Jeremiah 18:5

GOD'S PROMISES ARE ALWAYS CONDITIONAL

"Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. At what moment I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to break down, and to destroy it; if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them."

Note that the deductions which were made from the analogy of the potter were not Jeremiah's deductions, but those of God himself. Therefore, these are the true deductions that should be seen here; and they deal exclusively with the proposition that all of God's promises, or prophecies, whether of punishment and destruction, or of blessing and honor are absolutely and eternally conditional.

We consider this little paragraph to be one of the most important in the entire Bible. All such erroneous theological nostrums as beings "saved by faith only," or "once saved, always saved," "the irrevocable promises of God." or "Palestine belongs to racial Jews forever" are eternally refuted and cancelled by what is declared in this little paragraph.

The great New Testament commentator on the parables, Bishop Richard Trench noted that:

"Nor may we leave out of sight that all forgiveness, short of that crowning and last act, which will find place on the day of judgment, and will be followed by a blessed impossibility of sinning any more, is conditional, in the very nature of things so conditional, that the condition in every case must be assumed, whether stated or not; that condition being that the forgiven man continues in faith and obedience."[8]

Upon the authority of the apostle Paul, we find another analogy in the potter's house, namely, that if the potter cannot make the vessel he intended out of the clay, he has the power to make another vessel, a vessel unto dishonor, instead of a vessel of honor; and that is exactly what is represented here (Romans 9:21).

God had intended great honors for Israel. They were intended to be a nation of priests unto God, a devoted, faithful and obedient people who would lead all the world to a knowledge of the true God, who, in time, would deliver through their flesh the Holy Messiah and Redeemer of Mankind, and who would challenge the whole world to accept and obey that Messiah, and who would be the vanguard of his Holy Religion throughout the world. What a vessel of honor they could have been!

But, through their low preference for the sensuous indulgence of their shameful worship of the old Canaanite gods, they made it impossible for God to fashion such a vessel of honor from the disobedient people; and, therefore God made of them a vessel of dishonor who would indeed continue to serve God, and who would, in time, deliver the Christ to a manger in Bethlehem, but who would never be of any use whatever in the nobler purposes God had intended.

"I will repent... I will repent ..." (Jeremiah 18:8,10). This never means the same thing when spoken by the Lord or in reference for what God does, that it means in the case of men. In the same sense that men repent, such a thing is impossible for God who never does wrong. Yes, God's treatment of men can and does change; but it is never due to any change of the mind of God but always results when human conduct is so changed that it merits a different relationship with God.

The classical example of such a change is recounted in the Book of Jonah, where it is stated that, "God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that he said he would do unto them; and he did it not" (Jonah 3:10).

The corollary of this is seen in the history of Israel, that "When God saw the evil of their way, he repented of the good that he said he would do unto them and did it not."

"A nation ... that nation ... a nation ..." (Jeremiah 18:7-10). These expressions in this context actually speak of "any nation." Some scholars, always anxious to discover a reason for denying a passage to Jeremiah, would reject this as "un-Jeremiahic"; but "Since Jeremiah was appointed to be `a prophet to the nations' (Jeremiah 1:5), this objection is unjustified."[9]