The Biblical Path of Life

Tag: Purpose

  • The Potter and the Clay

    “But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.”

    Isaiah 64:8

    Oftentimes in the Bible, God uses objects to teach lessons. Sometimes the picture is very clear, and sometimes one must dwell on the lesson to understand it. The prophets were often taught things in this manner. Jeremiah was taught by many object lessons that the Lord showed him. One such instance is recorded in Jeremiah chapter eighteen. However, what Jeremiah saw and understood has been recorded in God’s Word to teach us even today.

    “1. The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2. Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words” (Jeremiah 18:1-2). God had something important for Jeremiah to see. There was a message Jeremiah needed to understand. Jeremiah obeyed God and went to the potter’s house. “3. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.” (Jeremiah 18:3). If you have ever watched a potter work with clay, you may have a picture in your mind. The potter takes the lump of clay, places it on the center of the wheel, and begins to spin it. The potter then uses water on his hands to keep the clay soft and pliable as he shapes that lump of clay into a beautiful vessel. Jeremiah watched the potter work. “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.” (Jeremiah 18:4).

    • Potter means “to form, to fashion, to devise, to frame; to produce, to create; to be formed or fashioned… The word implies initiation as well as structuring… squeezing or molding…”
    • Wrought means “to work, labor, toil; to make, create, construct… deals with refinement; the emphasis was on fashioning the created objects.”
    • Marred means “to decay; to mar; to destroy, devastate.”
    • Good means “The Hebrew idiom ‘to be right in the eyes of (someone)’ means to have that person’s approval. Examples: Judges 14:3;1 Samuel 18:26; 2 Chronicles 30:4… Jeremiah 18:4.”

    As Jeremiah watched the potter work, the clay was marred. It was destroyed. The potter had to begin anew to make a piece of pottery from that clay. As he worked that clay, the potter made another vessel that pleased him, meeting his approval. While watching the Potter with the clay, Jeremiah recognized the Spiritual significance of what he was seeing. Jeremiah understood the “sermon” in the marred vessel.

    I wonder if what Isaiah had taught came to Jeremiah’s mind as he watched this process. “But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand” (Isaiah 64:8). Remembering that God is the Potter, and we are the clay might have brought another thought into Jeremiah’s heart and mind. “4. Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 5. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:4-5). God had told Jeremiah that He had formed Jeremiah in his mother’s womb before he was born. The word here for formed is the same Hebrew word for Potter. Not only had God formed Jeremiah, but He had a plan and purpose for Jeremiah’s life.

    God explained what Jeremiah was seeing, so he would have a message to deliver to God’s people. “5. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6. O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel” (Jeremiah 18:5-6). Although these verses in Jeremiah eighteen deal with Israel, we can understand that God is the Potter, and people are the clay. God gave a parable to Jeremiah about God and Israel. Yet in that parable is a great lesson for each of us to learn. God wants to make and mold us into a vessel that can be used by and for Him.

    For Christians today, it would be good to remember that God not only created each of us, but He has a plan and a purpose for each life. “8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10). We did nothing to earn that salvation from God, however, He does have a plan and purpose for our lives that He expects us to walk in. Much like Jeremiah.

    Have you recognized the plan and purpose God has for you life, and are you walking it it?

  • Have You Been a Faithful Witness?

    “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him”
    Colossians 1:16

    In Colossians 1:16 we read that God created everything, and it was created for Him. It is important to understand that God created us for a purpose. God created man to have a relationship with Him. After He created Adam and Eve, God walked with them in the garden until they disobeyed His Word, and sin entered into the world.

    After understanding that God created us to have a relationship with Him, we look at the Bible from beginning to end. Firstly, we will take a bird’s eye view over all of history to see that God dealt with man in different ways through the ages. The Bible is laid out in certain timeframes, also called “dispensations.” A dispensation is basically a means by which God deals with mankind throughout the ages because of sin and employing God’s divine government. Each of the dispensations may be regarded as a new test of the natural man, and each ends in judgment, marking man’s utter failure in every dispensation. God dealt with His creation in different ways at different times. God created the world as perfect, but when man sinned, he brought the judgment of death into the world. Throughout the ages, God gave individuals many opportunities to have a relationship with Him, but each time they failed. They had to understand that the only way this relationship could ever be restored would be by the atoning death of His Son, Jesus. It is with this understanding that we look at the scriptures as a whole.

    The seven dispensations allow us to see how God worked among the people throughout the years. What began as a face-to-face relationship with God (remember Adam and Eve in the garden) quickly turned to a sinful people unable to approach God. But God, through His grace and mercy, promised to make available to man the opportunity to once again have a relationship with Him. We learn how man fell and was punished, and then how all of mankind was only evil continually, so that God destroyed all but one family. God then gave the governing responsibilities to mankind, and they blew it again, causing God to confuse their language. When God selected a family, they ended up in bondage and needed God to deliver them from Pharaoh. Yet when God laid the Promised Land out in front of them, they were afraid to go. Once they entered the land, they forsook God and needed judges to deliver them from the judgment God sent.

    They then believed they needed a king “like the nations around” to rule them, once again rejecting God and His plan. This kingdom ended with the people in captivity because they did not heed the prophets God sent to warn them. When God allowed them to return to their land, there was great sadness, for they were not the great nation God had intended for them to be. When God sent His Son, Jesus, the fulfillment of the promise was given, if only one would believe. Jesus did many works to reveal God to the people and then laid down His life for our sins. He restored that broken relationship that nothing else through the centuries could do. When Jesus rose from the grave, He sent His disciples to tell the world, allowing His apostles to do mighty works to help establish the church.

    Although the time of the mighty works has passed, today God still uses His people to witness to a lost and dying world. A faithful witness will tell them that the only way to have a relationship with God is through the redemptive work of His Son, Jesus.  

    Have you been a faithful witness?

    First published at: http://lighthouse.pub/blog/2020/03/06/have-you-been-a-faithful-witness/?src=n