Dispensations: God's Dealings Through Time

Ever wonder why humanity keeps making the same mistakes throughout history? Our fascinating journey through biblical dispensations reveals the psychological profile of mankind's relationship with God across different time periods.

The Edenic dispensation showcases humanity in perfect paradise—no worries, pressures, or threats—yet Adam and Eve still fell for Satan's oldest trick: "Did God really say...?" Their story exposes our natural inclination toward doubt and independence, even under ideal conditions. As we explore this garden narrative, we uncover a profound truth: "Love is not truly love until it's tested." God wasn't being cruel by placing the forbidden tree in Eden; He was creating the opportunity for genuine love through choice.

Moving beyond Eden, we examine the antediluvian world where humans lived 800-900 years, potentially growing to a population of 500 million to 2 billion people before the flood. This dispensation of conscience ended in catastrophic judgment, raising profound questions about our modern technological pursuit of extreme longevity. Are we repeating ancient mistakes by trying to become "like gods" through artificial intelligence and life-extension technologies?

Throughout each dispensation, a clear pattern emerges: regardless of circumstances, humanity consistently chooses independence from God rather than trusting His guidance. Yet God's relentless pursuit never wavers. Understanding these dispensational patterns provides valuable perspective not just on Scripture but on our current spiritual landscape and where we might be heading. Join us as we continue this eye-opening series next time with a deeper look at the mysterious pre-flood world, the Nephilim, and why only eight people survived God's judgment. What might this reveal about our future?

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Musical Opening

Transcript

 17817985-untitled-episode

Done

Speaker Names

Speaker 1

•  
•  

00:00

Welcome everyone, this is Russ Scalzo, Chronicles of the End Times. It's good to be with you today. 

•  
•  

00:28

Today we're going to be looking at the dispensations and the different times that they were given, and a dispensation is something that is given by an organization, a government in this case, God that defines a period of time that has certain characteristics Some might say rules as well. We're going to investigate these dispensations and we're going to start out from the beginning, which is always the best place to start, and I think it's very important to look at things from God's perspective. The best we can be in here, in human form and, as Paul says, seeing through a glass, darkly. As much revelation as Paul the Apostle had, which was really outstanding, and his great knowledge of the Old Testament and the law, and then his experience of being knocked off the horse, meeting Jesus Christ and how God chose him to reach out to the Gentiles and anoint him in a special way, Even though he had all that, there were still things that were too deep to look into, even for the apostle. But God has given us so much that we already have that he wants us to understand, and it would take lifetimes just to grasp what he's already shown us, what's already written. We're beginning our group of study at our home, and this is the subject we're going to be looking into the dispensations and it gives us a really good perspective on the human race. It's like a psychological profile, if you will, of how the human race responded in each one of these dispensations in each one of these periods of time. So, let's get to it. 

•  
•  

02:12

Like everything else, there's two sides to every story. There are those theologians and think tanks that feel that dispensationalism, as they like to call it, takes away from the spiritual meaning of the Bible, which to me makes no sense. But everybody has their opinion, and everybody has their own education. Proponents believe that this approach provides a literal interpretation of Scripture, especially regarding the nation of Israel and the church, and I think that's where the great divide comes from. 

•  
•  

02:42

Those who do not believe in dispensations feel that it is dividing Israel from the church, in the sense that God deals differently with them than with the church, with the Gentiles, when in truth he does deal differently. And you might say, well, wait a minute, Russell, there's only one salvation. Well, there is. Everyone has to come through the blood of Jesus Christ. There is no other way. But God made certain promises to Israel and he's going to keep those. He's not like you and I, and sometimes, whether we do it on purpose or not, we don't always keep our promises. But God made certain promises to Israel as a country, as a people, and he's going to keep those. That doesn't mean that there's a separate salvation for them, because there isn't. There's only one salvation. I think that's where the confusion comes from. Some feel like, well, you're separating the two and scripturally there can be no separation. And that's true. 

•  
•  

03:38

Those of us who believe in the dispensations. We're not trying to separate the salvation part, but we have to understand what God is doing and the promises he made to Israel, and he made to David, and he's not forgetting about those. As Paul says in chapter 11 of Romans. He says all Israel will be saved, and that's all the true Israel, Just like Jesus told us that God so loved the world that he gave his only son. God does love the world, but not the whole world is going to get saved, unfortunately, and we're going to look at that. The dispensations are kind of going to prove that no matter where man was, still ended in failure. As mankind, we decided to go our own way each time, but God continued to pursue, because that's the love that he has. So, let's jump into this. 

•  
•  

04:28

The first one is called Edenic, which is the time of innocence. This dispensation extends from the creation of Adam to the expulsion from the garden. We don't know how long that was. It could have been a lot longer than we perceive. For many times when we read the Bible, we read a couple sentences or a paragraph or two, and then we move on and we feel like, well, that was just a couple days, because it feels like that when you're reading it. But when you study it, you realize that that's not true. It could have been a month, could have been a year, could have been three or four years. We don't know how long Adam and Eve lived in the garden before they decided to listen to the enemy and eat the forbidden fruit. 

•  
•  

05:11

This is a perfect example of our natural inclination to sin and to doubt God. Here they were in paradise, nothing to worry about, never had a thought of anything else, because they were just created, not that long ago. Like I said whether it was a couple of months, a year or a couple of years, we don't know but they had not a worry in the world. Wouldn't you love to be like that? No pressure, nothing, don't know, but they had not a worry in the world. Wouldn't you love to be like that? No pressure, nothing to worry about. Everything is in front of you, the air is sweet, no allergies, no bugs to bother you, no threat to your life. Yet it was easy for Satan to put doubt in their minds about the love of God. Does he really love you? That much is basically what he was challenging, because he's holding something back from you. Let's check out that scene a little closer Now. 

•  
•  

05:59

The serpent was craftier than any other beast of the field the Lord, God, had made. He said to the woman Did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden. And the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden. Neither shall you touch it lest you die. Then a serpent took advantage of her misquote from God and said you will not surely die, For God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God. Doesn't that sound like today, Especially with AI coming into the picture, All this talk of being like gods, living forever, when in actuality God never said anything about touching it. In fact, he said so. The enemy had an opening Once she touched it and he goes see, you're still alive, God's lying to you. Once it was in her hand, it was over, she ate it, and everything went downhill from there. 

•  
•  

07:13

I also find it interesting that when the Lord came walking in the cool of the evening, like he always did, to have fellowship with them, hang out with them, talk with them, they hid. And lots of times when we do stuff we're not supposed to be doing and God comes looking for us, we hide. But he is there to forgive and to move us on. And in their case, they got thrown out of the garden. So, in the dispensation of innocence, the humankind failed, you might say. Well, why would God put the tree there? Because love is not love unless it's tested, and I'm sure you know that in your own life, whether it's a spouse, a friend, whatever the situation is. Love is not truly love until it's tested. And God was testing their love and trust of him in a perfect world that he gave them. 

•  
•  

08:02

Question comes what was Adam and Eve doing standing in front of that tree? When you put yourself in a bad spot, the enemy knows it, and as we're taking time to stare at what we know, we shouldn't be looking at or getting involved in what we know. We shouldn't be getting involved in. That's when the enemy moves in to try to secure his position. The scripture does note that Adam was with her and obviously he made no attempt to correct her or to encourage her to move on. Men, where are we today? That's a subject for a different podcast. 

•  
•  

08:35

The inducement that Satan held out to Eve, that acquisition of knowledge that would put her and Adam on the same plane with God and make them godlike, is the same inducement that Satan offers to ambitious men and women today, and he is seeking to build up a magnificent civilization built on technology and the discoveries of mankind, to continue to pull them away from any dependence or reliance on God putting themselves on the throne and in complete control. There's a lot of talk, with the introduction of AI and all the possibilities that may be on the horizon in another 5, 10, 15 years, about human beings living forever or at least having a life of 5 or 600 years. Can you imagine how crazy this world would be? That didn't work out so good in the beginning, right? Adam lived 930 years, Methuselah I think 960 or so. Either way, that's a lot of years and that's the next dispensation we're going to be looking at. 

•  
•  

09:39

The antediluvian is the flood. This extends from the fall to the flood, and it lasted about 1,656 years and was also called the dispensation of conscience. Now, in this period of time, men and women were living an incredibly long time 900 years, 800 years. So, in this period before the flood, this 1600 plus years, the population of the earth grew immensely. Some say into 500 million, Other estimates go as high as 2 billion. Births were common to people that were 500, 600, 700 years old. A family of two or three would be a rarity. Either way, if you want to take the low number, we'll go with that 500 million, 500 million people who died in the flood. 

•  
•  

10:32

I have a tendency to believe it's closer to the one or 1.5 billion, but either way, that is a terrible disaster. So, a man wants to figure out how to live to 500, putting different types of high-tech devices in your brain or in your body and coming up with different cures for diseases that will make us immune to anything that could harm us, and moving us closer and closer to being like God's Just my opinion, but I believe that's never going to take place. I believe that God is not going to allow that to be, Because we've already been through that dispensation, and it didn't work out. So, the next time we get together, we're going to be looking at that generation before the flood, we're going to be looking into the Nephilim and the facts about them. And why is it? Only eight people made it out of all those people. What does that say about the future? This is Russ Scalzo for Chronicles of the End Times. Keep looking up. The King is coming. 

00:00 / 11:47