I N D E X
THE DISPENSATIONAL PLACE OF JOHN'S GOSPEL
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suggestions. In view of past misunderstanding, we also wish to make it plain in dealing with these that no individual
writer is in mind.
What is the exact position of the great company of believers who are called during the dispensation of the
mystery, and yet are not of it? Are they enjoying the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant? Are they in the same
position and calling as the pentecostal church? Do they come under the new covenant?
`(1)
Are believers today enjoying the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant?
We do not believe that the covenant with Abraham is in force today, for as a covenant is dependent upon the
keeping of its terms, and as this covenant has special reference to a land and a nation, both of which have been for
the time being virtually set aside, the operation of the covenant is impossible, except in some spiritualized sense.
The terms of the covenant of God with Abraham are as follows:
`Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a
blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the
earth be blessed' (Gen. 12:1-3).
Here we have a land and a nation vitally connected with the outflow of blessing to other nations.
To Isaac this covenant was repeated (Gen. 26:3), as it was subsequently to Jacob (Gen. 28:3,4). In each case the
land, as well as the seed, forms an integral part of it.
In the fulness of time Christ is born, and Matthew writes his Gospel showing that the Christ is the Son of David
and of Abraham (Matt. 1:1). Zacharias, filled with Holy Spirit, refers to the fulfilment of the covenant made with
Abraham (Luke 1:68-79), and Peter, upon the renewed calling of Israel to repentance, makes it very plain that the
Gentiles can only enjoy the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant upon the fulfilment of its conditions:
`Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto
Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up His
Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities' (Acts 3:25,26).
The epistle to the Galatians makes it plain that justification by faith, and sonship, belong to the believing Gentile
as to the believing Jew, but it also most emphatically repeats the sentiment of Acts 3:25,26:
`Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law ... that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles
through Jesus Christ' (Gal. 3:13,14).
Israel was the appointed channel through whom would flow the blessing of Abraham to all nations. While they
remained a nation in their land, even though they were not all truly converted, the Gentiles were able to partake of
the root and fatness of the olive tree (Rom. 11), but when Israel were set aside in blindness and unbelief (Acts
28:22-31), and subsequently scattered among all nations and temporarily dispossessed of their land, it became
obvious that the full enjoyment of the Abrahamic blessing must be postponed until the day when `all Israel' shall be
saved, their `receiving back' bringing with it `life' (Rom. 11:15-26).
(2) Are believers today enjoying the blessings of Pentecost and the conditions and status of 1 Corinthians 12?
In Galatians 3:14 `the promise of the Spirit' is directly connected with the coming of the blessing of Abraham
upon the Gentiles, and while Israel remained a nation in their own land, these spiritual gifts were enjoyed and
partaken of by the Gentile churches. We are not left in doubt, however, as to the purpose of God in thus allowing
the Gentiles to anticipate that day which could only come with Israel's conversion.
`In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all
that will they not hear Me, saith the Lord' (1 Cor. 14:21).
The Gentile believers were reminded that they had been grafted into the stock of the true olive, contrary to
nature, with the express purpose of `provoking to emulation' and `provoking to jealousy' the people of Israel. Israel,