Exile, Forgiveness of Sins, and Its Cosmic Impact

Exile was the curse that the covenant stipulated for sin (Deut 29). There’s evidence that the exile continued after the return from Babylon (Ezra 9:7; Neh 9:36-37; Deut 30). If the Jews were still under the curse of the exile, then it must be because God had not yet fully forgiven the sins that led to that exile. In Daniel 9:24-25, the seventy years exile mentioned by Jeremiah (Jer 25:11f; 29:10; Zech 1:12; 2 Chron 36:20f; Ezra 1:1) is reinterpreted to mean “seventy weeks of years” or 490 years. It is after this symbolic duration that sin will be defeated, atonement made, righteousness will come, & forgiveness granted. Jesus picks up on Daniel 9 in Matthew 18:21-35 where he connects forgiveness of sins with 70x7. So Jesus ties “forgiveness of sins” with ending exile. How did this have cosmic impact? The Hebrews believed that because the one creator God of the cosmos had elected Israel as his special possession (Deut 32) that whatever happened in and to Israel had universal impact for the cosmos. It was also believed that the King/Christ/Messiah summed up and represented the entirety of his people Israel. Therefore, what happened to Christ happened to Israel happened to the entire cosmos.