1 & 2 Kings: An Expiration Date for Your Exile

Sometimes our exiles can feel like an endless, bottomless pit.

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Thank the Lord, for the Christian, our exile will not stretch into eternity.

In Judah’s day, it felt like the long days of “being cut off” would last forever. But those difficult days didn’t drone on forever.

And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. (2 Kings 25:27)

For the people of Judah, exile in Babylon proved painful. And yes, it was well-deserved. After all, they had forsaken the God of their fathers—and their punishment as penalty matched the severity of their sin. Yet even still God in his mercy didn’t keep the timer ticking indefinitely. The trauma, in due time, met its terminus.

And isn’t that the story of the Bible? It’s a long road from Genesis 3 to Revelation 22. But we’ll get there soon enough. The crown will come, but not without the cross. Even Jesus’ body lay lifeless for three days in the grave. Darkness often hangs on, doesn’t it? It wasn’t always called Good Friday, you know. All looked bleak at the time. Sure enough, sorrow often lasts as long as it can through the night. But joy, well, it eventually finds its way through the wee hours of the morning. And Easter morn never looked so good.

Christians can know—really know—that God works all things together for good (Rom. 8:28). No portion of the Master’s plan involves cheap parts. But then again, those parts don’t often appear to go together. Indeed the Lord tends to use unlikely instruments—and unpleasant ones at that—to accomplish his divine purpose for us. And that purpose? Get us to looking more like Christ (Rom. 8:29).

So how long might your exile last, whether it be this current one or the one after that or the one after that? How about until God’s work in you is done, which, if my math serves me correctly, equates to the day of Christ (Phil. 1:6).

So take heart. The countdown has already begun.

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