The history and future of man is the story of restoration. The Bible makes this plain for all who would like to know the past and wish to know the future. From the onset of sin, God announced a plan for restoring His creation—from the seed of Eve would come One to crush Satan (Gen. 3:15). Sin and evil would
not triumph; despair would not rule eternity. There will be restoration amid the ruins!
Far too many have lost sight of this fact and, as a result, have lost hope. But hope is something God recognizes we need and wishes we have. Paul, by inspiration of God, said, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope…” (Rom. 15:13). The student of the Bible should know that hope in Scripture is not merely the desire for something to happen, but something we fully expect and trust will happen.
God doesn’t simply want us to have hope; He made sure to provide us with a reason and way to have it.
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4).
God is the “God of hope” (v. 13). He is the “God of patience and consolation [comfort]” (v. 5). He is also the God of “peace” (v. 33; 16:20); “love” (2 Cor. 13:11); “all flesh” (Jer. 32:27); “the whole earth” (Isa. 54:5; Rev. 11:4); “truth” (Psa. 31:5); “my life” (42:8); “my strength” (43:2); “my mercy” (59:10,17); “my praise” (109:1); and of course, “my righteousness” (4:1) and “my salvation” (18:46; 27:9; Mic. 7:7; Hab. 3:18).
It is extraordinary to think that the believer always has the means for hope available to them as long as we have the Word of God available to us. What does someone who has no hope need most? The scriptures and prayer! Scripture and prayer are God’s prescription for when the world and what we see in it become too large to bear—“He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” (Psa. 147:3). God knew how to put the smallest parts of our being together when He formed man, and He knows what we need to know in order to maintain stability and function as He deems fit.
When Paul speaks of things written “aforetime” in Romans 15, he certainly has the Old Testament in mind, for much of the New Testament, including over half of Paul’s own epistles, had yet to be written. This is not to suggest that all of Scripture is not God’s prescription for hope; simply that Paul’s specific meaning here is a reference to the Old Testament and what God wrote regarding the events that took place since creation.
God specifically chose what events to record so that we “through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” Have you ever put together a piece of furniture or a child’s Christmas present and found the directions lacking? Well, the great news is nothing is lacking in Scripture. The indwelt believer armed with Scripture has what they need to be “throughly furnished” (2 Tim. 3:17); we are fully equipped.
“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Cor. 1:3-4).
God knows our struggles; He knows that life has obstacles and tribulations. Though man, with help from Satan, has “made his own bed,” God did not and does not respond by saying that we must now lay in the bed that we made. Instead, He is compassionate and gracious and lovingly provides us with what we need to get through and rise above the tribulations, and this is true comfort. Events written in the Old Testament are examples of God bringing restoration amid the ruins.
God’s Nation in Ruins
“But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee….The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand” (Deut. 28:15,49).
As God formed the nation of Israel, His nation, and sent them into the promised land, He did so with His blessings and also plenty of warnings of what would happen if they chose to abandon the covenant they had made with Him (cf. vv. 62-65)—they would be delivered into the hands of their enemies. It was the Lord Who had freed them from bondage in Egypt. It was the Lord Who fed and protected them in the wilderness. To Him alone was due their thanks, their praise; He alone deserved their worship.
Yet, time and time again, Israel would begin to serve other gods. They would forget the Lord and forsake His commandments.
In 722 BC, the ten northern tribes of Israel were conquered and taken captive by Assyria. Assyria tried to conquer the southern kingdom of Judah, but “Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven” (2 Chron. 32:20). In response, the Lord sent an angel and slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers (cf. 2 Kings 19:35), “Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (2 Chron. 32:22).
Judah, however, did not learn her lesson for very long. With the death of Hezekiah came the rule of his son, Manasseh, an evil king who led Judah to sin in many abominations, including sacrificing their children by fire (cf. 2 Kings 21:6). The result was that God pronounced judgment upon Judah. He would deliver Judah into the hands of their enemies (vv. 10-15), Babylon specifically (Jer. 20:4; 21:4-10; 25:9;).
God called Judah to repent, but she refused. God issued a familiar challenge to look through the city for a just man and said that “If there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh truth” He would pardon Jerusalem (Jer. 5:1). God desired and pleaded with both Israel and Judah to repent: “return unto Me” (Jer. 4:1) is what the Lord said, but neither did. Thus, as Paul quotes from Isaiah 65:1-2, “But to Israel He saith, All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people” (Rom. 10:21).
By 586 BC, Judah would be conquered by Babylon, the temple destroyed, thousands of Jews taken captive to Babylon, and Jerusalem left in ruins. It’s hard to imagine what this must have felt like for Jews who witnessed the destruction. The once great and admired city, ruled by one of the wisest and wealthiest men ever to live, King Solomon (1 Kings 3:12; 4:31), was now completely destroyed. The temple, which was overlaid entirely on the inside with pure gold (2 Chron. 3:4), and more importantly, the place where God’s Shekinah glory once resided, was plundered, dismantled, and left without even its foundations (cf. Ezra 3:6,10). However, the city would not stay that way for long. God would bring restoration to His people amid the ruins of that great city.
A Plan for Restoration
“For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword… Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them…And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.
“Thus saith the Lord; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast…Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down” (Jer. 33:4-12).
Judah and Israel would be restored, and their desolation turned to habitation. God was bringing “health and cure,” and He would do so through a Gentile named Cyrus. The Book of Ezra recounts Israel and Judah’s return to Jerusalem from captivity.
“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the Word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
“Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah” (Ezra 1:1-2).
Cyrus of the Medes and Persians had conquered Babylon, fulfilling the prophetic dream of Nebuchadnezzar of the great image made up of nations and interpreted by Daniel (cf. Dan. 2:31-45). And now Cyrus was fulfilling the next step in God’s plan for the restoration of Israel. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God told the nation that “after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform My good Word toward you, in causing you to return to this place” (Jer. 29:10 cf. 25:11).
God, through Isaiah, foretold of the coming of Cyrus, saying, “He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid” (Isa. 44:28). This prophecy came long before Judah was destroyed and taken captive and nearly two hundred years before Cyrus’s birth—Cyrus is one of eight people in the Bible named prior to their birth. Isaiah 45 continues the prophecy regarding Cyrus:
“Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
“And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel Mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me” (Isa. 45:1-4).
It is likely that Daniel shared this prophecy with Cyrus. We know he was alive and in high service to the court when Cyrus came to power (cf. Dan. 6:25-28). We know that Daniel was aware that the end of the seventy years in exile was drawing to a close (Dan. 9:1-4).
When Ezra 1:1-2 says that “the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus” to “build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah,” we can imagine that Cyrus would have been stirred in the spirit indeed to learn that the God of Israel said many years prior that He would open the gates and make way for him to be king. No doubt, this would inspire him to seek further favor from the God Who can do such things.
Restoration Can be Difficult
It would be a mistake to think that going from ruin to restoration is an easy process. This is true even when the Lord is the one doing the work. Often, man needs to see for himself the devastation his actions have caused before restoration can begin. “The work of restoration cannot begin until a problem is fully faced,” said Dan B. Allender.
One cannot be saved by the gospel without first facing the fact that one needs a Savior. Before believing that Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection save us from our sins, we must first face the fact that we are sinners.
These returning exiles saw the ruins firsthand. They saw the devastation that comes from forgetting God and going about to serve their heart’s desires without letting God first change their hearts. This is true even today and should serve as a lesson. As much as we want to avoid the consequences of our actions, the truth remains that often our situation is not going to be fixed without us first seeing the devastation we caused. This may be in our relationships, our finances, or any number of other situations.
Man needs to recognize that God is necessary for restoration, and brokenness is often the necessary means of surrendering to God. As author and pastor Vance Havner said, “God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.”
Brokenness was no doubt what the apostles experienced after Christ’s crucifixion, and it was this brokenness that led them to the restoration that followed.
Restoration is often a very challenging process and involves much effort. Even though the returning exiles were on the path to restoration, it took time and effort. There were no shortcuts. From Zerubbabel’s laying of the foundation to the Temple’s completion was twenty-one years (cf. Ezra 3:8-10; 6:15). It wasn’t easy; as the Book of Ezra details, the returning exiles had adversaries and faced opposition from the people of the land (4:1,4). It took a willingness to submit and surrender to the will of God.
Through God’s help and encouragement, Jerusalem and the temple were restored, but more than that, the Jewish people themselves were restored. God’s desire was not for a city or even a temple to make burnt offerings and sacrifices, but for His people to worship Him in truth and from the heart (cf. Jer. 31:31-33; Mic. 6:6-8; Jn. 4:23). God’s desire was for the nation of Israel, the people, to be restored.
After the temple was complete, Ezra, the priest, would come to Jerusalem to restore true worship of God, for he had “prepared his heart” (Ezra 7:10), but once again, the process would be difficult. The people would stumble and fail, but eventually, because of God and the willingness to surrender to Him, there was restoration amid the ruins, and there will be again. The day is coming when God will once again fulfill His promises and restore the kingdom to Israel. God will once again restore His people, Israel (cf. Rom. 11:26).
We can learn a lot from our example in the Book of Ezra. God is still able to restore the ruins of our lives if we are willing to recognize that He is necessary, turn to Him, surrender our hearts to His will, and put in the work He calls us to do.
Many marriages today are on life support and in desperate need of restoration, but the first step is acknowledging that God is necessary for restoration. If God can restore the relationship between Himself and unrighteous men, He can certainly restore any relationship between men. God is still in the business of bringing restoration amid the ruins. Whether it’s a broken marriage or a broken friendship, there is no relationship that God cannot fix if we are willing to let Him.
Another great thing about restoration is that it bears fruit and brings joy.
“And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy” (Ezra 6:16).
Those who returned from Babylon and went through the lessons and labor found joy. It was God Who restored their joy, and He can restore yours, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 15:13).
