The fourth in the Lenten Midweek series:  Coming Home From Exile:   the Exoduses of the Scriptures.  (Theme and theme text by Rev. Carl C. Fickenscher II, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN).

 

 

Today’s Scripture

Jesus before Pilate:  John 18:28 – 19:16a

Psalm 137       Ezra 1:1-4       John 8:31-36

 

            During these weeks we have been studying the exoduses in Scripture and how each exodus points to our lives in faith.  We have noted the different length of time for each exodus.  The exodus from the Garden of Eden lasts until judgment, the day Christ restores all in eternity.  Abram’s exodus to and from Egypt was a short one.  Jacob’s exodus and return to his home lasted twenty years [Genesis 31].  Israel was in Egypt approximately 430 years plus another forty years in the wilderness.  The Exodus to Babylon lasted seventy years as prophesied through Isaiah and Jeremiah [605-535 B.C.]. 

 

            The exodus to captivity in Babylon was prophesied over and over again through the centuries.  Each prophet God sent declared to the Israelites that the result of their not following God’s commands and their idolatry was this kingdom would be destroyed.  First Israel, and finally Judah were overrun by Nebuchadnezzar.  He removed the people from this land God had promised and given to his people.  Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, taking the treasures of the temple with him.  The promised land God had given his people in covenant was taken from them as they had violated that covenant with their God.  God also comforted his people telling them to live faithful and productive lives there in his promise to restore them.

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            Through the change in world events, God led Cyrus, the king of Persia, to allow Israel to return to their land, to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.  God also provided protection for the temple items these seventy years.  Now these items were returning to Jerusalem to be used again in the temple as a sign that God keeps his promises, his covenant with his people.  God put in place Ezra, Esther, Nehemiah and others to provide the leadership and influence as God’s people returned.  God put in place these leaders and the protection from men like Cyrus to restore his people in the promised land, to remain there as he would fulfill a greater promise, that to send the Savior from David’s line.

 

            We see in this exodus the kind of God Israel had.  He was the God of grace.  He brought his people to their senses to trust alone in him again.  He brought his people into and out of captivity to show his grace, to show his love, to show that he will always keep his covenant with his people, his dear children.  God showed his mercies and his grace as the city David established to his glory and the temple Solomon built to his glory were restored, showing God’s presence with his people as he promised.

 

            This is the same God you and I and all people have today.  God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  He remains faithful to his people.  He does not let his people live forever in their sinfulness, their sins, nor in a sinful world.  God has taken you also, from comforts and places you thought would always be yours to bring you back to him again.  No matter what your Babylon may be, he does the same for you today as he did for Israel then.  He restores his temple which is your body and soul.  He builds you up.  When you are destroyed, even when the last brick seems torn down, he is there forgiving and strengthening you even through the exiles you experience from day to day, event to event, season to season, and year to year. 

 

            In your human nature, the same Babylon’s may capture you again and again.  In confession, you bring the Babylon’s that have captured you to the only one who can and does save you.  In your faith and in your baptism, the same Savior brings you home from your Babylon’s again and again.  In your faith and in your baptism, your temple is restored daily as sins are washed away and Jesus’ blood and righteousness cover you, making you his own day in and day out.

 

            Can you overcome the Babylon’s on your own?  No.  Can you escape from exile and captivity on your own?  No.  Can those Babylon’s, exiles and captivities keep you from Jesus, his death and resurrection for you?  No.  As he died, sacrificing himself and not letting Satan have even one little part of him, he paid the price paid for your return from exile and captivity.  As he rose from death and returned to the right hand of God in heaven, you too will receive this victory over death and the grave and be brought with him in the glories of eternal life in heaven. 

 

            God is slow to anger yet quick to forgive.  He allows the captivities so that each sees his own weakness and trusts in God’s love, strength, forgiveness and restoration to those who call out to him.  “Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you.” 

 

            And Jesus has done just that.                Amen.