Arguably, the dispensational view is the most complicated of all the eschatological systems.
· According to Charles Ryrie, Dispensational Premillennialists “[view] the world as a household run by God. In this household-world, God is dispensing or administering its affairs according to His own will and in various stages of revelation in the passage of time” (emphasis mine).
· Dispensationalists name these ‘various stages’ dispensations, many agreeing that there are seven of them. Benware names these dispensations pre-fall, conscience, government, patriarchal, Mosaic, church, and millennial, though others define them differently.
· When God introduces a new way of ‘administering his affairs,’ a new dispensation begins. For example, Jesus’ death and resurrection is the transition point between the Mosaic and church dispensations. The Second Coming of Christ marks the change from the church to the millennial dispensation.
· Dispensationalism draws a distinction between how God will deal with the church and how God deals with Israel.
· It also insists that believers will not experience the seven-year Tribulation, described in Revelation 7:14, and by Jesus in Mathew 24:21 and 29. Instead, a rapture will remove believers from Earth before the trouble begins.
· The Final Judgement will take place after the thousand-year reign of Christ, after which eternity will begin.
· For an authoritative text on dispensationalist theology, try the late Charles Ryrie’s Dispensationalism.