Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser
It’s God’s will to deliver us from this present evil World. Jesus came to do a marvellous work to set His people free, and this is good news. Our Lord came to deal with this evil world because He loves us. “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Gal. 1:3-4).
This is a powerful text of scripture. It’s just a statement about the purpose of Jesus coming to this earth. This means that we have been saved by grace, and the gospel of grace is a “rescue” and “deliverance” out of the hand of sin. The gospel has been given to set us free so we don’t have to live like unbelievers in this present “evil age.” This is God’s will for all His children.
Many people have changed the purpose of Jesus coming to this earth to be only to deal with the forgiveness of our sins, and our life in eternity with God the father in heaven or on the new earth. And for some people, that’s what they present as the gospel, but Paul writes here and says, our Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world.
Jesus came to deliver us from poverty, demonic control, as well as sin, in this present life. To the extent we believe that, we will begin to experience the physical benefits of our salvation in this day and age. The Apostle Paul did not say Jesus gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the evil world to come. He said, “this present evil world.” That means our salvation is effectual in this life, too, not just in the one to come. He’s not talking about hell in the future, or some destruction in the future, but he says that Jesus came to this earth to deliver us out of this present evil world. That’s talking about the present age. The present state and decay that we see in the world because of sin and what sin does.
We need to embrace this powerful text of scripture which shows that the Lord didn’t just come to forgive us of our sins and leave us saved and stuck until we either die or He comes back for us. He made provision for our success in this life as well as the one to come. This scripture makes it very clear that it’s God’s will for us to prosper in spirit, soul, and body. “The Lord be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant” (Ps. 35: 27).
Never think that Christianity is just suffering with sin, sickness, disease, poverty, loneliness, and depression. And that, we are poor and struggling as pilgrims just trodden with this life below. This text of scripture shows that part of our redemption is deliverance from this present evil world. That means we can walk in health, we can walk in prosperity, we can walk in victory. I’m not talking about victory without any effort, or without any attacks. I’m not saying that we are immune to anything that the devil wants to do. No, he will fight against us, but we are supposed to walk in victory and that’s exactly what this scripture is saying.
At the new birth, the believer is delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear son. This means that we have already been completely delivered from the kingdom of darkness. The Christian life is walking by faith in accordance with that which God’s grace has already freely given. Jesus gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this evil world, and there are so many Christians that have missed this. They had salvation presented to them as the forgiveness of sin only, something to do with their eternal soul or for eternity, but very little impact in this life.
" It is God's will to deliver us from this present evil World. "
Follow Him out into His marvellous light and never go back to the darkness. Stay in your new found freedom. That’s what He came to do.
“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14). He came to deliver us out of darkness and to convey us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. That’s victory over darkness. He is the only one who can deliver you, but you must be ready to receive the offer on the table. Don’t cling to your chains, He has come to lead you out of bondage. Just come out and follow Him to His marvellous light.
Many people believe that the only benefit of their salvation in this life is that it gives them peace and comfort, and to know that the future has been taken care of, and that there’s sympathy, pity and understanding from God as we endure our hardships in this life. But they don’t believe that we can really prosper and walk in total victory in this life. Galatians chapter one verse four is saying just the opposite. This verse says that the purpose of God is to deliver us from this present evil world. I don’t understand how anybody can take that as anything except delivering us from all the hardships and the problems that we encounter here on earth.
This isn’t talking about in heaven, this isn’t talking about eternity, this is talking about being delivered from this present evil world. That’s sickness, poverty, oppression of all kinds and so many other things. This is a powerful truth. He is reminding the Galatians of the victory which is in Christ. Jesus came not only to establish what truth was, but if you walk in the truth, He is going to impact your physical life. Anyone who is in Christ has been delivered from this evil world. Therefore, we are not heading toward victory; we are coming from a victory – the victory of Christ over the devil, which has already taken place. Since we have already been delivered “from the power of darkness,” Satan does not have any real power over us. His only weapons are deception and intimidation. Those who know this truth have nothing to fear.
Some of us have relegated all the benefits of salvation to “when we all get to heaven.” But that’s not so. Through the atonement of Jesus, we have been delivered from sickness. Jesus provided for our physical healing as well as forgiveness of sins. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases” (Mat. 8:17).
Healing is a part of our salvation, just as much as the forgiveness of our sins. Many scriptures mention the healing of our bodies in conjunction with the forgiveness of our sins. The Bible makes it clear that physical healing of our bodies is included in the ‘salvation package’ (Ps. 103:3, Isa. 53:4-6, and 1 Pt. 2:24). Through the atonement of Jesus, we have been delivered from poverty. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). He came to set us free from this evil world because He is God. He came to save us and to deliver us from sickness, poverty, oppression of all kinds and so many other things. Begin to walk in this truth and give Him praise!
