#192: The Way Back
“How the mighty have fallen!” The desolate streets of Jerusalem echoed these words as Babylon laid siege over the city, burnt it to the ground and carried away captive the children of God. Once, they were the apple of God’s eyes; God’s elect, but sin led them captive; exiles in Babylon – away from the Land of Promise (echoes of our exile from Eden because of sin). The prophets had warned them that their sin would lead them to destruction and before their very eyes, it was so. But would exile have the final word? Was there any hope for Israel? Yes! The prophets as often as they heralded the coming exile also spoke about a hope:
This is what the Lord says: "When
seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfil my
gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I
have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to
harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me
and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find
me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,"
declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather
you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares
the Lord, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you
into exile." Jer 29:10-14
Even though God punished the Israelites
and sent them into exile, He was very mindful of them. God knew the thoughts that
He had for them. He had a plan – something to hope for. It is profound and
important to draw that God was the initiator of the way back – out of exile. In
that message, God made it clear that He would listen to the prayers of the
Israelites and would be found by them when they sought Him with all their
heart. In other words, God was granting audience and access to the children of
Israel. In this same passage, God began to speak of the restoration of fortunes
of the land of Israel. Something remarkable in these verses is the consistent
use of the first-person singular pronoun “I” It was as though God was making it
clear that He both had the intention to restore the children of Israel and He
was committing Himself to get the job done. The only hope Israel had was God;
else they would have remained in exile. God was and is the initiator, navigator,
and pathfinder of the way back.
Isaiah was another prophet that spoke
about the restoration of Israel and his prophecy was also clear. After he
prophesied about the destruction that would befall Israel and Judah, he began
to speak of a hope to come. He said:
1 A shoot will come
up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots, a
Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, Isa 11:1,2a
(Reader is advised to read the whole
chapter)
According to that passage, it is said
that the Spirit of the LORD would be upon him. It was also said that He would
give justice to the poor (11:4). It is written that on the day of this New
Branch, the wolf and the lamb would live together, and the leopard would lie
down with the goat (11:6). Also, the heir to David’s throne, the Root of Jesse,
would be a banner of salvation to all the world, and not just to the people of
Israel (11:10). Then it was said that the LORD would reach out His hands and
bring back the remnants of His people Israel (11:12). So, while God was
interested in bringing Israel back, He was looking from a perspective that was
beyond just the physical nation of Israel. He was looking at something that
affected all of mankind. It looked like He was seeking to restore all creation
to its original state as in Eden, for it was in his heart to cover the earth
with the knowledge of His person as the waters cover the sea (11:9).
It was sin that took man away from his
fellowship with God and subjected creation to the corruption under which it
still lives up till today (Rom 8:20-21). However, the branch which Isaiah spoke about would operate by a contrary law and for a contrary purpose for He will delight
in obeying the LORD and He will wear righteousness as a belt and truth as a
sash around His waist (11:5). According to scriptures, we know that the one who
fulfilled this prophecy was Jesus who according to the flesh was the Son of David.
It looked like in marking out a way back, back to Eden, one thing God had to do
was to bring Jesus into the picture (Gen 3:15). In the testimony of John, the
Baptist, he introduced Jesus as the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the
world (Jn 1:29). Let’s recall that what took man out of fellowship with God was
sin. So, a person who would deal with the matter of sin was right on track to
restore this fellowship with God and Jesus was the person for this job. He was
the one that the prophets were referring to and for this reason, He made it
clear that He didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfil it (Matt 5:17). To
enter the tabernacle or the temple (where the presence of God dwelt), there was
only one way in. It had to be through the door as Jesus said concerning
Himself:
I am the door; whoever enters through
me will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. John 10:9
Jesus is the way back to God (John14:6). He did this by the sacrifice he offered, for He has appeared once for
all time at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself
(Heb 9:26). He spoke concerning Himself as the good shepherd that lays down his
life for the sheep (John 10:11). Jesus died and was buried to bring us at peace
with God, and He was raised to life to give us a new life. For this reason,
Paul in his letter to the believers in Ephesus pointed out that God was rich in
mercy towards us that though we were dead in sins, he gave us life when He
raised Christ from the dead. He raised us from the dead together with Christ.
It is only on this basis that there is a true return to God. It is only on this
basis that Eden is reborn. This is obviously a gift from heaven and not the
work of the hands of anyone on the earth, whether great or small. Paul puts it
clearly in his letter to the Ephesians:
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because
of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved. 6 And God
raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in
Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable
riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it
is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God— 9 not by works so that no one can boast. 10 For we are
God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared
in advance for us to do Eph 2:4-10
Jesus also said to Nicodemus:
"For God so loved the world that
he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but
have eternal life. John 3:16
Salvation (which is a term used to
depict our return) is not a reward for the good things that we have done, and
it would never be. It is only received by believing in what God has done. Part
of the reason for this is so that no man would glory in the presence of God for
any man who must glory, must glory in the LORD (1Cor 1:28-31). The error of the
children of Israel, which some could fall into today was that they found it
difficult to believe in the one who was sent from heaven.
Eph 2:10 makes it clear that in God's
plan to bring us back, we are his workmanship. In that verse, we see that He
created us (anew) in Christ to do the things He planned for us to do long ago.
It then becomes obvious that God had these thoughts concerning us for a long
time. This suggests to us that He was orchestrating a way, a way back.
Written by Chibuikem Okeke. Join us next week by God's grace as we conclude on the biblical theme of our exile. We will be graced by another contributor. God bless you
How does Jesus fit into the biblical theme of our exile from God's presence? Let us know in the comment section below.
When we find ourselves in bondage by the world system, alienated from God, may the hope in the gospel prove God's faithfulness in providing a way back to Him. Amen.
ReplyDeleteThe temple analogy is particularly intriguing. It was a large edifice. But with only one entrance. In the wilderness, the tabernacle was surrounded on all sides by the 12 tribes but everyone had one access to God- through the door on the east side. The door to the courtyard, holy place and most holy place all faced the east. And only one door each led to each of these levels. No matter how deep you desire your walk with God to be, at every level, Jesus is the Way.
Shalom.