Series on Grace - Part 1 The Dispensation of Grace

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Series on Grace - Part 1
The Dispensation of Grace

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

Mystery or Prophecy?

We have often insisted that while the prophets “testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow,” they knew nothing of the present period of grace which lies between our Lord’s suffering and His kingdom glory.

“The dispensation of the grace of God,” we read in Ephesians 3, was “a mystery” only made known “by revelation” to Paul, some years after the rejected Christ had returned to heaven. In verse 5 he says that “in other ages” it was “not made known.” In verse 8 he calls it “the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God.” In Romans 16:25 he says it was “kept secret since the world began.” In Colossians 1:26 he insists again that it was “hid from ages and from generations.”

But there are still thousands of sincere believers who do not see this. They think that the prophets predicted the reign of grace as well as the reign of Christ. Thus they lose some of the joy of that great surprise of grace which God planned for sinners “before the world began” (II Tim. 1:9), but “kept secret since the world began” (Rom. 16:25).

One of the Scriptures which troubles them most is I Peter 1:10: “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.” They say that this proves conclusively that the dispensation of Grace was prophesied beforehand and was no mystery at all.

But here again we must distinguish between grace in a dispensation and the dispensation of Grace. Peter is not speaking of the reign of grace here, but of the grace that will prevail during the reign of Christ. This is clear from the 13th verse, where he exhorts his Jewish Christian brethren, “Hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Remember that like Christ on earth, Peter was a minister of “the Circumcision” (Rom. 15:18; Gal. 2:7). His message to the believing Jews had the kingdom reign of Christ in view.

The prophets had clearly predicted that God would judge the world for rejecting His Son and would enthrone Christ in spite of them. He did not do this immediately, however. In matchless mercy, He deferred the judgment and offered salvation to all who would receive it as a free gift through the merits of Christ. And so, while Christ is not yet reigning, grace reigns. “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign” (Rom. 5:21).

An over-abounding grace is the outstanding characteristic of God’s dealings with man in “this present evil age.”

When Saul of Tarsus became the leader of an organized rebellion against Christ, God in love reached down to save him, choosing him as the very agent through whom He would proclaim grace to a lost world.

Listen to his testimony and his message:

“Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, but…the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant” (I Tim. 1:13,14).

“Not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many” (Rom. 5:15).

“But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:20).

“In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace; wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence” (Eph. 1:7,8).

“Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).

“And God is able to make all grace abound unto you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (II Cor. 9:8).

“For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God” (II Cor. 4:15).

Do you wonder why we say that an over-abounding grace is the outstanding characteristic of God’s dealings with man in “this present evil age”? Surely grace is reigning. Otherwise the thunders of God’s judgment would roll and He would bring in the reign of Christ.

Though, in his first epistle, Peter told the believing Jews to “hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ,” he later learned something of that greater grace which God was to manifest in deferring the judgment of the nations and the reign of Christ, and, as we shall see, he learned it from Paul.

As Israel refused to repent and Christ did not return, some began to cry “Where is the promise of His coming?” (II Pet. 3:4).

Peter now answers this beautifully. He says “Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” And note, this is not a lame explanation offered today at the close of the age of Grace. This statement was made at the dawn of the age.

Peter goes on, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count [it], slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (II Pet. 3:8,9 cf. I Tim. 1:16 “all longsuffering”). So the delay must not be counted slackness on God’s part, but longsuffering, and since “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” this delay might continue for any amount of time, even though the signs of the last days had already begun to appear (Acts 2:16,17).