We generally divide Biblical history into three dispensations: the Patriarchal age, Mosaic age, and the Gospel age. When people speak of “dispensations,” they are simply referring to the method by which God revealed His will to man. First He revealed His will to the heads of families (Patriarchal age). Then He gave the nation of Israel the Law of Moses (Mosaic age). Finally, the gospel of Christ was revealed (Gospel age). We live in this third and final dispensation.
While these are perfectly acceptable distinctions, we need to recognize that the gospel is different from the other messages that have been delivered. In the book of Revelation, this final message is described as “an eternal gospel” (Revelation 14:6). When we talk about the three dispensations, we ought to recognize that the gospel had its beginning before either of the first two.
The term gospel simply means “good news.” The “good news” is the message of Christ and His salvation. As we can see from the Scriptures, this good news began long before we read of it in the New Testament.
The Planning of the Gospel
When Jesus first began His public ministry, He was “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 4:23). He was not talking about some idea He had just concocted. Rather, the kingdom was “prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Before any message was given to the first man – Adam – God had a plan for the kingdom.
Peter wrote that we have been redeemed “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:19). The sacrifice of Christ is the foundation of the gospel message. His sacrifice was planned from the beginning. Peter continued, “For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you” (1 Peter 1:20). When he said that Christ was foreknown, he did not just mean that the Father knew who He was. Peter was talking about Christ’s mission. The mission was known from the beginning.
Paul said that we have been chosen “in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him” (Ephesians 1:4). Paul was not teaching the common denominational concept of predestination – that God arbitrarily chose certain individuals for salvation. Rather, he said that God predestined a certain class of people – those who would be holy and blameless. Before the foundation of the world, God determined that such individuals would be saved by Christ. We can see then that the gospel was planned from the beginning.
The Foretelling of the Gospel
As God had planned the gospel from the beginning, He also made revelations that pointed to the coming of Christ. We commonly recognize these revelations as prophecies.
The first prophecy came when sin was first introduced into the world (Genesis 3). After Adam and Eve sinned, God pronounced curses upon them, as well as the serpent who tempted them to sin. To the serpent He said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Genesis 3:15). This prophecy pointed to the death of Christ on the cross. In His suffering, He would deal a fatal blow to Satan.
A little bit later in Genesis, a promise was made to Abraham: “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). This also pointed to the coming of Christ who was a descendant of Abraham (Matthew 1:1). Paul made the point that this promise to Abraham was indeed part of the good news of salvation that God planned from the beginning: “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in you’” (Galatians 3:8).
There are other prophecies that foretold of the gospel of Christ. David was told that there would be an everlasting throne for his descendants (2 Samuel 7:12-13) – not a physical throne in Jerusalem, but one at the right hand of God in heaven (Acts 2:30,34-36). Isaiah prophesied of the coming kingdom (Isaiah 2:2-4) – the kingdom Jesus said was “at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Jeremiah spoke of the abolition of the old covenant and it being replaced with the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) – the gospel of Christ.
Other passages could be cited as well, but these are sufficient to see the point. In the Old Testament, God was still pointing people to Christ and the time when the gospel would be fully revealed. Paul wrote, “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Galatians 3:24-25).
The Deliverance of the Gospel
With the coming of Christ came the preaching of the gospel. Jesus said, “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached” (Luke 16:16). No longer would the gospel be foretold, it would now be delivered. John and Jesus both taught that the kingdom was “at hand” (Matthew 3:2; 4:17). Jesus traveled around “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 4:23).
Before Jesus’ ascension, the apostles were told to “preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15) “beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). They would then be His witnesses “both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). This work of fulfilling the commission to preach the gospel began with Peter’s sermon in Acts 2. We typically call this the “first gospel sermon.” This was not the first time the gospel was heard (Galatians 3:8; Genesis 12:1-3), but it was the first time that the gospel was able to be delivered fully.
The gospel was the good news about Christ and the salvation offered through Him. Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost marked the first time this message was able to be proclaimed as having fully come. Jesus had come, had suffered and died, rose from the dead, and was now seated at the right hand of God in heaven. He did what was necessary to make salvation available. Now “the gospel…the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16) has been delivered.
The Unchanging Nature of the Gospel
If we want to be saved, we must obey the gospel of Christ (Hebrews 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8). The gospel is an “eternal gospel” (Revelation 14:6). Therefore, since it has been delivered/revealed, there will not be another gospel coming later. It was “once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3). God will not send some “new revelation” that will supplant or supplement what we have in the gospel.
Because the gospel is eternal, we have no right to change it. Paul condemned those who would “distort the gospel of Christ,” which would, in essence, make it “a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6-7). Those who do change the gospel stand to be “accursed” (Galatians 1:8-9).
The gospel will not change. We must simply believe it and obey it. As the first hearers were told on the day of Pentecost, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38). Then, they continued in “the apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42). If people will do this today, no matter where they are or what their background is, God will accept them (Acts 10:34-35).
