Message Two

Being Rescued out of the Present Evil Age
by the Revelation of God’s Son in Us

Scripture Reading: Gal. 1:3-4, 11-16

1. The subject of the book of Galatians is the rescue of the distracted believers out of the evil religious age—1:3-4:
   1. An age refers to a section, an aspect, the present or modern appearance, of the world as the satanic system, which is used by Satan to usurp and occupy God’s people to keep them away from God and His purpose—Eph. 2:2; 1 John 2:14-15.
   2. According to the context of this book, the present evil age here refers to the religious world, the religious course of the world, the Jewish religion, which became formal in letter, deadening in quenching the Spirit, killing in man’s communication with God in life, and contending with the gospel of Christ in God’s New Testament economy—Gal. 6:14-15; 1:6-16; 2 Cor. 3:6; Phil. 3:2-3.
   3. The purpose of Christ’s giving Himself for our sins was to rescue us, to pluck us, out of 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, 16), according to the will of God (cf. 1 Tim. 1:3-4):
      1. According to the revelation of the typology in the Song of Songs, Christ leads His loving seeker into her spirit, and in her spirit in fellowship with Him, she receives the revelation of how to leave the place where she is kept away from the church to go forth on the footsteps of the flock—1:4b-8.
      2. The flock is the church as the place where Christ pastures, shepherds and feeds, His saints—John 10:16; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2.
      3. The Lord’s seeker was seeking after the Lord for her own satisfaction, but the Lord’s concern for His saved sinners is not just for their satisfaction but for God’s eternal economy; God’s economy is to save sinners to gain the churches so that the essence of these churches can become the organic Body of Christ as the precursor for the consummation of the New Jerusalem—Rom. 5:10; Rev. 1:11-12; Eph. 1:22-23; Rev. 19:7-9; 21:2.
   4. We must overcome the present evil age of today’s degraded Christendom with its Judaistic system by holding to the teaching of the apostles (the New Testament) through the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit—Acts 2:42; 1 Tim. 1:3-4:
      1. Judaism has earthly promises with earthly blessings, but in the new testament we have the all-inclusive Spirit as the totality of the unsearchable riches of Christ to be our unique blessing for us to bless others to issue in the fullness of God—Gen. 12:2-3; Gal. 3:14; Eph. 3:8; 1:3; Luke 12:21; Rev. 2:9; 2 Cor. 6:10; Eph. 3:19b.
      2. Judaism has the law of letters, but in the new testament we have the law of the Spirit of life—Rom. 8:2; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 2:28-29; 5:20.
      3. Judaism has mediatorial priests, but in the new testament all the believers are priests to be a holy and royal priesthood—Rev. 1:5b-6; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; cf. Rev. 2:6.
      4. Judaism has a material temple, but in the new testament the temple is a spiritual house, a dwelling place of God in spirit—Eph. 2:21-22:
         1. In Judaism the worshippers and the place of worship are two different things, but in the new testament the place of worship is the worshipper—John 4:24; Acts 2:46; 5:42.
         2. The Father’s house, typified by the temple, is a divine and human incorporation of the processed and consummated God constituted with His redeemed, regenerated, and transformed elect—John 14:2, 20, 23; 1 Tim. 3:15; Rev. 21:3, 22.
2. God’s Son is versus man’s religion—Gal. 1:11-16:
   1. The desire of God’s heart is to reveal His Son in us that we may know Him, receive Him as our life (John 17:3; 3:16), and become the sons of God (1:12; Gal. 4:5-6).
   2. The focal point of the Bible is not practices, doctrines, or ordinances—it is the living person of the Son of God, who is the embodiment of the Triune God realized as the all-inclusive Spirit in our spirit for us to enjoy Him, partake of His riches, and live Him—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; Phil. 1:19; Gal. 6:18:
      1. In the eyes of God, there is no place for religion or tradition—only the living person of His Son has a place; God cares only for this living person, not for anything else—Col. 1:18b; 2:16-17; 3:10b-11; Mark 9:7-8.
      2. Without this living person as the reality and content of the church life, even the church life will become a tradition; the church is the Body of this person, His fullness, His practical and living expression—Eph. 1:22-23; 3:8-11, 16-19.
3. Nothing is more pleasing to God than the unveiling, the revelation, of the living person of the Son of God in us—Gal. 1:15a, 16a; 2 Cor. 3:14-17; 4:3-6:
   1. The more inward, subjective revelation we receive of the Son of God, the more He will live in us; the more He lives in us, the more He will become to us the reality of the all-inclusive land as the blessing of Abraham, the blessing of the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit—Gal. 2:20; 3:14.
   2. If we drop our concepts, turn our heart to the Lord, pay attention to the spirit, and spend time in the Word in a spirit and atmosphere of prayer, Christ will be revealed in us, live in us, and be formed in us—1:15-16; 2:20; 4:19:
      1. We must drop our concepts; every concept, whether spiritual or carnal, is a veil; this inward revelation is in our spirit through our enlightened mind—2 Cor. 3:14-15; 4:4; Eph. 1:17-18; Luke 24:45.
      2. We must turn our heart to the Lord; the more we turn our heart to the Lord, the less ground the god of this age will have in our life and in our being, and we will be under the shining of the heavenly light to receive the inward revelation of this living person—2 Cor. 3:16, 18.
      3. We must care for and pay attention to our spirit; it is in our spirit that the Spirit is shining, revealing Christ in us, and speaking to us concerning Christ—Eph. 1:17; 3:5; cf. Rev. 1:10; 2:7.
      4. We must pray-read the Word—Eph. 6:17-18.
   3. We need to be full of the revelation of the Son of God and thereby become a new creation with Christ living in us, being formed in us, and being enjoyed by us continually as the all-inclusive Spirit—Gal. 6:14-15.