostle says to Timothy that he had begged him to remain in Ephesus to look after the doctrine, to maintain the order and holiness of the house of God. The dispensation of God would be furthered in this way.
I was saying that the dispensation begins with the Lord Jesus Christ in a sitting posture. You may wonder why I call attention to this. I mention as one reason this, that it denotes restfulness and deliberation. We have arrived at a juncture which is very far from those two thoughts. The poor world is in terrible turmoil, there is very little restfulness seen even among the people of God; very little assurance [p. 452] as to things, and I might add to that, very little deliberation or meditation in regard of divine things.
So I venture to turn to Mark. Although he speaks of the Lord’s activities in His service when here, yet he gives us these very remarkable instances in which He is found sitting. I take them in the reverse order to that in which they are found in the gospel. The first is: “The Lord therefore, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God”. He sat there. I want you to ponder that, and I want you to ponder it in connection with what I have said; that the administration of the things of God is in the hands of Jesus; and it is carried on in perfect restfulness and in perfect deliberation. The administration of the gospel, for that is before us here, is therefore carried on in perfect order and effectiveness. It says in Hebrews that He sat down, and in Mark it says, He sat down. I want you to ponder the position of Christ; the posture of Christ; how the affairs of the assembly are administered; how watched over and administered in perfect restfulness and in perfect deliberation.
In saying that I wish to draw you into line with Him, I want to deliver you, if I can, from the restlessness of spirit, and the anxiety that mark the people of God. Satan would overwhelm us with anxiety, but all the storms that have arisen, all the satanic movements, have not touched the Lord in the least degree. He is perfectly at rest beyond it all, sitting at the right hand of the Majesty; and there in repose, having completed the work which He undertook from the Father, He is carrying on with perfect wisdom, with perfect design, the administration of the things of God, through the house, at the present time. It is a wonderful contemplation.
It says the disciples went everywhere. I want to call attention to that, because you may assume that we, as here seen in this world, are to sit down. Far [p. 453] from it. Whilst He sat down, it says the disciples went everywhere. They did not sit down; of course, they would sit down, as having part with Christ spiritually, but this is another matter. They were active; and, furthermore, the Lord worked with them. Although sitting, He carried on His work. Now that is the situation with regard to the gospel service in the dispensation of God.
In proceeding I want to show you how the sitting posture is taken up by the Lord with regard to the religion of the world. It is a very solemn thing to me that the Lord sits down over against the temple, Mark 13:3. The temple at that time had been left by Him. As you will notice, it says, “he went out of the temple”. The temple stood for accredited religion in the world. It was an imposing structure. There is much in Christendom today that answers to it. It stood up proudly on mount Zion, visible, I suppose, from a great distance. The Lord went across the ravine from it and sat over against it. The Lord has taken up a position of vantage, whence He surveys the religion which is accredited in this world. “He sat” it says, “opposite the temple” If found in a religion accredited in this world a believer’s position is most serious. The Lord is not there; on the contrary He is sitting over against it.
Only recently I was speaking about “high places”. The prophet Habakkuk says he would walk upon his high places, Habakkuk 3:19. He speaks of what is the privilege of Christians, to walk upon their high places. But I want to say to you that our high places are not the high places spoken of in the books of Kings and Chronicles. There we read of high places in which incense was offered and sacrifices which the Lord had not commanded. What about these high places? These imposing structures, (let me speak plainly), which men regard as theirs, are not built by divine direction. They are not reared up by divine [p. 454] pattern or command. This was also true of the high places in Israel; they were carried over from the original inhabitants and continued by those who were regarded as the people of God. So today the original heathen customs are carried over and adorned with the name of Christianity. It is very serious. The Lord sits over against them, and He pronounces that there is not one stone, so to speak, to be left upon another in any of them. It is a serious consideration, beloved friends; especially in view of the fact that many of the saints of God actually support those places. Not that I am here to utter a threat against these places; but it is important that Christians should have it before them that the Lord Jesus has taken up a position over against the temple, and He pronounces its doom, saying, “not a stone shall be left upon a stone, which shall not be thrown down”. Very solemn! Very different from the house of God. The house of God, I might say, is the “high place” for Christians. It was builded upon an eminence of old. You remember how Solomon, it says, went up by an ascent into the house of Jehovah. He went up to it. It was builded upon an eminence. You reach it by exercise.
I am not saying the house of God is in heaven, for it is not; but I do say with Jacob, that it is “the gate of heaven”. With him this was a conclusion arrived at. I do not know whether you have reached the blessedness of heavenly influence and associations, but I do know that if you reach the house of God you will reach this. It is a “high place” such as Habakkuk speaks of. He says “he will make me to walk upon my high places”. But I mention this in passing, so that you may have before you that, in the abandonment of the high places of man, God affords you a high place, a place that is far higher than theirs; for it is “the gate of heaven”, as Jacob calls it. I might add to that, that the gate is the [p. 455] place of administration in Scripture, so that the house of God becomes in that way the medium through which heaven administers its rule and bounty. What a wonderful thing that we should belong to the house; and that we should know how to conduct ourselves in it!
Well now, I come to the third passage in Mark. It says: “Jesus sat over against the treasury”. He sat. I take it, that the sitting posture in each instance is to denote restfulness and deliberation. Think of the scrutinising eye of Christ as He sits down over against your pocketbook! I want to be very simple. I mean to say, He takes account of the Christian’s belongings in regard to God, as the treasury of God. God has a treasury, but I speak for a moment of what is material. It says, “Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury”. It is searching with regard to our belongings. It is a dispensing time. It is a poor Christian that has not something to dispense. It is much greater to have the spiritual than the material; but, suppose I have the material; how about that? There is the treasury of God. The Lord Jesus sits over against it, and He sits over against it, not to watch what is in it, not as the custodian of it. No. He sits over against it to see how each one casts into it. That is what He is there for. These are serious considerations.
The writer to the Hebrews says: “of doing good and communicating [of your substance] be not forgetful”. We are apt to forget it. We are apt to forget that while the spiritual is ministered, the material is also necessary. “be not forgetful”, he says; and then he says further, “with such sacrifices God is well pleased”. Think of being able to render pleasure to God by what you have in your pocketbook! Such is the dispensation in which we are. The Lord sits over against the treasury. As I said, He is not there to watch what is in the [p. 456] treasury, but He is watching what you are putting into it. That is the point. And then He passes His judgment on the widow, who had two mites; “she ... cast in”, He says, “the whole of her living”. That is how He judged it. He says, “This poor widow has cast in more than all” There is a perfect judgment then rendered by the Lord Jesus as to what we cast in under His eyes.
While, as I said, He was not taking account of what was in the treasury, yet He can make use of it. As of old, the Levites who carried the more cumbrous things of the tabernacle, required wagons, so today the administration of the house, the dispensation of God, requires that we should not forget to communicate of our substance. I am not of course making as much of it as of spiritual sacrifices. I would say a word about them. Peter speaks of our privilege “to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”, 1 Peter 2:5. That is another thing. It is a much greater thing to be able to offer a spiritual sacrifice than a sacrifice of my material substance. A spiritual sacrifice is “by Jesus Christ”. I require the High Priest for that, but I do not require the High Priest exactly to communicate of my substance. It does not say that I am to do that “by Jesus Christ”, but it does say that I am not to forget it, for if I do it I minister pleasure to God.
Well, now I am coming to another point, and that is, that the administration of the house requires priests. And so in Hebrews the Lord is said to be “such a one High Priest”. In the old economy, as you will be aware, there were no seats in the tabernacle. The high priest even had no chair there. Indeed Hebrews says “every priest standeth” They carried on their labours in a standing posture. That meant there was nothing finished, that things were always in a waiting, unfinished, incomplete condition,
[p. 457] under the old regime. Now see the difference! “But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down in perpetuity at [the] right hand of God”, Hebrews 10:12. The Lord Jesus is sitting; but in order that the system should be maintained and the administration should be carried on, there must be the priest.
Now I want to say just one word as to the priests, especially with regard to their clothing. Psalm 132 says, “Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness”. I want to say a word about that. To have part in the administration of the house of God requires that we should be righteous. You say, God accounts me righteous through the death of Christ on the principle of faith. True; that fits me for the presence of God; but I need to be clothed for the presence of men. Do you follow what I mean? If I am to officiate in the administration of the house of God I must be righteous. Hence David says with true priestly sensibility, “Let thy priest be clothed with righteousness”, Psalm 132:9. What about your circumstances? What about your business? What about your household affairs? These are your clothes. Is righteousness there? It is most essential, that we should be clothed with righteousness. And now after the prayer of the psalmist the word comes from Jehovah. “I will clothe her priests with salvation”, Psalm 132:16. Think of that! God covers us with clothes of salvation; one is thus consciously free from the influence of the world and Satan. These are most essential things for us in regard to the administration, to be clothed with righteousness and clothed with salvation.
There is the calling to which we are called at this time, to further the dispensation of God, and one would raise the question in one’s own soul as to how far it is true of me that I am doing this. It must take precedence of my business and all my other [p. 458] interests. I am here in this world expressly for this purpose. What we are occupied with is not visible to the natural eye; it is a faith system; what is unseen and spiritual is brought in and made effective by the power of the Spirit and by the exercise of the saints.
I quite admit that the saints are to be seen, but the apostle says here that the dispensation of God is “in faith”. I want you to take that in, for I see that many are defective as to faith. We are so prone to think of that which is visible, and to be occupied with it, instead of being occupied with what is invisible. Everything carried on here in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is on the principle of faith, the principle on which all service should be rendered. All giving and all ministry should be on that ground. I am referring to what is in heaven, to what is established in heaven, where Jesus sits in relation to the true tabernacle which the Lord has pitched and not man. May God grant this, that saints now, when Satan would confuse and baffle us, may hold to the dispensation. I would lay down as most important for us, that we do not let go in our souls the dispensation of God, which has been set up and which continues, and in holding to it, that we should be found furthering it according to our measure.