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a new philosophy of the history of redemption, in which Israel plays a leading role and the
Church is but an interlude. Their guiding principle prompts them to divide the Bible into two
books, the book of the Kingdom and the book of the Church. In reading their descriptions of
God’s dealings with men one is lost in a bewildering maze of covenants and dispensations,
without an Ariadne thread to give safe guidance. Their divisive tendency also reveals itself in
their eschatological program. There will be two second comings, two or three (if not four)
resurrections, and also three judgments. Moreover, there will also be two peoples of God,
which according to some will be eternally separate, Israel dwelling on earth, and the Church in
heaven.
The following will give some idea of the Premillennial scheme that enjoys the greatest
popularity to-day:
a. Its view of history.
God deals with the world of humanity in the course of history on the basis
of several covenants and according to the principles of seven different dispensations. Each
dispensation is distinct, and each one of them represents a different test of the natural man;
and since man fails to meet the successive tests, each dispensation ends in a judgment. The
theocracy of Israel, founded on Mount Sinai, occupies a special place in the divine economy. It
was the initiatory form of the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of the Messiah, and had its
golden age in the days of David and Solomon. In the way of obedience it might have increased
in strength and glory, but as the result of the unfaithfulness of the people, it was finally
overthrown, and the people were carried away into exile. The prophets predicted this
overthrow, but also brought messages of hope and raised the expectation that in the days of
the Messiah Israel would turn to the Lord in true repentance, the throne of David would be re-
established in unsurpassed glory, and even the Gentiles would share in the blessings of the
future Kingdom. But when the Messiah came and offered to establish the Kingdom, the Jews
failed to show the requisite repentance. The result was that the King did not establish the
Kingdom, but withdrew from Israel and went into a far country, postponing the establishment
of the Kingdom until His return. Before He left the earth, however, He founded the Church,
which has nothing in common with the Kingdom, and of which the prophets never spoke. The
dispensation of the law made way for the dispensation of the grace of God. During this
dispensation the Church is gathered out of Jews and Gentiles, and forms the body of Christ,
which now shares in His sufferings, but will once, as the bride of the Lamb, share in His glory. Of
this Church Christ is not the King, but the divine Head. She has the glorious task of preaching,
not the gospel of the Kingdom, but the gospel of the free grace of God, among all the nations of
the world, to gather out of them the elect and further to be a testimony unto them. This
method will prove to be a failure; it will not effect conversions on any large scale. At the end of
this dispensation Christ will suddenly return and effect a far more universal conversion.