THE POTTER
Jim
Macfarlane
Jeremiah
18: 1-6
Luke 3:
21, 22; 7: 36-50
Those of
us who were at the fellowship meetings yesterday will recognise the first
passage; it was also read first in the reading yesterday. Our brother used it very profitably to lead
a discussion on what God can make us.
It is a word suitably addressed to Christians, those who belong to the
Lord Jesus, and such would have accounted for most of yesterday’s company. There would, nevertheless, have been
different stages of development, different distances along the Christian
pathway, differences in detail of experience with God. I feel, however, that a word on what God can
make us is one which can also be spoken in a way which carries hope and
reassurance as to the attitude of God to someone who does not know anything
about the Christian way. The prophet is
told to “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee
to hear my words”. The word was not
available to him where he was located at the time of God’s speaking to him at
the beginning of the chapter; it was to come to him in the potter’s house. So he went down to the potter’s house and
his first experience was to see something; he saw the potter in action: “...and
behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
And the vessel that he made was marred, as clay, in the hand of the
potter; and he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to
make”. The prophet followed the
instruction of God but it was not at the instant at which he crossed the
threshold of the potter’s house that he got the word which he was promised.
He was
given a demonstration before he got a word.
I think that it is useful for anyone who comes to hear the preaching of
God’s glad tidings to have some sense of an individual demonstration of the
necessity for the word. There needs to
be a condition where the word is seen as significant and having force for the
one who hears it. What was
demonstrated, then, to the prophet was the potter making a work on the wheels
which “was marred, as clay, in the hand of the potter”. Now the word recorded by the prophet is
skillfully phrased. He does not say
that the potter made a mistake, everything went wrong, the clay had to be
collapsed into a lump and he had to start all over again. The account is not written in a way that
suggests that the potter was at fault.
It might be contended that this can be the only conclusion but I should
like to convey that, when the prophet says that the vessel was marred, he is
very deliberately avoiding any indication of fault on the part of the potter.
I should
like to apply the word in this way, that every one of us is the creation of God
and, because of this, He has the Creator’s claim on each of us. In the creation account in Genesis, mankind
is represented as the high point in God’s creation. The early part of Genesis, however, also gives account of the way
in which the present circumstances of humanity came about. Early Genesis describes what is spoken of as
the fall of mankind and this was not the consequence of any action of God. It was the result of the activity of an
intelligent being, who already existed in the universe and was hostile to
God. This, of course, is Satan who
presented himself to man and beguiled him so that man should listen to him
instead of to God and to act according to Satan’s suggestions. Adam had had communication with God; it is
His will to communicate with man, as our passage in Jeremiah indicates, but
Satan intruded with another communication which raised a question as to the
nature of God and Adam chose to listen to Satan. As a result of this we are part of a fallen race, and the whole
of creation suffers as a consequence, chap 3.
We cannot,
however, attribute our circumstances simply to the fact that there is no escape
from connection with the fall of Adam.
We must look within and see that our own condition, our marred
condition, is a result of our own failure, and we must do this because we are
responsible persons. This is a central
part of the word of the glad tidings, that men, women and also children, in
increasing degree as they grow older, are responsible. We have an adversary, who exercises evil
influence in the world, and, in failed responsibility, we have responded as
Adam did to his blandishments, instead of finding a pathway directed by the
will of God. I think that this is
represented in what Jeremiah sees in the house of the potter. The pot is initially formed perfectly; there
is nothing wrong with God’s creation but it has subsequently become
marred. How grateful we must be,
however, that the Potter does not withdraw His hand when the vessel becomes
marred. Sin is attached to every one of
us. Adam knew immediately that he had
sinned and knew that this made him unsuited to the presence of God. God wished to communicate directly with Adam
in His presence and Adam knew that he was unsuited to this. The circumstances of God are divine glory
and Paul’s word to the Romans is that “all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God”, Rom 3: 23. However, the
potter does not discard the vessel; ”... and he made it again another vessel,
as seemed good to the potter to make”.
That conveys to me something of the wonderful grace of God that the
second vessel is one which can be described as seeming good to the potter to
make. God sets requirements and
addresses a word to you, to which you have a responsibility to respond but, as
doing so, you can come into the sense of favour that is conveyed in the making
of another vessel “as seemed good to the potter to make.” This one is not marred; it will go through
the processes that are required to turn it into something of permanent pleasure
for God, according to His purpose.
I have read in the gospel according to Luke, because the
word which we preach is not about the prophet Jeremiah and it is not about the
way in which a potter operates. The
word of God’s glad tidings refers to the person of Jesus Christ. This is the key
to the Old Testament. Much of it is
occupied with the way in which God takes up the nation of Israel but the
elaborate system of religious ritual prescribed to the nation only makes sense
if you discern in it the way in which God would, in the person and work of
Jesus Christ, ultimately solve the question of evil. What is foreshadowed is someone who would be completely different
from anyone else who had lived on this earth.
All others, because of their histories as viewed from a moral
perspective, are represented as marred vessels. Jesus was completely morally distinctive. In chapter 3 of Luke’s gospel there is a
clear statement from heaven of the distinction of Jesus Christ. He associated Himself with those who
submitted to the baptism of John, who were repenting in recognition of their
moral condition before God. Luke gives
His Father’s appraisal of Him: ”Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have
found my delight.” Every other person
who had ever lived is represented by the marred vessel. This acclamation from heaven was not the
response to a single incident. It was a
statement on the thirty years of Jesus’ life up to this point and God declares
without qualification that He had found delight in Him; this required
perfection.
In the
Jewish law there was provision for a ritual reconciliation with God by the
offering of a sacrifice and there is elaborate specification of the perfection
required of the sacrificial animal. The
purpose in giving the detail of the perfection required in this animal is
solely to represent the way in which Jesus would provide a perfect offering for
sin. At the end of the Old Testament,
the prophet Malachi takes issue with the offering of animals which were
blemished, chap 1: 7, 8. This was
offensive to God because the value to Him of a sacrificial animal was its
representation of the flawless perfection of Jesus. The potter made another vessel as it seemed good to him: thus God
has dealt so completely with the moral condition of those once unsuitable to
Him that they can become the objects of His pleasure. God found complete satisfaction of His requirements for the
resolution of the issue of sin by the perfection of the sacrifice of
Jesus. You may find this hard to
understand; the only approach to understanding it is by accepting what God
pleases to make known. The word of
scripture is that “the wages of sin is death”, Rom 6: 23. Jesus took the burden of sin upon Himself,
bore the judgment of God upon it and went into death as bearing the penalty
attached to sin. Paul also tells the
Romans, however, that “...death has dominion over him no more” (chap 6: 9) and
in His resurrection there is the evidence that sin no longer attaches to
Him. Sin has been removed completely
from before God. The moral obstacle, to
which the marring of the vessel in the hand of the potter refers, has been
removed and it can be made again in a way which pleases the potter.
I read in
Luke 7 because I think that the scene in the house of Simon exemplifies the
process through which the prophet was put.
We are shown the house of the Pharisee, Jesus invited there, and a woman
also there, but not invited. According to Simon the Pharisee, she was a sinner
and Luke has already characterised her in this way. It was unthinkable that such a disreputable individual should be
found in the house of a Pharisee; social convention was being turned completely
on its head. However could this woman
find it possible to act as she did? She did so because Jesus was there. We have considered the divine assessment of
His distinctiveness in chapter 3 of Luke, the impact on heaven, might we say,
of His life of obscurity, and in this chapter we see the exceptional power of
the impact of this Person in the ordinary affairs of men. The hostility radiating from Simon and those
with him would, in other circumstances, have been formidable but it was silent
because of the extraordinary force of the presence of Jesus. For the woman, the power of this presence
was powerfully attractive and more than sufficient to give her liberty to
overcome the impediments which, in the absence of Jesus, would have been
overwhelming.
Luke tells
us that she took “an alabaster box of myrrh, and standing at his feet behind
him weeping, began to wash his feet with tears; and she wiped them with the
hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the myrrh”, v
37, 38. This was her service to the Man
who had had the acclaim of heaven in chapter 3 and her perfect harmony with it
is declared by her activity. In
principle, everything she possessed was devotedly and intelligently bestowed on
Him. She was silent. She mentioned nothing of her history to
Jesus, nor did He raise any detail with her but, in anointing His feet with
myrrh, she acknowledged that He must take a suffering way for her and she
expressed how greatly she appreciated Him.
Simon’s self-righteous instincts could not be suppressed but he
restrained the expression of them in the powerful presence of Jesus. Having had the demonstration, just as
Jeremiah had in the house of the potter, Simon was given a word. The word referred to two debtors and raised
the question with Simon as to which of the creditor’s two debtors would love
him most. Jesus did not say to Simon,
'You saw what she did'. Rather, He went
over the detail of the woman’s activity towards Him by which she expressed the
love of the forgiven five hundred pence debtor. She had not entered the house as one proud of her history. The position she took, standing behind Him
weeping, was not that of someone who was proud of her history. This was a woman who was evidently repentant
and this is one of the calls in the word of the glad tidings. Paul announced in Ephesus “repentance
towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20: 21), and how
clearly the woman’s actions reflected both.
Simon had expressed unease earlier because the woman was a sinner and
Jesus concluded His word to Him with the clear statement that her moral
condition was resolved. Jesus then
turned to the woman and she received the word directly: ”Thy sins are
forgiven”. The others who were at table
have another question, again restrained in its expression, because it was clear
to them that, if He was administering forgiveness of sins, He was taking the place
of God. The woman’s homage to Him made
it evident that she was clear as to who He was. No word is offered to the questioners; His response is a further
communication to the woman, “Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace”.
So the
vessel that was marred remained in the hand of the potter and we see the
process by which it was made again according to the pleasure of the
potter. My desire is that you will have
some sense of personal encounter by faith with this extraordinary, immense
Person and that you will have the sense of this word being addressed to you:
“Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace.”
Wonderful, simple word, especially in a world of turmoil and conflict on
every hand. If the whole world could
have this, it would be the greatest transformation in history. This transformation will occur on the earth
in a time yet to come, when the Lord Jesus will establish His rule on earth as
Prince of Peace. With Jesus as your
Lord, that rule of peace can be yours now.
May it be so for His Name’s sake.
Brechin
6th
January 2008