EARTHEN VESSELS
[p. 161] EARTHEN VESSELS
Jeremiah 19:1-3; Jeremiah 19:10,11; Romans 9:19 - 24; 1 Thessalonians 4:13,14
I wish every one of us to take account of himself as an earthen vessel; this is how men are regarded in Scripture. The prophet Jeremiah is directed to take such a vessel, a potter’s earthen bottle, and to “take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests; And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate”. He is directed thus to take the vessel, in the presence of responsible witnesses, to the east gate; that is, the sun-gate, or the pottery-gate, where the potter makes his vessels in the light and heat of the sun. We have here a picture of fragile humanity brought into this world indeed as God’s creatures, but as in it coming under influences which form them according to this world; the sun in this prophet as belonging to the “host of heaven” is seen as a powerful influence used by Satan to divert men from God; chapter 8:2 and 19:13. The influence that bears upon men and women in this world is such as to bring about in them the state that is indicated in this chapter. So that the scene is laid in the valley of Hinnom, one of the darkest spots, signifying the place of filth and judgment, and indeed the place of eternal torment.
How serious it is, beloved friends, to be taken, according to divine direction, by the prophet, a representative of God, accompanied by responsible witnesses — the ancients of the people and the priests — and to be faced with this solemn scene! Satan is deluding men and women at the present time; a lying spirit has gone forth, and lies are being formulated in many ways and through many persons, so that men and women should be darkened and [p. 162] deceived as to this solemn picture. And yet the Scriptures abound with testimony as to the judgment to come. We read, indeed, of Tophet that it was “ordained of old” — it is not accidental — and that it was prepared for the king, for Satan, and that the judgment should be direct from God Himself; so that this awful picture of judgment is not accidental, nor is it merely because of men’s guilt, it was “ordained of old”. God, having foreseen the circumstances that would arise in the universe, ordained it. We read of eternal torment, the place of it — hell — being prepared for the devil and his angels. It is divinely designed, dear friends. This valley of Hinnom, Tophet, is but a picture of it — a mere suggestion of it. What it suggests was designed of old, and it was designed for the king, that is to say, God had in mind the author of sin, for “the devil sinneth from the beginning”. 1 John 3:8. He is a liar and a murderer, and, having come into this world, he has acquired influence over men in it; the whole race has fallen under his power; he is called the god of this world, and he is called also its prince. He is the head of it religiously, and the head of it politically. These facts have not yet come out openly, at least in these countries in which we live, but the time is fast approaching when they will come out. A man will come who shall set himself up in the temple of God, exalting himself against all called God. He will be, the direct representative of the king, of him who is the author of sin; of him who introduced it and maintains it in this world; indeed of him who has built up this world. He will embody the two features I have referred to; there will be the idea of god in him and the idea of prince. We are told that the beast and the false prophet are to be taken and cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone; and thus we know that the direct representative of Satan will be consigned to that awful place alive. A thousand years [p. 163] later, Satan himself will be consigned to it; never again to have scope among men, never again to lift up his head against God and against Christ.
We have here some very solemn pictures presented to us, raising the question as to whether we shall choose to exist with the devil and his angels in that awful place. The prophet takes a potter’s earthen bottle, which would be a type of each one of us, of every man and woman brought into the world, but as coming under powerful influences in this world and being formed by them, formed apart from the influence of God, and the influence of Christ; and as so formed, only fit to be broken, never to be repaired. That is a solemn fact that comes out here. It says of the vessel, “Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again”; note, it cannot be made whole again.
Such is the picture that we have in this prophecy of what man is — a mere potter’s earthen vessel, such as can be broken, and as it says elsewhere, “broken to shivers”. Revelation 2:27. When the Lord Jesus comes out by and by and takes up His rights in this world, this king, for whom the judgment was ordained of old, will be arrayed against Him, but we read “as vessels of pottery are they broken in pieces”; “thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel”. There is no power in man to stand up in the presence of God, yet we all have to stand in His presence, as it says, “the dead, small and great, stand before God”. Revelation 20:12. And so I would speak to those who have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and I would put it to you, as to whether you are prepared, in view of these awful facts, to let things drift along as they are with you? Are you prepared to drift along in the current of this world, and take your chance at the end? How can you continue for one instant on such a course? Here you are, as it were, as a tiny potter’s earthen [p. 164] vessel brought face to face with the very place of judgment, and you are shown the whole scene, you are warned of it, and it is pointed out what the end will be of those who have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. They will be broken like the potter’s vessel, that can never be made whole again; they will never stand on this earth again; they will never enjoy the benefits of their Creator, but will be consigned to His eternal wrath. Are you prepared for that? You say, You are seeking to frighten people. But it is right that you should be made to feel how solemn it is to have to do with God.
God has the means by Him, not only of dealing in judgment with your tiny vessel, but with all the nations of the world. Take the nations banded together, as they will be, against God and against His Anointed; we read He will break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel; He will break them to shivers, so that there is nothing left of them. Such is the power that God has, that Christ has, connected with judgment; all judgment is in the hands of Christ; authority has been given to Him to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man. But you may be assured that, inasmuch as He is the Son of man, He is on our side; He will put off the judgment till the last moment. He is on man’s side — He is the “mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all”. 1 Timothy 2:5,6. He has given Himself for us; He has given Himself for all as a ransom, and He is waiting on men now to turn them aside from their folly. “Unto you, O men, I call”, Proverbs 8:4. He says, and He warns you as to the wrath to come, for “wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men”. Romans 1:18.
This tiny potter’s vessel represents the smallest as well as the greatest amongst men. A bottle is a containing vessel; what have you contained from [p. 165] God? What about the christians? The christian is also an earthen vessel; I am an earthen vessel, even an unbeliever is an earthen vessel, but my earthen vessel will not be broken in Tophet. When the believer dies, Jesus puts him to sleep. Is Jesus going to put you to sleep? I tell you that, if you are unconcerned as to the future, the devil has put you to sleep, for he has his sleeping draughts. The Lord never gives His people sleeping draughts; on the cross He Himself refused the sponge with vinegar; the believer is maintained in his senses. Satan has his drugs, his deadening things, by which he deadens men’s senses so that they are unaware of what is coming. They do not feel divine displeasure; they are, as Peter says, “senseless men”. 1 Peter 2:15. Has Satan been putting you to sleep? If so, you are oblivious to what there is for you, to what God proposes to you, and to what most of us here have accepted and enjoyed — you are dead to it all. Why are you dead to it all? Why so senseless? Why so unmoved, when your relatives, and your acquaintances have been moved, and have accepted the gospel and enjoyed what it proposes? Why not you? Satan has been working with you. He has watched over you all these years since you came into the world, he has had his eye on you; he has brought influences to bear upon you that have deadened your senses. Perhaps you were at one time conscious of the reality of these things, but you have lost that consciousness, you are deadened to the overtures of God and Christ, and are quite senseless as to what we enjoy.
When the light of God enters a man’s soul, it awakens him. Things he had never seen, appear to him; impressions that he had never felt, but should have, are now felt; he begins to think of God. Has the thought of God come into your soul? One said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. What does that evidence? It evidences that the light of God had come into that man’s soul, and he felt that he had to do with God, and as a result he smote upon his breast and said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He is singled out; God had already singled him out, for God deals with us severally; His finger finds us and touches us. He singles you out and, as God singles you out, so you single yourself out. Instead of saying, ‘God be merciful to us miserable sinners’, you say, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. You discover yourself; you have found out that you are the sinner, and you are not concerned to include others. You say, God be merciful to me, the sinner; and what does the Lord say? “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other”. Luke 18:14. Would you not like to go down to your house justified today? I can tell you, on the authority of Scripture, that you may, however black your course may have been. You may be justified, not only forgiven — yes, forgiven — but justified. Forgiveness is a wonderful thing, but justification is greater, and the believer has both. The blackest sinner may be forgiven and justified. A justified man is a man against whom you can make no charge. He is not simply justified in regard of one offence or charge. Think of it, that the guiltiest person in the whole world may be justified — “By him all that believe”, it says, “are justified from all things”, Acts 13:39. Do you wish it? Or, as I said, are you prepared to drift along as you have been, in the presence of the fact that you are portrayed here in this potter’s earthen vessel brought to the pottery gate; you are in the presence of the whole of humanity, in the presence of responsible witnesses, and it is pointed out to you that there is nothing for you but Tophet, that which was “ordained of old” for the king, and of which God Himself says, “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched”. Mark 9:44; Mark 9:46; Mark 9:48.
Now in the epistle to the Romans there is the same thought of the potter introduced, but God is the [p. 167] potter there, and there are vessels of mercy, and vessels of wrath. God had said, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” Romans 9:15, and as God thus asserts His will the question is asked, “Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?” Do you say that? Who has not resisted His will? It is not ‘who has’, but who has not? I know of no one who has not, except the Lord Jesus Christ. I know of no man, or woman, who has not resisted His will. We have all been guilty of it. Paul speaks of himself in this way, as a wilful man: “who before was a blasphemer and persecutor, and an insolent overbearing man”; 1 Timothy 1:13 he went forward in his own will, breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. Did he not resist the will of God? Did he not resist the will of Christ? He did. And so has every one of us; there is not one of us who has not resisted the will of God, and yet God has met us in Christ and broken us down. Let no one say “who hath resisted his will?” for all have resisted His will. The Lord Jesus came into this world saying, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God”, Hebrews 10:9 “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me” Hebrews 10:5 — One who did the divine will in every movement of His heart, in every breath He breathed, in every word He spoke, in every step He took, in every act He did: He did the will of God. I invite you to contemplate Him who did the will of God. He never resisted the will of God, though that will led Him down to death in the body that He took for that very purpose; and the Scripture says, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once” Hebrews 10:10; God offers forgiveness to those who have been resisting His will.
Now God would meet you with, the gospel concerning His Son, concerning Him who did God’s will, and [p. 168] He proposes forgiveness. You need forgiveness; it is offered to you. He is ready now to take you up and form you into a vessel prepared for glory. Think of that! It is all mercy. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us”, Titus 3:5; it is according to His mercy. Who is there that can answer? “Who art thou”, he says in this passage in Romans, “that repliest against God?” You have no moral title to call upon God to give you an answer; you need mercy. You are brought to the valley of the son of Hinnom, as I said; you are in the presence of the judgment. Why do you want to reply against God? What right have you to ask God questions, to ask Him to explain Himself? You want mercy; it is for you to cast yourself on the mercy of God; there is no other place for you. So it is “according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit”. Titus 3:5. God has the means of cleansing; there is the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which christians can say “he shed on us abundantly”. Titus 3:6.
God is merciful, and is calling on you now to submit. He is ready to make you, not a vessel broken never to be repaired, but a vessel of mercy prepared for glory. Think of such mercy. You say, Do not believers die? Not all; Enoch did not die, Elijah did not die; thousands of us are hoping that we shall be changed by the power of Christ, that we shall be changed and caught up to be with Him for ever. We are not afraid of Tophet, although it was ordained of old, but we bring the testimony of it before you at this time, and warn you in regard of it; and also we would bring you to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and show you from the Scriptures how He bore the penalty that lay upon man, and how forgiveness is consequently offered to you now; and that on the simple principle of faith, all is yours — forgiveness,
[p. 169] justification, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and everlasting life.
But then, what about your earthen vessel? Paul says about his, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels”, 2 Corinthians 4:7 for believers are containing vessels. The epistle to the Romans shows how the believer is brought to the idea of a vessel; he presents his body to God a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable — as a vessel. God has in every believer a vessel. What kind of vessel? It is an earthen vessel, sure enough, but, taking the believer as a whole — spirit, soul, and body — he is a vessel of mercy fitted for glory. You may look at us, and say, You are not much different from us, and you die like others. Christians do not die like others, nor do they live like others. I have seen christians’ death beds, and they do not die like others. They die in light, they die in love, they die rejoicing, and full of hope; in other words, they are put to sleep through Jesus. Jesus is by them. The pitcher is not broken, never to be repaired. “We know that if our earthly house ... were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens”. 2 Corinthians 5:1. What a prospect! If you are an unbeliever and in your sins, you have not got that; you are just this potter’s earthen bottle capable of being broken in the valley of Tophet, never again to be repaired, “that cannot be made whole again”. Having passed out of the world by way of death, you will never stand on earth again, never will you contain anything of God, or enjoy any of His benefits; you will be a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction. Why? Because you resisted the will of God. The will of God now is that you should be saved, for our Saviour God desires that all men should be saved; He desires that you should submit to Christ, that you should bow and acknowledge yourself a guilty sinner, and say, God be merciful to me, the sinner; then God will take you up. I can tell [p. 170] you from experience, I can tell you from the Scriptures, that God will take you up from that moment and make you a vessel of mercy prepared for glory. Think of being prepared for glory! We believers will come out with Jesus presently; when the Christ, the One by whom God is doing everything for His glory, when that great Person comes out from heaven, we shall come out with Him — every one of us. “When the Christ is manifested who is our life, then shall ye also be manifested with him in glory”, Colossians 3:4. Will there be any disparity between us? No, we shall be like Christ — each one — a vessel of mercy prepared for glory. We shall be containing vessels, not one of us will be empty; and so, I would say to believers, acquire the habit now of being filled. The Holy Spirit having come in, fills us; for the idea is that we are containing vessels — containing the very greatest thing, the treasure — and we shall come out by and by as containing vessels in the aggregate; we shall be the heavenly city, which is said indeed to have the glory of God. It comes down from God out of heaven, having the glory of God — truly a vessel of mercy prepared for glory.
Then there is just one other thought that Jeremiah gives us in regard of an earthen vessel, corresponding with a believer; chapter 32:6 - 15. The evidences of the purchase of the field by Jeremiah, which Jehovah charged him to purchase, are put into an earthen vessel (Jeremiah 32:14); for the testimony is to be continued for a long time. There was that which was the open evidence of the purchase, and there was the sealed evidence, and these were put into an earthen vessel. And so it is, that God having taken us up in mercy and filled us, we are the repositories of the very greatest thing — the testimony to redemption is cherished in our hearts, and we love to speak of it, and bring it forward. There is in the Holy Spirit here a testimony to accomplished redemption, and hence we [p. 171] can preach to you, having the evidence of the purchase in our possession. Jesus gave Himself, and the Holy Spirit is a witness to us, a witness in us indeed, that the purchase has been made — that He has given Himself. So it is for everyone to avail himself of it, of “the redemption which is in Christ Jesus”. Romans 3:24. The righteousness of God is towards all and upon all those who believe. May God help us all to believe, and to have part in the purchase, to be “the purchased possession”, Ephesians 1:14 those who are redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”. 1 Peter 1:19.