Chapter 19: The Return Home

In this week's sermon, Pastor Aaron recounts for us the return of the exiles from Babylon back to Jerusalem. These returns exiles had such high expectations for their return. They would no longer be persecuted for their faith but would be allowed to resume their centralized worship. The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel had previously prophesied that when the exiles returned, it would be glorious. But, when the exiles got back home, it wasn't all that they hoped for. Reality didn't match their expectations. The new temple construction was smaller than their previous temple. There was opposition from people living in the land. Even though they tried to be faithful to God's Word, they quickly fell away once again just as previous generations had. What do we do when reality doesn't match expectations? Where is God in it all? This sermon explains the context of the story, but also aims to answer these questions.