we are expressly told that the Lord Jesus
Christ gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us out of this
present evil age. Then again we read what Paul wrote to Titus that the
grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men, teaching us
that we should deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and should live
soberly, righteously and godly in this present age. This shows that
the present age is evil.

And nowhere is the promise made in the Epistles that this present age
can ever be anything different than an evil age. It continues evil to
the end.

+Sixth+, what is the relation of Satan to our age? He is the enemy of
God, and seemingly achieved a triumph when he got man to reject the
Lord of Glory. On this account He is called in the New Testament "the
god of this age." He is the domineering spirit of the age in which we
live, which is also called Man's Day. Christ is rejected, with no
throne on earth, but Satan instead has his throne in this world and
controls the affairs of the age. That this is so may be seen from the
very events with which this age started. Persecution soon set in,
believers were slain, and in every other way this dark shadow
antagonized the work of the Spirit and counterfeited the Truth of God.
Therefore the spiritual warfare of believers in this age is to stand
against the wiles of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against the powers, against the
world rulers of this darkness, against the wicked spirits in the
heavenly places. (Eph. vi:12). From this we learn that the age is
ruled over by Satan and the wicked spirits.

+Seventh+, there is another item which needs to be mentioned in
connection with the beginning of this age, and that is the Jewish
people. Their measure of wickedness was filled when they delivered the
Son of God into the hands of the Gentiles to be crucified. God in
mercy lingered over the city for forty years before the announced
judgment was executed upon the city and upon the nation. Thousands
upon thousands repented and accepted the Gospel; in fact, the beginning
of the entire Church was Jewish. But the nation hardened its heart,
and finally the tears which the Lord had shed over Jerusalem were
justified in the awful siege of Jerusalem, followed by the dispersion
of the nation. Ever since they have been in fulfillment of the
predictions of their own prophets, scattered amongst the nations of the
world,