It's hard to put into words just how devastating the exile was for God's people. When God cast Israel out of the land, it seemed like this was the end for them. God had finally had enough. The Davidic king was dethroned and taken away; the temple was burned to the ground; and God's people were uprooted from the land He himself had given them as an inheritance. It seemed that everything God had ever done for them was coming untrue. The whole world was unraveling and spinning out of control. This must be the end of the road for Israel; God was done with them forever. But it wasn't true. Even as God thrust Israel out of the land, He began promising to bring them back in again. Israel's exile points us back to the exile of Eden. For just like Israel, the king of Eden and his wife were likewise thrust away from the “garden of delight;" cast out of God's presence—and all humanity with them.  Because of Adam's sin, all of us are born into a state of spiritual exile, cut off from God's presence. But this wouldn't be the end of the story, for Adam, for Israel, or for us.  Exile had come, but so would restoration. Israel had been cast out, but they would be brought back in again. God would return them to the land, raise up for them again a Davidic king, renew them from the heart, reverse the covenant curses, and see to it that the temple would be rebuilt once again. Truly, Israel were like dead men in Babylon—but God would open up their graves and bring them to life again. Indeed, if Israel's exile was death, God foretold a resurrection. Come and see how all the promises God made to His people in exile ultimately look ahead to their fulfillment in Christ.