Exile is a universal mode of punishment which pictures hell, the permanent exile from God. Earthly exile comes in many different forms and we know it to be punishment. It could be literal, so sending one away from his country. When the people of Israel sinned against God, God punished them by sending them away from the land of Canaan. Another example is the apostle John who was exiled unfairly to the island of Patmos.
But exile comes in other forms.
Prison for example is a kind of exile. You take one away from their life with all of its good things, and you exile them to the prison grounds. Now they are barred from their good life, and left with the sadness of separation from the people and things they loved.
More minimal but even online blocking is also a kind of exile. You take away someone’s access to your space, pushing them away from your presence.
In-person the cold shoulder is also a type of exile. Barring access from someone to the goodness they once experienced with you. You see this with family members who go “no-contact” with one another.
The final phase of church discipline is excommunication. This too is a form of exile. The member who refuses to be repent is sadly exiled from the body of believers, with hopes that they would return.
After Adam and Eve sinned they were exiled from the garden of Eden. Now all their children, who were in Adam at the time of his sin–all of mankind is born in exile to God. The Gospel is that God has provided a way through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to bring men out of exile and rather into his family.
All the flavors of earthly exile point to the sadness of the eternal exile of hell. Where man is separated from God and all the good things that come with being with God forever. The exile that began partially on earth is fully complete in hell. More can be said about that place–and perhaps we will revisit the topic on a later blog (the images of fire and the undying worm for example).
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