And behold, when the temple was destroyed, the divine presence was exiled among the husks, because the souls that were exiled among them did not have the power to extract themselves from them, since they were blemished by their sins. That is why His divine presence, may He be blessed, about which it is stated, For the Lord your God is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24), enters among them — in order to gather those sparks of souls among them, separate and elevate them to the place of holiness, renew them, and bring them down to this world into the bodies of people.
And with this, you can understand the secret of the exile of the divine presence. And this is His work, may He be blessed, from the time that the temple was destroyed until the end of the work of collecting all of the souls that fell among the husks of the Scoundrel Man and got mixed into him, from his head to his feet. And until He finishes collecting even the ones that fell to the feet, the Messiah will not be revealed and the Jewish people will not be redeemed, as it is explained for us in the Zohar, Parshat Pekudei (51:737).
And these are its [words]: When the feet reach the feet, like that which is written, On that day, He will set His feet on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4)." However the divine presence only collects them by way of the actions of the earthly ones and their prayers via the secret of, give might to God [alluding to Psalms 68:35]. And according to the level of the actions of the earthly ones, so too is the level of the extraction of those souls and sparks.
And if all of the Jewish people was to completely repent, His divine presence would have the power to instantly extract all of the souls from there. But our sins weaken its power, which is as it is written, You neglected the Rock that begot you (Deuteronomy 32:18). And when the souls are finished exiting from there, His divine presence, may He be blessed, will then exit from them and withdraw their life-force.
Then the husks will die, and evil will end like smoke [alluding to the amidah prayer of the high holidays]. And this is the secret of the verse, He will swallow up death forever, etc. (Isaiah 25:8). It means to say that the husks, which are called death, will end and be swallowed up instantly, as a result of the removal of His divine presence, may He be blessed, from within them. And all of the sparks of the souls that are among them [will be redeemed], as mentioned.