In the Old Testament God’s dispensing in His dispensation consummated in the temple. In the temple was the glory of God, which was the leading of the Lord to His people. Within the temple were also the divine riches. The glory, the leading, and the divine riches were the result of God dispensing Himself into His people.
At this juncture I would like to make a clear distinction between the two words dispensation and dispensing. Because these two words are very similar, we might consider that they have the same meaning. Actually they are not the same. Dispensation means a plan or an arrangement, so it is a kind of management and administration. In His Word God has shown us that He has a plan (Eph. 1:10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4). This plan is concerning His household. It is a kind of household plan or household arrangement. Or we may say it is a household management or a household administration. God has a big household, and in His household He has a plan. He has an arrangement to administrate His purpose. This is the meaning of the word dispensation.
In God’s plan, or arrangement, or dispensation, God intends to dispense Himself into His people. So dispensing means to distribute and to give. God is giving Himself and imparting Himself into His people. He is distributing Himself into His people for His people’s enjoyment. Most Christians today only consider that God redeems us, saves us, and gives us strength and power. Very few Christians have the thought that God is dispensing, distributing, and imparting Himself into His chosen people. Before 1950 even we ourselves did not talk about God dispensing Himself into us. It was only after 1950, within the last thirty years, that we began to see and to minister that God is dispensing Himself into our being. What we want to emphasize in these messages is not the dispensation but the dispensing.
Let me illustrate: A good kitchen may be set up with a good plan and good arrangement and good administration. But the plan is not for the plan. The arrangement is not for the arrangement. The kitchen is for dispensing food to the guests. If the guests come to the kitchen and simply admire the plan and arrangement and do not receive any food they would remain hungry. So in a sense we need to forget about the kitchen with its good arrangement. We need to take care of getting the food-the milk, the eggs, and the bread-dispensed into us. The central thing in the kitchen is not the arrangement but the food. The central view of God’s dispensation is just God Himself as our rich food dispensed into our being, as the Lord Jesus told us in John 6.
In a previous message I pointed out to you that a little bit of God was dispensed into Adam, and then a little more of God was dispensed into Abel. Still more of God was dispensed into Enosh and Enoch, and progressively more into Noah and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Eventually because of all the dispensing, the children of Israel came forth as a corporate dwelling place to God, and God became a dwelling place to them.
We also saw in the type of the good land all the unsearchable riches of Christ (Deut. 8:7-10; Eph. 3:8). Christ is the reality of all the riches typified there: the rain, the hills and valleys, the wheat and barley, the olive oil, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, the springs and brooks and deep waters, the iron stones and brass. And all these riches have been dispensed into His people. For example, whatever we eat for breakfast is dispensed into our being. God is dispensing Himself into us in this way. Our energy and the healthy color of our face come from the food being dispensed into our being. If you do not eat well you will be short of energy because no food has been dispensed into your being. Today God has been dispensing Himself into us. God planned and arranged to do this. This is God’s dispensation, God’s arrangement, for Him to dispense Himself into His chosen people.