JEREMIAH LESSON 19
We will begin this lesson in Jeremiah 18:1 "The word which came
to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying," Jeremiah 18:2 "Arise, and go down
to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words."
The reason the LORD sent Jeremiah to the potters house to give
him the words for the people, was because the Lord would show Jeremiah
that God has power over His creation. This lesson was to be heard in
Jeremiah's ears, and seen in Jeremiah's eyes.
Jeremiah 18:3 "Then I went down to the potter's house, and,
behold, he wrought a work on the wheels."
Have you ever seen a potter put a clump of clay on the wheel and
start making a vessel? As the wheel turns round and round, the hands
of the potter form the clay. Jeremiah was to see that God is the
Potter, and we are His clay. He molds us and makes us into whatever He
wants.
Jeremiah 18:4 "And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in
the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed
good to the potter to make [it]."
God has control over His creation, as the potter has control over
the clay. It appears that the vessel the potter had made for beauty
became marred, and the potter started all over again, and made a new
vessel. This is showing Jeremiah the disappointment God had in His
people He had created, and how He may destroy them, and start all over
again. It is the potter's {God's} choice to do with the clay as He
will.
Jeremiah 18:5 "Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,"
This is just saying that while Jeremiah watched the potter making
the vessel of clay, God began to speak to him.
Jeremiah 18:6 "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this
potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay [is] in the potter's hand,
so [are] ye in mine hand, O house of Israel."
The LORD had created them to be a vessel of honor, but they had
chosen to become ugly in the sight of their Creator. The Lord is
telling Jeremiah, "Do they not know that I can destroy them, and start
all over again"?
Jeremiah 18:7 "[At what] instant I shall speak concerning a
nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and
to destroy [it];"
The nation is in God's hands, as this vessel is in the potter's
hands. At any moment, God can pick them up and destroy them. God can
do with His creation whatever He chooses.
Jeremiah 18:8 "If that nation, against whom I have pronounced,
turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do
unto them."
In this particular instance, the creation of God had become ugly
to Him, because of the use of the vessel He had made. He had made them
to worship and glorify Him, and they have chosen to follow other gods.
They have stained their vessels He made. If they would repent right
now and do the thing He created them for, He would not destroy them.
Jeremiah 18:9 "And [at what] instant I shall speak concerning a
nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant [it];"
It is God that makes a nation great, or destroys it. The time
when God decides to do this is in His hands, as well. Once God has
spoken, there is no turning back.
Jeremiah 18:10 "If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my
voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would
benefit them."
For the creation to rebel against its Creator, is a dangerous
thing. God wants His creation to obey His wishes. When they obey God,
great blessings follow. When they disobey God, a curse comes on them.
It is in God's hands to destroy them and start all over again.
Jeremiah 18:11 "Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah,
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD;
Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you:
return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your
doings good."
God does not want to destroy them, but they may drive Him to it.
This is one more plea from God for them to repent of their spiritual
adultery, and return to worship Him alone. The demonstration of the
potter and His wheel is showing that God can do with them whatever He
chooses.
Jeremiah 18:12 "And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk
after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his
evil heart."
We can easily see these people did not want to be instructed of
God. They wanted to do their own thing. They do not receive the
message God sent to them through Jeremiah. They act almost arrogantly
to Jeremiah. They just tell him they will do as their own heart
desires, and not as he instructed.
Jeremiah 18:13 "Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among
the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath
done a very horrible thing."
These are God's chosen people. They have the law of God to live
by, that the rest of the world does not have. God had chosen them to
be vessels of honor. God had put His trust in them. They have broken
that trust. They have turned against the very God that made them so
great.
Jeremiah 18:14 "Will [a man] leave the snow of Lebanon [which
cometh] from the rock of the field? [or] shall the cold flowing waters
that come from another place be forsaken?"
This is, possibly, showing that the water of God has never
stopped flowing for them. God has cared for them as His beloved. They
have had all of their needs met. God had supernaturally cared for
their welfare. Why would they leave His protective care to go to
another? Why would they leave the flowing stream to go to the dry
land? In other words, why would they leave the good they had for the
uncertainty of false gods?
Jeremiah 18:15 "Because my people hath forgotten me, they have
burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in
their ways [from] the ancient paths, to walk in paths, [in] a way not
cast up;"
The burning of incense was a very important part of service to
God. The smoke from the incense that went up into the heavens,
symbolized the prayers of the saints. To burn incense to a false god,
would be putting their trust in a false god. God had always made a
path for His children to walk in, as He did in the middle of the Red
Sea. The way to heaven, and to God, is to walk on the straight and
narrow path that He has provided. To walk on any other path, brings
sin and sorrow, which leads to destruction.
Jeremiah 18:16 "To make their land desolate, [and] a perpetual
hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag
his head."
This beautiful land of milk and honey will be turned into a waste
land. The land would now be disgraced. It would be a horrible sight to
see. The destruction will astonish those who pass by.
Jeremiah 18:17 "I will scatter them as with an east wind before
the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of
their calamity."
They have turned their backs on God, now He will turn His back to
them. The east wind brings stormy weather. This will be a day when no
help will come to them from God.
Jeremiah 18:18 "Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices
against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor
counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us
smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his
words."
Instead of accepting the message God has sent them, they decide
to do away with the messenger, Jeremiah. They do not believe Jeremiah.
They believe God will help them, regardless of what they do to Him.
They would rather take their direction from the priest, who is living
as badly as they are, than to listen to Jeremiah. To "smite him with
the tongue" would be to falsely witness against him. The prophets they
were listening to were the false prophets.
Jeremiah 18:19 "Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice
of them that contend with me."
Now, Jeremiah is crying out to God for Him to help. Jeremiah
says, "They will not listen".
Jeremiah 18:20 "Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have
digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak
good for them, [and] to turn away thy wrath from them."
This is the very same message that David gave in the book of
Psalms, chapter 35. They are trying to say that Jeremiah is not of
God. They have dug a hole for his soul. Jeremiah had tried to
intercede for them, but God told him not to do it. Jeremiah had done
the job God sent him to do, but they hated him for it. They believed
Jeremiah was speaking for himself, instead of God. They had been so
blinded by their sins, they did not realize what he was saying was
true. Jeremiah is asking God to deal with them for this rejection.
Jeremiah 18:21 "Therefore deliver up their children to the
famine, and pour out their [blood] by the force of the sword; and let
their wives be bereaved of their children, and [be] widows; and let
their men be put to death; [let] their young men [be] slain by the
sword in battle."
Jeremiah has been so angered by what they have done and said to
him, that he no longer asks God to save them. He wants the wrath of
God to descend on them, and take vengeance for their actions toward
him. God does not need Jeremiah to figure out what to do to them, no
more than He needs our help to dole out punishment. God is just in His
judgements, and sometimes we are not. Perhaps, Jeremiah is saying,
"All of the things you said would happen to them, let it be so".
Jeremiah had already prophesied these things would happen.
Jeremiah 18:22 "Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou
shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to
take me, and hid snares for my feet." Jeremiah 18:23 "Yet, LORD, thou
knowest all their counsel against me to slay [me]: forgive not their
iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be
overthrown before thee; deal [thus] with them in the time of thine
anger."
Jeremiah wants to be compensated for what they had done to him.
He has stopped weeping for them, and begun to feel the anger God had
felt earlier. They had planned to kill Jeremiah, and he wants God to
kill them. This is such a change from the pleading of Jeremiah to God
to save them. He suddenly agrees with the judgement God has made
against them. Now, he wants God to destroy them.
Jeremiah 19 Questions
1. Where did God send Jeremiah?
2. Why did He send Jeremiah there?
3. The _______ of the potter form the clay.
4. Who is the great Potter?
5. Who has control over the creation?
6. What happens, when the vessel the potter makes is marred?
7. What is verse 5 saying?
8. What is Jeremiah to say to the house of Israel?
9. What will God do, if they repent and return to Him?
10. Who decides when God will destroy or build up a nation?
11. What happens, when the creation obeys God?
12. Verse 11 says speak to whom?
13. What is the demonstration of the potter and the clay showing?
14. What did they decide to do?
15. What does God call Israel in verse 13?
16. God had chosen for them to be a vessel of ________.
17. What is verse 14 showing us?
18. They had burned incense to __________.
19. What did the smoke of the incense that was burned to God
symbolize?
20. Where is a good example of a path God had made for them?
21. This beautiful land of milk and honey will be turned into a
_______ ______.
22. They had turned their backs on God, now He will _______ ______
______ __ _______.
23. How did they receive the message Jeremiah brought them?
24. What was Jeremiah, really?
25. "Smite him with the tongue" means what?
26. What is Jeremiah saying to God in verse 19?
27. They digged a pit for Jeremiah's _______.
28. What did Jeremiah tell God to remember?
29. What were some of the terrible things Jeremiah suggested should
happen to them?
30. Jeremiah finally agrees with the ___________ God has made on them.
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