Gracious Dispensation

A dispensation is a system of order; a distinct arrangement or period in history that forms the framework through which God relates to man.  Mark 1:14 says, "Jesus came preaching....the time is fulfilled": the time determined of God for the revelation of the Messiah and the grace of the gospel through Him.  The dispensation of the fullness of time, the kingdom of God is at hand.

Everything from the beginning of creation looked toward this time and everything after the resurrection looked backward to that time.  And again, I am using Matthew Poole's commentary in my writing.  He calls this "the gracious dispensation of God"; the gracious period of history that forms the framework for open communication between Creator and His most prized trophy of creation, man.

And Jesus, the Name above all Names, was born, preached, died and did something no person could do, satisfy the wrath of God and then conquered death.  And in His life here, while many love to exalt the miracles, our gracious Lord preached.  He had compassion in His short time here.  He wanted men to hear and understand.

He said, "Repent"!  What is that?  To know you are a sinner and to have great sorrow over it and turn from that wickedness.  "Believe"!  To believe the gospel is one thing but to "believe in" the gospel is another.  Many who heard Jesus believed but it was no more than a firm and fixed assent to the proposition of the gospel.  But to "believe in" is to place our hope of salvation in the doctrine and promises of the gospel, that flows from the sense of the love of God in Christ.

While many admired and were amazed and astonished at Jesus, they did not believe in Him.  The gospel did not affect their cold, lifeless, and powerless hearts any more than the dull telling of a tale.  But those who did and do place their life in the hope He has laid out for us in His word, will find He fills us with a power that affects everything.  Everything we think, do and say can no longer be flippant or unaffected by the power of His word.  Gracious Dispensation!  Let us look back in hope, love and adoration of the order of our great God and His plan of love for His creatures.