“The Potter and the Clay”

“The Potter and the Clay”

 

Then the LORD gave me this message:  “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay?  As the clay is in the potter’s hand so are you in My Hand.”   Jeremiah 18:5-6

 

The are many verses of Scripture, that tells us about the relationship between the POTTER and his CLAY.  In Isaiah 64:6, Isaiah says:  “We are all infected and impure with sin.  When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.  Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.” Verse 7, “Yet no one calls on Your Name or pleads with You for mercy.  Therefore, You have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins.”  Verse 8:  “And yet O Lord , You are our Father.  We are the CLAY and YOU are the POTTER.  We are FORMED by Your Hand.”

 

 

In Isaiah 29:16,  the Prophet Isaiah says:  “How foolish can you be?  He is the Potter, and He is certainly GREATER than you, the CLAY!  Should the CREATED thing say of the One who made it, “He didn’t make me”?  Does a jar ever say, “The Potter who made me is stupid”?  When mankind sets out making their OWN plans, without God, it is a REJECTION of God as their CREATOR. And it brings into play, the fact that it is a QUESTIONING of the SOVEREIGNTY of the ALMIGHTY GOD.  This LOWLY, CLUMP of CLAY is NOT EQUAL to the DIVINE POTTER, their CREATOR.  

 

God told the Prophet Jeremiah, to go to a Potter’s shop and that He would speak to him there .  So, Jeremiah did as God had told him, and he found the potter working at his wheel.  But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay  again and started over.  And God gave Jeremiah a message for Israel:  “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay?  As the clay was in the potter’s hand, so are YOU in My Hand.   Even though, Israel was DISOBEDIENT to GOD, and facing SEVERE JUDGMENT, God was giving them a chance to TURN AWAY from their SINFUL WAYS and TURN TO HIM, with a TRUE  REPENTANT HEART, and to do what was RIGHT.   But the people replied to Jeremiah,  “Don’t waste your breath.  We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our OWN evil desires.”(v12)

 

God is the DIVINE POTTER, and we are the CLAY.  We are being SHAPED into a USEFUL VESSEL for the DIVINE POTTER’S use.  And for those who REJECT God and His Son, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and live in DISOBEDIENCE to His WILL, they are like the jar the potter was making, and it did not TURN out RIGHT, as the POTTER had hoped for.  So, he took the jar and CRUSHED it into a lump of clay again and started over. And like the nation of ISRAEL, God is giving you a CHANCE to TURN AWAY FROM your SINFULNESS, and TURN TO HIM, with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART. 

 

You MUST ADMIT that you are a SINNER in NEED of the SAVIOR, the LORD JESUS CHRIST.  And you MUST BELIEVE, with ALL your HEART, that JESUS died for YOU, and that He is ALIVE, in Heaven, making intercession for you, before God.  You MUST CONFESS your SINS to Him, and ask Him for His FORGIVENESS. Then be WILLING to TURN AWAY from your SINFUL LIFE-STYLE, and TURN TO GOD, with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART.  You MUST ACCEPT God’s Gift of SALVATION, and let the DIVINE POTTER MOLD and MAKE you after His Will.  Do this NOW, while you STILL can.  And ESCAPE an ETERNITY in HELL with ALL its HORRORS, and NO WAY to ESCAPE, once you are there.  And RECEIVE an ETERNITY in HEAVEN, with ALL its BLESSINGS.  He’s WAITING and COMING SOON!!!  Don’t be LEFT BEHIND!!!