All was reality with Jeremiah. The present corruption was a reality to him, for he rebuked it, and mourned over it. The approaching judgment was a reality to him, for he wept at the thought of it and deprecated it. The final glory was a reality to him, for he laid out his money upon it. He had occasional refreshing of spirit from the glory. His sleep and the dreams that accompanied it, in chapter 31, were ''sweet unto him." it was a kind of moment in the "holy mount" to him—a transfiguration in spirit—for a light for the kingdom visited his soul there. He had revelations, too, of the "Lord our Righteousness." and could speak and write of Him.
Not only as occasionally refreshed in spirit, and thus gifted to write and speak, but he was a suffering witness against "this present world" and he laid not his money on "the world to come." It was this that completed his character which would have been poor and wanting without it We may speak of Christ, and leach about the kingdom, but to witness for Him against a rejecting world, and to be ''rich toward God'' in the hope of His kingdom this is to fill out and manic our character as saints.
Half Jeremiahs
We may covet these elements of character, some of Us, for we are only half Jeremiahs. We can talk of Christ, but can we suffer for Him? We may teach about the kingdom, but can we lay out our money upon it?
The parable of the potter in Jer. 18 was designed to let Israel know that though brought into covenant, they were still within the range of the Lord's judgments and visitations. And accordingly in chapter 19, the judgment is typically executed. In John Baptist's time, Israel is found in the same state of self-confidence.
They said in that spirit. "We have Abraham to our father." So 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 vain as John and the Lord will tell them. That is. John and the Lord teach them again the lesson of Jer. 18, that they were not beyond the reach of judgment, though in covenant bonds.
Now the object of the enemy in Matt. 4 was to get the Lord into the same condition with Israel, to inspire Him with confidence in the spirit of disobedience. Satan partially quoted Psa. 91, citing the promised security, but omitting the required conditional obedience. We know how fully the Lord triumphed over the enemy, citing Deuteronomy 6 where obedience is Israel's declared ground of security.
Thus the Lord in this feature of character, as in all besides, was the moral contradiction of man or of Israel.
All this has a lesson for us in this day. Christendom, or Babylon has now taken the place of Israel of old. Babylon trusts in security in spite of her moral condition. She says. "I sit a queen, and am no widow. and shall see no sorrow." Rev. 18:77How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. (Revelation 18:7). But Rev. 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.
Disobedience
God never sanctions disobedience. He did not go into the Garden of Eden to accredit Adam's sin, but to bring relief in the way of grace for it. So in the mystery of the gospel, He utterly condemns sin, but delivers the sinner. 1 Sam. 4 witnesses this: that God will never sanction disobedience. nor does He commit Himself to His stewards. He does commit Himself to His own gifts and calling (Rom. 11), but never to His stewards. They are still answerable to Him and disobedience works forfeiture. Christ is the only Steward that ever kept covenant, that ever stood in the conditional place.
Matt. 4 shows that He kept His blessings under Psalm 91, and His Israel blessings under Deuteronomy 6. but all others, in their several turns, have failed, and Babylon's boast is a lie.
Babylon or Christendom
We live at a moment when Babylon, or Christendom, is filling itself afresh with this boast, just previous to her overthrow, when she is to meet the doom of the potter's vessel or of the millstone. This boast is defiance; it is not faith in God, but real disavowal of His claims. It is the denial of her subjection to Him, of her being in the place of the steward's wife, answerable to Him and His judgment. It is the very characteristic that completes her identification with that Babylon which says, "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow." It leaves her ready for the judgment, as the potter's vessel in the valley of the son of Hinnom, so also of the millstone in the hand of the Angel in Rev. 18. Words of Truth