Untitled Document

THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES

The following subjects concerning the dispensation of the fulness of times will be discussed:

A DEFINITION OF TERMS

WHEN IS THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES?

THE CHARACTER OF THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES

A DEFINITION OF TERMS

There are two terms that must be understood if we are to understand the dispensation of the fulness of times. They are “dispensation” and “fulness”.

Let us begin with the word “dispensation”. The Greek word translated “dispensation” is “oikonomia”. It is made up of two words, “Oiko” meaning “house” and” nomia” which means “law”. So literally, “oikonomia” means “house law“.

The first occurrences are in Luke 16:2-4, “…..How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me unto their houses”. To use the literal meaning of “oikonomia” we might translate this phrase, “Give an account of your house law”. It is clear that “house law” does not easily fit into an English translation. For that reason I believe that it would be helpful to find a synonym for “house law”. It is clear that the steward of Luke 16 is managing his master’s household. I would suggest therefore, the word “management” might be an adequate translation of the Greek “oikonomia”. “Management” is a synonym that is easier to adapt to the context of each of the occurrences of “oikonomia” and it means more or less, the same as “house law”. So then, we might translate these verses as, “give an account of thy management“, and “when I am put out of the management“.

So the term “the dispensation of the fulness of times” refers to how God will manage His household in the fulness of times.

Going on now to define the Greek word translated “fulness”. That Greek word is, “pleeroma”. It is used 17 times in the New Testament. I believe that as we look at just a few of those occurrences, we will see how the Holy Spirit would have us understand the word.

We read in Mark 8:20, “……..how many baskets full of fragments took ye up?”. This is I believe to be the basic use of the word. It is used here to indicate that the baskets had no more room for any more fragments, i.e. they were full.

The word is used in Rom. 13:10 where we read, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law”. I believe that Paul’s point is that love completes the law concerning one’s neighbors.

Let us also consider Col. 1:18-19, “And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the Head of the body, the church: Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence. for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell”. I believe Paul’s point in this passage is that in Christ all God’s plans are completed.

Now let us look at a passage which speaks of the fulness of a time. Gal. 4:4 reads, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law……”. I believe Paul’s point in this verse is that when all things were completely ready for the coming of Christ to earth, God sent His Son. The key point is that all things were ready.

Now let us consider the term in Eph. 1:10, “the fulness of times…..”. I believe that we may conclude that the fulness of times refers to a time when all God’s plans have been completed and there is nothing else that needs to be done.

I think we may conclude from how it is used that the term “dispensation of the fulness of times” tells us that when everything is ready God will manage His household according to the fact that all His plans have been completed.

WHEN IS THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES?

We have seen in the section above that the dispensation of the fulness of times will be a time in which God will manage His household in accordance with the fact that all His plans have been accomplished. That leads us to I Cor. 15:28, “And when all things shall be subdued, unto Him then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him That put all things under Him, that God may be all in all”. The context is clearly about a time when all things will have been accomplished so that God will be all in all. And the dispensation of the fulness of times is a dispensation which will see all things having been accomplished. Therefore, I believe that we may conclude the Eph. 1:10 and I Cor. 15:28 speak of the same time.

When is the dispensation of the fulness of times? Again, the context of I Cor. 15:28 is about God’s plans being completed. And we read in I Cor. 15:26 that “the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death“. Most assume this will be accomplished at the end of the millennium because they believe that death will be destroyed when the new heavens and new earth will be issued in. Let us look at that assumption.

We read in Is. 65:17-20, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her People a joy: and I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My People; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not fulfilled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed”.

Because this passage speaks of death on the new earth most have applied the phrase “new heavens and new earth” to the millennium. For example, the note in the Companion Bible on the word translated “new” in the passage quoted above, we read in part, “new in respect to the old”. In other words, Dr. Bullinger suggested that the Hebrew word translated “new” should be understood to mean “different from something that preceded it”, rather than “new”. After considering how the Holy Spirit uses that Hebrew word, I agree with Dr. Bullinger’s suggestion. But we must also consider the Hebrew word translated “create” in the phrase “behold I create new heavens and a new earth”. .

The Hebrew word translated “create” in Is. 65:17-18 is “bara”. It is used of the creation of the heaven and earth eleven times. It is used of the creation of man fifteen times. It is used of the creation of Israel two times and the creation of the new Jerusalem of Is. 65 two times, and of Lucifer two times. It is also used one time each of clouds and smoke, of waters and trees of the millennium, of the situation of a woman encompassing a man (Israel encompassing Her Husband), of “great whales“, of darkness, of evil, of fruit of life, of wind, of the covenant, of secret things, and of a generation to come and a new heart.

It is clear that none of those things which were created (bara) were merely different than what preceded it. For example when we read in Gen. 1:1 that “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”, God did not create something that was merely different than what preceded it because there was nothing that preceded it. When God created man, God did not make something that was just different than what preceded it, God created man as something entirely new, i.e. a being created in the image of God. Israel was an entirely new creation, not a nation made different from a preceding nation. Lucifer was created as a unique being, not merely different from a being that preceded him.

I am not suggesting that what was created may not have been different, but the Hebrew word “bara” does not mean “different”, it means “create”, which tells us that it is something that is brand new, not something that is just different than what preceded it. In fact let us consider Dr. Bullinger’s note in the Companion Bible on the word “bara” as it occurs in Ps. 51:10. That verse reads, “Create in my a clean heart, O God…….”. The note in the Companion Bible reads, “Create. Heb. ‘bara’, as in Gen. 1:1. The new heart is not the old one changed, but newly created; i.e. begotten by God, as in John 3:6-8″.

It is clear that “bara” is not used in the sense of something that had been made merely different than something that preceded it. The millennial heaven will not be a new creation. In fact the millennial earth will not be a new creation. It was different than what preceded it, but it was not a new creation in the sense that the Holy Spirit used the word “bara”. And the same is true of the millennial Jerusalem. That is to say, the millennial Jerusalem will not be a new creation, it will be only different from the Jerusalem that preceded it. Therefore, because we can not use the word “bara” in reference to the millennial Jerusalem or to the millennial heaven or the millennial earth, Is. 65:17-29 cannot refer to the millennial heaven and earth. Therefore, it must refer to the new heavens and earth of Rev. 21.

But how are we to understand verse 25 where we read, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain”? Because there will be no mountains in the new Jerusalem, this phrase is obviously a millennial prophecy. Let us consider verses 16 and 21 in our study of this passage. We read in verse 21, “and they shall build houses….”. Who are the “they” referred to in this verse? Obviously, we must look back to a previous verse to answer that question. Verses 17-20 do not answer that question, but verse 16 does. We read in verse 16, “That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth: because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from Mine eyes”. Then in verse 21 we read, “and they shall build…”. In other words, the “they” of verse 21 refers back to those of verse 16. Because verse 16 comes in the context of the millennium (see verses 11-16) so too does verse 21 and all the verses to the end of the chapter refer to the millennium. Verses 17-20 are therefore, the only verses that must refer to the new heavens and new earth because they were created, not made merely different than what preceded it.

Now let us consider verse 20 of Is. 65. “There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed”. The important word here is the word “but” in the phrase, “but the sinner”. The “but” tells us that there is a contrast between the child who dies at one hundred and the sinner who will be “accursed”. The child who dies at a hundred must be living outside the new Jerusalem. How do we know that? We know that because only believers will be living in the new Jerusalem and believers will have put on immortality and will never die. The sinner of one hundred years who lived in the new Jerusalem will not die, but he will be accursed. (Please see the paper on this web-site Will Unbelievers Be On The New Earth? for the Scriptural evidence that there will be, at least of a time of preparation, unbelievers on the new earth.)

In other words, while the “child” living outside the new Jerusalem may die at a hundred years of age, the sinner who had lived in the city and therefore must have been a believer, may be cursed, but will not die.

Most tend to focus on the fact that some will die at one hundred years because it so surprising to read of death on the new earth. But the real point of this passage in Is. 65 is that the one who sins in the new Jerusalem will not die, but only be accursed. Let us back up to verse two in order to establish that point. “And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My People; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed”.

Because there will be death on the new earth, we must conclude that death will not be destroyed until some after the issuing in of the new earth. The paper on this web-site Will Unbelievers Be On The New Earth? will give the reasons from Scripture for my belief that there will be a period of preparation on the new earth. After that period of preparation then will there be no more death and it is after death has been destroyed that the dispensation of the fulness of times will be issued in.

THE CHARACTER OF THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES

In the section above we saw that I Cor. 15 speaks of a time when “God will be all in all”. And Eph. 1:10 speaks of a time when God will “gather together in one all things in Christ”. I believe that as we consider the meaning of the Greek word translated “gather together” and compare it with I Cor. 15, we will have a much better idea of what the character of the dispensation of the fulness of times will be.

The Greek word translated “gather together” is “anakephalaioomai” and is used only one other time, i.e. in Rom. 13:9. The Companion Bible tells us that the word means literally “head up”. That is quite easy to understand in terms of Eph. 1:10. That is to say, Eph. 1:10 tells us that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, Christ will head up all things in heaven and on earth. But let’s not stop there. That is to say, like most words, this one has a basic meaning, but it also has nuances of meaning.

As mentioned above, the Greek word is also used in Rom. 13:9. That verse reads, “….. ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, ‘ ‘Thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself'”. It is the Greek word translated here “briefly comprehended” that is the same as is translated “gather together” in Eph. 1:10.

We cannot translate the word as “head up” in Rom. 13:9 because according to Matt. 22:36-39 the “great commandment” is to love God with all our hearts, soul and mind”, and another like that is to love our neighbors as ourselves”. What I am suggesting is that because Paul did not include the commandment to love God he cannot have said that to love our neighbors “heads up” all other commandments.

But we can say that in the context of Rom. 13 “sum up” would be a good translation. That is to say, the commandment to love our neighbor does sum up all the other commandments Paul quoted in verse 9. But coming back to Eph. 1:10, what does it mean to say that Christ will sum up all things in heaven and on earth? This is, in my opinion, too profound a concept to put in one word or one term. But the basic concept is that Christ will be to all things in heaven and on earth what the commandment to love your neighbor is to the commandments spoken of of in Rom. 13:9. In other words, just as the commandment to love your neighbor is the very essence of the other commandments Paul spoke of in Rom. 13:9, so too in the dispensation of the fulness of times the relationship of Christ to all things in heaven and on earth will be that He is their very essence.

I believe that this very profound concept will be better understood if we add to it that which we read in I Cor. 15 that God will be “all in all”. We read in I Cor. 15:28, “And when all things shall be subdued unto Him then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him That put all things under Him, that God may be all in all“. What does the phrase “that God may be all in all” mean? I believe it means that God will be the all-important and the only revered Being in the universe.

The phrase “all in all” may be an example of the figure of speech Aenigma which is defined in the Companion Bible as, “a truth expressed in obscure language”. A figure of speech is used to enhance a truth. What truth is being enhanced in this phrase? I believe that when we say of someone we love “you are my everything” we are expressing the same thought as Paul expressed when he wrote that God will be “all in all”.

Now let us add together what we learn from Eph. 1:10 and I Cor. 15:28. We learn that, at long last, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, God will be to all that live their everything.

This paper was written by Joyce Pollard. If you would like to respond please e-mail me at: [email protected]

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