Emphasis Preaching Journal

Metaphors, as a vehicle of literary expression, are almost indispensable in the handling of spiritual concepts. The Bible is full of them. Take, e.g., the metaphor of God as Father, which, incidentally, can lead to misunderstanding if it is taken in a physical rather than a moral sense. God's actions in dealing with his creation would be pale abstractions unless they were seen or conceived of in metaphors. In both Isaiah and Jeremiah the prophets conceptualized God's redemptive work on behalf of Israel as a potter fashioning into perfect shape a vessel from ordinary clay.