Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore.
Have you ever been in danger and not known it until it had passed? I remember a time I was on my motorcycle following a pickup truck that had a refrigerator tied down in the bed. We were moving up a hill, and the truck was going faster then I was because my 175cc enduro could not travel much faster then it was. Obviously, I did not need to move over to the other lane because I could not pass the truck. Yet, a strong sense possessed my mind to move over. Just after I entered the other lane, I heard and saw the chain snap and the refrigerator flew out of the back of the bed and rolled right past me. I pulled off the road because my arms were shaking…if I had not moved I most likely would have been killed.
This passage contains some great truths! Consider this portion:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age
Some important words are used here. Grace, Peace, Gave and Rescue
Grace is that which God does to and for us without anything from us. A totally unconditional kind act.
Peace is not an emotion that can be affected by circumstances. Instead, it is a sense of calm and contentment that flows from in to out of us.
Gave is the act of relinquishing something that is in your possession.
Rescue is made up of two Greek words, “to take” and “out” The context would dictate what a person is being taken out of. In this case, it is evil.
To rescue someone they must already be in trouble! This is the point of scripture! We do not have to get ourselves into trouble, it has already happened. We were born separated from God because of sin.
Jesus “gave” (Phil. 2) Himself to rescue us from evil…notice it states “present”. Scripture makes it clear that when an individual trust's in the sacrifice of Christ to pay the debt of their sin, they are rescued from an eternity of separation from God. However, notice this rescuing is not only for the future! “This PRESENT evil age” is here and now! How does this work? I still have terrible things happen to me, troubles, disease, crimes…not to mention the evil things I see every day in this world. How am I rescued from this?
In two ways; first, we have “free choice” so we can choose to follow God’s principles and that will deliver us from many of the troubles that sin brings. Secondly, due to living in a fallen world where an active evil angelic being continues to bring strife to all, though we cannot take our bodies out from it while physically alive, we can mentally and emotionally be rescued from the stress, the worry, and the weight of the evil we see, but have no control over. By keeping in front of us that Christ has the final victory, we can be at peace in the midst of all circumstances because we know all evil and troubles are temporary and we will soon be with our Lord, forever delivered from evil!
The So What: Does the future cause you anxiety? Why? How sure do you know that you will be with God after this life? What difference should that make right now? Do you know how to make sure you can know you will spend eternity with God? What are you doing to find out? I would be glad to explain how you can know.
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