A dispensation can be defined as a period of time or economy where God deals with man on a trial bases giving him stewardship responsibilities.   At the end of each dispensation man fails bringing God's judgement and subsequently ushering in a new dispensation with varying stewardship responsibilities.  There are 7 dispensations in Gods dealings with man.    It must be noted that God's way of salvation, which is by grace and through faith is constant throughout the dispensations.  The dispensations are seen in scripture as follows: 

1. The Dispensation of Innocence.  This dispensation began with the creation of man and ended with the divine judgement, which came upon man at his fall. 

2. The Dispensation of Conscience.  This dispensation begins after the fall and extends to the judgment of the flood.   Concluding this dispensation we see the failure of man regarding his conscience in that "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart" were only evil continually (Genesis 6:5). 

3. The Dispensation of Human Government.   This dispensation began with the Noahaic Covenant and ends with the failing of man regarding human government at the time of the tower of Babel.  Here, men rebelled against God by attempting to build "a tower whose top would reach unto heaven" (Genesis 11:4). 

4. The Dispensation of Promise.   This dispensation began with the Abrahamic Covenant and ends with the giving of the law. 

5. The Dispensation of Law.    This dispensation begins in Exodus 19:3 and extends up to the day of Pentecost where it is set aside until the “fullness of the Gentiles be come in”(Romans 11:25). The dispensation is then concluded at the Second Coming of Christ. 

6. The Dispensation of the Church.   This dispensation begins at Pentecost and ends with the rapture. 

7. The Dispensation of the Millennial Kingdom.   This dispensation begins with the Second Coming of Christ and ends with the judgement of the earth at the conclusion of the 1,000-year Millennial Kingdom.