Be Still And Know

Galatians 1:4 Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. Every now and again, we hear about rescue missions. Brave soldiers are put down behind enemy lines, often in a low flying helicopter, and set some prisoners free. It’s all very exciting and impressive. Here, the apostle Paul talks about us being rescued, and it sounds as if God is coming to transport us out of this world, but that isn’t his purpose. His desire is to leave us in this world to do his work. What we need to understand is that the Jews thought in terms of two ages. There was this present evil age and then there was the age to come. This present age is dominated by the devil and is characterised by sin, death and brokenness, and the age to come is marked out by love, harmony and life. The age to come is what the New Testament writers refer to as eternal life. Because it has its roots in God, it cannot and will not come to an end. When Paul talks about the r