248. Return and Build
Jeremiah 33:7 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and I will build them, as at the first.
God prophesies the end of the Babylonian captivity, and He promises that He will cause the people to return to the Land and build them there again. This came true under the decree of Cyrus, and the Jews returned to the Land of Promise and rebuilt Jerusalem and the towns and farms of Judea.
The spiritual future aspect of the physical promise to the people of God comes true in the Messianic Age when the Messiah comes to be born in Bethlehem. He carries out the mission of redeeming and rescuing the people of God from the captivity of Sin, Death and the Devil, and returns believers from the exile of living in the sinful world and returning them to their original Home Paradise Land of the Kingdom of God where God’s children once lived and ruled in Adam when He lived in the Paradise of Eden. All humanity descended from Adam; each human shared in His innocent existence and shared in His rebellious disobedience of God.
After the Fall, all humans were placed under the Curse, which also involved captivity. First we are captive to Sin and under its control and power. Second, we are captive to Death, the result of Sin, for we through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. Third, we were held captive to the Devil, the prince of the world, who deceives the people into sin, shame and everlasting despair. When Jesus, the Messiah, died and rose again He delivered us from this Captivity; and He returned us back to the Kingdom of God, our true and predestined homeland.
In that Land (Kingdom) the Lord promises to build. And so He fulfills His promise by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in the believer and begin the work of building Paradise in the soul, or heaven on earth. By faith we live in that Land in the heart and are built up inside through sanctification. The indwelling Spirit continues to build up the soul and retake the Promised Land within. This ongoing process of returning and rebuilding continues until the day we die, and then the process will be completed. And we have the sure promise that it will be finished perfectly. He builds new life and rebuilds broken spirits. And He will not stop until finished. Revelation 21-22 recapitulates Genesis 1-2. We will be fully returned and rebuilt.