“… And many
people shall go and say, come ye,
and let us go up
to the mountain of the Lord …” (verse 3)
“… and he will
teach us of his ways,
And we will walk
in his paths …” (verse 4)
Isaiah is a complex book; Isaiah
himself is considered chief of the writing prophets, the prophet of Redemption,
with a view of Grace like no other. He clearly lets us see in advance the
coming of Messiah (chapter 53) where there is no misunderstanding nor wonder
about Who Messiah is!
Just as significantly
as he prophesies the “Grace Age,” Isaiah unfolds the message of the “Kingdom
Age” in this same book. In today’s thoughts, I’d like to step over into a
little preview of that period of time when God will do some marvelous things,
not only for the Nation Israel, but also for His Son’s beloved Bride, the
Church for whom Christ died. We enjoy looking at the Scriptures in dispensations
because we understand, as finite individuals, lists and charts, and various
explanations of the hard subjects. So let’s do a list together. There is no
mistaking this one on the dispensations. A dispensation is a period in God’s
timing calendar that has a distinct beginning and that ends in judgment. A time
when man is tested with regard to his obedience to a specific revelation of
God’s will. Sounds cruel? Well, no. Man brought God’s judgment upon himself by
his disobedience. God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to deliver His people.
(Redemption played out, as Isaiah spoke it in 53:1-12, referring to the
vicarious sacrifice of Christ who “made Himself of no reputation” in order to
do the will of His Father). In other words, He became Servant.
Here’s the list.
Dispensations
1.
Innocence.
From Creation to the Fall (Genesis 1:28). (I’ll explain the first one.) God
creates man; man deliberately and willfully sins against God; God judges man by
expelling him from the Garden of Eden. Get the picture? On the next seven
dispensations, you complete the picture. Keep in mind that by now, because of
Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden, man knows the difference between
right and wrong.
2.
Conscience.
From the Fall to the Flood (Genesis 3:23).
3.
Human
Government. From the Flood to the Tower of Babel (Genesis 8:20; 11).
4.
Promise.
From the Call of Abraham out of the Ur of the Chaldees to the giving of the law
at Sinai. (Genesis 12:1-10 to Exodus 9).
5.
Law.
From Sinai to Calvary’s Cross (Exodus 19).
6.
Grace.
From The Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to the Rapture of the Church
(John 1:17).
7.
Tribulation.
(Law once again). From the Rapture to the Revelation.
8.
Kingdom.
From the Revelation to the Great White Throne (Ephesians 1:10).
Now, I know that
seems complicated, but who ever said the Word of God is just a simple, mindless
story told and requires no exercise of mental capacity. True, Salvation’s
message is simple enough so that a little child can understand the love of
Jesus. But there is a maturity level for God’s children that requires some
effort, lots of study, and we cannot—we must not—resort to laziness in that
regard. II Timothy 2:15 requires that we “Study to show ourselves approved unto
God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Now that you have
the challenge, turn back with me to Isaiah 2 and read again the first four
verses. Which dispensation do you think Isaiah is prophesying? Right. The
Kingdom. The Millennial Kingdom, where “…they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks…” (verse 4). That’s poetic and the Bible is
replete with beautiful prose and poetry. But there is a deeper meaning here.
Why did Isaiah
have to speak about swords and plowshares? What was the significance? Think
about the dispensations, those periods in time that always end in God’s
judgment. (By the way, we are living in the last days of the Dispensation of
Grace, where God is calling out a Gentile Bride for His Son, the Lord Jesus.
John 1:11-12 tells us, “He came unto his own, (Israel) and his own received him
not, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the Sons of
God, even to them that believe on his name.”
Just getting you
some perspective so you can see how close we are to The Kingdom Age. There is
potentially only seven years between us and The Kingdom Age, for Jesus could
come at any moment to catch His Bride away, at which time seven years of tribulation
begins, ending in more of God’s judgment at the Battle of Armageddon.
Back to swords and
plowshares and The Kingdom Age.
Can you remember
when there were no wars or rumbling of wars? Somewhere on Planet Earth, since Adam
sinned, plunging mankind into sin, war has raged. The USA has fought its share
of battles through the years. There have been times when we have literally beat
our plowshares into weapons of war. Our powers called for scrap iron and metal
and Rosie the Riveter turned them
into war planes and tanks and weapons and rightfully that, for a nation that
will not protect herself is foolish, indeed. We have certainly seen what weak
military leadership can do to a nation. When we become soft on military and
protection of our people and our shores, we are left holding what’s left of a
diminishing power.
There is
something, however, that we failed to do after World War II and in the wars
that have followed. We failed to turn some of that military substance back into
plowshares and pruninghooks at the proper time, and we, to our own detriment,
have damaged our economy, demoralized our people, and caused a lot of heartache.
We sent our industry to foreign countries and neglected our own cities and
states. Take a look at the once beautiful Motown. They churned out automobiles,
not only for our people, but for the people of the world. We see photographs of
the once beautiful city by the river that has folded her frail tent and there
is little left but rubble, a battered economy, a crime rate that blows the
mind, and a once-incredible industry is no more.
We think there is
no return to those days when the milk truck ran, when the firemen were safe in
their neighborhood firehouses, when the corner drugstore had no bars at the
windows, when the parks were playgrounds instead of safe havens for criminals;
when the apartment building boasted a lovely courtyard but is now ravaged by
drug dealers and users and junkies. Makes us want to cry as we watch our inner
cities embrace abandonment and our city fathers bow their heads in defeat. Yes,
we have returned to swords and spears and have forgotten our plowshares and
pruning hooks, figuratively and literally speaking. We may never see those days
again this side of the return of Christ. Our ravaged cities may never recover,
accepting the death blow and bowing to poverty and hopelessness. God help us!
We are the Nation that has forgotten God and we sit back and scratch our heads
and wonder what happened. What happened is we have banished God from our
schools; resorted to entertainment instead of worship in our churches;
consented to the murder of little babies in their mother’s wombs; condoned sin
in its most degrading and demoralizing form all for the sake of corrupt
politicians and media insanity.
We’re smart enough
to know that things are not getting better. They are waxing worse day by day. And
in accordance with the Word of God, they will continue in that direction until
Jesus comes. Isaiah 35 talks about Kingdom blessing. We do have much to look
forward to when this life is over. He said “… the desert shall rejoice, and
blossom as the rose” in verse one, and in the sixth verse, Isaiah says “… in
the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.” Verse nine
says, “… no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it
shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed
of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon
their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall
flee away.” Praise God! As the writer of Hebrews said in 4:9: “There remaineth,
therefore, a rest for the people of God.” And it will be in that City of Peace.
But there’s one
more aspect. We cannot sit idly by and watch as the world goes to hell. The
entire chapter four of Hebrews talks about the rest for the believer and we are
left with this commission: “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest,
lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” We have a responsibility
to “work till Jesus comes.”
Maranatha! (“Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus”) Revelation 22:20
Victor
W. Baugh, Sr., Th.D., Ph.D.
Pastor,
St. Luke AME Church
Havana,
AL
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