Destruction?
I have had a problem with some kind of blight in my garden. To get rid of the blight every fall I destroy my garden. I pull up the plants and throw them on a burn pile. I rake up any leaves and other debris that might carry disease and add that to the burn pile. If I have time I till the ground destroying the rows. If not I will do that in the spring. Utter destruction.
However, my purpose is not destruction but preparation. In the spring I will form new rows, add fertilizer, and finally new unblighted plants to produce fresh tasty food.
The OT prophets often warned about destruction. Jeremiah warned of destruction by famine, disease and war. Even inviolate Jerusalem would be burned and most of the people carried into Exile. Wild animals would become the residents. Only the extremely poor would be left.
Destruction yes. But also preparation. When the Exiles returned they would find a restored land ready to be rebuilt without the old blighted remains. A renewed purified land for a renewed purified people. The new replacing the old.
Jesus talked about the danger of putting new wine in old skins (forms). He said that new wine should be put into new skins (forms) so that they could shape one another rather than forcing them into and old form. We like to retain the old and avoid the new. That is our nature. Sometimes change has to be forced on us by what we perceive as destruction
Sometimes when we hear our institutions are being destroyed by massive exits from our churches. It may not be punishment but preparation for something new. American Christianity might be being prepared for a new era as the exiles return without the old blight.
Lord help me to be a part of the new in unrestricted skins.