Why Can’t Law and Grace Coexist?

Q

I have a question about the last article you posted entitled “There Is No Seven Year Tribulation.” You said in your commentary that the Dispensation of Grace and the Dispensation of Law cannot coexist at the same time. Can you clarify that because I understand that people other than Jews will be getting saved during the Great Tribulation. They won’t be saved by grace?

A

The names of the dispensations can be confusing, but the bottom line is this. Everyone has been, is, and will be saved by faith. During the dispensation of Law, believers had to give evidence of their faith by keeping the Law. During the Dispensation of Grace, also known as the Church Age, this evidence is not required.

Here’s the tricky part. The dispensation of Grace didn’t replace the dispensation of Law, but only interrupted it seven years short of its intended duration. That seven years must be fulfilled and that’s why a temple will be built, and animal sacrifice will be resumed during Daniel’s 70th Week. In Old Testament times there was only one way to salvation and that was through the Old Covenant. The same will be true during the last 7 years. Otherwise some believers would be required to give evidence of their faith by keeping the commandments while others wouldn’t. This is what I meant by saying Law and Grace are theologically incompatible. This explains why the Church has to be gone before the last 7 years can begin.

Proof that during Daniel’s 70th Week keeping the Law will be required as evidence of faith comes from Rev. 14:12. When the people on Earth are warned that taking the Mark of the Beast will result in eternal damnation, John wrote, “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”