God And His Word - A Question And Answer Approach To Understanding The Bible

PART III. DISPENSATIONAL TRUTH LESSON 1: INTRODUCING "GOD'S PLAN OF THE AGES"

A careful study of the prophetic Chart of the Ages (given on page 95 will be of the greatest help in gaining a proper understanding of the Bible. Bible chronology is a fascinating study and of the utmost importance. The student who knows the “when” and the “why” of major happenings in the Bible sees God's Plan of Redemption as an exciting PANORAMA OF TRUTH. That is the main purpose for our including Part III in your catechism course. By the time the student finishes this third section of catechism, he should be able to locate chronologically the various important events and teachings of the entire Bible. Every TIME prophecy can measured out on this chart. 1. HERE ARE SOME DEFINITIONS: TIME: "The period during which an action, process, etc., continues; measured or measurable duration." - Webster. CHRONOLOGY: The science which treats the measuring of time by regular divisions and which assigns to events their proper dates. 2. A DESCRIPTION OF THE CHART: The chart covers TIME the dawn to sunset of history; it covers the subject of BIBLE CHRONOLOGY from beginning to end. On the horizontal line in the middle of the chart will be found seven small semicircles, which represent the SEVEN DAYS of God's Plan of Redemption. Each of these days is one thousand years long. 2 Peter 3:8; Psalms 90:4; 84:10. In this section of study we will examine the major happenings in each these days. Especially, we are concerned to discover the great events that are yet to transpire in the SIXTH DAY - the time in which we now live! The three larger semicircles the horizontal line of the chart, spanning two of the smaller, are the lines representing the THREE dispensations of time. They are each two thousand years in length, CO-EQUAL! This fact alone constitutes one of the outstanding evidences that God is the author of them. Hebrews 11:3 teaches that “worlds” (“ages” in the Greek) were framed the Word of God; this also implies that the ages were measured by the Spirit of God, as we shall find later.

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