Through such a transfer the believers have been transferred out of the evil and crooked age, that is, the religious age, into Christ and the church. Galatians 1:4 says, “Who [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.” An age is a part of the world as the satanic system. The present evil age here, according to the context of Galatians, refers to the religious world, the religious course of the world, the Jewish religion. This is confirmed by 6:14-15, where circumcision is considered a part of the world. 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, to bring them out of the sheepfold (John 10:1, 3), into the grace of the gospel according to the will of God.
In Acts 2:40 Peter entreated the repenting Jews, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” Peter did not say, “Be saved from God’s condemnation,” or, “Be saved from eternal perdition.” Instead, he said, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” The phrase “this crooked generation” refers to the perverted Jews in that age who rejected God’s Christ (v. 36) and were considered by God as the present evil age. The repenting Jews needed to be saved from that evil age. This indicates that they needed to turn to God not only from their sins but also from their generation, their Jewish society, including their Jewish religion. The result of such a salvation of God is an entrance into a new generation—the church.
John 10 also reveals to us that Christ, as the good Shepherd, entered into the sheepfold to lead His sheep out of the fold and to bring them into the pasture. The sheepfold signifies the law, or Judaism as the religion of the law. Before Christ came, God used Judaism as a sheepfold to keep His sheep. When Christ came, He led His sheep out of the fold into the pasture, that they might feast on His riches. In verse 16 the Lord also said, “I have other sheep which are not of this fold; I must bring them also...and there shall be one flock, one shepherd.” “Other sheep” refer to the Gentile believers. “One flock” refers to the one church, the one Body of Christ, including the believing Jews and Gentiles. Christ brings both together into one flock and under one Shepherd. This indicates that He delivers the Jewish and Gentile believers out of the religious fold, the religious world, and transfers them into Christ and the church.
Before receiving God’s salvation, man was in darkness, under the authority of Satan, in Adam, under law, and in the crooked, perverted age and the evil, religious age. Hence, man was in a number of pitiful and tragic conditions. By the salvation of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, however, we have been transferred out of those different conditions into an entirely new sphere. As a result of being transferred, we have been moved out of the realm of darkness, sin, and death into the sphere of light, righteousness, and life; from the authority of Satan to the authority of God; out of the authority of darkness, the kingdom of Satan, into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, being restricted and ruled in His divine love under the authority in resurrection; and out of Adam into Christ. In Adam we were constituted sinners, we were condemned, and we were dead. In Christ, however, we have been constituted righteous and justified unto life; we have been transferred out of the bondage, demand, and curse of the law into the freedom, supply, and blessing of grace; and we have been delivered out of the evil and crooked generation, that is, the religious generation, into Christ and the church.