As the reality of the trespass offering, Christ gave Himself for our sins that He might rescue us out of the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father (see Gal. 1:4).
Christ is the reality of the trespass offering, and we can enjoy and experience Him day by day as the One who died for our sins for the purpose of rescuing us out of the present evil age. As the reality of the trespass offering, Christ Himself is the propitiation for our sins.
God loved us so much that He sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:2; 4:10). It is not that we sought for Him and had a way to come back to God, but that God loved us and wanted to gain us for His eternal purpose, so He came and died to make propitiation for our sins.
Christ offered Himself to God as a sacrifice for our sins not only for our redemption but also for God’s satisfaction.
On one hand, we are sinners who need redemption from sin, and we need to be cleansed, washed, forgiven, and delivered from sin. On the other hand, we are not at peace with God, for sin separated us from God and caused us to be enemies with God.
Therefore, we need a Savior who is not only our Redeemer but also who can make propitiation for our sins. Christ came as the One who makes propitiation, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and He is even the propitiation place, the place where we meet with God.
Now because of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, God is appeased, we have peace with God, and we can come forward to God to enjoy Him and experience Him. Now when God looks at us and we are in Christ, He is happy and satisfied.
The Lord Jesus made propitiation for our sins in order to reconcile us to God by satisfying God’s righteous demand on us. God has some righteous requirements and demands, and we fail to fulfill these so that we satisfy God; therefore, Christ came and fulfilled all of God’s requirements, and He made propitiation for our sins.
Through His work on the cross, Christ made propitiation for our sins, and He appeased God for us. By appeasing God’s righteousness and all His requirements on us, Christ has settled every problem between us and God.
No matter how big the problem and how great the sin, Christ took care of it. We may think that we have a big problem or that we committed a sin that cannot be forgiven, but actually Christ made propitiation for all our sins, and through His death on the cross He made peace between us and God.
We simply need to believe this and take this. We simply need to open to the Lord, exercise our spirit of faith, and take Christ as our trespass offering, and we are at peace with God, we are cleansed from sin, and all problems between us and God are gone. Praise the Lord!
Today we want to see more what is the purpose or goal for which Christ died for our sins, which is for us to be rescued out of the present evil age, the present section of the satanic world, the present religion of Christianity.
Christ Gave Himself for our Sins to Rescue us out of the Present Evil Age
As the reality of the trespass offering, Christ “gave Himself for our sins that He might rescue us out of the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father” (Gal. 1:4).
Although Christ was crucified for our sins, the goal of His crucifixion was to rescue us out of the present evil age. Christ didn’t die for us merely to be washed and cleansed from our sins, that we may be forgiven of our sins, or even so that we may be reconciled to God and have peace with Him.
Christ died for our sins – He gave Himself for our sins – so that we may be rescued out of the present evil age.
What is this present evil age from which we need to be rescued? God didn’t create the world or the age – he created the earth, the universe, and man for His purpose, but Satan came in and systematized the earth and man into something called, cosmos, the world.
Christ died for the purpose of rescuing us out of the present world, the present evil age that we find ourselves in.
An age is a part of the world as the satanic system, referring to a section, an aspect, the present or modern appearance, of the system of Satan, which is used by him to usurp and occupy people, and thus keep them away from God and His purpose.
The whole world lies in the evil one, and he operates freely in the world to keep everyone busy and away from God and His purpose. In every age Satan has different modern appearances of the world, by which he keeps man away from God.
As the devil, he lurks behind sins, and as Satan, he is involved with the evil age. Satan is both obviously evil and subtle, damaging and corrupting man both through sin and through the world, one being outright evil and the other being just modern.
Apart from the crucifixion of Christ, we have no way to deal with sins or with the present evil age we are in.
Satan hides behind sins and lurks behind the present evil age, and Christ died on the cross so that we may be saved and cleansed from sins and we may be delivered from the present evil age.
We need to realise that only Christ can save us from the devil and Satan.
Both sins and the evil age have been dealt with by Christ crucified. He gave Himself for us on the cross according to the will of God.
When Christ died on the cross for our sins, He died so that we may be delivered from the present evil age.
To be delivered, rescued, plucked out of the present evil age, the present and modern aspect of the world in which we live, we need to have our sins dealt with, and we need to apply the death of Christ to our experience.
The more we enjoy the Lord, touch Him, confess our sins, and take Him as our trespass offering, the more we realize our need to be rescued from the present evil age. We will tell the Lord,
Lord Jesus, thank You for giving Yourself for our sins to rescue us out of the present evil age! Thank You for dying on the cross not only for us to be forgiven and cleansed from our sins but for us to be rescued and delivered from the present, modern, actual evil age in which we live. Amen, Lord, pluck us out, extricate us, and draw us out of the present and modern aspect of the world so that we may live a life for Your purpose. Save us from being under the corruption and usurpation of Satan, and bring us fully into living a life for Your purpose.
Being Delivered from the Religious Course of this World by Christ’s Death
In Greek, the word for “rescue” in Gal. 1:4 means literally to pluck out, to draw out, to extricate; this means that us being in the present evil age is so bad, dangerous, and corrupting that we need someone to pluck us out of it.
The present evil age in Gal. 1:4 refers in particular to the religious world; in the context of the whole book of Galatians, the present evil age is the religious course of the world, which at Paul’s time was the Jewish religion.
In Gal. 6:14-15 Paul considered that circumcision is part of the world, the religious world to which Paul was crucified.
The purpose of Christ’s giving Himself for our sins was to rescue us, to pluck us out, from the Jewish religion, the present evil age. This is to release us as God’s chosen people from the custody of the law (Gal. 3:23) and bring them out of the sheepfold (John 10:1, 3) according to the will of God.
The will of God is for His people to be released and delivered not only from the present, modern, actual aspect of the world as the system created by Satan to usurp God’s people, but also from the present evil religious age, the religious course of this world.
In the Lord’s time, the ones who crucified Him were the Judaizers, and the ones who persecuted Paul and the disciples were the fervent and zealous followers of the Jewish religion; the Jewish religion was the present evil age for Paul.
But praise the Lord, through His death on the cross, Christ gave Himself for our sins in order to rescue us from the religious fold, from the present evil age.
The principle is the same both with the believers in Paul’s time and with us today. Today a certain Christian religion is here, the present evil religious age, and we need to realize that Christ died on the cross to rescue us and many others out of the present evil age.
Christ died for us to be rescued from the present Christian religious age and from any religious fold, and to bring us into Himself as the good pasture and good land.
We need to realize this, be saved from the present evil age, and preach the gospel so that many others would hear the voice of the Lord as the good Shepherd and leave any fold to come to Christ.
It is only Christ through His death that can rescue us, pluck us out, of the present evil age, so we need to preach Christ and His cross so that all men may be saved, rescued from the present evil age, and live a life for God’s purpose.
Lord Jesus, deliver us from the religious course of this world. Rescue us, Lord, and pluck us out of the present evil age so that we may live a life for Your purpose. Thank You for Your death on the cross for us to be rescued from the evil age today. Oh Lord, show us what the present evil age is, and save us from any fold, any religious practice, and anything of religion, so that we may live a life for You in the church life to build up Your organic Body with all the saints as the many members!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 72, 323 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (1), week 9, Appreciating Christ as the Reality of the Trespass Offering.
- Hymns on this topic:
# God’s intention is for Christ / To be wrought into His chosen people / That they may become the sons of God / For His corporate expression. / We need to be rescued / Out of the present evil age / By the revelation of God’s Son in us. (Song on, God’s intention is for Christ)
# It pleases God to rescue us / Out of this present evil age, / And to reveal His Son in us— / Most peerless One of all! (Song on, Christ, not religion)
# Christ gave Himself for sins / With just one goal in mind / That he may rescue us / From this poor worldly grind; / Plucked out of this satanic age, / Our sins He takes away; / All praise to Jesus, Lamb of God! (Song on, Our Trespass Offering)
Amén.. El Señor cumple Su propósito de sacarnos de toda religión.
[Amen.. The Lord fulfills his purpose to get us out of every religion.]
He rescues us out from the present evil age.
Amen Thank You God Your will be done to Rescue Us out of the Evil Religious Age Amen Pluck Us Out, Draw Us Out Of, Extricate Us From an age that is a part of the world which is the satanic system. Thank You Father for sending Your Son Jesus Christ who gave Himself for our Sins o Rescue Us out of the Present Evil Age Amen
Oh Lord rescue us in this evil age. We really need you Lord cover us Lord Jesus.
Amen!
Amen! Thank you Lord for your precious blood, which cleans us from all our sins, thank you you died for us and your spirit can live in our spirit!
Yes Lord, thank you that we can be saved from this evil, modern and present age Lord!
Thank you Lord for another day in which we can enjoy you!
Literally, the Greek word translated “rescue” in Galatians 1:4 means to “pluck out, to draw out, to extricate.” The present evil age in Galatians 1:4, according to the context of the book, refers to the religious world, the religious course of the world, which at Paul’s time was the Jewish religion. This is confirmed by Galatians 6:14 and 15, where circumcision is considered part of the world—the religious world to which the apostle Paul is crucified. Here Paul emphasizes that the purpose of Christ’s giving Himself for our sins was to rescue us, to pluck us out, from the Jewish religion, the present evil age. This is to release God’s chosen people from the custody of the law (Gal. 3:23), to bring them out of the sheepfold (John 10:1, 3), according to the will of God.
In Galatians 1 we see that Christ gave Himself for our sins for the purpose of rescuing us out of religion, out of the present evil age. The Judaizers crucified Him. But through His death on the cross the Lord Jesus gave Himself for our sins in order to rescue us from the religious fold. The principle is the same both with the believers in Paul’s time and with us today. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 775-777, by Witness Lee)
Amen brother. I enjoy these words “gave Himself” Thank you Lord you gave all that You are, Your whole being for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age. O Lord more rescuing today!