GOD THE LIFE TRANSFORMER

Jeremiah 18:1-12 • The Potter & the Vessel

Introduction
The Bible uses a great many things from the everyday life of those living in the ancient world to teach about the principles and character of God. A recurring illustration throughout Scripture is that of “vessels”: jars, pots, etc. It’s a powerful illustration of the relationship between the Creator and the created, of the purpose and destiny for which the Creator made us, as well as many other layers of meaning including who/what shapes us, who/what we contain, and how useful we are in the course of our life and service to others in our designated roles. This lesson takes the opportunity to explore this theme based on God’s instruction to Jeremiah concerning the potter and the clay.

1The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, 2“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.”
3Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. 4But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.
5Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, 6“Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; 8if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. 9Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; 10if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it.
11“So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.”’ 12But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart. Jeremiah 18:1-12]

Q: Why must man of God must be in the potter’s house?
A: Just to witness God’s action upon His children.
 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb:12:1-2


Q: Why should this be of comfort to us?
A: It means that we’re not in the hands of “chance” or “blind fate” but in the hands of the Person of God Almighty, who is not just our Creator, but our Father. As our Father, He is personally concerned for our lives and wants to see the best for us.

But now, O Lord, You are our Father,
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all of us are the work of Your hand.
Isaiah 64:8

Q: What kind of power does God the Potter hold over the clay?
A: Clay cannot mold itself, so only God has the power to properly shape and guide our life. The point of v.6-10 is that God the Potter is sovereign over   the clay. The clay needs to submit to the Potter in order to be formed into something useful according to His will.

On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for