The Restoration

The Restoration Period

Introduction

The birth , the exile , and the restoration of the people of Israel to the Promised Land were all foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures From the very time that God promised Adam and Eve a coming Seed ' who would crush the head of the serpent (Gen .3 :15 , to God 's calling of Abraham promising him to becoming a blessing ' to all the nations of the world (Gen .12 , till the actual birth of the nation of Israel (Exo .1 , everything was prearranged by God . All along , the plan

was supposed to reach its culmination in the person of the Messiah . The people of Israel , before and after the exile , looked forward to this day of the Messiah as one of golden era for their nation . It would be a time characterized by peace and a period where Israel has reached her zenith as a nation politically and spiritually

Pre-Exilic Period

On the verge of their Babylonian captivity , Israel , during these crucial years of their history was in a backslidden state . They have disobeyed God by breaking His covenant with them . They have disregarded God 's laws as revealed in the Torah . In the Old Testament book of Jeremiah , the true spiritual state of Israel and Judah were exposed Strong words were used by the prophet to describe how far have they gone with their sins and how serious it was to the Lord . God called the entire nation a prostitute . And so , there was a looming judgment coming upon the people of God . They would be subjected to 70 years captivity in Babylon because of their apostasy . Aside from the fact that shortly before the exile , the divided kingdom of Judah and Israel , have already succumbed to different kinds of idolatry , one particular sin was highlighted by God through his prophet - their neglect of Sabbatical years for the land . God has commanded them to let the land have its rest every seventh year (Lev .25 :1-7 . But apparently , Israel has neglected this command , and thus , took lightly this important detail of the law Their apostasy which reached a striking proportion during the time of pre-exilic prophets has its roots in their seeming tolerable sin of disregarding the Lord 's ordained Sabbath for the land . Given the measure of punishment inflicted upon Israel (70 years of captivity , at the heart of the matter regarding their violation of Sabbatical year for the land was their frivolous treatment of the Word of God . It was not the Sabbath per se , but their flippant handling of God 's revelation . And so God had to let the land enjoy its Sabbaths (2 Chron .36 :21 . It needs to be noted though , that long before the writing of the book of Jeremiah (between 630 and 580 B .C , God 's people had been prostituting with their idolatries in the land they had long been violating God 's laws (Jackson , 2004

God 's Purpose of Restoring His People Back to the Promised...