The Transformation of Israel Bernard Pyron

here is what God in II Kings 21: 13 says he will do as a result of
Israel having done that which was evil in his sight: "And I will
stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the
house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish,
wiping it, and turning it upside down."

The "plummet" refers to the plumbline in Amos 7: 8, "And the LORD
said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then
said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my
people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:"

The plumbline is the line of God's judgment on a people or on an
individual. Behavior that falls on the wrong side of the plumbline is
judged by God.

In II Kings 21: 13 God promises he will turn Jerusalem, or ethnic
Israel, upside down. Turning them upside down is his judgment upon
them for doing that which is evil in the sight of God.

Isaiah 29: 16 comments on this promise to turn Israel upside down.
There Isaiah says "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be
esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made
it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed
it, He had no understanding?"

God's turning of things upside down is to be esteemed as the potter's
clay. This refers to Jeremiah 18: 2-7. "Arise, and
go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my
words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought
a work on
the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the
hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good
to the
potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O
house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD.
Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O
house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation,
and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to
destroy it;"

The Lord first made a vessel on his potter's wheel which was marred.
This represents physical Israel in apostasy. Then the Lord made that
same lump of clay into a different vessel as seemed good to him to
make it. A potter who does not like the pot he has thrown on the wheel
can take it off, mix it with dry clay kneed it again, put it back on
the wheel and throw a different pot with that same lump of clay. In
the past I did this when I was a potter.

This parable of the potter's clay illustrates that physical Israel was
not simply replaced by Israel reborn in Jesus Christ, but one lump of
clay was remade into a better vessel, one that the Lord saw as being
good. Ethnic Israel was translated or transformed into Israel born
again. If a person is not transformed in Christ, he is not a part of the elect,
Israel reborn in Christ.