Hi, Pete! I was wondering if you would consider a topic I'd like to hear more about. With all the talk lately about patterns, I've been curious about the Dispensations and how it might relate to a man's lifespan. Innocence (babies/toddlers), Conscience (childhood), Human Government (until salvation), Promise (salvation), Law (working out the understanding), Grace (blessed hope), Millennial Kingdom (all wrapped up).
These are just thoughts off the top of my head about how it may correlate. I see dispensationalism in everything I read in the Bible lately and I can't get this idea out of my head. Wanna spell it out for us? :)
Very cool! Thanks for sharing! I will take a long look at this later today.
Jen, came across this tonight and it reminded me of this question you asked.
"Dispensationalist, Charles Ryrie, has shown that for about 150 years prior to Darby,
an increasing number of theologians were articulating dispensational schemes of
Biblical history (Dispensationalism Today, 71-74). Pierre Poiret's scheme is seen in his
six volume work, The Divine Economy (1687) as follows:
I. Infancy—to the Deluge
II. Childhood—to Moses
III. Adolescence—to the prophets
IV. Youth—to the coming of Christ
V. Manhood—”some time after that”
VI. Old Age—”the time of man’s decay”
(V & VI are the church age)
VII. Renovation of all things—the millennium (Disp. Today, p. 71)
Note that Poiret stressed the ruin or decay of the church, a major theme in Darby’s
thinking."
Interesting