“Turn again our captivity,” or, “Restore our fortunes,” are two ways of translating the same thing. We have lost a former state of freedom and we lost a former state of prosperity. Such a state of freedom and prosperity had never really been achieved in the history of God ‘s people. But the Exodus deliverance and the return from exile are the two great salvation events prior to Christ.
However, neither Salvation Event was really a return to a former glory nor a full restoration to a former peace and prosperity. Therefore, we pray for a full restoration to a dream and a paradaisical fantasy that we inwardly know we were created for but have never actually experienced. This prayer has been answered in the Christ Event. We have been taken out from captivity to the Enemy (who even admits: “The Lord has done great things for them”); and we have been taken to the dreamlike Paradise we could only imagine (and it turns out to be more than we could ask or imagine).
In deed and in truth, we have been fully restored to Life as it was meant to be. Jesus restores what Sin sreals.