The Return September 26, 2020 (The Return)
On September 26, 2020, a rabbi stood on the Washington Mall, held aloft a clay potter’s jar, and in a symbolic act of judgement, smashed it to the ground.
On that September day—braving the threat of pandemic—thousands of Christians gathered at the Washington Mall for ‘The Return’, an event that was widely ignored by the media, and barely registered with many churches in the U.S. And yet, at this event, a historic event occurred, as Rabbi Jonathan Cahn would smash a potter’s jar of judgement against America.
The Return was a day of prayer and repentance that was called by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn and Reverend Kevin Jessip. It was stated as having a singular purpose – a last days return to God both individually and nationally, with the goal of worldwide revival (The Return). This gathering was in recognition of the end of the 19-year cycle of judgement spoken of by Rabbi Cahn, during which time the U.S. failed to change course and return to God. The premise for gathering a sacred assembly comes from Joel:
Joel 1:14: Consecrate a fast,
Call a sacred assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
Into the house of the Lord your God,
And cry out to the Lord.
This event was marked by extensive prayer by a body expressing humility, sorrow and remorse over America’s national sins. Speaker after speaker led the crowd in the common theme of repentance. But the crowd also witnessed the dramatic message of Jonathon Cahn.
Following in the footsteps of the Prophet Jeremiah, Rabbi Cahn smashed a potter’s jar symbolizing God’s judgement against America, and as one attendee pointed out regarding this moment—“it was no gimmick” (Hewitt). As someone who watched the entire event as part of the live stream, I can attest that even as detached as the online experience can be, the actions of Jonathan Cahn were profound. It was a moment of quickened pulse and withheld breath—and apprehension for the future of the country—as this act, coupled with the overall message of Jonathan Cahn, brought home the importance of this day in our history.
9/26/202 Jonathan smashing the potters jar at The Return (Youtube)
I think it is worth noting (given our prior suggestion that Jonathan Cahn may be the Elijah of our day) that Rabbi Cahn actually states in his message that the voice of Elijah is now calling out to America:
Jonathan Cahn
And as the voice of Elijah called out to his nation in ancient times, it now cries out to America. How long? How long America, will you waiver between two opinions? If the Lord is God then serve Him. But if Baal is god then serve him and go to Hell. Two and a half thousand years ago the Prophet Jeremiah stood with a potter’s jar in the capital city of his nation. The jar was a symbol of that nation born by God’s hand, molded for His purposes, and appointed as his vessel—for the nation had forgotten those purposes and now warred against them. How then could it stand? Four hundred years ago today the Mayflower sailed through the waters of the Atlantic and a new civilization was brought into being and formed as a consecrated vessel for the purposes of the Almighty but that vessel America has also forgotten the purpose for which it was formed and now wages war against them – how then can it stand? And how can God bless a nation that wars against His ways, that blasphemes His name, that silences His word and vilifies those who uphold it, that sheds the blood of over sixty million of its children. Can the smiles of heaven remain upon it? They cannot. Such things only lead to judgment. God told the Prophet Jeremiah, take that vessel and show it before the people and then…smash the vessel. For if a nations course remains unchanged so too will its end, for a house divided, a house that wars against its own foundation, cannot remain standing. And that is why we have come to this ground on the 26th day of September 2020 and have gathered all over America and the world because the hour is late and the moment is critical. We’ve come here to stand before God, to intercede for this nation as never before, and seek His mercy as never before, we have come here because God has given this promise:
Yet, still if my people who are called by name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.
What is the significance of breaking a potter’s jar over the land?
In the Bible, God tells the Prophet Jeremiah to gather the elders and go to a place representative of their collective national sin. In this place Jeremiah states that catastrophe is now coming, and in a symbolic act of judgement, smashes a potter’s earthen flask. The people are told that as this jar is broken, so too will this people and city be broken:
Jeremiah 19:1-4: Thus says the Lord: “Go and get a potter’s earthen flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests. And go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Potsherd Gate; and proclaim there the words that I will tell you, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will bring such a catastrophe on this place, that whoever hears of it, his ears will tingle.” Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents.
Jeremiah 19:10-11: “Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot be made whole again; and they shall bury them in Tophet till there is no place to bury.
The Valley of Hinnom was named after the Hinnom clan and was a valley of abomination; references to the ‘Valley of the Shadow of Death’ come from this location. This horrific Jerusalem valley was a sight of child sacrifice (referred to as ‘passing a child through the fire’) practiced by the children of Israel; Tophet was the pagan alter used in the ritual (Black).
Jeremiah describes the sin of Israel:
Jeremiah 7:30-31: For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says the Lord. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it. And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
Jonathan Cahn shows us that the sin of child sacrifice in Israel led to national judgement – and that today in the U.S. we have followed the same path. Rabbi Cahn states:
“The prophet Jeremiah stood over the Valley of Hinnom with a clay vessel in his hand and said to Israel, ‘You have murdered children—the blood of the children is here because of what you did, and the same death is going to come to you.’ Then he smashed the jar, a sign of coming destruction,” says Cahn. “The blood of the innocent is what invokes judgment in the Bible.” He continues, “While Israel killed thousands of children in those days, today millions of babies have been killed through abortion. This generation that we’re in right now has turned away from God more dramatically than any generation in history. It’s the greatest falling away we’ve ever had.” (Jonathan Cahn, Author of ‘The Harbinger II: The Return,’ Reveals Why 2020 Was the Year of Shaking)
America today finds that it has kinship with ancient Israel, in that we have both embraced the Valley of Hinnom. In 2022 it was estimated (using data up to 2019) that over 63 million children had been aborted in the United States (Sam Dorman) since 1973. In 2020, abortions in the U.S. climbed to a total of 930,160 for the year, and it was reported that for that year one in five pregnancies ended in abortion (Rachel K. Jones). Estimates for 2022 were approximately 73 million abortions per year worldwide (Unintended Pregnancy and Abortion Worldwide). To see the running total of reported worldwide abortions follow this link (Worldometer).
n 2022 we finally saw the Roe v Wade decision rescinded by the Supreme Court. But it is important to remember that this did not end abortion in the U.S. It simply moved the decisions back to the individual states…which resulted in places like California working to become sanctuary states to protect this act (Coliver). In the aftermath of this decision, one estimate showed that roughly half the country would continue to keep abortion legal (Sidik). In June of 2023—one year after the Supreme Court decision ending Roe v Wade—it was reported that abortions fell just 3% in the U.S.
America has not turned from the sacrifice of its children…and the idea that this country is facing judgement because of our embrace of the Valley of Hinnom is far from the thoughts of those continuing to embrace this practice…if it even appears as a consideration at all.
On the day of The Return gathering at the Washington Mall, another event occurred as well. At midday on September 26, 2020 Franklin Graham led a prayer march along a 1.8-mile journey from the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol. It is noteworthy that the importance of this day was emphasized by the fact that both Franklin Graham and Rabbi Cahn came to choose this specific day independently, as each sought guidance from the Lord (Strand). As noted in Rabbi Cahn’s message, this day fell within the 400-year anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower across the Atlantic. The Pilgrims left Plymouth on September 16th 1620 and arrived at Cape Cod on November 11th 1620 after 66 days at sea.
Franklin Graham Prayer Walk Sept 26, 2020 (billygraham.org)
On this day in September 2020 many of our great Christian leaders would march and speak, ranging from Carter Conlon to James Dobson to Niki Cruz—and many would talk about repentance and our national departure from God.
But then even more emphasis was given to this period of time when Pastor Carter Conlon of Times Square Church held the ‘It’s Time to Pray’ event on October 6, 2020. Pastor Conlon called on believers to join him in a live global prayer event from the home that now stands on Lot #1, the site of the first Pilgrim house in America. Carter Conlon stated the reason for his ‘It’s Time to Pray’ event:
We are going to pray from Lot #1 America, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the site of the first house in America, where the 51 Pilgrims who survived the first winter, prayed. We’re going to pray and we’re going to believe that God is going to resurrect this nation again. This prayer meeting is not our idea, this is a God-initiated moment in the history of this nation. The very future of America now depends on our prayers.” (Conlon)
“I believe with all my heart that God is willing to give us a mercy moment in America”
Carter Conlon
(Conlon)
As with The Return sacred assembly, at the heart of the Plymouth prayer meeting was the 2 Chronicles prayer for humility and forgiveness. This gathering at Plymouth Lot #1 was a visual symbol of the desire of Christians to repair America’s covenant with God. Over many decades God’s generals have all brought a word of warning to America. But as Jeremiah 29:19 states, judgement comes: “because they have not heeded My words, says the Lord, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets…”.
In the wake of these events in the fall of 2020, hope would arise that as election day in November of 2020 drew near, the nation would choose to elect leadership that would signal our desire to turn from our long running rebellion against God.
But that was not to be…and as the days pass by, we should keep the image of a broken potter’s jar firmly fixed in our minds.
Next – Chapter 9: If My People Who are Called by My Name
