God and Man's Relationship Through the Dispensations of Time

By Rev. Dr. Marion Tripp

God and Mans Relationship Through the Dispensations of Time

This book is a follow up of What Was God Doing before He Made Man, Dr. Tripps unusual book. Gods plan for man through the ages is a progressive one, through seven dispensations of time. Ephesians 1:10, That in the dispensation of the fullness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth.
Through the ages, God has dealt with man in varied ways according to the period of time. These periods are known as dispensations. The prehistoric period does not come under a dispensation because there was no man during that period.
A dispensation is a period of time when man is tested in respect to obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God for that period. There are seven such dispensations, each of which has a character of its own and is so distinct that it cannot be commingled with any other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 25, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499085235

Rev. Dr. Marion Tripp

Rev. Dr. Tripp is a World War II veteran of the US Navy. After boot camp, he was assigned to the air craft carrier, the Bon Home Richard c.v. 31 with the Third Fleet in the Pacific. He held the rank of petty officer (ship service man Taylor). After the war, when he was discharged from the US Navy, he made his home in South Carolina with his wife, Kathryn. From there, he went into the insurance business. In 1945, he entered the ministry and is an ordained bishop of The Church of God, International Headquarters, located in Cleveland, Tennessee. He has served the church as evangelist, pastor, district youth director, and district overseer. He had served on many boards and committees, including the Minister Examining Board and the Education Board. He had spoken and taught in various seminars at the district, state, and regional levels. He has served as a Bible teacher and principal speaker for youth camps and as principal speaker for conventions in and out of the United States. He earned his degree in education from the University of South Carolina; also studied administration, business law, and business science. For the ministry, he had attended Lee College in Tennessee, Azusa Pacific College, and Sequaia University of California. He earned his Doctor of Divinity at the Universal Bible Institute in Texas. At the age of eighty-eight, he is now serving as lead pastor in Hemet, California.

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God Makes Man (From A Scriptural View)

Genesis 1:2 says, And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep … The following verses 3–25 give the account of the restoration of the earth. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost are the ones that made the preparation of the land for habitation, and the creation of life on the earth. This they did in six days.

On the sixth day, God looked at all that had been created, and saw that it was good. Now everything has been set in place, each operating in God’s natural law. Across the rolling plains, the hills, the mountains—all are creatures of every size—from the most complex to the most simple; great herds of cattle in the plains; the mighty jungle dwellers; the forest dwellers with their nest and quiet home; and the fish swimming about in the waters. Male and female, with the command to multiply.

The first mention of man is found in Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

In Hebrews 2:6–8, . . . What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him …

The Scripture states, God made man. There is a difference between create and made. Create comes from the Greek word para which means to bring something into existence, something that has never existed before. Make comes from the word asah which means to make something out of something that already exists. God made man from the dust of the ground, and woman from a rib that he took from Adam. Neither one was made from nothing. Therefore they were made not created.

The Scripture does not limit man’s existence to this earthly life, but speaks of him as being eternal in existence and destiny; pictures him as being made an untried perfection, as having fallen into sin as a result of Satan’s temptation, and as being the object of God’s redeeming love and grace.

Further, it shows that man’s will is considered in regard to the matter of eternal life. Those who respond to the call of God will be redeemed from sin, and will share eternal life with him. Those who exert their moral freedom to resist his will and purpose shall be left to just condemnation.

Therefore, the ultimate state of man shall either be eternal death and separation from God (and in the end be cast into the lake of fire), or a constant unfolding knowledge and perfection until he shall have reached the true completeness for which he was made, namely, in the end, becoming like his maker and living eternally.

Man’s Complex Makeup

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness … The details of how God made man are given in Genesis 2:7, And he Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. So, man is body, spirit, and soul. The body material is the dust of the ground; immaterial, the spirit and soul breathed into by God. Adam was a full-grown man—never a baby, never a youth, never a teenager, but a full grown man. I can’t help to wonder what age was he. Not that it matters. Was he twenty, thirty, forty—what? We do know that he had a body that was full-grown man with a spirit and a soul. Scripture does not tell us where he was made, only that he was made by the hand of God from the dust of the ground and that he breathed into him the spirit and soul.

Body. The New Testament calls him carnal man. Few details are given; it just simply says, formed from the dust of the ground. The destiny of the body is once it has served its purpose, it will return to dust (Genesis 3:19).

Spirit. . . . breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. . . The word breath came from the Greek word pryooman; English spelling, P-R-E-U-M-A. Though it is used to denote wind or breath, it is especially used to refer to the spirit, which, like the wind, is not visible, but is powerful and can be felt. Also we can see the result of it. The uniqueness of the human spirit is the life principle, the source of physical life, the seat of spiritual consciousness, deprived, but subject to regeneration.

The spirit is the most inner part of man. Often referred to as, the heart of man It is through the spirit that man is conscious of God. one could say, the spirit is the window through which man looks to God. It is the life principle of earthly existence, and is the dominate force of spiritual living, thinking, and worship. It is the realm of the spirit that mankind receives all thing from God.

Soul. . . . and man became a living soul. The word soul, from which the Greek equivalent is psooky, in the English word is psychology. The soul is the seat of effectuation, also known as the self or ego. It exists because of the spirit of man. When God breathed the spirit into man, he became a living soul. It is the center of the human personality, and is endued with three attributes: intellect, emotion, and will.

Intellect. The power of independent thought was given to man by God. Man’s God-given intellect qualifies him to be God’s appointed ruler over the things that God created. The intellect is used to interpret the spiritual and temporal impulses received from the human spirit and body, and to act upon them.

Emotion. The seat of affection or center of sensibility that reflects the degree of interest one has in various things. If you read Genesis 34–38, Matthew 22:27 and Mark 12:30, you will find that both natural and spiritual love are manifested through the soul’s emotion. According to Jeremiah 31:35, both natural and spiritual sorrows are qualities of the soul. Joy and bitterness, with all the shades and emotion that fall between them, are all experienced and manifested by the attributes of the human soul.

Will. God did not make man a robot. He gave him a free will, designed to reason, to decide, and to carry out, with his divinely granted power, which course to choose. The will moves only as a result of decision. Before one will move, the suggestion must first reach and capture the will. One may be intellectually impressed, even convinced to the right of a thing, but will not respond until the will hands down the mandate.

So, it is the soul that is held responsible for the decision made, and is responsible for the things done in the body. 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in the body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

The departure of the spirit and the soul cause the body to die. The body will return to dust. The spirit and the soul are designed for eternity. There are but two places that the mankind’s spirit and soul will go after life here on earth is over: the paradise of God or the lake of fire.

Back to Adam, the first man. The Bible does not tell us where God made man, only that he made him from the dust of the ground, and provide a home for him. Genesis 2:8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put man whom he had formed. In verses 16—17, God gives a command to him: And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Adam was not to be idle; he was to dress and keep the garden. So the first occupation was gardening. In Verses 19—20, God brought the beast of the field, every fowl of the air, and every living creature unto Adam to see what he would call them, and he gave names to all of them.

The Making of the Woman

The Bible does not reveal how long Adam was in the garden before God made the woman. Neither is there any record that Adam complained because he had no helpmeet. Also, there is no record of where God made the woman. It must have been somewhere outside the garden, because the Bible says the God brought the woman to Adam.

Genesis 2:21—23 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now the bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

Like Adam, Eve was a full-grown woman, and must have been younger, because she was made after him. Adam named her so, because she was the mother of all the living. God’s command to them was to multiply and replenish the earth.

So ends the sixth day. As the sixth day came to a close and the evening shadow fell, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost saw that everything that they had done was good, and they would now rest from their labors.

Knowing God, as Adam and Eve lived that day, there came a rest—a trust in the Great Provider for fulfilling their needs. As the hour of their togetherness passed they sensed a kinship of confidence; a faith of mutual love. Adam and Eve knew that day that God accepted them fully and complete. Now that God made mankind, what will be his relationship with them?

The First Dispensation: The Dispensation Of Innocence

The first dispensation begins in Genesis 2:15, when God placed the first man Adam and the first woman Eve in the garden of Eden. We do not know how long this period was. We do know that they were made innocent and in full fellowship with God. Every evening in the cool of the day, God would come and fellowship with them. Everything was designed for their comfort and happiness. The earth was rich in resources; they had abundant provision of food, They could eat of every tree of the garden with the exception of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was in the mist of the garden. God had given instruction that they were not to eat of this tree. If they did, they would surely die (Genesis 2:17).

Adam and Eve were happy and content in the garden. We are not told how long they lived in obedience to the will of God for their lives here in the garden. The man and the woman—the match—were God’s work. By his power he made them both, and now by his ordinances made them one. This was a most honorable wedding.

Temptation and Sin

We are not told how long they were in the garden in this perfect state, happy and content with every need provided. The day came when the tempter Satan came to Eve (I use the title Satan because it means deceiver which he truly was). Knowing that he could not destroy the pair, his game to play was to draw them into disobedience to God separating them from him.

He uses the serpent as his vessel. The serpent had spotted skin, walked upright, not as a snake twisting in a tree as often depicted. He did not crawl on his belly until he was cursed by God for his part in the fall of man. Just how Satan got the serpent to be his vessel we are not told, nor are we told to what advantage it was to him in using him.

The one tempted was Eve. Now alone, a distance from her husband, near the tree of forbidden fruit (also, we must remember that Eve had not received the command from God). When God placed Adam in the garden, he gave the commandment to him (Genesis 1:16–17). This was before he made Eve. Therefore, it had to be Adam that told Eve the commandment.

Satan waited until he found Eve alone to enter into discourse with her. He took advantage of finding her near the tree, probably gazing upon the fruit of it, only as curiosity. Notice how the tempter approached Eve. He did not say, God had been so wonderfully good to you in giving you so many things for you to enjoy and make your life happy. He says, Yea, hath God said, ‘Ye shall eat of every tree of the garden’? Observe that he put the question that seemed innocent. Eve’s answer, We may eat of every tree of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said, ‘Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die’ God did not say they should not touch it; she added to what God had said. She seems to waver about the threat, and is not so particular and faithful in the repetition of that as of the precept God had said, In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. She quoted him as saying, Lest you die where God had said, Ye shall surely die. As well, God did not tell them not to touch it. Satan knew well what God had said, for he said, Ye shall not surely die. He leads her to believe that God is denting them some privilege which should bring them great pleasure.

There are steps in the temptation that brought the downfall:

First was the awaking of the desire for something more than God permitted. It was unholy ambition; desire for something that did not rightly belong to man.

The second was doubting the goodness and justice of God. Eve was led to believe that God was deliberately keeping her and her husband in an unhappy condition of limitations. Whereas, if she would enter into freedom through experience, she could not have that otherwise.

The third was yielding to temptation, which was meditating upon things that the tempter was holding out to her. The Bible says, The woman saw that the tree was good for food. We see hunger for the unrighteous satisfaction of physical appetite. It was a delight to her eyes—attractive and alluring indulgence of vanity. The tree was to be desired to make one wise, promising knowledge through experience of evil.

This is not simply the story of the first temptation. It is the statement of principle on which all temptation works. It is the same way in which Satan tried to accomplish the downfall of Jesus in the wilderness temptation. It is the same way that temptation comes to everyone today.

Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband with her; and he did eat. Eve fully knew what God had said. Yet, she looked, listened, took and ate, gave to Adam, and he ate. An individual sin immediately became a social sin.

Adam and Eve were not left in ignorance about the truth of the matter. God had made it clear that it was a matter of life and death. The very moment they partook of the forbidden fruit, they died spiritually, sin came into their heart, and a result, their bodies would degenerate—they would die.

The Results of Their Sin

Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed figs leaves together, and made themselves aprons. In the cool of the day they heard the voice of God walking in the garden and hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God. God called out, Adam, where are you? Adam’s answer, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. God now asks two questions: Who told thee that thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree where I commanded thee thou shouldest not eat? They were unwilling to confess blame. The man blamed the woman, the woman blamed the serpent, but all of them had to bear the consequences of sin.

Serpent. Genesis 3:14 And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

The serpent is introduced in Genesis 3:1 as being more subtle than any beast of the field. Presumably, the serpent possessed four legs like all other beast of the field. The fact that Satan used the serpent as his instrument for deceiving Eve brought the curse of God upon the instrument as well as upon the deceiver. This is a perpetual curse, which will be carried to the Millennium. Isaiah 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat … Surely, to be deprived of limbs involved quite a transformation, though we cannot form and accurate idea of the serpent’s original appearance. The movement of the serpent was changed—from an upright walking position to crawling on the belly.

Satan. Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

The Woman. Genesis 3:16 . . . I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. In line with this, the curse was not confined to purely moral and spiritual realms, for we are told that an important change took place in Eve’s body. Where she would have borne children without pain, now the very structure of her body was altered in such a way that childbirth would be henceforth by severe pain.

The Man. Genesis 3:17–19 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast harkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thy shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Now man is to earn his living by the sweat of his brow. Physical suffering came upon man, many burdens would now be beset him in maintaining his existence upon the earth outside the Garden of Eden. Mental suffering came upon both man and woman, haunting fear as they tried to hide their sin from God. Social suffering would be their increase. As their family grew, disharmony would be between man and woman that would be reproductive in their children.

Ideal conditions existed in the Garden. Outside would be weeds, throne, thistles, and finally, physical death. The greatest suffering was a spiritual one. When God told man that if he partook of the forbidden fruit he would surely die, he was warning him not only of physical death, but against spiritual death also. The effect of sin drove them from God’s presence. God made coats of skins and clothed them, drove them from the garden, placed cherubim with flaming swords which turned every way to keep them from returning.

. . . as by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin … (Romans 5:12) Then in verse 17, For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Death came by one Adam; life by one Jesus Christ.

This brings us to the close of the First Dispensation. Observe that during this period, it was God the Father that was dealing with Adam and Eve—without a mediator or organized institution. There was no priest, just God the Father, and Adam and Eve.

The Second Dispensation

The period from the fall of Adam and Eve to the Universal Flood was approximately 1,650 years. This is a period when men became so wicked that it repented God that he made man. His decree was that he would destroy everything that he had made and created. But Noah found grace in his eyes. Therefore, He would spare Noah and his family …

Biblical records document only that there were only three righteous men during this period of time: Abel, Enoch, and Noah. Genesis 6:9 . . . Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. He had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They were preserved to repopulate the earth after the flood.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s commandment and ate the forbidden fruit, they came to the knowledge of good and evil. Conscience awoke. During this period, man’s conscience was his guide. Conscience is not a mediator; it is a moral law. When conscience stands at the crossroad of right or wrong, it demands one course and forbids the other.

God no longer comes to them in the cool of the day. Now man is to approach God through blood sacrifice, that of a lamb. He is now responsible to do all known good and is to abstain from all known evil. We should remember that it is God the Father himself that is dealing with man in this period of time.

We are not told where Adam and Eve made their home outside the Garden. Behind them they saw cherubim (angels) with glittering swords—light shimmering in every direction, barring their return to the garden of Eden. Their lives would now be occupied with cares and toils, daily efforts to secure food, living in a cave, dressed in garments made from animal skins. We are not told how many sons and daughters Adam and Eve had; just that they had many sons and daughters. We only