How do we live in exile?

Discussion

What was your biggest take away from the Pre-Work this week?

Prayer Formation assignment.

What is the main thing you’ve learned so far in the Institute?

How is it transforming your relationship with God, yourself, and others?

Main Point: The prophets call God’s people to remember who He is, who they are , and why they exist, causing them to long for God’s presence.

Read Daniel 1:1-8

What is exile?

Living in a new location having been deported.

Why were the Israelites exiled from their land?

Israel faced judgement because of their wilful and persistent unfaithfulness and sin.

They abandoned loyalty to God

They participated in idolatry

They engaged in ritual practices associated with pagan religions in hope of agricultural prosperity.

Theologically, they were exiled because of their covenant violation.

They broke the first commandment and all the rest.

They served other gods.

This triggered God’s judgement that sent them to serve other countries and harsh rulers.

This was more than political displacement—it was a severance from their land, the temple, and the religious practices that defined their identity as God’s people.

What is the theological significance of exile?

Exile isa picture of separation between God and His people.

It’s a physical picture that they’re home exists but they cannot return to it.

What intensifies the punishment is that the Prophets remind them that their sin caused it!

Exile is more than the loss of land—it’s the loss of God’s presence.

What do you think it would have been like to live in Jerusalem when the prophets were warning of exile and judgment? What emotions or fears would you have experienced?

The major question to ask in exile is, “Will God be faithful to His covenants?”

At its deepest level, biblical exile signifies banishment from God’s presence itself—a condition that leaves humanity bound to sin and death, powerless to escape their grip.

This isn’t the first exile we see—Adam and Eve were banished from God’s presence in Eden.

Genesis 3:22-24

They lost access to the presence of God as they knew it.

Think theologically: Do we live in exile? Have we been in exile since Eden?

All throughout Scripture, God’s people inhabit a state of profound exile—we dwell in a world where we don’t truly belong while anticipating a future world to come.

BOARD: This is a central theme through the Bible—sin->exile->restoration.

God’s people sin against Him and are driven to punishment/exile, yet God restores those who believe to His presence through His mercy and grace.

So, can we trust God to be faithful to His covenants to His people?

Exile is the test of endurance of God’s covenant with Israel.

It reveals both judgement for breaking the covenant and God’s faithfulness to keep His covenant.

What do you think it would have been like to live in exile in Babylon? What emotions would you have experienced? What practical difficulties?

The exile forced Israel to think theologically about how the covenants would remain meaningful when the temple, the land, and all Jerusalem were destroyed.

The prophets helped the people to shift their focus from these symbols of God’s covenant to God’s unconditional love, mercy, and faithfulness breaking through human sinfulness.

Through the prophets, God promised to transform the law itself—no longer written on stone tablets but written on their hearts.

How does that make a difference?

Read Ezekiel 36:22-28, 37:1-14

God takes dead things and makes them alive.

Writing His law on your heart and giving you His Spirit gives us a new way of life with God.

It enables future obedience through God’s Spirit being placed within them.

*Theological note to the Word*

The Holy Spirit takes the external Word and makes it an internal Word.

While they were in exile, the people longed for God’s presence.

They felt a dissonance that they needed rescued from exile.

We are currently in this posture of longing for the presence of God to return to us.

We are currently waiting in this world for Jesus to return and restore the Kingdom.

The promise of the kingdom is that one day our exile will end.

In our current exile, what promises can we cling to as Christians as we await the return of the King and the establishment of His kingdom? What emotions should we feel? What disciplines should we practice?

When you’re in exile, the news of God establishing His kingdom is good news!

1 Peter 1:1 ESV

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

What is an elect exile?

How do we live in exile well?

Revelation 22:20 ESV

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

How do we live with this sense of dissatisfaction/holy discontentment?

We embrace it and pray, “God, we are grateful for all You have done, and we’re still waiting for all You have promised to do.”

Discussion

What is your main takeaway from this session?

What are you most excited about when you consider the return of Christ and the establishment of His kingdom?

Spend some time as a group praying for Jesus to return.

Pre-Work 1.7.26

Turn and Tell: With whom can you share something you learned in this session? What do you plan to share with them?

No Formation Assignment this week.

Read John 1:1-18; Colossians 1:15-20

Next Big Idea question: “How does God make Himself known?”

NOTE: You are now HALFWAY THROUGH THE INSTITUTE! Way to go!

Of course the work is hard, but it’s worth it. All good things are. If you keep on this path, you will grow in your knowledge and love of God.