Genesis 8:21

the Lord said in heart

The Third Dispensation: Human Government. 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 - (Deuteronomy 30:1)) brought the judgment of the Captivities, when "the times of the Gentiles" (See); (Luke 21:24); (Revelation 16:14) began, and the government of the world passed exclusively into Gentile hands; (Daniel 2:36); (Luke 21:24); (Acts 15:14). 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 (Da 2.) and the judgment of the nations (Matthew 25:31).

See, for the other six dispensations:

INNOCENCE

( See Scofield) - (Genesis 1:28)

CONSCIENCE

( See Scofield) - (Genesis 3:23)

PROMISE

( See Scofield) - (Genesis 12:1)

LAW

( See Scofield) - (Exodus 19:8)

GRACE

( See Scofield) - (John 1:17)

KINGDOM

( See Scofield) - (Ephesians 1:10).