Derek Thomas

And then a third aspect, to deliver us from the present evil age.

There are two worlds.

And there's this world and there's the heavenly places.

There's the world to come.

It's a parallel world.

It's a world where the body of Jesus is.

It's a world where angels and archangels and the church triumphant are to be found.

This world is aching and groaning and travailing in birth, waiting for the renewal of all things.

And it's under the dominion of

Satan, the prince and power of the air.

And Paul is saying, we are going to be delivered from this present evil world, and we're going to be delivered, of course, into a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness will dwell.

There's an aspect of the gospel that is about thinking about those things which are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God.

He gave Himself.

He gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age, and then fourthly, according to the will of your God and heavenly Father.

The origin of the gospel is not simply Jesus.

The origin of the gospel is God the Father.

Think of John 3, 16, for God the Father so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

The gospel is not that Jesus makes a reluctant Father gracious to us.

The initiative of the gospel, the initiative to save, the initiative to bring us out of the clutches of Satan and into the arms of Jesus, safe and secure forever from the consequences of our sin, that initiative lies in the heart of our heavenly Father.

And then in verse 6, I'm astonished.