Day 783: Jeremiah 19- Trash To Treasure

​Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy a potter's earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests, 2 and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. 3 You shall say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.4 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; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5 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— 6 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.7 And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds.9 And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’
10 “Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, 11 and shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, so that it can never be mended. Men shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury. 12 Thus will I do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah—all the houses on whose roofs offerings have been offered to all the host of heaven, and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled like the place of Topheth.’”
14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of the Lord's house and said to all the people: 15 “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.”
 
Meditation
God’s grace goes to great lengths for His people to both hear and see His word. Jesus left the throne of Heaven to reveal God’s word made flesh on earth. Those who receive Jesus in faith, believing the Word made flesh, discover the treasure of being children of God (John 1:1-14).
 
God calls Jeremiah to share His word in illustrative and revealing ways. The prophet was commanded to purchase a flask, a large clay jar to carry water or wine, and go to the city trash heap. Grabbing some elders before going, they left from the “potsherd gate,” a path littered with broken pieces of pots. The elders and priests were taken to a place to hear God’s message that symbolized their own destiny (11-12), a place of brokenness and rotting death. The illustrative revelation could not be clearer: Rejecting God’s word leads to ruin.
 
Jeremiah smashed the flask before the elders and priests, a visual message of their future if they continue to forget God and His word (10-13). Jeremiah then goes from the trash heap to the temple to pronounce God’s proclamation: Rejecting God and His word will lead to ruin!
 
Jeremiah’s courage points to Christ who, too, stood in the temple and found trouble. Religious people rejecting God’s word never want to receive God’s revelation. Out of love, Christ went from the temple to trash heap to offer the treasure of his love. Dying on Golgotha to give us grace reveals God’s treasure, the right to be called children of God!
 
 
Richly Dwelling
-Why does God communicate in such illustrative ways? What stands out to you from today’s reading? Why?
 
-Why does God go straight to the temple to take on religious leaders both in the old and new testaments? What does this say about God confronting religion that ultimately rejects Him and His word?
 
-How does this highlight God’s gracious invitation, to make us children of God when we believe? How can you live out of this secure identity as a child of God in Christ?
 
Key Verse
Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy a potter's earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests, 2 and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you.