Imagery from Jeremiah

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One of the most beautiful sights in nature, in my opinion, is sun streaming through an opening in an overcast sky. The transforming power of light is striking and surprising. A landscape without bright light is flat and monotonous, but streaks of sunshine reveal all the color and depth that had been hidden. In chapter 31 of Jeremiah, we see how God plans to transform the repentant Judah — and all of Israel — in ways that no one living at the time could have possibly imagined. Eventually, the prophet says, God’s promise will stretch far beyond these nations to embrace all people, through the redemptive power of Jesus’s death and resurrection.

The transformation foreseen by Jeremiah is surprising because Israel itself, though repentance, holds the key to unlocking the power of God’s redemption:

“I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning:
‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined.
Restore me, and I will return, because you are the Lord my God.
After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast.
I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’ Jeremiah 31:18-19 NIV

God’s forgiveness will be complete:

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31:34b

God’s forgiveness comes from His heart as a loving father:

They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble,
because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son. Jeremiah 31:9 NIV

God’s forgiveness is expansive, covering not only Judah but all of the nations of Israel:

“At that time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.” Jeremiah 31:1 NIV

Throughout waywardness and repentance, God respects the agency of Israel and is ready to forgive. How could it be that the God of the universe has so much respect for His creation? Who could imagine this could be?

Jeremiah’s dreary and monotonous warnings are replaced with an unimaginably beautiful picture of the “Shalom” that God has in mind for Israel:

They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord —
the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, the young of the flocks and herds.
They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more.
Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow. Jeremiah 31:12-14 NIV

I would love to be able to step into this image.

The transformation Jeremiah envisions for Israel foreshadows the promise of Christ’s ultimate forgiveness and redemption for all people everywhere:

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord. … Jeremiah 31:33-34 NIV

Jeremiah foreshadows the words of Jesus when he says:

“…. I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.” Jeremiah 31:2b

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls….” Matthew 11:28-29 NIV

This promised redemption will completely erase any wearying and incomplete self salvation plans people can devise. God will replace them with the freedom and peace of His salvation that is offered to all in Christ.

Application:

Take a moment to soak in the amazing transformation that God makes available to us in Christ. Do you have plans for self salvation that are getting in the way of this transformation? Prepare for the hope of Easter. Take a moment to ask God to reveal how you might need to repent and turn back toward Him. Remember that He is a loving father waiting to forgive.

Have you known someone who repeatedly makes poor, harmful, or irresponsible choices? Those choices often have consequences for themselves and for their family and friends. Jeremiah and many of the other Old Testament prophets were prophesying to a nation that were making these types of choices daily. Not everyone worshiped and made sacrifices to idols, but the majority of the people in Judah in the year 587 BC were guilty of that or even worse – sacrificing their children to foreign gods.

The people of Israel and Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done–they, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem. They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline. They set up their abominable idols in the house that bears my Name and defiled it. They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech, though I never commanded, nor did it enter my mind, that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin. Jeremiah 32:32-35 NIV

For hundreds of years prophets like Isaiah, Elijah, Amos, and Hosea had been telling both Israel and Judah to stop worshiping idols, to repent, and to return to worshiping the Lord Almighty with their whole heart and soul. There were periods of time when both the king and the people would return to God, but for the most part, the people refused to listen to God’s prophets and continued to “turn their backs to me [God] and not their faces” (Jeremiah 32:33a). The time is now imminent – God will judge Judah, God will discipline them for their disobedience.

“You are saying about this city, `By the sword, famine and plague it will be handed over to the king of Babylon’;…” Jeremiah 32:36a NIV

This is what would happen within the year. But God does not judge us, discipline us, and correct us simply to be mean, or it to Lord over us – no he has something else in mind. Let’s look at chapters 31 and 32 of Jeremiah – to see God’s end game vision.

“The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Jeremiah 31:31 NIV

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Jeremiah 31:33

…but this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. Jeremiah 32:36b-38 NIV

The Babylonian captivity was how God disciplined Judah for their repeated sinfulness, unrepentant hearts and disobedience to His laws. But God also knew the captivity would come to an end, Jewish people would return to the land of Israel, and fields would be bought and sold again. God’s goal was to bring about their restoration, to bring them into a new covenant, to provide a way for the Jewish people and, in fact, to bring all people into relationship with God.

Have you ever gone through discipline or correction from God? Each of us is responsible to confess our sin and repent and return to God anew. Just as a father and mother discipline their children to correct their faulty thinking or behavior, our God does the same. Take a look at Hebrews 12:1-12 this week. Look for God’s heart and desire for us in His correction and discipline. Pray, confess, and thank God that He is faithful to both correct us and to fulfill his promises, in His timing.

“Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’” Jeremiah 18:11

Wow, when I read texts like this, I squirm a bit. How about you? I understand that sin and evil are bad. I understand that God needs to deal with the evil in the world, and justice is certainly a good thing. That doesn’t make it any easier for me to read that God is “preparing disaster for you.”

First, let me explore why this idea might be uncomfortable for some of us. Most Christians embrace faith in Jesus because they learn of Jesus’ death on their behalf. We hear that Jesus loves us, and it is a powerful truth. The gospel we encounter is beautiful, rich in grace, and wide enough to cover even our sins. Then as we progress in our Christian journeys, we find ourselves reading passages like this and questioning the heart of God. Why does the God of Jeremiah seem so different from Jesus? What is God like anyway? These questions are completely valid and have plagued many a learning Christian.

To complicate the issue, later in the book of Jeremiah, we encounter a very well-known verse that seems to contradict what Jeremiah has already said. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).” So which is it? Does God plan disaster for us, or does he plan a future for us? The answer must be yes. Maybe a better question is, how does he do both? The answer to that question is hinted at right in this verse. God’s heart is that his people turn: “turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.”

There are two ways to think of discipline. The first is like an angry parent trying to get his children to behave. The child’s actions annoy the parent; the parent disciplines the child to stop them from the frustrating behavior. That is a discipline that is deficient of the discipline that we find in the scriptures. Perhaps a better way to think of God’s discipline is to think of it as the discipline of a loving coach. A coach may demand much from a player. They may demand that players push themselves far beyond what they would naturally push themselves. A good coach does all this because they believe in the athlete and they believe their student is capable of more. God is like that coach in this text. He wants what is best for his people and is willing to train them for that.

Take a moment to imagine the face of God when he disciplines you. Do you see an angry, frustrated, or annoyed face? Try to shift that expression to one of an encouraging coach. How does that shift how you receive discipline from God?

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. Jeremiah 18:1-10 NIV

The Merriam Webster Dictionary definition of repent is: to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life, or to change one’s mind. The Greek word used in the New Testament for repent means to turn around 180 degrees and go in the opposite direction. The Biblical understanding of repentance is: to change our thinking that leads to a change in our attitude and our feelings that changes our values which results in a change in our actions and how we live. With that understanding in mind, let’s look at Jeremiah 18:11-12.

“Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, `This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ But they will reply, `It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.'” Jeremiah 18:11-12 NIV

God wanted the people of Judah, the leaders and the ordinary people alike, to recognize that they had sinned against God and were continuing to sin. He desired that they confess their sin and turn 180 degrees around to walk in the opposite direction. There are many promises in both the Old and New Testaments that if an individual person or a group of people will repent, confess, and turn from their sinful ways, then God will forgive.

…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14 NIV

Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die. Yet the house of Israel says, `The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust? Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live! Ezekiel 18:28-32 NIV

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, Acts 3:19 NIV

Repentance is something we all need to do. It requires us to examine our lives, our thoughts, our actions, our words. If the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, then we need to confess it to God, agree with God that it is sin, turn 180 degrees around and change our attitude, our thoughts and our actions so that they are in line with what God wants us to do, to say or to think. Listen to this song by Keith Green, listen to the Holy Spirit, pray through it as God leads you. https://youtu.be/mD2PJ0xbAdY

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.  Jeremiah 18:1-10 NIV

God tells Jeremiah to go to a potter’s house and he will receive a message from God there. The imagery of a potter and clay is used many times in the Bible. In every case, God is the potter, and we, his creation, are the clay (Job 10:8-9, Isaiah 29:16, Isaiah 45:9-12, Romans 9:20-21).

Let’s consider the heart of the potter. Jeremiah tells us there was a flaw in the clay, it was marred; it was ruined; it needed to be fixed, to be reshaped, to be remade. Remember, God is the potter; we are the clay. Jeremiah is God’s prophet, proclaiming to the people of Judah that God will bring disaster on Judah if they do not repent. But God also communicates His desire to save, to restore, to rebuild – if the people of Judah will acknowledge their sin, repent and turn to God. The message is the same for us in Colorado in 2023.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  I John 1:9

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.  II Peter 3:9

The heart of the potter wants to rebuild, to restore, to save us. God desires our restoration, not our destruction. God is poised, anxious, ready to offer a way out of the disaster. But He can’t do that if you and I are not willing to admit we have a problem. If you and I continue to go on our merry way, saying “peace, peace,” when there is no peace, if we pretend that all is well in our world, then God can not offer the solution to the problem, because we do not even see that there is a problem.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Matthew 23:37 NIV

Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. Isaiah 45:22 NIV

Can you see the heart of the potter, the heart of our savior? He desires for us to be restored to fellowship with him. He loves us, wants to protect us in the same way a mother hen does her chicks. Reread the verses above. Focus on the heart of God – the heart of the potter. Thank Him for His love for you.

God told Jeremiah, “Up on your feet! Go to the potter’s house. When you get there, I’ll tell you what I have to say.”

So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot.

Then God’s Message came to me: “Can’t I do just as this potter does, people of Israel?” God’s Decree! “Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you, people of Israel.

At any moment I may decide to pull up a people or a country by the roots and get rid of them. But if they repent of their wicked lives, I will think twice and start over with them. At another time I might decide to plant a people or country, but if they don’t cooperate and won’t listen to me, I will think again and give up on the plans I had for them.”

“So, tell the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem my Message: ‘Danger! I’m shaping doom against you, laying plans against you. Turn back from your doomed way of life. Straighten out your lives.’”

“But they’ll just say, ‘Why should we? What’s the point? We’ll live just the way we’ve always lived, doom or no doom.’” Jeremiah 18:1-12 MSG

I wondered why God would tell Jeremiah to go watch the potter at his craft before he gave his warning message through Jeremiah to the people of Israel about the consequences of their continued rebellion against him. I don’t know much about making pottery (though I have some lovely pieces hand made by some friends), so I looked for information. I found a lot of tutorials on Youtube that won my appreciation of the time consuming process of preparing clay, the precision involved in centering clay on the wheel and the craft of shaping it with the careful pressure and movement of the potter’s hands.

However, for the purposes of this devotional, the best information I found was in these two books: Run With the Horses, Eugene Peterson’s book on Jeremiah (referring to Jeremiah 12:5), and A Layman Looks at the Lord’s Prayer by W. Phillip Keller. Each of them has chapters on the potter’s house, the potter, and the importance of pottery, and the value of the metaphor as it points to how God desires to shape and mold us into the image of Christ.

Eugene Peterson points out how revolutionary the invention of pottery was to the ancient way of life. For centuries nomadic people had to constantly move around in search of food and water for their families and herds, because they had minimal ways of carrying food and water with them. When pottery became available, it was possible to safely store grain and carry water. It also contributed to people being able to stay in one place near a source of water, and grow and store their own food.

In his chapter on “In Earth, as it is in Heaven”, W. Phillip Keller describes his visit to a primitive potter’s little house in Pakistan. He and a missionary friend were shown the complete process: from reaching down into a pit for a suitable handful of clay, kneading it into pliability, placing it precisely on a heavy round stone and shaping it as a beautiful goblet.

Keller was deeply impacted throughout the experience about how, in each part of the process, God brought to his mind scriptures from the Psalms, the Lord’s prayer, and Jeremiah, that searched his own heart and soul. Particularly telling was when the potter’s hands began to feel resistance in the clay from minute bits of sand which ultimately destroyed the original design and necessitated making something different from the same clay.

A question for each of us: how resistant am I to God’s molding and shaping process in my life? Join me as we each ponder this question and ask God what he desires to do in our lives. Also, I recommend both of the books as additional encouragement in the process.