How Shall We Return?
How sinful people can return to God without a cleansed heart is the Old Testament's central question.
The central question of the Old Testament is: How can we return to God? First, this refers to how we can return to Eden after our exile from the Lord. Second, it refers to how Israel can return to God after he exiled them.
It is a question asked explicitly in Malachi: “Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’” (Mal 3:7). The Lord tells his people that from the days of their fathers they have turned aside from his statutes and have not kept them (Mal 3:7). So God commands them to return; they respond by asking how. The Old Testament takes that question seriously.
It is the question the whole Old Testament presses upon the reader. Israel knows that disobedience led to exile. Second Kings tells us plainly that Israel was scattered among the nations because she would not obey the Lord (2 Kgs 17:7–23). Judah soon followed (2 Kgs 24–25). The command to return is clear. The means of return are not.
Israel’s best kings could not solve the problem. So who can? And how can we return?
The Failure of the Heart
Josiah was the greatest reforming king in the book of Kings. Scripture tells us that he returned to the LORD with all his heart, soul, and might, according to all the law of Moses (2 Kgs 23:25). Yet even Josiah was not enough to reverse Judah’s fortunes. Judgment still came. Judah still went into exile (2 Kgs 23:26–27). Reform did not become renewal.
This lack of renewal exposes a deeper problem. Throughout Samuel and Kings, the decisive issue is the heart. David is called a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam 13:14), yet even David sinned grievously and required repentance (2 Sam 11–12; Ps 51). Solomon, the wisest king of Israel, fell deeply. His heart was turned away by his foreign wives (1 Kgs 11:1–8). After him, few kings—and few people—could be said to follow the LORD with their whole heart (1 Kgs 15:3; 2 Kgs 20:3).
The Old Testament therefore presses a question it cannot finally answer: how can a people whose hearts are turned away truly return to God?
Moses and the Promise of Return
The roots of this question lie in the Pentateuch itself. Moses foresaw Israel’s failure. In Deuteronomy, he tells the people that they will sin, that they will be scattered among the nations, and that they will need to return to the LORD (Deut 30:1–2). They must repent. They must obey him with all their heart and soul.
Yet Moses also knows they cannot do this on their own.
That is why Deuteronomy 30:6 matters supremely. Moses promises that the LORD himself will circumcise the heart of Israel and her offspring, so that they may love the LORD their God with all their heart and soul, and live (Deut 30:6). Return requires divine action. The heart must be changed before the land can be regained. Earlier commands to circumcise the heart only exposed the problem (Deut 10:16); Deuteronomy 30 promises the solution.
By the end of Israel’s history, this truth has been confirmed. Israel is lost among the nations (2 Kgs 17:18, 23). Judah returns only partially (Ezra 1–2). The continued exile and partial return prove that obedience from the heart has not yet come.
The Prophets and the Mystery of Return
The prophets take up this unresolved question. Isaiah promises a return because God will make a way through the wilderness back to the land (Isa 40:3–5; 43:16–19). Jeremiah speaks of a new covenant in which the law will be written on the heart (Jer 31:31–34). Ezekiel declares that a heart of stone will become a heart of flesh and that resurrection itself will mark Israel’s renewal (Ezek 36:26–27; 37:1–14). The prophets agree on this point: return will come, but only after God acts upon the heart.
Even the final note of the Old Testament leaves the question open. Cyrus, the LORD’s anointed, commands the exiles to return and rebuild the temple (Isa 45:1; Ezra 1:1–4). The final words of 2 Chronicles are “Let him go up” (2 Chr 36:23). It is a return, but it is incomplete. The deeper problem remains.
How can a people whose hearts are turned away truly return to God?
Jesus and the Way Home
The New Testament answers this question directly.
Mark’s Gospel opens by citing Malachi and Isaiah. A messenger will prepare the way. The Lord himself will come (Mal 3:1; Isa 40:3; Mark 1:2–3). John the Baptist announces that Jesus is that Lord. God does not wait for Israel to return. He comes to them. He returns to his temple (Mark 11:15–17).
Jesus does not merely show the way. He is the way (John 14:6). He creates a new and living way back to God (Heb 10:19–22). Through him, the promise of Deuteronomy 30 is fulfilled. Hearts are cleansed. The Spirit is given. Obedience becomes possible (Rom 8:1–4).
As Peter declares, God has cleansed hearts by faith, whether Jew or Gentile (Acts 15:7–9). What Moses foresaw and what the prophets promised has come to pass. God has circumcised the heart.
Conclusion: The Return Fulfilled
The Old Testament frames Israel’s story around return—in heart as repentance and in place as a return to the Promised Land. It commands return, promises return, and longs for return, yet it never shows how return can finally happen. Kings ends in exile because the heart has not yet been healed. The prophets speak because the problem remains unresolved.
Jesus Christ is the answer to the Old Testament’s central question.
We return to God because he first came to us (Luke 19:10). He does not merely lead us home; he makes us able to go. By cleansing the heart, he opens the way. By giving the Spirit, he fulfils Moses’s promise. By gathering his people from all nations, he completes the return Israel could never achieve on her own (Eph 2:11–22).
The story that pauses in Babylon continues in Christ. The way back to God has been made. The heart has been circumcised. And the people of God may now return fully, finally, and forever.
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This reflection rightly reminds us that the call to return has always been God’s gracious invitation rather than human effort alone because the Lord says Return to Me and I will return to you Malachi 3:7 and He Himself promises to give us a new heart so that we may love Him Deuteronomy 30:6 and we see this fulfilled in Christ who declared I am the way the truth and the life John 14:6 so our returning is not about ritual but repentance and faith as Scripture says Repent therefore and turn back that your sins may be blotted out Acts 3:19 and because of Jesus we can now draw near with confidence through His blood Hebrews 10:19–22 which assures us that even when we wander far His grace still makes the way home for all who humbly return to Him. The Father is always watching for the prodigal and runs to meet those who turn back Luke 15:20 and His kindness is meant to lead us to repentance Romans 2:4 so our response must be humility obedience and renewed devotion as we present ourselves again to God as living sacrifices Romans 12:1 and walk by the Spirit not by the flesh Galatians 5:16 trusting that He who began a good work in us will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus Philippians 1:6.