Jeremiah 18–19

In Jeremiah 18:1-2, the LORD tells His servant to "go down to the potter's house," and there He would cause him to hear His words. Jeremiah obeyed and went. He saw the potter working on a vessel at the wheel: "And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand." The potter then took the clay again and made it "another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do."

Having seen what the potter did, the LORD spoke to His servant as He had promised. He addressed His words to the house of Israel. God was teaching His servant about His sovereignty: "Can I not do with you as this potter has done? … Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel" (Jer. 18:5-6). Israel was not free to do as it pleased, for it was in God's hand, and He could do with it as He pleased.

The circle of civilization is to Him just what the workshop is to the potter. As the potter holds the clay and moulds it into vessels of many shapes, so the LORD holds the nations in His hands. He fashions and forms them as He thinks good. Who shall question the work of God? … Where is haughty Assyria, and corrupt Babylonia? How low has He brought Persia and Greece and Rome for their sins! … Broken and rejected kingdoms, like the potter's useless earthenware, lie scattered over the face of the ground.

God in His goodness had brought them out of Egypt, and had planted them in the land of promise to be a witness for Himself to the nations of the world. He had hedged them in, keeping them apart from the nations so that they might be free from all their pollutions. He had protected them, and had given them His law, so that they might know how to be pure as a people for Himself. But they proved to be spoiled in the hand of the potter. They had become polluted with idolatry. Their kings, their priests, their princes, their elders, and the people themselves were all caught up in the ruin that was about to bring the judgment of God upon them.

If God threatens a nation with destruction and that nation turns to the LORD, He will relent of the disaster He pronounced on it. Jonah's prediction of Nineveh's overthrow is a full illustration of this, and that prediction came from God. Nineveh repented, and God did not carry out the judgment on that generation. But if the LORD has promised a nation good and that nation does evil in His sight, He will relent of the good He had promised them. So the potter's action carries a great lesson: the lesson of God's sovereignty, to do as He pleases, yet always in perfect righteousness.

This change of mind on God's part … does not imply any regret about His original decision. Instead, it shows His grace and righteousness in suspending the sentence when He sees the least sign of repentance in the guilty one.

He sees a flaw, an imperfection in the clay. Others, looking on, have not spotted it, as the artist's eye does. He crushes the clay under his hand into a shapeless mass again. And again his fingers mould and fashion it into his design. Again and again defects appear. Again and again the clay is reduced to a shapeless mass, until at last it rises before him in perfect design; his eye surveys it with satisfaction and pride, and he takes it from the wheel to place it among the choice things of the earth.

Every individual, like every nation, is a spoiled vessel in the hand of the Potter, for sin has spoiled us all, and we have taken our own evil way. There are those who, like Israel, will not listen to the word of God through His servants — the word of mercy proclaimed in the gospel — and God has the power to make these spoiled vessels into vessels of wrath. Again, there are those who, like the Ninevites, listen to the message of God, and turn from their evil ways to God, and God makes them vessels of mercy. No man can escape from the hand of God.

In Jeremiah 18:1-2, the Lord tells His servant to "go down to the potter's house," and there He would cause him to hear His words. Jeremiah obeyed the word of the Lord. He went to the potter's house and saw him working at his wheel. "And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand." The potter then took the clay again and made it "another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do."

Scripture says of the potter that he treads the clay to make it pliable, Isaiah 41:25; and he forms his vessel on a wheel. Jeremiah 18:3. In the East, potters make much of the ordinary pottery in a very simple way. The workman turns the wheel with his feet, and with his hands he forms the vessel as it pleases him.

Then came the message: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel." If a creature of dust can do as he pleases with the clay, how much more can the Sovereign God. The Holy Spirit evidently uses this in Romans 9:20-32.

The circle of civilization is to Him just what the workshop is to the potter. The potter holds the clay and shapes it into vessels of many forms. In the same way, the Lord holds the nations in His hands, fashioning and forming as He thinks good… Where is haughty Assyria, and corrupt Babylonia? How low has He brought Persia and Greece and Rome for their sins!… O Lord, You are unlike the potter in this, for You have said: "If that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it."

In longsuffering and mercy God was waiting. He was looking for some evidence of repentance, so that He might delay the judgment He had predicted long before, or in mercy turn from His anger and bless them. They could not escape from the hand of God. But God was ready, like the potter, to make them into another vessel, a vessel that would be for His pleasure.

The will of man is only evil. The sole hope is in God Himself. But Israel, like Christendom now, feels neither, even where people confess both in words. Where grace works there is a real turning from evil, and man is quick to claim the credit of it.

That was a wonderful transformation. It is very like the picture given us in Jeremiah 18:2-6, where the potter worked the shapeless clay. First the vessel was in the mind of the potter. Then he worked at the wheel and formed the vessel. Then the mind of the potter was in the vessel. From eternity God had a purpose in mind about Saul. Now He picks him up and converts him. His will is broken, and from that moment he becomes a most blessed servant of Christ.

In Jeremiah 18:1–2, the Lord tells His servant to "go down to the potter's house," and there He would let him hear His words. Jeremiah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to the potter's house. There he saw him working on a vessel at the wheel: "the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand." The potter then took the clay again and made it "another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do."

Of the potter Scripture says he treads the clay to make it pliable (Isaiah 41:25). He forms his vessel on a wheel (Jeremiah 18:3). Much of the ordinary pottery in the East is made in a very simple way. The workman turns the wheel with his feet, and with his hands he forms the vessel as it pleases him.

The workman takes the lump of clay; he presses it to the wheel; the wheel turns before his eye. Where now, let me ask, is the vessel? It is in the mind of the potter, before it is formed: the design is there. His fingers shape the mass before him. Little by little it grows up before his eye. Little by little the thought in his mind passes into the clay. It rises up before him, and the thoughts unspoken until now grow into the vessel his fingers are forming. He sees a flaw, an imperfection in the clay. Others looking on have not spotted it; the artist's eye has. He crushes the clay under his hand into a shapeless mass again. And again his fingers shape and fashion it into his design. Again and again defects appear. Again and again he reduces the clay to a shapeless mass, until at last it rises before him in perfect design.

If the creature of dust can do as he pleases with the clay, how much more the Sovereign God. The Holy Spirit clearly uses this in Romans 9:20–32.

God was instructing His servant as to His sovereignty, saying, "Can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel" (Jeremiah 18:5–6). The nation of Israel was not free to do exactly as it pleased, for it was in God's hand and He could do with it just as He pleased.

Things had gone wrong with Israel. Idolatry had become widespread. The vessel had been marred. But the clay was still soft. There was still time to turn to God.

In Acts 9 we read the wonderful account of Saul's conversion. Now this "chosen vessel" comes on the scene. His past history gave no sign of what he was to be. The apostle of man's deepest hatred against Christ would become the apostle of God's fullest grace to the Gentiles. The Great Potter (see Jeremiah 18:1–6) was about to take hold of a very unlikely-looking lump of clay and transform it. Until now that "chosen vessel" had been in the Potter's mind — from then on the Potter's mind would be in the vessel.

In Jeremiah 18:1-2, the Lord tells His servant to "go down to the potter's house," and there He would cause him to hear His words. Obedient to the word of the Lord, Jeremiah went to the potter's house, and saw him working on a vessel on the wheels.

The circle of civilization is to Him just what the workshop is to the potter. A potter holds the clay and shapes it into vessels of many different forms. In the same way the Lord holds the nations in His hands, shaping and forming them as He thinks good. Who shall question the work of God?... Broken and rejected kingdoms, like the potter's useless earthenware, strew the face of the ground.

God in His goodness had brought them out of Egypt, and had planted them in the land of promise to be a witness for Himself to the nations of the world... Sadly, they were found marred in the hand of the potter. They had become polluted with idolatry. Their kings, their priests, their princes, their elders, and the people themselves were all involved in the ruin.

The potter rightly rejects faulty material... "Lord, what desolation You have made in the earth! Yet You are righteous in all Your ways. And You are long-suffering and merciful also. For here You are unlike the potter. You have said: if that nation I have spoken about turns from its evil, then I will relent of the evil I had planned to do to them."

God "is not a man… that He should repent" (Num. 23:19), but He does repent when man changes, especially when man repents.

This was to be no more repairing of the creature — such a thing would have been no fit work for God... But grace can make a new thing — not repairing the work marred on the wheel, but making it another vessel, as it seems good to the potter to make it. In its old state it was ruined, but in its ruins grace will take it up to make it a beautiful and pleasant vessel of the richest treasures.

We know that God will make another vessel, which is what the Lord Jesus was showing Nicodemus, as told in John 3. What is born of the flesh — even Abraham's flesh — is flesh. Only what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Only a born-again Israel will enter the Kingdom.

He sees a flaw, an imperfection in the clay. Others looking on have not spotted it, but the artist's eye has. He crushes the clay under his hand into a shapeless mass again. And again his fingers mould and fashion it into his design. Again and again defects appear. Again and again the clay is reduced to a shapeless mass, until at last it rises in perfect design before him.

Where is the potter now? Where was the vessel before he began? It was in the potter! Where is the potter now? He is in the vessel. All that his mind designed and worked is seen there. The vessel is fit for what he intended.

He was to see a real work there; vessels made by the hand and skill of the workman. But there was a lesson in the work, as well as a reality. There was a parable in it; for the prophet had to see God Himself at the wheel, as well as the potter.

Having seen what the potter did, the Lord spoke to His servant as He had promised. He addressed His words to the house of Israel. God was instructing His servant as to His sovereignty, saying, "Can I not do with you as this potter has done? … Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel" (Jer. 18:5-6). The nation of Israel was not free to do exactly as it pleased, for it was in God's hand and He could do with it just as He pleased.

If the creature of dust can do as he pleases with the clay, how much more the Sovereign God. The Holy Spirit clearly uses this in Romans 9:20-32.

God in His goodness had brought them out of Egypt. He had planted them in the land of promise to be a witness for Himself to the nations of the world. He had hedged them in, keeping them apart from the nations… Sadly, they were found marred in the hand of the potter. They had become polluted with idolatry; their kings, their priests, their princes, their elders, and the people themselves were all caught up in the ruin. That ruin was about to bring the judgment of God on them.

The will of man is only evil. The sole hope is in God Himself. But Israel, like Christendom now, feels neither, even where both are confessed in words. For where grace works there is a real turning from evil, and man is quick to claim the credit for it. On the other hand, man is prone to depart from the living God. And God would deny Himself if He made light of disobedience, and treated evil in His sight as if it were good.

How wonderful is God's mercy! He has no delight in judgment, but He delights in mercy… Jonah had pronounced the judgment of God on the guilty city, crying, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"… Then we read, "When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it." How very sad it is to see God's people Israel reject God's offers of mercy by refusing to turn from their evil ways! They were just as evil as the Ninevites, but with less excuse, since they had more light.

In Jeremiah 18 we have seen God's ways with the nations, but in Romans 9 we learn something of God's ways with people… Every person, like every nation, is a marred vessel in the hand of the Potter. For we have all become marred by sin, and by taking our own evil way… Those who reject His mercy come in for judgment, and those who listen to Him He brings into blessing.

This time it is not clay that can still be formed but an earthen vessel that has been hardened in the fire. It can only be broken. The message is clear but solemn. There is a time when discipline can be accepted for profit, and there is a time when it is too late.

If a creature made of dust can do as he pleases with the clay, how much more the Sovereign God. The Holy Spirit clearly uses this in Romans 9:20-32.

The nation of Israel was not free to do exactly as it pleased, for it was in God's hand and He could do with it just as He pleased.

In His goodness God had brought them out of Egypt. He had planted them in the land of promise to be a witness for Himself to the nations of the world. He fenced them in and kept them apart from the nations, so that they might be free from all their pollutions. He protected them. He gave them His law, so that they might know how to be pure as a people for Himself. Sadly, they turned out marred in the potter's hand.

The circle of civilization is to Him just what the workshop is to the potter. The potter holds the clay and shapes it into vessels of many forms. In the same way the Lord holds the nations in His hands, shaping and forming them as He thinks good. Who can question the work of God?… Where is haughty Assyria, and corrupt Babylonia? How low has He brought Persia and Greece and Rome for their sins!

They could not escape from the hand of God, but God was prepared, like the potter, to make them into another vessel, a vessel that would be for His pleasure.

In this You are unlike the potter, for You have said: "If that nation I have spoken about turns from its evil, then I will relent of the harm I meant to do to them."

In Jeremiah 18 we have seen God's ways with the nations. In Romans 9 we learn something of God's ways with people… Every person, like every nation, is a marred vessel in the hand of the Potter. We have all become marred by sin, and by taking our own evil way… Those who reject His mercy come in for judgment, and those who listen to Him He brings into blessing.

The potter's power over the clay establishes God's absolute right to act as He will, without giving an account of His matters to man. Yet the illustration does not teach that God has made any vessel for dishonour. It asserts and upholds God's rights, and no more.

God did then what He loves to do now — He stepped in and converted Paul, the foremost opponent of the church. The "chosen vessel" was an apostle of Satanic hate one moment and an apostle of Christ the next. A wonderful transformation that was, very like the figure given us in Jeremiah 18:2-6, where the potter worked the shapeless clay. First the vessel was in the mind of the potter, then he worked on the wheel and formed the vessel, and then the mind of the potter was in the vessel.

Having seen what the potter did, the Lord spoke to His servant as He had promised. He addressed His words to the house of Israel. God was instructing His servant about His sovereignty, saying, "Can I not do with you as this potter has done? ... Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel" (Jer. 18:5-6). The nation of Israel was not free to do exactly as it pleased, for it was in God's hand and He could do with it just as He pleased.

The circle of civilization is to Him what the workshop is to the potter. As the potter holds the clay and shapes it into vessels of different forms, so the Lord holds the nations in His hands. He fashions and forms them as He thinks good... Can the Lord not speak about a sinful nation, or an unrighteous kingdom, and say: let it be plucked up, broken, and destroyed? Who can tell Him no?... Where is proud Assyria, and corrupt Babylonia? How low He has brought Persia and Greece and Rome for their sins!... Broken and rejected kingdoms lie scattered over the ground, like the potter's useless pots... Yet You are righteous in all Your ways. And You are long-suffering and merciful also. In one way You are unlike the potter. You have said: "If that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it" (v. 8).

Men's threats are sometimes just idle words or empty boasting. God's predicted judgments are not like that. The Creator has never once threatened a judgment He did not intend to carry out. At times the repentance of the people has turned His hand aside. The sparing of Nineveh in the time of Jonah is an example of this. It is part of the declared ways of God to withdraw sentence when men humble themselves before Him. Jer. 18:7-8 shows this plainly. He is also "slow to anger," leaving the door open for repentance until the last. But even the patience of God has limits.

The message was clear: there was still time for Judah to repent. If they did, God would "repent." Otherwise, He would have to chasten and discipline them. God "is not a man ... that he should repent" (Num. 23:19, older wording; the ESV reads "change His mind"), but He does repent when man changes, especially when man repents.

The people came to see that they had sinned deeply against their Maker. They trembled at the mention of His judgment. They humbled themselves before Him. Jer. 18:7-10, as we have already seen, lays down the principles of God's dealing with nations. His eye sees their doings, and He visits them from time to time in His wrath, but is always prepared to show mercy. God's government must not be confused with His grace. The relief the Ninevites received is not the same as the eternal forgiveness of sins. God proclaims that forgiveness to people everywhere in the gospel message (Acts 13:38-39).

In Jeremiah 18 we have seen God's ways with the nations. In Romans 9 we learn something of God's ways with people... Every person, like every nation, is a marred vessel in the hand of the Potter. We have all become marred by sin and by taking our own evil way. There are those who, like Israel, will not listen to the word of God through His servants... and God has the power to make these marred vessels into vessels of wrath. And there are those who, like the Ninevites, listen to the message of God and turn from their evil ways. God makes them vessels of mercy.

The circle of civilization is to Him just what the workshop is to the potter. The potter holds the clay and shapes it into vessels of different kinds. In the same way, the Lord holds the nations in His hands. He forms and shapes them as He thinks good. … Where is haughty Assyria, and corrupt Babylonia? How low He has brought Persia and Greece and Rome for their sins! … Broken and rejected kingdoms lie scattered over the ground like the potter's useless earthenware. "O Lord, what desolation You have made in the earth! Yet You are righteous in all Your ways. And You are patient and merciful also. You are unlike the potter in this. You have said: If that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it."

It does not mean a change of mind on God's part, but a change of action caused by a change of mind on man's part. God sends warnings to man so that man may change his mind and repent. Then God may change His action from judgment to mercy. God has not changed His mind. His mind has always been toward mercy … but man's sin must bring down the righteous judgment of God, even though He is slow to anger.

This change of mind on God's part … does not mean any regret about His first decision. Instead it shows His grace and righteousness. He suspends the sentence when He sees the least sign of repentance in the guilty one.

Men's threats are sometimes just idle words or empty boasting. God's predicted judgments are not like that. The Creator has never once threatened judgments He did not intend to carry out. Yet sometimes the repentance of the people has held back His hand. … It is part of the declared ways of God to withdraw sentence when men humble themselves before Him. Jer. 18:7-8 shows this. He is also "slow to anger," leaving an open door for repentance until the last. But even the patience of God has its limits.

God's government must not be confused with His grace. The Ninevites were spared, but that is not the same as the eternal forgiveness of sins. That forgiveness is proclaimed to men everywhere in the gospel message (Acts 13:38-39). The repentance described in Jonah 3:10 does not mean we shall meet the whole population of Nineveh in Heaven. Still, some people — possibly many — may well have found eternal blessing as a result of the great alarm.

Suppose God threatens a nation with destruction, and that nation turns to the Lord. He will relent of the evil pronounced on them. … But suppose the Lord has promised a nation good, and that nation does evil in His sight. He will relent of the good He had promised them. … If Israel had then admitted the sin and guilt and turned to the Lord, He would have acted in sovereign grace towards them. Their answer was: "There is no hope; but we will follow our own plans" … They pushed aside the hand that would snatch them out of the fire.

Things had gone wrong with Israel. Idolatry had become common. The vessel had been marred. But the clay was still soft. There was still time to turn to God.

What then is to be done — what should be done? "If that nation," says God, "turns from their evil I will relent of the evil that I had thought to do to them." That is as plain as it is gracious.

Civilization as a whole is to Him what the workshop is to the potter. The potter holds the clay and shapes it into vessels of many kinds. In the same way the Lord holds the nations in His hands. He fashions and forms them as He thinks good. Who can question the work of God?

This was a solemn warning to Israel. God had built them up and planted them in the land of Canaan. But they had not obeyed the voice of the Lord; they had done evil in His sight. Israel was indeed a marred vessel in the potter's hand. Because they rejected His mercy, they would become vessels of wrath.

People drift away from the living God. And God would deny Himself if He made light of disobedience and treated evil in His sight as if it were good.

The message was clear: there was still time for Judah to repent. If so, God would "repent." Otherwise, He would need to chasten and discipline them. God "is not a man… that he should repent" (Num. 23:19), but He does repent when man changes, especially when man repents.

This change of mind on God's part does not mean He regrets His original decision. Instead it shows His grace and righteousness. He suspends the sentence when He sees the smallest sign of repentance in the guilty person.

Unbelief still trembles underneath. So it shelters behind what God had set up, assuming it can never fall. It takes forms that have turned away from God and makes them a wall against the God they hide. It credits them with the stability of God Himself.

Jeremiah 18:7-10 lays down the principles of God's dealing with nations. His eye sees what they do. From time to time He comes against them in wrath, yet He is always ready to show mercy. Do not confuse God's government with His grace. The relief the Ninevites received is not the same thing as the eternal forgiveness of sins. The gospel message proclaims that forgiveness to people everywhere (Acts 13:38-39). The repentance described in Jonah 3:10 does not mean we will meet the whole population of Nineveh in heaven. Still, it is quite possible that some of them — perhaps many — found eternal blessing through that great alarm.

In Jeremiah 18 we have seen God's ways with the nations. In Romans 9 we learn something of God's ways with people… Every person, like every nation, is a marred vessel in the hand of the Potter. We have all been marred by sin and by taking our own evil way… Those who reject His mercy come in for judgment. Those who listen to Him He brings into blessing.

God was instructing His servant about His sovereignty, saying, "Cannot I do with you as this potter? ... Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel" (Jer. 18:5-6). The nation of Israel was not free to do exactly as it pleased, for it was in God's hand and He could do with it just as He pleased.

Jer. 18:7-10, as we have already seen, lays down the principles of God's dealing with nations. His eye sees their doings, and He visits them from time to time in His wrath, but is always ready to show mercy. Do not confuse God's government with His grace. The relief the people of Nineveh received is not the same thing as the eternal forgiveness of sins. The Gospel message proclaims that forgiveness to people everywhere (Acts 13:38-39).

It does not mean a change of mind on God's part, but a change of action caused by a change of mind on man's part. God sends warnings to man, so that man may change his mind and repent. Then God may change His action from judgment to mercy. God has not changed His mind. God's mind has always been toward mercy... but man's sin must bring down the righteous judgment of God, even though He is slow to anger. There is only one way of escape, and that is repentance on the part of sinful man. With this in view God sends warnings to individuals and to nations. If they hear and repent, then God may act according to the desires of His heart, and show mercy. If man will not repent, judgment must fall.

God is not a man, so He does not repent about His eternal and unchangeable counsels and unconditional promises. Those "are without repentance." But in His grace He may repent of a threatened judgment — that is, not carry it out — as He did with Nineveh.

On the other hand, God promised to bless Israel in the land only if they obeyed. So if they did evil, He would turn from, or repent of, the good He had said He would do — whether to Israel or in fact to any nation. Jer. 18:8-10. He would change the order of His dealings towards them... All this involves the responsibility of man, as well as God's government.

This was a solemn warning to Israel. God had built them up and planted them in the land of Canaan. But they had not obeyed the voice of the LORD; they had done evil in His sight. Israel was indeed a marred vessel in the potter's hand. They had rejected His mercy, so they would be the vessels of wrath.

The will of man is only evil. The sole hope is in God Himself. But Israel, like the Christian world today, feels neither, even when both are confessed in words... On the other hand, man is prone to turn away from the living God. And God would deny Himself if He made light of disobedience, and treated evil in His sight as if it were good.

The circle of civilization is to Him just what the workshop is to the potter. The potter holds the clay and shapes it into vessels of many different forms. In the same way, the Lord holds the nations in His hands, fashioning and forming them as He thinks good... The potter rightly rejects faulty material. Can the Lord not speak about a sinful nation or an unrighteous kingdom, and say: Let it be plucked up, broken, and destroyed? Who shall tell Him no?... But You are unlike the potter in this. You have said: "If that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it."

If God threatens, it is so that man may turn from his sin and be spared. Why else should He warn the sinner? Why not leave him to ripen for judgment without a warning? But these are not the ways of God.

From this, Jeremiah draws a lesson. If the people turn away from their evil ways and doings, God may relent of His sentence against them. On the other hand, if in the end they turn away from Him, the announced blessing can be lost. This change of mind on God's part does not imply any regret about His first decision. Instead it shows His grace and righteousness. He holds back the sentence when He sees the least sign of repentance in the guilty one.

Jeremiah's prophecies are more conditional than any other, except only Jonah's. In fact they state their conditions even more openly than Jonah's. Jonah did not put forward a condition, "If you repent, God will spare Nineveh." But Jeremiah does state the condition: "If you repent, the Lord will relent of what He means to do."

Another dreadful effect of persisting in evil is despair. Man never really trusts God; and a divine call or warning provokes this form of his will. If his will were broken, he would at least cry to God and throw himself on what God is, who cannot deny that He is love. God's goodness leads to repentance; man's will leads to desperation.

When Jonah preached to the Ninevites there was an amazing response... and God spared the city... With Jerusalem it was very different. The temple of God was there. But the men of the city looked on it as a kind of charm that they imagined would protect them from the judgment... God showed His longsuffering in every case, but He also showed that His ways were equal in sparing Nineveh and destroying Jerusalem.

Know this for certain, dear friends. If we have drifted away from the truth we once knew and practised, we will know no outward and visible blessing from God. His word is, "Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds."

Another terrible effect of persisting in evil is despair. Man never really trusts God, and a divine call or warning provokes this form of his will. If his will were broken, he would at least cry to God and throw himself on what God is, for God cannot deny that He is love. His goodness leads to repentance; man's will leads to desperation.

The will of man is only evil. The sole hope is in God Himself. But Israel, like Christendom now, feels neither, even where both are confessed in words; for there is a real turning from evil where grace works, and man is quick to claim the credit for it.

What depravity and wicked boldness these words reveal! They refused to believe the message of the Lord. They pushed aside the hand that would have snatched them out of the fire. They admitted the evil heart. Then they deliberately declared that they would carry on in wicked defiance of the Lord. And is it any better in professing Christendom today?

In the case of the privileged nation of Israel, we have a special example of the long-suffering of our God. He was so concerned for their good that He called to them again and again — "rising up early," as He so often puts it. He called them to return to Himself and find the settled blessing His gracious heart desires for them. But they would not, for they said, "There is no hope" (v. 12). They did not forget to seek their own pleasure. But they forgot the Lord, and so brought evil on themselves.

These first two symbolic events (the clay and the vessel) have a solemn message for unbelievers too. There is an acceptable time when God gives the opportunity to repent. But when the heart is hardened (or death steps in) it is too late. The inevitable result is the smashing of the potter's vessel.

Every individual, like every nation, is a marred vessel in the hand of the Potter. We have all become marred by sin and by taking our own evil way. Some, like Israel, will not listen to the word of God through His servants — the word of mercy proclaimed in the gospel. God has the power to make these marred vessels into vessels of wrath. Others, like the people of Nineveh, listen to the message of God and turn from their evil ways to Him. God makes them vessels of mercy.

Israel of old said there is no hope, and that they would walk after their own plans and each one act on what his evil heart imagined (Jer. 18:12). Many believers have said the same about the ruined, divided condition of the Church. … it is clear that there must be some way of meeting of a different kind. However great the ruin and confusion, this way of meeting is still open. Otherwise God would be demanding obedience and compelling disobedience!

If Israel had admitted the sin and guilt then and turned to the Lord, He would have acted in sovereign grace toward them. Their answer was: "There is no hope; we will follow our own plans, and every one of us will do what his evil heart imagines." What depravity and wicked boldness these words reveal! They refused to believe the message of the Lord. They pushed aside the hand that would have snatched them out of the fire. They admitted their evil heart. Then they deliberately declared that they would go on defying the Lord. And is it any better in the professing Christian world today?

Another awful effect of persisting in evil is despair. Man never really trusts God; and a divine call or warning provokes this form of his will. If his will were broken, he would at least cry to God and throw himself on what God is, who cannot deny that He is love. God's goodness leads to repentance; man's will leads to desperation.

The way runs downward. Israel left her true God and sinned in a way that even worshippers of false gods would have been ashamed of. "Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods?" the Lord asked through Jeremiah. "But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit" (Jer. 2:11)... So Israel, away from God, became more pagan than the pagan nations.

We are not to suppose that they were worse than other people. They are exceptional only in this: God brought them into a closer visible relation to Himself than any other nation, and their history is given to us, written with the unerring pen of inspiration. This great privilege was also the thing that searched out to the very bottom everything that was in their heart. "God is light"; and "whatever makes manifest is light."... Did this prove that Israel was worse than the nations? No. If they had only had false gods, they would not have changed them either!

He uses this same figure, "virgin," in connection with the nation in other parts of his prophecies (Jer. 14:17; 18:13; 31:4).

The sad truth is that Israel was married to the Lord, as the prophets remind the people (Isa. 54; Jer. 3). So Scripture brands their unfaithfulness as adultery (as in Hosea 3 and elsewhere), not as prostitution, which is how the New Testament brands Babylon. Yet in time His grace may deal with Israel, not as a guilty widow, but as a woman forsaken and a wife of youth.

The parable of the potter in Jeremiah 18 was meant to teach Israel one thing. God had brought them into covenant, yet they were still within the range of the Lord's judgments and visitations. So Jeremiah 19 acts that judgment out in a picture. In John the Baptist's time Israel shows the same spirit of self-confidence. In that spirit they said, "We have Abraham as our father."

The professing Christian world, the Babylon of Revelation, has now taken the place Israel held of old. Babylon trusts in her security, despite her moral condition. She says, "I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see" (Rev. 18:7). But Revelation 18 repeats what the prophet did in the potter's house and in the valley of the son of Hinnom. It teaches the unfaithful steward that the doom of the shattered vessel awaits him.

The circle of civilization is to Him just what the workshop is to the potter. As the potter holds the clay and moulds it into vessels of different shapes, so the Lord holds the nations in His hands, fashioning and forming them as He thinks good… Lord, You are unlike the potter in one way. You have said: "If that nation, about which I have spoken, turns from their evil, then I will relent of the evil that I planned to do to them."

Another dreadful effect of continuing in evil is despair. Man never really trusts God; and a divine call or warning stirs up this form of his will. If his will were broken, he would at least cry to God and throw himself on what God is, who cannot deny that He is love. His goodness leads to repentance; man's will leads to desperation.

See how slow the Lord is to abandon His people! He pleaded with those in front of Him then, and on down to their children's children. Go where they pleased — north-west or south-east, to Greeks or to Arabians. They would hear of no one so false to their false gods as Israel was to the true God.

Israel of old forsook "the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." Like them, we look for satisfaction in earthly things. We only find that all earthly springs run dry. If only we could trust the Lord not only to save our souls, but to satisfy our hearts! Then He would lead us into the green pastures that never wither, and beside the still waters that never run dry.

He was so concerned for their good that He called to them again and again — "rising up early," as He so often puts it. He called them to return to Himself and find the stability and blessing His gracious heart desires for them. But they would not, for they said, "There is no hope." What they did not forget was to seek their own gratification. They forgot the Lord, and so brought evil on themselves.

The parable of the potter, in Jeremiah 18 and 19, was meant to let Israel know that, though brought into covenant, they were still within the range and reach of God's judgments, and that such judgments would overtake them because of their sins.

He was so concerned for their good that He called to them again and again, "rising up early," as He so often puts it. He called them to return to Himself and find the settled blessing which His gracious heart desires for them. But they would not, for they said, "There is no hope" (v. 12). They did not, however, forget to seek self-gratification. But they forgot the Lord, only to bring evil upon themselves (vv. 11-17).

"Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit... For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jer. 2:11-13). This is His plea. Did the nations — the pagan peoples — ever do what My people have done? My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. You will find all through Scripture that what profits is the great point. If there has been departure from God, has it profited you?

What then are the ancient paths? Holiness to the Lord (Jer. 2:3). "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of His harvest." Do we not hear an echo of this for believers today? Revelation 2:4 says, "I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first."

The first step onward gave character to their whole path. We see in it the effort of flesh to find a path for itself in the wilderness, apart from the one marked out by God. Flesh cannot walk in His paths. It seeks a bypath — an easier way, which seems right, and seems to lead, as flesh sees it, to the same end. It proves to be a snare. It must be retraced to the very spot where it turned aside. There you re-enter God's true path, which alone is sure to reach the goal.

Must we not confess it? In recent years there has been a gradual tendency to decline from God's principles, to forsake the old paths and seek a wider path. That path carries little reproach. It is more popular, and more pleasing to the vanity of the flesh. One has truly said, "The principles of God may be deserted by easy stages. They may first be relaxed, then forgotten, then despised. They may pass from a firm hand into an easy one, from there to an indifferent one, and find themselves at last flung away by a rebellious one."

The Lord holds the nations in His hands, shaping and forming them as He thinks good... Broken and rejected kingdoms, like the potter's useless earthenware, lie scattered over the face of the ground. "O Lord, what desolation You have made in the earth! Yet You are righteous in all Your ways. And You are long-suffering and merciful also. For You are unlike the potter in this. You have said, 'If that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it'" (v. 8).

How slow the Lord is to give up His people! He pleaded with those in front of Him then, and with their children's children. They could go where they pleased — north-west or south-east, to Greeks or to Arabians. Nowhere would they hear of a people so false to their false gods as Israel was to the true God. No wonder the heavens are amazed and afraid and utterly desolate at the sight! God's people were guilty of two such evils: they forsook Him, the fountain of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves — broken cisterns that hold no water!

What then are the ancient paths? Holiness to the Lord (Jer. 2:3). "I remember you, the kindness of your youth, your love as a bride, when you went after me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holiness to the Lord, the first-fruits of His increase." Do we not have an echo of this for believers today? Revelation 2:4 says, "I have this against you, that you have abandoned your first love."

We see in it the effort of the flesh to find a path for itself in the wilderness, apart from the one marked out by God. The flesh cannot walk in His paths; it looks for a side path — an easier way, which seems right, and seems, to the flesh's eye, to lead to the same end. It proves to be only a snare. You must retrace it to the very spot where you turned aside, and re-enter God's true path there. That path alone is sure to reach the goal.

So Jerusalem — its princes and its people — would become "a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse." And He carried out His word with startling exactness.

Such evil is to come upon them and upon the land that "the stranger who comes from a far land shall say, when they see the plagues of that land… even all nations shall say, Why has the LORD done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?" Strangers from far lands, tourists and pilgrims, have visited Palestine in fulfilment of this prediction. Seeing the sad condition of that land, they have often asked these questions and known their answer. "Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers. He made that covenant with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt."

The parable of the potter in Jeremiah 18 taught Israel this: though God had brought them into covenant, they were still within reach of the Lord's judgments and visitations. So Jeremiah 19 acts that judgment out as a picture. In John the Baptist's time Israel shows the same self-confidence. In that spirit they said, "We have Abraham as our father." Under the Lord's ministry it is still the same — they still boast in the fatherhood of Abraham and of God. (John 8.) But these boasts were empty, as both John and the Lord tell them. They teach Israel again the lesson of Jeremiah 18 — being in covenant did not put them beyond the reach of judgment.

Another dreadful effect of keeping on in evil is despair. Man never really trusts God; and a divine call or warning brings out this form of his will. If his will were broken, he would at least cry to God and throw himself on what God is, who cannot deny that He is love. God's goodness leads to repentance; man's will leads to desperation.

The east wind is often spoken of in Scripture as signifying God's judgment (Ex. 14:21). That judgment is slow to arise, but when it comes, it "does not spare". Men may try to flee desperately from its power, as they do from hurricanes, but to no avail.

Tyre is a ship that founders at sea. Nebuchadnezzar is the east wind that upset her.

Turning inward like this is a wretched habit. It always follows turning away from the Lord Himself. It caused the great damage then, just as it is doing now. No doubt people think their feelings and moods are good and pious and wise. But it is still self-occupation. It is contrary to the true knowledge of the blessed God… Here in our chapters the same words come back again and again, and they are touching: "You have forgotten ME"; "YOU HAVE FORSAKEN ME"; "THEY HAVE FORSAKEN ME".

They had spurned Him without reason; now He spurns them with good reason. They receive something of their own treatment. His face had before been shining with pleasure on Israel. Now He hides His face from them, to see what their end will be. If God's face does not shine with approval on His creatures, they cannot continue without serious consequences.

This change of mind on God's part does not mean He regrets His first decision. It shows His grace and righteousness. He holds back the sentence when He sees the least sign of repentance in the guilty one.

They did not want God. So He put them among people who did not know God. There they would learn by experience how bitter it is to be away from the kindness and care of their faithful Creator… This was true during the seventy years of captivity. It happened again when Israel rejected the Lord Jesus, who came in grace.

Jeremiah had stood before God to speak for his people and to try to turn the Lord's wrath away from them (18:20). Faced with slander and criticism, the prophet can only say in his prayer, "Hear me, O LORD, and listen to the voice of my adversaries" (18:19).

They rose in rebellion against the messenger of the Lord. They hated him. They would strike him with the tongue, malign him, bring false accusations against him. But the man of God does not take up their contentions. Like Hezekiah when the enemy reviled him, Jeremiah turned to the Lord. He tells the Lord all about it.

It was a day like ours. The religious party boasted that the law would not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. They said, "Come and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words" (Jer. 18:18-19). They refused God's testimony and set up the plea of tradition and succession.

And what shall we say of the negative criticism aimed at the servants of God? It risks interfering with their ministry and discrediting their message. Even Paul had this sad experience, especially at Corinth and in Galatia. And was not the Lord Himself accused by false witnesses, and by Pharisees who said He was casting out demons by the prince of demons! What a painful experience for servants of God under such attacks. And what serious consequences will face those who "strike with the tongue" when they stand before the Lord to answer for their words.

But this draws out hatred of the prophet, and a determination to defend things as they are. So the tested witness of the Lord can only plead against Israel — even though he had sought before God to speak good for them and to turn away His wrath.

The prophet prays against them, for they repaid his good with evil. This prayer was not unrighteous in a servant of the Lord whose promises and hopes were earthly. Yet it would not be suitable for those who know the surpassing grace of God now... Those who know the true grace of God today have received favour they had no merit or claim to. They are saved, justified and blessed eternally in Christ Jesus. Our blessed God and Father has treated them in this way. For them to pray against others would be inconsistent indeed.

Take some of the petitions recorded in the Psalms — imprecatory petitions, as they are called... it will be at once seen that the spirit of such prayers is completely foreign to what is taught to the Christian. The same is true of many of the prayers found in Jeremiah (Jer. 10:24-25; Jer. 18:19-23, etc.). This is enough to show that a prayer given by the Spirit of God in one period is not necessarily suited to God's people in every age.

Here once more we must look upon these words prophetically. During the great tribulation, expressions like these will come from the lips of the remnant of Israel. They suffer from their enemies, and they righteously call for heaven's vengeance. That vengeance will fall upon these enemies when the Lord is manifested in glory.

But this draws out hatred of the prophet, and a determination to defend things as they are. Meanwhile the tested witness of the Lord can only plead against Israel, however much he had sought before Him to speak good for them and to turn away His wrath.

Let us remember that the Lord is "slow to anger". Jeremiah lived in the middle of outrageous provocations, and he was himself the target of much of them — the reproaches of the Lord falling on him. Yet poor Jeremiah could appeal to God how he had stood in the gap to turn away the indignation from them. This went on until the Lord said to him, "Pray not for this people," and the indignation took its course. For intercession is always the place for the one who has the mind of God. There he makes a way for God's love, until that place for intercession closes.

Spreading rumors does great harm among the people of God. Such rumors may be true in themselves, yet they run others down and belittle them. Is it done to enhance one's own image? And what shall we say of the negative criticism aimed at the servants of God? Such criticism risks interfering with their ministry and discrediting their message. Even Paul had this sad experience, especially at Corinth and in Galatia. And did not false witnesses accuse the Lord Himself? Pharisees even claimed He was casting out demons by the prince of demons! What a painful experience this is for servants of God who face such attacks. And what serious consequences will face those who "smite with the tongue" when they stand before the Lord to answer for their words.

The man of God does not take up their quarrel. Like Hezekiah when the enemy insulted him, Jeremiah turned to the Lord. He tells the Lord all about it. Then he prays for judgment to fall on them. Here once more we must look at these words prophetically. During the great tribulation, expressions like the ones the prophet uses here will come from the lips of the remnant of Israel. They suffer from their enemies and righteously call for heaven's vengeance. That vengeance will fall on these enemies when the Lord is revealed in glory.

Take some of the petitions recorded in the Psalms — imprecatory petitions, as they are called. Turn for example to Psalm 69:22-28. You will see at once that the spirit of such prayers is completely unlike the spirit taught to the Christian. The same is true of many of the prayers found in Jeremiah (Jer. 10:24-25; Jer. 18:19-23, etc.). This shows one thing plainly. A prayer given by the Spirit of God in one period does not necessarily suit the people of God in every age.

Already they had surrounded Him with words of hatred and fought against Him without a cause. They had repaid Him evil for good and hatred for love. At every step He had shown perfect grace; on every hand He had done only good. He had healed the sick, clothed the naked, fed the hungry, forgiven sins, delivered from the devil and raised the dead. He had warned these men, pleaded with them, and wept over them, but all in vain.

In Jeremiah 18 we have the potter's house brought before us as a prophetic sign. The house of Israel was, of course, the clay for the potter to mould... So the Lord shows the desperate case of this people, with whom He had taken such trouble. The effect of sending His precious words to them was their anger and hatred of His servant. Jeremiah was the great object of their animosity.

The people were angry at Jeremiah's preaching about the vessel the potter remade. So they plotted against the prophet. They decided to "strike him with the tongue", and to spread false rumours about him. Backbiting and slander would in effect stop his preaching and keep anyone from listening to any of his words.

Spreading rumours does great harm among the people of God — rumours perhaps true in themselves, but which run others down and belittle them... And what shall we say of the negative criticism aimed at the servants of God? It risks getting in the way of their ministry and discrediting their message.

But this draws out hatred of the prophet, and a determination to defend things as they are. Meanwhile the tested witness of the Lord can only plead against Israel — however much he had come before Him to speak good for them and to turn away His wrath.

They rose in rebellion against the messenger of Jehovah. They hated him. They would strike him with the tongue, slander him, bring false accusations against him. But the man of God does not take up their quarrel. Like Hezekiah when the enemy insulted him, Jeremiah turned to the Lord. He tells the Lord all about it. Then he prays for judgment to fall on them. Here once more we must look at these words prophetically. During the great tribulation, the remnant of Israel will speak words like these. They suffer from their enemies, and they rightly call for heaven's vengeance.

The prophet prays against them, for they repaid his good with evil. That prayer was not unrighteous in a servant of the Lord whose promises and hopes were earthly. Yet it would not suit those who know the surpassing grace of God now... Those who know the true grace of God today have received favour they never merited and could never claim. God has saved them, justified them and blessed them for ever in Christ Jesus. For such people to pray against others, when our blessed God and Father has treated them this way, would be inconsistent indeed.

All their sinful doings are before him, and he knows them fully. Yet the prophet suffers like his Lord, of whom he is a type. He is brought "like a lamb" to the slaughter. They had devised wicked schemes against him, to cut him off from the land of the living... All this is like what Isaiah 53 says of our blessed Lord. But the prophet's prayer in the next verse is quite unlike His prayer, for Jeremiah asks for vengeance on his persecutors... while the Lord Jesus asked His Father to forgive His enemies.

This draws out hatred of the prophet, and a determination to defend things as they are, while the tested witness of the Lord can only plead against Israel — however much he had earlier sought Him, to speak good for them and to turn His wrath away.

They rose up in rebellion against the messenger of the Lord. They hated him. They would strike him with the tongue, speak evil of him, bring false accusations against him. But the man of God does not take up their quarrel. Like Hezekiah when the enemy insulted him, Jeremiah turned to the Lord. He tells the Lord all about it. Then he prays for judgment to fall upon them.

"Lord, what desolation You have made in the earth! Yet You are righteous in all Your ways. And You are patient and merciful too. For You are unlike the potter in one way. You have said: if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I intended to do to it" (v. 8).

The sinner is therefore entirely in the hands of the One against whom he has sinned. If God appoints something that can make atonement, well and good. If He does not, the iniquity of the offender can never be purged… Isaiah speaks of people whose iniquity would not be purged until they died (22:14). And Jeremiah asked God not to forgive the sins of his persecutors (18:23). What a solemn thought this is! … Thank God, the sinner's case is not beyond remedy if he listens to God. The cases just mentioned are of people who reject the divine testimony. But God must prescribe the remedy, and the offender must accept it.

They also devised schemes against Jeremiah and sought his life. The prophet prays against them, for they repaid his good with evil. This prayer was not unrighteous in a servant of the Lord connected with earthly promises and hopes. But it would not suit those who know the surpassing grace of God now, for they are connected with the heavenly purpose and hope, which rises far above what was then made known. They opposed Jeremiah unrighteously, and he asked the Lord to reward them righteously… Those who know the true grace of God today have received favour they did not merit and could not claim. They are saved, justified and blessed eternally in Christ Jesus. God our Father has treated them like this. For such people to pray against others would be inconsistent indeed.

Take some of the requests recorded in the Psalms — imprecatory requests, as they are called… you can see at once that the spirit of such prayers is completely foreign to what the Christian is taught. The same is true of many of the prayers found in Jeremiah (Jer. 10:24-25; Jer. 18:19-23, and others). This is enough to show one thing. A prayer given by the Spirit of God in one period does not always suit the people of God in every age.

Here once more we must look at these words prophetically. During the great tribulation, expressions like the prophet's here will come from the lips of the remnant of Israel. They suffer from their enemies and righteously call for heaven's vengeance. That vengeance will fall on those enemies when the Lord is revealed in glory.

He was to get a potter's earthen bottle, accompanied by elders and priests, and go to the valley of the son of Hinnom. There he should proclaim the words the LORD would breathe into him.

In Jeremiah 19 we have the sign of the potter's earthen vessel further developed. Now the valley of the son of Hinnom comes into view, and it always signals judgment. Tophet points to the great judgment which the Lord will carry out when He Himself comes. It is not merely a place of execution by man.

Things had gone wrong with Israel. Idolatry had become prevalent. The vessel had been marred. But the clay was still soft. There was still time to turn to God.

This time it is not clay that can still be formed but an earthen vessel that has been hardened in the fire. It can only be broken. The message is clear and solemn. There is a time when discipline can be accepted and bring profit. There is also a time when it is too late. The warning not to harden the heart applies.

This time his task is to buy an earthen vessel. He must take some of the elders of the people with him and go to the valley of the son of Hinnom. This dreadful place was famous for idolatry: people sent their children through the fire and sacrificed them to Molech (see 2 Kings 23:10).

Here is the solemn sign that the city, its surroundings and its people will be punished in public for their sin and idolatry. Others will hear of it, and their ears will tingle. So it becomes a powerful witness to how terrible sin is. Even the vile names Tophet and Hinnom were not strong enough for the place of their punishment. It should be called "The valley of slaughter."

The parable of the potter, in Jeremiah 18 and 19, was meant to teach Israel one thing. They had been brought into covenant, yet they were still within the range and reach of God's judgments. Those judgments would overtake them because of their sins. In Jeremiah's day they would say, "The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, are these."

Striking signs like the girdle were fulfilled exactly. The potter's vessel of Jeremiah 18 and the earthen vessel of Jeremiah 19 were fulfilled in the same way. We know how all this came to pass. It happened in a way that leaves no room to question either what God foretold or how He carried it out.

These first two symbolic incidents (the clay and the vessel) have a solemn application to unbelievers as well. There is an acceptable time when God gives an opportunity to repent. But once the heart is hardened, or death comes, it is too late. The inevitable result is the smashing of the potter's vessel. Yet the same principle applies to discipline — and this appears to be the primary thought here.

The parable of the potter in Jeremiah 18 was meant to let Israel know one thing. They had been brought into covenant with God, yet they were still within reach of the Lord's judgments and visitations. So in Jeremiah 19 that judgment is carried out in picture form.

This time his task is to buy an earthen jar. He must take some of the elders of the people with him and go to the valley of the son of Hinnom. This dreadful place was known for idolatry: there people sent their children through the fire and sacrificed them to Molech (see 2 Kings 23:10). Jeremiah had to announce judgment there. Then he had to break the jar: "So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, so that it can never be mended."

In Jeremiah 19 we have the sign of the potter's earthen vessel further developed. Now the valley of the son of Hinnom comes into view, and that valley always means judgment. "Therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter." Topheth points to the great judgment which the Lord will execute when He Himself comes. It is not just the place where men carry out a sentence.

The earthen bottle of chapter 19 is figurative of Jerusalem and the people. The earlier sign showed God's right to handle any nation or kingdom as He saw fit, and His power to do it. This sign is more solemn. God will punish the city, the land around it and the people in the open for their sin and idolatry. All who hear of it will feel their ears tingle. So the sign becomes a loud witness to how terrible sin is. The foul names Topheth and Hinnom were not strong enough to describe the place of their punishment. It should be called "the Valley of Slaughter" (v. 6).

Gehenna is the Greek equivalent for two Hebrew words, signifying "valley of Hinnom." It was the place near Jerusalem where the Jews made their children pass through fire to heathen gods, and which was afterwards defiled (2 Kings 23:10). A continual fire made it a fit emblem of the place of eternal punishment (Matt. 5:22, 29, 30; Matt. 10:28; Mark 9:43-47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6). The above-named place of defilement and fire is also called in the Old Testament Topheth (2 Kings 23:10; Isa. 30:33; Jer. 19:13).

Christendom or Babylon has now taken this place of Israel of old. Babylon trusts in her security, despite her moral condition. She says, "I sit as a queen... and mourning I shall never see" (Rev. 18:7). But Revelation 18 is another action like that of the prophet in the potter's house, or in the valley of the son of Hinnom, teaching the unfaithful steward that the doom of the shattered vessel awaits him.

In the next chapter (ch. 19), Jeremiah has to perform another symbolic action. This time he must buy an earthen vessel, take some of the elders of the people with him, and go to the valley of the son of Hinnom. This dreadful place was known for a terrible idolatry: people sent their children through the fire and sacrificed them to the god Molech (see 2 Kings 23:10). Jeremiah had to announce judgment there.

The earthen bottle of chapter 19 is figurative of Jerusalem and the people. The earlier sign showed God's right to deal with any nation or kingdom as He saw fit, and His power to do it. This one is the solemn sign that God will punish the city, its surroundings and its people in public for their sin and idolatry, and in a way that makes the ears of all who hear of it tingle. So it becomes a powerful witness to how terrible sin is. The vile names Topheth and Hinnom were not strong enough to describe the place of their punishment. It was to be called "the Valley of Slaughter" (v. 6).

Jeremiah 19 takes the sign of the potter's earthen vessel further. Now the valley of the son of Hinnom is brought forward, which is always significant of judgment. "therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter." Topheth points to the great judgment the Lord will carry out when He Himself comes. It is not only the place where men carry out a sentence.

This time it is not clay that can still be formed but an earthen vessel already hardened in the fire. It can only be broken. The message is clear but solemn. There is a time when correction can still be taken to heart and do good, and there is a time when it is too late. The warning not to harden the heart (Hebrews 4:7) applies.

The parable of the potter in Jeremiah 18 and 19 was meant to teach Israel one thing. God had brought them into covenant, yet they were still within reach of His judgments, and those judgments would come upon them because of their sins. In John the Baptist's day Israel shows the same self-confidence. In Jeremiah's day they would say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD." In John's day they said, "We have Abraham as our father." But John, like Jeremiah, taught them again that judgment could reach them even though they were in covenant.

This is often called "the valley of the son of Hinnom," but who Hinnom and his son were is unknown. The valley running from east to west, south of Jerusalem, still carries that name. In part of this valley, thought to be the east end, people passed their children through the fire to false gods. To stop this, King Josiah defiled Topheth in this valley. In God's judgments the valley will become the "valley of slaughter."

In Jeremiah 19 the sign of the potter's clay jar develops further. Now the chapter brings forward the valley of the son of Hinnom, which always stands for judgment… Tophet points to the great judgment the Lord will carry out when He Himself comes. It is not just the place where men carry out judgment.

With sorrow and pleading He cries out, "Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." Yet how graciously and kindly He asks them, "Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness?"

This is the state idolatry dragged people into. And that is not the worst of it. Worse still, and Israel and Judah showed it: they put the images of the gods in the temple of the Lord — gods whose worship approved these vile practices. It was lowering the true God to the level of their idols.

The Lord removed Judah out of His sight for the sins of Manasseh: "For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon." From the time of Manasseh this decree could not be taken back… There were two causes for this final judgment: idolatry, and innocent blood.

God was very merciful. Even so, the evil of Manasseh brought God's government down on the nation… When King David sinned, the Lord pardoned his sin, but God's government on his house still ran its course. It was the same with Manasseh. God heard and answered his prayer when he humbled himself. Even so, God's righteous government fell on the guilty nation he had led astray.

This time it is not soft clay that can still be shaped. It is a clay jar, hardened in the fire. It can only be broken. The message is clear and solemn. There is a time when a person can take correction and profit from it, and a time when it is too late. The warning not to harden the heart applies.

The name means 'master, possessor,' and whether singular or plural it always has the article. He was the chief male god of the Phoenicians and the Canaanites, and Ashtoreth was the chief female goddess. When the Israelites came into the land, they no doubt found temples, groves, altars and high places set apart to Baal. There people offered incense, burned offerings, and sacrificed children to him. A great company of prophets and priests served him, as its later revivals make clear.

Parents were so blinded by Satan that they gave their children as sacrifices to Molech, the god of the Ammonites. From Jeremiah 19:5 it appears that Baal was worshipped in the same way. Some have reasoned about "passing through the fire," here and elsewhere, so as to deny that they burned their children. But this seems a well-meaning attempt to soften the reality of the wickedness. It was the fullest, though not the only, profanation of the name of Israel's God. Jehovah accepted a sheep or an ox, or even a much smaller sacrifice; Satan under these names demanded their sons.

How many practices and customs in Christendom have been "devised" of men's own hearts which have no foundation in Scripture! Many seem to think that in spiritual things everyone may do "what is right in his own eyes," instead of "Thus says the LORD." God condemned Israel for doing what, He says, "I did not command them, nor did it come into My heart" (Jer. 7:31; also 19:5; 32:35). It is the thoughts of God's heart, not mine, that I am to heed and put into practice.

In Jeremiah 19 we have the sign of the potter's earthen vessel developed further. Now the valley of the son of Hinnom comes into view, and it always means judgment. "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter." Topheth points to the great judgment which the Lord will carry out when He Himself comes. It is not merely the place of execution by man. Plainly, the judgment of Jerusalem is the subject.

Does not our Lord here, in speaking of Gehenna, or hell-fire, refer to the valley of Hinnom, where the people burned their children alive? It is also called the valley of Topheth, from the fire-stove where they burned the children. This valley was the scene of those wicked sacrifices. After Josiah's time, most believe, the valley of Hinnom (Gehenna in Greek) went on being a place of foul filth and pollution. There people burned refuse and dead bodies, and worms fed on the pieces the fire did not consume.

Idolatry and moral degradation always go together. The fearful road of falling away in Christendom is no exception. Rejection of God's revelation leads into idolatry — not necessarily idols of wood and stone — and into moral decline.

This is often called "the valley of the son of Hinnom," but who Hinnom and his son were is unknown. The valley running from east to west, on the south of Jerusalem, now bears that name. In some part of it, thought to be the east end, children were passed through the fire to false gods. To stop this, Josiah defiled Topheth in this valley. Isaiah gives the key to why the New Testament links this valley, under the name Gehenna, with eternal punishment. In God's judgments the valley shall become the "valley of slaughter."

The earthen bottle of chapter 19 is a picture of Jerusalem and the people. In the earlier sign the point was God's right to handle any nation or kingdom as He saw fit, and also His ability to do so. Here the sign is solemn: God will punish the city, its surroundings and its people in public for their sin and idolatry. Those who hear of it will feel their ears tingle. So it becomes a powerful witness to how dreadful sin is. The vile names of Tophet and Hinnom could not say enough to describe the place of their punishment. It should be called "The valley of slaughter."

In Tophet, the valley of Hinnom, they had done their detestable things and burned their sons with fire. Now it should become the valley of slaughter, so that their dead bodies would be eaten by the birds and wild beasts. He would cause them to eat the flesh of their loved ones. It was fulfilled during the siege of Jerusalem (Lamentations 4:10). Then he broke the bottle as a sign that the people and the city would be broken in the same way.

In Jeremiah 19 we have the sign of the potter's earthen vessel developed further. Now the valley of the son of Hinnom comes into view, and it always stands for judgment… Tophet points to the great judgment the Lord will carry out when He Himself comes. It is not merely a place of execution by man. Plainly, the judgment of Jerusalem is the subject.

A writer says: "Less than thirty years before the Chaldeans destroyed Jerusalem, the good king Josiah swept the idol out of the valley — the hideous ox-headed human figure of Moloch — with everything that belonged to it. He defiled the place so completely that no one could ever use it again for that frightful worship. But the horrors of the past had marked people's minds so deeply that from then on the spot bore the name Tophet — the abomination, the place to be spat upon. Later the very words Ge-hinnom, the Valley of Hinnom, changed slightly into gehenna and became the common name for hell."

People knew the Valley of Hinnom, the rubbish dump outside Jerusalem, as Gehenna. Fires always burned there, and maggots did their work without stopping. On the Lord's lips this word became a terribly fitting picture of the dwelling place of the lost. Hell will indeed be the great rubbish heap of eternity. There God will keep everything that is evil beyond correction apart from the good, and it will lie for ever under His judgment. This dreadful fact comes to us from the lips of Him who loved sinful men and wept over them.

The earthen bottle of chapter 19 is a figure of Jerusalem and the people. In the previous sign the point was God's right to handle any nation or kingdom as He saw fit, and also His ability to do so. Here it is the solemn sign that God will punish the city, its surroundings and its people in public for their sin and idolatry. Those who hear of it will feel their ears tingle. So it becomes a striking witness to how awful sin is. The vile names Tophet and Hinnom could not say enough about the place of their punishment. It was to be called "the valley of slaughter."

The contrast between the counsel of the Lord and the counsel of the nations is found in Psalm 33:10-11. The Lord brings all the plans of the nations to nothing, but His counsel is eternal. Nothing can frustrate it. It remains, showing the wisdom and the power of God. As it was then, so it is today: if the Lord so desires, He will bring to nothing all the plans of men, however wise.

He was to get a potter's earthen bottle and go, with elders and priests, to the valley of the son of Hinnom. There he was to proclaim the words the Lord would give him. In Tophet, the valley of Hinnom, they had done their abominations and burned their sons with fire. Now it was to become the valley of slaughter, so that their bodies would be eaten by the birds and wild beasts. He would cause them to eat the flesh of their loved ones. It was fulfilled during the siege of Jerusalem (Lam. 4:10). Then he broke the bottle as a sign that the people and the city would be broken like that.

One of the judgments announced on the people of Jerusalem was this: they would not be buried. Their bodies would be food for the birds and the wild beasts.

Jeremiah's quotations from the Book of the Covenant are too many to mention. Notice a few from Deuteronomy as examples. Compare Jer. 2:6 with Deut. 32:10; Jer. 5:15 with Deut. 28:49; Jer. 7:33 with Deut. 28:26; Jer. 11:3 with Deut. 27:26; Jer. 11:4 with Deut. 4:20, and so on.

In Jeremiah 19 we have the sign of the potter's earthen vessel developed further. Now the valley of the son of Hinnom is brought forward, and it always stands for judgment. Tophet points to the great judgment which the Lord will carry out when He Himself comes. It is not merely the place of execution by men. Plainly, the judgment of Jerusalem is the subject.

When our Lord speaks of Gehenna, or hell-fire, does He not point back to the valley of Hinnom? That is where the people burned their children alive. It is also called the valley of Tophet, from the fire-stove in which the children were burned. Most believe that after King Josiah's time the valley stayed a place of filth and pollution. There people burned refuse and dead bodies.

In Jeremiah 19 the sign of the potter's earthen vessel goes a step further. Now the valley of the son of Hinnom comes into view, and that valley always stands for judgment. "So look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when this place will no longer be called Tophet, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter." Tophet shows the great judgment the Lord will carry out when He Himself comes. It is not only the place where men carry out a sentence. Clearly, the subject is the judgment of Jerusalem.

"Because they have forsaken Me, and have made this place strange to Me, and have burned incense in it to other gods that neither they, nor their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people. They have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal. I never commanded that, I never spoke of it, and it never came into My mind."

The earthen bottle of chapter 19 stands for Jerusalem and the people. The earlier sign meant that God has the right to handle any nation or kingdom as He sees fit, and the power to do so. Here is the solemn sign that God will punish the city, its surroundings and its people in public for their sin and idolatry, in such a way that when others hear of it, their ears will tingle. So it becomes a powerful witness to how terrible sin is. The vile names Tophet and Hinnom were not strong enough to describe the place of their punishment; it was to be called "The valley of slaughter" (v. 6).

This time it is not clay that can still be formed but an earthen vessel that has been hardened in the fire. It can only be broken. The message is clear but solemn: there is a time when we can accept discipline and profit from it, and there is a time when it is too late. The warning not to harden the heart (Heb. 4:7) applies.

Striking signs like the belt (Jer. 13) came true exactly. The Lord had taken up Israel for His honour; but they sought their own honour with "great pride" (v. 9), so they would be destroyed as a nation. The same is true of the potter's vessel of Jeremiah 18, the earthen vessel of Jeremiah 19, and the bonds and yokes of chapters 27 and 28. We know how all this came about, and in a way that leaves no room to doubt either God's prediction or His carrying it out.

But all this has a lesson for us today. Christendom, or Babylon, has now taken the place Israel once held. Babylon trusts in her safety, despite her moral state. She says, "I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and I shall never see sorrow." (Rev. 18:7.) Revelation 18 is another act like the prophet's act in the potter's house, or in the valley of the son of Hinnom. It teaches the unfaithful steward that the doom of the shattered vessel is waiting for him.

In Jeremiah 19 the Lord tells the prophet to take a potter's earthen bottle before the elders of the people and of the priests. In the valley of Hinnom he is to proclaim His new message... "Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known. They have filled this place with the blood of innocents. They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind."

They would besiege the cities, no matter how well fortified, causing the starving occupants to go so far as to eat their own children (v.53). See 2 Kings 6:28-29 and Jeremiah 19:8-9... in verse 54 we read that even the most refined of people would become hostile toward their wives and their children. Such would be the desperation caused by hunger that there would be no consideration left for even the closest loved ones (v.55).

Israel's heart was hardened, so that in the famine accompanying the siege, instead of turning to the Lord, some of the inhabitants in their terrible extremity turned to the horrible deed of eating even their own offspring! See Leviticus 26:26-29; Deuteronomy 28:52-53; which was finally fulfilled under the Romans.

Nebuchadnezzar builds ramparts all around Jerusalem and undertakes a siege which lasts about eight months. Famine intensifies in the city, according to the word of Jeremiah (Jer. 19:9). During all this time, despite the countless dangers threatening him, Jeremiah stands firm for the Lord.

Every trace of compassion and even of natural feeling had gone. We are next told: "The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people" (v. 10). Nothing could account for such barbarity but what the prophet adds right after (v. 11): "The Lord gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations." What can be more thorough than to devour foundations?

The earthen bottle of chapter 19 represents Jerusalem and the people. It is the solemn sign that God will publicly punish the city, its surroundings and its people for their sin and idolatry. News of it will make the ears of everyone who hears tingle. It becomes an eloquent witness to how awful sin is. Even the vile names Tophet and Hinnom could not describe the place of their punishment strongly enough; it would be called "the Valley of Slaughter." To the prophet the Lord said, "Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, and shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: So will I break this people and this city.'"

The earthen bottle of chapter 19 is figurative of Jerusalem and the people. The previous sign showed God's right to handle any nation or kingdom as He saw fit, and His ability to do so. This one is the solemn sign that God will punish the city, its surroundings and its people in public for their sin and idolatry. When others hear of it, their ears will tingle. It becomes an eloquent witness of how awful sin is. The vile names of Tophet and Hinnom were not strong enough to describe the place of their punishment; it should be called "The valley of slaughter" (v. 6).

This time it is not clay that can still be formed but an earthen vessel that has been hardened in the fire. It can only be broken. The message is a clear but solemn one: there is a time when discipline can be accepted for profit and there is a time when it is too late. The warning not to harden the heart (Heb. 4:7) applies.

In Jeremiah 19 we have the sign of the potter's earthen vessel further developed. Now the valley of the son of Hinnom is brought forward, which always signifies judgment. Tophet points to the great judgment the Lord will carry out when He Himself comes. It is not just the place of execution by man. The judgment of Jerusalem is clearly the topic.

He was to take a potter's earthen bottle, go with elders and priests to the valley of the son of Hinnom, and there proclaim the words the Lord gave him. In Tophet, the valley of Hinnom, they had done their abominable things and burned their sons with fire. Now it should become the valley of slaughter, so that birds and wild beasts would eat their bodies. He would make them eat the flesh of their loved ones. This came true during the siege of Jerusalem (Lam. 4:10). Then he broke the bottle as a sign that the people and the city would be broken in the same way.

It is a favourite thought with her that while other churches tremble for their safety, she is above such fears — she is God's city, and has His walls around her. This is impressive. But when weighed by the teaching of the Word, it only declares more plainly what she is. It shows her all the more ripe for the judgment of God. This is because the boast is defiance. It is not faith in God, but a denial of His rights and authority.

In prophecy God announces two things in this way. He will judge Israel (the earthen vessel). He will also form a people whom He will "build" and "plant" again (the Jewish remnant: see Isa. 10:20–22; Jer. 23:3; 31:7; Rom. 9:27).

The earthen bottle of chapter 19 is a picture of Jerusalem and the people. In the previous sign the meaning was God's right to handle any nation or kingdom as He saw fit, and also His ability to do so. Here it is the solemn sign that God will punish the city, its surroundings and its people in public for their sin and idolatry. All who hear of it will feel their ears tingle. So it becomes a powerful witness to how awful sin is. Even the vile names of Topheth and Hinnom were not enough to describe the place of their punishment. It was to be called "the Valley of Slaughter."

This time it is not clay that can still be shaped, but an earthen vessel that has been hardened in the fire. It can only be broken. The message is clear but solemn. There is a time when a person can take discipline and profit from it. There is also a time when it is too late. The warning not to harden the heart applies.

"Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods... and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind."

"Behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, refusing to hear my words."

This is often called "the valley of the son of Hinnom." The valley south of Jerusalem, running from east to west, now bears that name. In some part of it, thought to be the east end, children were passed through the fire to false gods. To stop this, Josiah defiled Topheth in this valley. In God's judgements the valley shall become the "valley of slaughter."

Topheth points to the great judgment which the Lord will carry out when He Himself comes. It is not only the place where man carries out a sentence.

This is prophecy. God announces that He will judge Israel (the earthen vessel). But He will also form a people that He will "build" and "plant" again.

It is a favourite thought with her that while other churches tremble for their safety, she is above such fears — she is God's city, and has His walls around her. This is impressive. But weigh it by the teaching of the Word, and it only declares more clearly what she is. It shows her more fully ripe for the judgment of God. Because this boast is defiance. It is not faith in God, but a denial of His rights and authority.

This is often called "the valley of the son of Hinnom," but who Hinnom and his son were is unknown. The valley runs from east to west, on the south of Jerusalem, and still carries that name. In one part of it, thought to be the east end, children were passed through the fire to false gods. To stop this, Josiah defiled Topheth in this valley. Isaiah gives the key to why the New Testament links it — under the name Gehenna — with eternal punishment… In God's judgments the valley will become the "valley of slaughter."

This time it is not clay that can still be formed but an earthen vessel that has been hardened in the fire. It can only be broken. The message is clear and solemn. There is a time when someone can accept discipline and profit from it, and there is a time when it is too late. The warning not to harden the heart applies.

If the children of Israel abandon Jehovah to serve idols, Jehovah gives them up to serve idolaters. It is the same with us. If we sin, our sin measures and defines our chastisement. And so grace works repentance when we turn and cry to the Lord in our distress.

In Jeremiah 19 we see the sign of the potter's earthen vessel taken further. Now the valley of the son of Hinnom comes forward, and that valley always stands for judgment… Tophet points to the great judgment the Lord will carry out when He Himself comes. It is not just the place where men carry out judgment. Clearly, the topic is the judgment of Jerusalem.

The parable of the potter, in Jeremiah 18 and 19, was meant to teach Israel this. They were brought into covenant, yet God's judgments could still reach them. And those judgments would overtake them because of their sins. In John the Baptist's time, Israel shows the same self-confidence. In Jeremiah's day they would say, "the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD." In John's day they said, "We have Abraham as our father"… All this has a lesson for us.

The valley is often called "the valley of the son of Hinnom," but who Hinnom and his son were is unknown... In some part of this, supposed to be the east end, children were passed through the fire to false gods. To prevent this Josiah defiled Topheth in this valley... In God's judgements the valley shall become the "valley of slaughter."

Gehenna is the Greek form of two Hebrew words meaning "valley of Hinnom."... A fire that never went out made it a fitting picture of the place of eternal punishment.

The clay jar of chapter 19 stands for Jerusalem and the people... Here it is the solemn sign that God will punish the city, its surroundings and its people in the open for their sin and idolatry. Those who hear of it will feel their ears tingle. So it becomes a powerful witness to how dreadful sin is. Even the vile names Topheth and Hinnom were not strong enough to describe the place of their punishment.

In Jeremiah 19 the sign of the potter's clay vessel is taken further. Now the valley of the son of Hinnom comes in, and it always stands for judgment... Topheth shows the great judgment the Lord will carry out when He Himself comes. It is not just a place where men carry out a sentence. Clearly the subject is the judgment of Jerusalem.

They worshipped the hosts of the heavens from housetops. They worshipped the stars, and studied their movements as if they could give them help and a revelation. Astrology, so widely practiced among civilized nations today, is an old cult (2 Kings 21:3, 5; Jer. 8:2; 19:13).

What made this idolatry so offensive was the joining of the idols of the nations with Jehovah. To be what we might call a plain, outright idolater was not nearly so evil as to show that you know the true God and yet put false gods on a level with Him. It is this outrage against God that the passage describes.

Incense spoke of the merits of Christ, and drink offerings of the joy found in the life and death of the Lord Jesus. Yet by the incense they burned to idols, and the wine they poured out, the people claimed by their action that false gods had merits of their own. They claimed to have found joy in a rite that was really the worship of demons (1 Cor. 10:20), little though they knew it.

Every blessing that God has ever given to man, man has corrupted. This is true of the drink offering also. We must make sure that all our worship — and all our thoughts, words and actions — are directed to giving joy to God. Anything else that aims at pleasing ourselves is like offering drink offerings to false gods.

This valley is often called "the valley of the son of Hinnom." It runs from east to west, on the south of Jerusalem, and still bears that name. In some part of it, supposed to be the east end, children were passed through the fire to false gods. To prevent this, Josiah defiled Topheth in this valley. In God's judgments the valley shall become the "valley of slaughter."

In Jeremiah 19 we have the sign of the potter's earthen vessel developed further. Now the valley of the son of Hinnom is brought forward, which is always a sign of judgment. Tophet points to the great judgment which the Lord will carry out when He Himself comes. It is not merely the place where men carry out executions. Clearly, the judgment of Jerusalem is the subject.

That was not all. On his return from Tophet the prophet stood in the court of the Lord's house and said to all the people: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, refusing to hear my words."

Boldness was not natural to Jeremiah. Quite the opposite. It was the power of God and of His Spirit alone, at work in the prophet, that moved him to deliver the warnings the Lord gave him for his people and their rulers. He did this over the course of so many years.

This time it is not clay that can still be shaped, but an earthen vessel hardened in the fire. It can only be broken. The message is clear but solemn. There is a time when discipline can be accepted for profit, and there is a time when it is too late. The warning not to harden the heart applies.

The earthen bottle of chapter 19 pictures Jerusalem and the people. In the earlier sign the point was God's right to handle any nation or kingdom as He saw fit, and also His ability to do so. Here it is the solemn sign that God will punish the city, its surroundings and its people in public for their sin and idolatry. He will do it in a way that makes the ears of those who hear of it tingle.

Then we have a historical passage (Jer. 19:14 — Jer. 20:18), dealing with the persecution of the prophet by the priests. This attack by Pashur leads Jeremiah to open up his deepest inward feeling. There was no steeling of his heart against the persecution. His mouth was like steel, no doubt, but his heart was very soft indeed. He went through deep agony because of what he had to say against his adversary. So the very man who seemed as if nothing could bend him was in truth held in the greatest grief before God. At last he pours it out to the Lord.

But all this has a lesson for us today. Christendom, or Babylon, has now taken the place that Israel of old once held. Babylon trusts in her security, despite her moral condition. She says, "I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see." But Revelation 18 is another action like the prophet's in the potter's house, or in the valley of the son of Hinnom. It teaches the unfaithful steward that the doom of the shattered vessel awaits him.

When the prophet returned from the valley of Hinnom he took his place in the court of the LORD's house and declared the fate of the city.

The earthen bottle of chapter 19 is a figure of Jerusalem and the people. In the previous sign the point was God's right to handle any nation or kingdom as He saw fit, and also His ability to do so. Here it is the solemn sign that God will publicly punish the city, its surroundings and its people for their sin and idolatry. He will do it in such a way that when others hear of it, their ears will tingle.

Striking signs such as the belt were fulfilled exactly… The same is true of the potter's vessel of Jeremiah 18 and the earthen vessel of Jeremiah 19… We know how all this came to pass. It happened in a way that leaves no room to question either the divine prediction or the divine fulfilment.

He tells them to circumcise the foreskin of their heart. That is, they must cut off the selfish, fleshly desires of their heart and "be stiff-necked no longer." Being stiff-necked refers to the stubbornness of wanting our own way.

This was cold rebellion, not just failure. They would not pay any attention to God's Word. They refused God Himself, not only His Word. In fact, to refuse His Word is to refuse Him. What could they expect as a result? God gave them over to their own stubborn heart. They would have to learn by hard experience the utter folly of walking in their own ways.

The parable of the potter in Jeremiah 18 was meant to teach Israel one thing. Though they had been brought into covenant, they were still within reach of the Lord's judgments and visitations. So in Jeremiah 19 the judgment is acted out. In John the Baptist's time Israel shows the same spirit of self-confidence. They said in that spirit, "We have Abraham as our father"… But these boasts were empty, as both John and the Lord tell them.

But all this has a lesson for us today. Christendom, or Babylon, has now taken this place of Israel of old. Babylon trusts in her security, despite her moral condition. She says, "I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see." But Revelation 18 is another acted sign, like the prophet in the potter's house or in the valley of the son of Hinnom. It teaches the unfaithful steward that the doom of the shattered vessel awaits him.