Jeremiah 27:19-22. Jeremiah says that God has declared that everything left behind in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem after it has been ransacked by Babylon will be taken to Babylon as well. Those things which Nebuchadnezzar left behind will be "carried to Babylon and remain there until the day when I give attention to them, says the Lord. Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place."

Reading these verses this morning, I thought "Why?" Why is God insisting that the vessels and other things left behind in Jerusalem be carried to Babylon to remain there until he gives his attention to them? I am thinking that this is a kind of cleansing process, a purification, even for the things. It is kind of like a symbol of purgatory. Jerusalem was really bad before its fall, even in the house of the Lord bad things were going on. So all of these things have been defiled by the evil actions of the priests who had been using them.

The noblemen and priests were carried away into exile, there to learn holiness and obedience through suffering and separation from God. So, then, must the things that they used in service of their sinful ways be taken away from the city, into exile themselves, until it is time to bring them back. Remember that God was going to utterly destroy everything in Jerusalem - to melt it in a pot until the pot itself was consumed! The people who could be saved, God was getting out of Jerusalem because he knew the destruction that was coming. So, too, then, the things that had been consecrated to him had the same fate. He knew they couldn't and would he knew they could and would be used again properly, but they had to be taken away from his house to be cleansed before they could be pure enough to use again.

This seems a lot like a good description of purgatory to me - exile, separation from God and our home - but for our own good, for our purification, so that, in time, we will once again be pure enough to be in his presence.