What is the Prophetic Calendar?
A “prophetic calendar” has been defined as “a biblical framework that maps out God’s divine plan and future events.” There are many outlines and charts that have been made to bring out, in a chronological way, a prophetic calendar. I have used the one called “A Chart on the Course of Time from Eternity to Eternity” which was designed by A. E. Booth over 100 years ago. He sees the “7 Days of creation in Genesis chapter one as foreshadowing God’s purposes from the beginning of the creation of man (Adam) to the end of time and the eternal state. As good as this is, I have never found a better “prophetic calendar” than the one designed by C. I. Scofield (the author of the Scofield Study Bible).
He saw from Scripture that God has dealt with mankind in different periods of time differently and he called each period a DISPENSATION. This word simply means an “administration” or “stewardship” and thus in each dispensation God would be giving mankind a revelation from Himself and then they were responsible, as stewards, to live up to the light that He has given them. In each dispensation men were TESTED and sadly, men failed to act (obey) the truth given to them. In his view, there are SEVEN DISPENSATIONS, but before I list them it is good to see that Scripture lists two of these clearly. In Ephesians 1:10 and 3:2 we read of the “DISPENSATION of the fullness of times” and the “DISPENSATION of the grace of God.” Here is a short Mr. Scofield’s “prophetic map” (the name of the Dispensation followed by the scriptures that cover that period). I will then give some brief comments:
1. The “Dispensation of Innocence” …. Genesis 1:26-3:24. Adam was TESTED by God’s command “not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and he FAILED because he did in fact eat of the tree. He lost his innocence and became a sinner and sin then passed to all men (Romans 5:12 & 19).
2. The “Dispensation of Conscience” …. Genesis 3:7, 22; 4:1-7:24. Adam and his descendants were now TESTED to act on their God-given conscience and the light of creation, but they FAILED and God then destroyed the earth with a flood.
3. The “Dispensation of Human Government” …. Genesis 8:15-11:9. After the flood God instituted “human government” (see 9:1-6) and this TEST was also met with FAILURE and God’s judgment.
4. The “Dispensation of Promise” …. Genesis 11:10-Exodus 18:27. In this age God gave promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to TEST them. They lived by faith in these promises (Hebrews 11:8-21) but as they passed this truth unto others they FAILED.
5. The “Dispensation of Law” …. Exodus 19:1-Acts 1:26. This dispensation began with God giving Moses (on Mt. Sinai) the Ten Commandments to TEST Israel. This period lasted about 1500 years, and they FAILED the test time and time again by “disobeying God’s commandments.”
6. The “Dispensation of Grace” …. Acts 2:1-Revelation 19:6. This was, as seen above, the “Dispensation of the Grace of God” where God gave men the greatest revelation (and TEST) of all, the “gospel of Jesus Christ” (the truth of WHO Jesus was and WHAT He did to save mankind from their sin by His death on the cross and His victorious resurrection). Men are responsible to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” We are living in this period of GRACE (which began with the Church being born on the Day of Pentecost and will end at the time of the Rapture) and it is obvious that most people are NOT responding in faith to the Gospel so they are FAILING THE TEST. After the Rapture God will judge the world in a series of 21 judgments as seen in Revelation chapters 6-18. We call this the Tribulation Period, but it is NOT a dispensation, for it is the deserved end of the Dispensation of Grace.
7. The “Dispensation of the Kingdom” …. Revelation 19:11-20:15. After the Tribulation, Jesus Christ will come personally and visibly to this world to reign over the earth as King of kings and Lord of lords for 1,000 years (see also Matthew 24:29-31; 25:31-46). This is the dispensation referred to earlier as “the dispensation of the fullness of times” because it is the last age where God will TEST mankind to see if they will submit to Christ as King. Yet we know there will be FAILURE, for at the end of that period Satan will be released from the bottomless pit and lead a great rebellion against Christ and His saints and they will be destroyed (Revelation 20:7-10). God will then raise all of those who died unsaved through all the “ages of time” and they will be “cast into the lake of fire.”
This will be the “end of time” and then the ETERNAL STATE will begin, as we see in Revelation chapters 21 & 22. This is not to be looked upon as a dispensation, for it is not a “time of testing.” The TESTS have come and gone and now all men will either be with God in a state of bliss for all eternity (21:1-7), or men will be in a state of torment in the lake of fire for all eternity (21:8 with John 3:36b). (DO) (708.3)