That once it’s gone thru the baking process in a kiln (which some would compare to this life), a ceramic jar (even if ground to powder) will never return to clay (even after millions of years)?
I was reading Jeremiah 18 (about the unfired clay jar that’s remolded) and 19 (where a finished jar is broken as a warning) last night, and that’s what some of the commentaries seem to suggest.
Specifically, Jer. 19:11 says:
…say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired.
Are the commentaries right?
Is the baking of clay in a kiln chemically irreversible?
It’s easy to make an analogy or parable say more than it was meant to say. In this passage, Jeremiah is prophecying the Judah/Jerusalem will be destroyed because of the shameful evil committed in Hinnom Valley (Gehenna), where the Jews not only built an idol, Molech, but sacrificed their innocent children to it in flames. The flask being broken beyond repair is an analogy of what God was going to do to Jerusalem/Judah through the Babylonians. And God did break them, but God also later restored them and rebuilt Jerusalem. This was something that man couldn’t do, but God did. The analogy of the flask being broken was not meant to say that Jerusalem would never be rebuilt or that Judah would never be restored to their land, much less is it meant to affirm ECT in anyway, or even annihilation.
Michael the scripture isn’t about prooftexting. The reality is that you could probably find a single verse to back just about anything, including smashing babies against rocks, hating people, keeping slaves and group-stoning sinners. But you simply can’t read the bible that way. There are many instances where God says this is the way it is…PERIOD! and then later goes on to back off of that stance. Take Jeremiah, for example:
Jeremiah 7:20 20“This is what the Almighty LORD says: My anger and fury will be poured out on this place, on humans and animals, and on trees and crops. **My anger and fury will burn and not be put out.
**
Jeremiah 13
14Then I will smash them like bottles against each other. I will smash parents and children together, declares the LORD. **I will have no pity, mercy, or compassion when I destroy them.’ ” **
Jeremiah 15
5No one will take pity on you, Jerusalem. No one will mourn for you. No one will bother to ask how you are doing. 6You have left me,” declares the LORD. “You have turned your back on me. So I will use my power against you and destroy you. **I’m tired of showing compassion to you. **
Jeremiah 17
4You will lose the inheritance that I gave you. I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you haven’t heard of. I will do this because **you have stirred up the fire of my anger.
It will burn forever. **
Then this interesting change:
Jeremiah 18
7“At one time I may threaten to tear up, break down, and destroy a nation or a kingdom. 8But suppose the nation that I threatened turns away from doing wrong. Then I will change my plans about the disaster I planned to do to it.
And the very famous passage:
Jeremiah 29 -
10This is what the LORD says: When Babylon’s 70 years are over, I will come to you. I will keep my promise to you and bring you back to this place. 11I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope. 12Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13When you look for me, you will find me. When you wholeheartedly seek me, 14I will let you find me, declares the LORD. I will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I’ve scattered you, declares the LORD. I will bring you back from the place where you are being held captive.
**Even when God made straightforward, unequivocal, seemingly irreversible statements about punishment, he would in fact change his mind because of his compassion because that’s the way he is. God does NOT punish or remain angry forever! Look:
Jeremiah 3:4,5 “Have you not just now called to Me, My Father, You are the friend of my youth? Will He be angry forever? Will He be indignant to the end?’ Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD; I will not look upon you in anger. For I am gracious,’ declares the LORD; ‘I will not be angry forever.”
**