The Progress Of Redemption
Exile and Return (or...Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)


Bible Sections Covered
Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Jeremiah (part), Lamentations, Ezekiel (part), Daniel, Haggai, Zecheriah and Malachi
Progress Events
Promises, Promises...
Abraham (great nation, blessing to all nations), David (place for Israel, an eternal throne), Prophets (an eternal kingdom, a sinless people)

1. Exile
A. Capture and Exile
Lamen. 2:17-22, 4:1-11, 5:19-22, Psalm 137
God does what he promises (God is in charge)
Psalm 137 (separate)
Lamen. 2:17-22 17. The LORD has done what He purposed; He has accomplished His word Which He commanded from days of old. He has thrown down without sparing, And He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you; He has exalted the might of your adversaries. 18. Their heart cried out to the Lord, "O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let your tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief, Let your eyes have no rest. 19. "Arise, cry aloud in the night At the beginning of the night watches; Pour out your heart like water Before the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him For the life of your little ones Who are faint because of hunger At the head of every street." 20. See, O LORD, and look! With whom have You dealt thus? Should women eat their offspring, The little ones who were born healthy? Should priest and prophet be slain In the sanctuary of the Lord? 21. On the ground in the streets Lie young and old; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered, not sparing. 22. You called as in the day of an appointed feast My terrors on every side; And there was no one who escaped or survived In the day of the LORD'S anger. Those whom I bore and reared, My enemy annihilated them.
Lamen. 4:1-11 1. How dark the gold has become, How the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are poured out At the corner of every street. 2. The precious sons of Zion, Weighed against fine gold, How they are regarded as earthen jars, The work of a potter's hands! 3. Even jackals offer the breast, They nurse their young; But the daughter of my people has become cruel Like ostriches in the wilderness. 4. The tongue of the infant cleaves To the roof of its mouth because of thirst; The little ones ask for bread, But no one breaks it for them. 5. Those who ate delicacies Are desolate in the streets; Those reared in purple Embrace ash pits. 6. For the iniquity of the daughter of my people Is greater than the sin of Sodom, Which was overthrown as in a moment, And no hands were turned toward her. 7. Her consecrated ones were purer than snow, They were whiter than milk; They were more ruddy in body than corals, Their polishing was like lapis lazuli. 8. Their appearance is blacker than soot, They are not recognized in the streets; Their skin is shriveled on their bones, It is withered, it has become like wood. 9. Better are those slain with the sword Than those slain with hunger; For they pine away, being stricken For lack of the fruits of the field. 10. The hands of compassionate women Boiled their own children; They became food for them Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11. The LORD has accomplished His wrath, He has poured out His fierce anger; And He has kindled a fire in Zion Which has consumed its foundations.
Lamen. 5:19-22 19. You, O LORD, rule forever; Your throne is from generation to generation. 20. Why do You forget us forever? Why do You forsake us so long? 21. Restore us to You, O LORD, that we may be restored; Renew our days as of old, 22. Unless You have utterly rejected us And are exceedingly angry with us.

- We knew this was coming and who would do it (Prophecy to Hezekiah)
- 3 separate captures of Jerusalem
605 BC - Wealthy and educated are carted off (Daniel included)
597 BC - Jerusalem sacked again after siding with Egypt against Babylon (Ezekiel among them)
586 BC - Final (complete) destruction of Jerusalem
(Please understand this from an Old Testament Perspective) This is the worse thing possible
B. 70 years in a foreign land
Jer 29:10, Daniel 9:2
God told them the length of the captivity before they ever left.
Jer 29:10 For thus says Yahweh, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
Daniel 9:2 - In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years whereof the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years.

2. Return and Rebuild
Psalm 126
A. Rebuilding The 'Places'
Ezra (The Temple), Nehemiah (Jerusalem's Walls)
Initial Return (Edict of Cyrus, 536 BC), Temple Rebuilt (Ezra, 535ish-520ish BC), Walls Rebuilt (Nehemiah, 445ish BC)
 
The places are important because the promises to Abraham were 'this land'
Gen. 15:19 To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates
B. Rehearing The Prophesies
Haggai 2:5-9, Zech. 1:16,17, Zech. 2:10-13
God hasn't given up on Israel.
Haggai 2:5-9 5. `As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!' 6."For thus says the LORD of hosts, `Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. 7.`I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD of hosts. 8.`The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,' declares the LORD of hosts. 9.`The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,' says the LORD of hosts, `and in this place I will give peace,' declares the LORD of hosts."
Zech. 1:16,17 16.`Therefore thus says the LORD, "I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; My house will be built in it," declares the LORD of hosts, "and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem."' 17."Again, proclaim, saying, `Thus says the LORD of hosts, "My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.""'
Zech. 2:10-13 10. "Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," declares the LORD. 11."Many nations will join themselves to the LORD in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you. 12."The LORD will possess Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem. 13."Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; for He is aroused from His holy habitation."

3. Waiting
Expectation : A resurgent Jewish nation to encapsulate the promises to Israel
Reality : A changing world of powerful non-Jewish empires
 
A. Changes to the world
Assyria, 800 BC (roughly) - 607 BC (Ninevah destroyed)
The first empire to dominate the entire Middle East.
Babylon 600 BC (roughly) - 538 BC
Controls the Middle East and creates a semi-stable empire.
Persia, 559 BC (Cyrus becomes king) - 330 BC (Alexander enters Babylon)
Controls the Middle East, extends borders in several directions and brings Europe into the sphere. 538 BC, Persia conquers Babylon as predicted by Daniel (Daniel 5)
Greece, 336 BC (Alexander becomes king, dies 323 BC) - 200 BC (Rome becomes dominant power)
Alexander
Conquers the known world
Spreads Greek culture, Greek values, and the Greek language
Fracture and Descent
Alexander dies; his 4 generals divide the world amongst themselves and proceed to quibble.
The Ptolemies take Egypt, the Antigonids take Greece, and the Selucids are the rulers of Persia (and Palestine).
See Wikipedia's article on the Diadochi for more data.
The Macabees (170 BC-140 BC)
The Jews rebel attempting to create an independent Jewish state under the leadership of the Macabees.
They succeed, until the Romans conquer Palestine under Pompey in 63 BC.
Rome, 272 BC (Rome conquers all of Italy), 400 BC (Western Empire collapses)
Pax Romana - A universal peace
Common language and commerce
The trend is towards larger and more global empires - the net effect is a reduction of cultural barriers.
B. Changes to Judaism
A. Segmentation
(these groups arise post-Alexander and pre-Rome)
Saducees
Pragmatist Aristocracy. Always in bed with the ruling power...
Pharisees
Dedicated to not transgressing the Law.
Of course, as there are some areas of the law that were not specific enough for all situations, they ended up writing vast amounts of interprative commentary on the Law.
Zealots
Dedicated to the political realization of Israel (a Jewish state)
The original Zionists.
B. Evangelicalism
Globalisation
Geographical distribution
As a result of the captivity, Jews were forced to spread around the near east.
From that time forward, Jews no longer restricted themselves to Palestine.
There was a significant community in Alexandria, Egypt for centuries before Christ.
With the 'Pax Romana', Jews spread throughout the Mediterranian region.
Synagogues (away from the Temple)
No Temple? No Priests? How does Judaism survive?
The Synagogue system - Rabbis (teachers) and community
Evangelicalism
Judiasm is sometimes called the 'original evangelical religion'
Thus, by the time of the New Testament, there is a whole structure for non-Israelite Jews (God Fearers, Proselytes, etc)


Application
1. God is in charge
God promised an exile - God gave an exile.
God promised a return - God gave a return.
God keeps his promises.
 
God has made promises to us as well; God is faithful.
1 Cor 1:4-9, Rom 8:18-25, Heb 10:32-36

2. God is not in a hurry
God is willing to wait (400 years from Malachi to Christ).
Expect God to keep his promises in his time, not our time.