After Paul identifies himself in the opening of the letter to the Galatian church, he offers a prayer request for grace and peace and then talks about the purpose of the Father in sending His Son to us.
“May God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. 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. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.” [Galatians 1:3-5 NLT]
The LORD Christ Jesus came to rescue us from this evil world in which we life. Recent events have proven (as if we needed further proof) that the world is a place where evil flourishes. Over the last weekend we saw the terrorist attack at Bondi Beach, a mass shooting at Brown University, an uprising of Isis in Syria that killed our soldiers, and a mother and father killed allegedly by their son.
Evil exists in this world. The NLT of Scripture has 530 references to evil. It enters in the first book of the Bible (Genesis) and doesn’t exit until the last (Revelation). We can push it down in one place and then watch it rise in another. Evil exists, period.
Except … while evil exists (and often flourishes) in our world, it does not control it. The grace and peace given by God our Father does. He has provided an eternal rescue in Christ Jesus if we abide in Him.
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen and Amen.