Piotrowski, Nicholas. Return from Exile and the Renewal of God’s People. Short Studies in Biblical Theology 18. Wheaton: Crossway, 2025. 185pp excluding end matter.
Summary and Critique
Return from Exile and the Renewal of God’s People is an insightful book that traces what Nicholas Piotrowski calls “the principal drama” of Scripture—“Our removal from and return to the pristine creation,” or exile and return (4).
The thesis of Return from Exile is “Sin is humanity’s great failing, leading to both ejection from God’s presence and then death [exile]. So connected are these ideas that exile is a form of death, and death is a mark of being in exile. The only solution, therefore, the only way back to God’s sacred dwelling, is through atonement and resurrection” (178, emphasis added).
There is much to commend in Return from Exile. Piotrowski seamlessly connects Scripture to the theme of exile and return, showing how it binds all of Scripture together and brings coherency to the many diverse biblical teachings, all the while offering many refreshing insights into well-known Bible passages and into some not-so-well-known passages. My biggest negative critique is Scripture Index. All the page numbers are incorrect, which makes finding a particular verse or passage in the book impossible. This is a genuine shame because Piotrowski has many insights on many passages and it would be nice to find them quickly by using the Scripture Index.
Return from Exile is a must read for anyone desiring to know the metanarrative of the Bible, God’s plan for humanity and creation (i.e., salvation history), and how the two Testaments of the Bible are connected. I personally believe Return from Exile will help solidify the reader’s understanding of the storyline of Scripture as well as strengthen the faith of the Christian who reads this book. Return from Exile is one of the top three books in the SSBT series and is one that I highly recommend.
Summary of Each Chapter
INTRODUCTION
Piotrowski rightfully states that the framework “for understanding history, the state of the world, and our own individual lives” is “Sin” and the exile from God that results (2). Thus, Piotrowski claims, “The end of all God’s purposes in creation and redemption is that humanity comes home,” that they return from exile (3).
The principal drama of the Bible, therefore, is “Our removal from and return to the pristine creation” (4). Throughout the Bible, there are smaller episodes of exile and return, culminating in the climactic and final return (4). These smaller episodes create an exile-and-return theme that runs throughout the Bible and “brings a high level of conceptual coherency” to the many diverse biblical teachings (6).
PART I: EXILE AND DEATH
Chapter 1: Adam and Eve out of the Garden
“The Scriptures are . . . the drama of heaven and earth—how they were once connected but have been torn asunder and what God is doing through history to reconnect them” (13).
Adam and Eve were originally created “and always intended” to live with God (13). “Eden is the nexus between heaven and earth. If God lives in heaven and in the garden of Eden on earth, then Eden is both in heaven and on earth. It is the cosmic crossroads, the place for humanity and God to cohabitate. Thus, God created the heavens (his abode) and earth (our abode) together. And the point of contact is Eden” (14).
If Adam and Eve had obeyed God’s positive command to multiply and subdue the earth, and God’s negative command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then they would have entered into God’s sabbath rest, “an enthroned glorified permanency in God’s eternal temple-presence” (16).
Adam and Eve, unfortunately, do not obey God and are expelled from the garden. However, “God’s goal to turn the entire earth into his sacred abode, his cosmic temple, is still in force” even outside the garden (18). This means there must be a way back home, a way to return from exile (18). Significantly, expulsion from the garden is toward the east, meaning the way home out of exile is from the east heading westward (18–19).
Piotrowski draws three conclusions from the above:
- There is a theological connection between exile and death (19–20). “Exile is a form of death, and death is a mark of being in exile” (20). Piotrowski elaborates, “exile outside the presence of God is a sure path to death. If someone is in exile, they will die. If someone dies, that means they are in exile” (20).
- Adam’s exile amounts to a ripping apart of heaven and earth (20–21). “The abode of God and the abode of man are no longer conjoined” (20–21).
- “[L]ife in exile from the garden of Eden is properly understood as life in the wilderness” (22). Desert and wilderness “are the realms that must be traversed to reenter the presence of God” (22).
Chapter 2: Abram into Canaan
God does not leave humanity without hope, without a way back into the garden of Eden. Genesis 3:15 indicates that humanity’s hope is that one of Eve’s offspring will lead humanity’s return from exile (27).
The rest of Genesis “provides a multigenerational drama about humanity trying to work its way back into the temple-presence of God, as well as the search for the seed of the woman” (28).
“Genesis 4–11 depicts humanity heading farther away from the garden [east] and therefore further away from the presence of God” (30).
The “expected new seed of the woman” is now Abram who will journey westward (30–31). God is giving Abram and his offspring the land of Canaan (Gen 12:7). “Abram and his offspring occupying the land of Canaan represents a fresh beginning for the Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 3:15 programs” (32). Yet, as will become clear, the land given to Abram and his offspring is another “yes-but-more paradigm” (33).
Chapter 3: Priests into the Tabernacle
Abraham’s children (Jacob and sons) are exiled in Egypt due to famine. However, their return from exile necessitates a substitutionary atoning sacrifice (the Passover lamb) where everyone acts like priests (41–42). When Israel meets with God at mount Sinai, Israel is called a kingdom of priests (Ex 19:5–6): Israel’s reason for existence is “to be holy and to intercede for all the peoples of the earth” (42). The goal of the exodus from Egypt is to worship in the presence of God and through their worship to lead the nations back to God (42–43).
Once at Sinai, Israel builds the Tabernacle, which is a commemorative Eden and an earthly copy of heaven where God can live and dwell amongst humanity (45–47). However, only one man gets to enter into the presence of God in the holy of holies and that but once a year on the Day of Atonement—the high priest. The high priest “typologically enacts a return from exile each time he enters the Most Holy Place, liturgically bearing all Israel before the Lord” (49).
“The limited nature of the Day of Atonement . . . speaks to that yes-but-more paradigm that sustains a greater future hope. The yearly reenactment keeps the memory of Eden alive and reinforces the hope of a true and ultimate return through one man’s sacrifice that will carry his people fully back into God’s presence” (50).
Chapter 4: Israel into the Land
The land of Canaan is a typological (not perfect or complete) “remanifestation of the garden of Eden” and Israel’s “entrance into Canaan is another typological return to the garden of Eden” (54), evidenced by the language “way” and “coming up/out” (54–55). The land is to be a place of rest like Eden was a place of rest (57).
The return from exile is not complete until a son of Judah builds a permanent temple (60). This happens with Solomon and now the temple is “the nexus of heaven and earth, the touchpoint between the abode of God and the abode of man” like Eden was (61). “Solomon’s temple is the apex of the story of return from exile (so far)” (62). Even the nations/foreigners have access to God through the temple, which is epitomized in the Queen of Sheba narrative (1 Kings 10). “The nations are returning from exile. They bring their tribute and receive the wisdom of God” (65). In this way, Genesis 1:28 is being fulfilled (65).
Chapter 5: Israel out of the Land
Although 1 Kings 10 ends on a high note, the problem of uncircumcised hearts has not yet been treated. Solomon’s heart turns away from the Lord (1 Kings 11), which begins Israel’s movement toward exile from the promised land of Canaan, which is a recapitulation of Adam and Eve’s exile from the garden (72–73). The Bible’s poetic literature, especially the books of Psalms, and all the prophets reflect on the exile, its causes, and its significance (80, 84).
PART II: RETURN AND RESURRECTION
Chapter 6: Prophetic Voices into the Future
“As obsessed as Israel’s prophets are with exile, they are equally confident it will end. And when it does, it will mean ‘not only freedom for Israel but also a new world order marked by an end of sin and the presence of everlasting righteousness’” (92). According to the prophets, the new exodus and return from exile will be led by a new Davidic king “and will bring with it the international spread of God’s word, a worldwide temple and new Adamic priest, seeing eyes, hearing ears, and circumcised hearts for the people of God, a new covenant, resurrection, and the gift of the Spirit. It all amounts to a universalized Day of Atonement that will also restore the creation and the peoples of the earth to an Edenic state” (101).
Ezra-Nehemiah recounts the end of exile and the return to the land. A true redemption has occurred in the return to Judah, but it is incomplete; it is a another “yes-but-more scenario” (105). “Ezra’s return to the land and Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the temple were both genuine end-of-exile experiences but nevertheless incomplete and thus anticipate a full return in the latter days” (106).
Chapter 7: Jesus on the Way
“Jesus’s ministry marks the end of exile for all peoples, for in his death, resurrection, and ascension, one new man has reentered the presence of God. Through the church’s union with Christ, in turn, we can truly say our exile is over . . . . Yet, we continue to linger in this wilderness that is our still-fallen world, for ‘the promise of entering his rest still stands’ (Heb. 4:1). Christians are, therefore, between two worlds, caught between the times, waiting for the full, final, and unqualified return to the Edenic presence of God, the reunion of heaven and earth” (113).
Jesus’s birth, teachings, and miracles are described in the language of Old Testament end-of-exile expectations: “Jesus reconnects heaven and earth in himself. His birth, teachings, and miracles are described as fulfillments of the prophetic expectations of return from exile and the dawn of the new creation” (122). These are like the foreshocks of an earthquake.
Chapter 8: Jesus into and out of the Tomb
The mainshock of return from exile is Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus’ death is “the fulfillment of the theological trajectory running from Gensis 3:15 through the exodus, Passover, Day of Atonement, and sacrificial lamb of Isaiah’s end-of-exile vision. And because Jesus’s death is substitutionary, it also amounts to his personal representative exile” (128).
Regarding Jesus’ personal representative exile, Piotrowski says, “Sin got Adam and Israel expelled from the presence of God and enjoyment of true life; only Jesus’s substitutionary atonement and representative exile can forgive them and bring them back” (136).
Jesus’s resurrection is “the launch of the real return from exile, the ultimate liberation of the people of God, from the exile that lay deeper than the exile of Egypt or Babylon” (137). Through Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, Jesus “is the first glorified man to go back into the presence of God. The church’s union with Christ by the Spirit also effects a return from exile for all those who are in Christ” (141). That is, those who are in Christ have participated in His death and resurrection and “have entered into the inaugural phase of the ultimate restoration of Israel and creation” (143).
“In Jesus’s death, his people are released from exile, and in his resurrection and ascension, they representatively return to God’s holy abode” (143).
Chapter 9: The Church into the World
Although Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension were real end-of-exile events, “there remains a yes-but-more experience of return from exile” (146). Christians have been released from exile, but they have not fully returned from exile and the earth has not reverted to its Edenic state: “We are on the way—the way between release and return” (146). This chapter focuses on three yes-but-more experiential aftershocks of Jesus’ definitive exile-ending ministry:
Evangelism and Regeneration: End-of-Exile Aftershocks
“When Christians spread the gospel, they are participating with Jesus in his end-of-exile summons to the nations . . . And when people respond with repentance and faith and begin to follow Jesus, it is because the Lord God has created in them new hearts, as promised at the end of exile. In that moment, they are forgiven through Jesus’s death, released from exile, and experience a new birth! These are all aftershocks of Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension” (146–47).
The Worshipping Church: The Universal End-of-Exile Temple
Since Jesus is the true temple of God (John 2:20–22), the Christian’s spiritual union with Jesus means that all Christians form the organic temple of God: “Christ’s exile-ending resurrection and our spiritual union with him makes the universal church the end-of-exile temple that spreads the presence and glory of God all over the earth” (153–54). God dwells on the earth again through his Spirit who is filling the church (155). Thus, “the church is the place where sinners return from exile because it is the internationally expansive community united to the risen Christ and filled with his temple-dwelling Spirit” (157).
Piotrowski helpfully presents the trajectory of the dwelling presence of God: “Eden, Sinai, the tabernacle, the land of Canaan, the temple, Jesus, the church, and the cosmic temple (or new creation) are all links between heaven and earth” (156).
The Persevering Church: The End-of-Exile People on “the Way” with the Lord
“Just as Israel’s escape from both Egypt and Babylon entailed pilgrimages through the wilderness, so too Christians live ‘between an Exodus-like redemption and the inheritance of the “kingdom of God.”’ And just as the Lord was on the way with his people in the wilderness, Jesus is with his people throughout our sojourn. Thus, Christians have been released from the tyranny of sin yet continue to journey through this world on their way home to God” (157–59).
Chapter 10: The Lamb’s Followers into the Garden-City
Humanity’s exile fully ends at the return of Christ when Christians physically return to the presence of God and the whole creation is made into an immediate temple of God (164). “[T]he end-of-exile resurrection of Jesus Christ also guarantees our own physical, powerful, incorruptible resurrection when he [Jesus] returns in a final Sinai-like theophany—the return-from-exile ultrashock. Thereafter we will be with him, ‘in the cloud,’ forever” (168–69).
The book of Revelation provides the clearest and most thorough picture of the cosmic return from exile: “the book foretells humanity’s return from primordial exile to live eternally in a new garden of Eden” (169). Piotrowski makes five observations from Revelation 21:1–4, which is a key return-from-exile passage:
- The new heaven and new earth is a new world that “completes the first world”; it is not a return to Eden, but a new Eden that is both an escalation of the first Eden and is more permanent than the first Eden (171).
- “[T]he barriers that had separated the world of man and the heaven of God—symbolically represented by the Red Sea—will be opened one last time, and Jesus’s people will finally cross into the unending presence of God” (173).
- The new heaven and earth will be a worldwide temple for God and his people to cohabitate (173).
- The people God dwells with will bring their glory into the new cosmic temple, fulfilling the prophets’ end-of-exile visions (174).
- Death will be no more: “If exile is a form of death and death is a mark of exile, then this cosmic return from exile necessarily banishes death and brings with it the life that image bearers were always intended to have: glorified permanency in the presence of God” (174).
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