The Fulness of Times

A friend of mine recently preached a sermon in his church in which he presented the idea that Christians might be looking at the events of the so-called Last Days in the wrong way: that the expected doom, gloom, and catastrophe might not be what modern Christians have come to think that it is. He believes that an obsession with the events of the so-called Last Days is a distraction from the true mission of Christianity, which is to preach repentance and knowledge of the Savior Jesus Christ to all the Earth.

There is another concept known as the “Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.” I once heard someone speak of this as meaning that we live with a “fulness of tennis shoes, or a fulness of trinkets, or a fulness of stuff.” As true as this might be depending on where you live in the world, it misses the mark. We also have a fulness of poverty, crime, homelessness, and despair.

What is the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times? In Christianity, the word “dispensation” refers to a period of time in which a divinely ordained order or authority governs a people, i.e.: the Dispensation of Moses or the Dispensation of Noah or the Dispensation of Abraham.

The phrase “fulness of times” can also be used in place of the Last Days, as describing the time just before the Second Coming of Christ. For example, the days of Adam could be called the Dispensation of the First Times, when God’s Law (or authority) was ordained and established on this Earth. The days of Christ have been referred to as the Dispensation of the Meridian of Time, in which the second Law of Atonement became established and fulfilled.

Our day and time could be considered the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, when God would “gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him" (Ephesians 1:10). This is the Law of Gathering, a sifting of the abundance that surrounds us. An abundance of both good and evil, truth and error, and so an abundance of contradictions – information and disinformation, a time of powerful opposing forces in our political, social, and personal worlds, when the choices placed before us are greater and more powerful than at any other time in history.

The ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucious, said: “Yin and yang, male and female, strong and weak, rigid and tender, heaven and earth, light and darkness, thunder and lightning, cold and warmth, good and evil...the interplay of opposite principles constitutes the universe”.

The prophet Nephi in the Book of Mormon recognized that, “There must needs be that there is an opposition in all things” (2 Nephi 2:11).

Mathematician Sir Isaac Newton acknowledged this duality when he describes his Third Law of Motion: “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

19th century author Charles Dickens opened his story, "A Tale of Two Cities" with these words: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”

As a committed Christian, Dickens often explored themes of tragedy, crimes against humanity, of repentance and salvation in his stories. He ends “A Tale of Two Cities” with one of the main characters facing death by guillotine after living a worldly and now repentant life, and proclaiming, "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known."

This sums up the Christian life in this Dispensation of the Fulness of Times: it is far better to gather good into our lives and sift out that which distracts us from seeking to understand God’s ways amid the confusion and chaos which may rage around us.

We will always have the Yin Yang cycle with us, but Jesus Christ overcame the world and therein lies our hope, for he said, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47-47).

My preacher friend is right. The highest mission of a follower of Christ in these so-called Last Days is to become the peacemaker, to be compassionate, and to gather those who will hear into the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Karen Murray is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints, experiencing life as a wife, mother, grandmother, family historian, author and political activist.