Hi again DavidC, and although I have transcribed, and posted a much more detailed study at
http://christianforums.net/Fellowship/index.php?threads/dispensations.64514/, I will just paste the following notes by Scofield. If you can see this, the longer version will be in order.
Dispensations - Notes by Scofield from The Online Bible
1. The method or scheme according to which God carries out his purposes towards men is called a dispensation. There are usually reckoned three dispensations, the Patriarchal, the Mosaic or Jewish, and the Christian. These were so many stages in God's unfolding of his purpose of grace toward men. The word is not found with this meaning in Scripture.
2. A commission to preach the gospel 1 Corinthians 9:17. Ephesians 1:10 3:2. Colossians 1:25. Dispensations of Providence are providential events which affect men either in the way of mercy or of judgment.
A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God. Seven such dispensations are distinguished in Scripture.
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The First Dispensation: Innocency. Genesis 1:28 note. Man was created in innocency, placed in a perfect environment, subjected to an absolutely simple test, and warned of the consequence of disobedience. The woman fell through pride; the man deliberately. #1Ti 2:14 God restored His sinning creatures, but the dispensation of innocency ended in the judgment of the Expulsion #Gen 3:24 See, for the other dispensations;
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The Second Dispensation: Conscience or moral responsibility. Genesis 3:7 By disobedience man came to a personal and experimental knowledge of good and evil -- of good as obedience, of evil as disobedience to the known will of God. Through that knowledge conscience awoke. Expelled from Eden and placed under the second, or ADAMIC COVENANT, man was responsible to do all known good, to abstain from all known evil, and to approach God through sacrifice. The result of this second testing of man is stated in Genesis 6:5 and the dispensation ended in the judgment of the Flood. Apparently "the east of the garden" Genesis 3:24 where were the cherubims and the flame, remained the place of worship through this second dispensation.
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The Third Dispensation: Human Government. Genesis 8:15 note. Under Conscience, as in Innocency, man utterly failed, and the judgment of the Flood marks the end of the second dispensation and the beginning of the third. The declaration of the Noahic Covenant subjects humanity to a new test. Its distinctive feature is the institution, for the first time, of human government -- the government of man by man. The highest function of government is the judicial taking of life. All other governmental powers are implied in that. It follows that the third dispensation is distinctively that of human government. Man is responsible to govern the world for God. That responsibility rested upon the whole race, Jew and Gentile, until the failure of Israel under the Palestinian Covenant (Deuteronomy 28.-30.1-10) brought the judgment of the Captivities, when "the times of the Gentiles" (See) Luke 21:24. Revelations 16:14 began, and the government of the world passed exclusively into Gentile hands. Daniel 2:36-45. Luke 21:24. Acts 15:14-17. That both Israel and the Gentiles have governed for self, not God, is sadly apparent. The judgment of the confusion of tongues ended the racial testing; that of the captivities the Jewish; while the Gentile testing will end in the smiting of the Image (Daniel 2.) and the judgment of the nations. Matthew 25:31-46.
The Fourth Dispensation: Promise. For Abraham, and his descendants it is evident that the Abrahamic Covenant See Scofield "Genesis 15:18" made a great change. They became distinctively the heirs of promise. That covenant is wholly gracious and unconditional. The descendants of Abraham had but to abide in their own land to inherit every blessing. In Egypt they lost their blessings, but not their covenant. The Dispensation of Promise ended when Israel rashly accepted the law #Ex 19:8. Grace had prepared a deliverer (Moses), provided a sacrifice for the guilty, and by divine power brought them out of bondage #Ex 19:4 but at Sinai they exchanged grace for law. The Dispensation of Promise extends from Gen 12.1 to Ex 19.8, and was exclusively Israelitish. The dispensation must be distinguished from the covenant. The former is a mode of testing; the latter is everlasting because unconditional. The law did not abrogate the Abrahamic Covenant Galatians 3:15-18 but was an intermediate disciplinary dealing "till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made" Galatians 3:19-29 4:1-7. Only the dispensation, as a testing of Israel, ended at the giving of the law.
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The Fifth Dispensation: Law. This dispensation extends from Sinai to Calvary--from Exodus to the Cross.The history of Israel in the wilderness and in the land is one long record of the violation of the law. The testing of the nation by law ended in the judgment of the Captivities, but the dispensation itself ended at the Cross.
(1) Man's state at the beginning. Exodus 19:1-4.
(2) His responsibility Exodus 19:5,6. Romans 10:5.
(3) His failure 2 Kings 17:7-17. 19 Acts 2:22,23.
(4) The judgment 2 Kings 17:1-6,20 & 25:1-11. Luke 21:20-24.
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The Sixth Dispensation: Grace. John 1:17 note (2) As a dispensation, grace begins with the death and resurrection of Christ. Romans 3:24-26 4:24,25. The point of testing is no longer legal obedience as the condition of salvation, but acceptance or rejection of Christ, with good works as a fruit of salvation, John 1:12,13 3:36. Matthew 21:37 22:24. John 15:22,25. Hebrews 1:2 1. John 5:10-12. The immediate result of this testing was the rejection of Christ by the Jews, and His crucifixion by Jew and Gentile #Ac 4:27. The predicted end of the testing of man under grace is the apostasy of the professing church:
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The Seventh Dispensation: Fulness of Times. This, the seventh and last of the ordered ages which condition human life on the earth, is identical with the kingdom covenanted to David. 2 Samuel 7:8-17. Zechariah 12:8.
Summary;
Luke 1:31-33. 1 Corinthians 15:24, and gathers into itself under Christ all past "times":
(1) The time of oppression and misrule ends by Christ taking His kingdom. #Isa 11:3,4.
(2) The time of testimony and divine forbearance ends in judgment. #Mt 25:31-46 Acts 17:30,31. Revelations 20:7-15.
(3) The time of toil ends in rest and reward. 2 Thessalonians 1:6,7.
(4) The time of suffering ends in glory. Romans 8:17,18.
(5) The time of Israel's blindness and chastisement ends in restoration and conversion. Romans 11:25-27. Ezekiel 39:25-29.
(6) The times of the Gentiles end in the smiting of the image and the setting up of the kingdom of the heavens. Daniel 2:34,35. Revelations 19:15-21.
(7) The time of creation's thraldom ends in deliverance at the manifestation of the sons of God. #Genesis 3:17. Isaiah 11:6-8. Romans 8:19-21.
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The Dispensation of the Kingdom. ( 2 Samuel 7:16 refs.) begins with the return of Christ to the earth, runs through the "thousand years" of His earth-rule, and ends when He has delivered up the kingdom to the Father.
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