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. 18:7. 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.