Dispensational Chart and
the Kingdom of God on Earth

The Order of Events

A THE FIRST ADVENT OF JESUS CHRIST

  • At His birth (Luke 2:11), the Jehovah of the Old Testament becomes Jesus Christ of the New Testament. (John 1:14) “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.” (PhiI. 2:5-8, Heb. 1:1, 2).
  • The Kingdom of the Heavens (God’s Government) proclaimed as being at hand. John the Baptist: “Repent (turn yourselves) for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 3:2).
  • Jesus Christ heralds and displays the Kingdom by His teaching and miracles. He calls upon the people of Israel to submit. (Matt. 4:17).
  • Christ’s healing the sick, raising the dead, etc., credential Him as the promised Messiah. (John 4:25, 26). Each miracle showed what the people could expect under Heaven’s government. (Matt 4:23) “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” (Matt. 4: 24, Matt. 8:16, Matt. 9:35).
  • Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death and victorious resurrection make possible the salvation of the world and mankind. (John 3:16, 17) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 1:29, 1 Cor. 15:3, 4, 22).

 

B THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION OF JESUS CHRIST.

  • This marks the actual beginning of the Kingdom of Heaven, but only in its blade stage. (Mark 4:26-29) “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; … and the seed should spring up and grow, … first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.”
  • God pours out of His Spirit on 120 men at the feast of Pentecost, endowing them with His manifest powers. These gifts are related to His government purposes, to which they are “out-called” (ekklÂsia). (Acts 5:14, 15) “And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.” (Mark 16:15-18, 20, Acts 2:4, 43, Acts 19:11, 12).
  • The Apostles are commissioned to herald the message of the Kingdom by word of mouth to the Jews only. (Acts 11:19, Acts 13:26, Rom. 1:16). Later Paul was commissioned to the Gentiles. These Gentiles that believed were “grafted” into the outcalled company to provoke the hesitant Jews to emulation. (Rom. 11:13-25).
  • Through Paul and the others of the ekklÂsia, God’s work (Rom. 9:27, 28) of bringing the message of the Kingdom to every responsible Israelite upon the earth, is accomplished in the 33 years covered by the book of Acts. (Rom. 10:18) “But I say, have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” (Rom. 15:20, 21).

 

C THE KINGDOM SUSPENDED.

  • God proclaims this very important administrational change through Paul. (Acts 28:28) “Let it then be known unto you that the salvation-bringing message of God has been sent to the nations and they will hear it.” (It will get through to them). An administration of pure grace begins. God’s purpose: to write into the history of mankind a record of the graciousness of His character. (Eph. 3:2-9).
  • The outflowing power of God (the gifts of the Spirit) through the outcalled (ekklÂsia) is reduced to conform to His purposes in grace. (Phil. 1:6) “Having come to this settled and firm persuasion concerning this very thing; namely that the One having begun a good work in you, will be suspending it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Also compare (Acts 19:11, 12) with (Phil. 2:25-30, 1 Tim. 5:23).
  • A written salvation-bringing message (John’s gospel) is authorized to all nations and replaces the commissioned heralds of the Acts period. (John 20:29-31) “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
  • All mediators (apostles, prophets, disciples, etc.) are set aside. God declares Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man. (1 Tim. 2:5, 6) “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”
  • A new group or calling emerges, consisting of “those, who having not seen (any manifest sign or miracle), yet have believed.” (John 20:29). In this time of God’s silence, when man is shut up to God’s written word, God is working in secret to accomplish His purposes in grace. (Eph. 3:8, 9).
  • Under God’s grace, justice for iniquity is withheld. All nations and individuals are equal in God’s sight and are permitted to walk in their own ways. (Isa. 26:10, Acts 14:16). The end result of mankind governing himself brings about insurmountable problems threatening the destruction of the earth and its inhabitants. (Prov. 14:12, 2 Tim. 3:1-7, 13).
  • God reiterates His promise to preserve mankind. (1 John. 4:14) “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” He will intervene before total disaster. (2 Tim. 3:9, Ps. 115:16, Ps. 37:9, 11).

 

D DIVINE INTERVENTION, THE MANIFEST KINKDOM OF GOD.

  • God literally invades the earth with His Spirit, taking over the governments of all nations to remake them. This is what the Bible speaks of as the epiphaneia (blazing forth) of the glory of Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:13, Joel 2:28). (Isa. 40:5) “And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” God introduces His esteem for Jesus Christ into the minds of all living. (Ps. 22:27).
  • First, for the living generation when God intervenes, and for each individual upon their resurrection is the judgment (setting in order) by Jesus Christ. (2 Tim. 4:1) “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom;” This assay will quickly determine who among the living is worthy to continue to live and who among the dead shall be raised, and in what order to have a portion in the life of the Kingdom of God. (John 5:25) “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live.” (Col. 3:4). The gifts of Christ’s great victory – perfect health, a changed body and a clear mind – are immediate for every individual, but those judged unworthy will lose all. (Ps. 37:10).
  • Christ, ruling from the heavens skillfully brings about a perfect solution to every problem plaguing mankind. (Ps. 46:9, 10) “He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire. “Cease (striving) and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Matt. 12:18-21, Isa. 9:6). The people of all nations put their trust in Him and enjoy a long period of peace, righteousness and justice. (Isa. 42:1-4, Isa. 26:9).
  • It is at this point in time that God calls the people of Israel, living and dead, out of all nations where they have been scattered, makes Himself known to them, and restores them to their land. (Jer. 31:10, 11) “Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.” (Ezk. 20:33-38, Ezk. 11:17-21, Ezk. 37).
  • The Temple is rebuilt, and accepted by God (2 Thes. 2:4). The order of daily sacrifice is renewed. (Ezk. 20:40, Ezk. 46:13).
  • Israel is the mediatoral nation, Jerusalem is the mediatoral city for all the nations of the World. (Isa. 56:7) “These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isa. 2:1-4, Ps. 68:29).
  • All men of all nations will have the help of God’s Spirit to learn righteousness as residents of God’s government. (Isa. 30:21) “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.”

 

E THE RESTRAINTS THAT HAVE GOVERNED MANKIND ARE LIFTED.

  • After more than 400 years of righteous education under His government, God tests all those upon the earth. (Rev. 3:10). He withdraws the restrainer (paraclete /comforter), (John 16:7) and allows men to walk in their own ways. (2 Thes. 2:3-8). The result is a falling away (apostasy), manifesting those who are anti-God.
  • This testing period is of unknown duration, but does include at its consummation the last seven years of the 490 years prophesied by Daniel (Dan. 9:24-27), the last 3½ years are described by Christ as being the greatest in tribulation.
  • The “lawless one” makes himself known. (2 Thes. 2:3, 4) “The falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” He is destroyed at the coming (parousia) of Jesus Christ. (2 Thes. 2: 8).
  • During the rebellion some of the faithful are martyred. They are the honored “dead in Christ” who will rise first at His coming (parousia). (1 Thes. 4:16, 17) “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

 

F THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST.

  • The sign of the Son of man appears in the heavens. (Matt 24:29-31) “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.”
  • At His coming the revolt is quashed. (2 Thes. 1:7-10). The kingdom is purged. (Matt. 13:40-43). Christ’s personal presence on the earth has a time-set of 1,000 years, during which Satan is bound, inoperative. (Rev. 20:1-3).

 

G SATAN IS RELEASED.

  • Satan, set free for a little season, goes out to deceive the nations of the earth and leads a revolt against the capital city of Jerusalem (Rev. 20:7, 8). God stops the revolt, Satan is destroyed. (Rev 20:9, 10) “They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown.”

 

H THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT.

  • When God concludes His judgments at the Great White Throne, all of the dead of all times will have had their order set for life or for destruction. Death and the state of death are destroyed. (Rev. 20:11-15).
  • All of God’s promises recorded in His word have been fulfilled, He declares: “Behold I make all things new.” Redeemed, tested mankind is ushered into the blessings of the New Heavens and the New Earth. (Rev. 21:1-5).