Good day Beloved of God. You are all welcome to another new day. Glory to God for the gift of life. Please note that you are what the Word of God says you are. You are an express image of God on earth. You are like a clay in God’s hand. He is the ultimate Potter, He has designed you for a good purpose and you will fulfil that purpose, in Jesus name.
In our today’s episode 507 of studying and understanding the Bible, we shall be looking into Jeremiah Chapters 18 titled:
4 Lessons Jeremiah Will Make You Learn From Potter’s House
Jeremiah Chapter 18
1 The Lord said to me, 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, where I will give you my message.” 3 So I went there and saw the potter working at his wheel. 4 Whenever a piece of pottery turned out imperfect, he would take the clay and make it into something else. 5 Then the Lord said to me, 6 “Don’t I have the right to do with you people of Israel what the potter did with the clay? You are in my hands just like clay in the potter’s hands.
In the Bible, whenever a preacher intends to convey God’s message to the people in a way that would make the message stick to their memory, they tend to use symbolic illustrations. No wonder, the same strategy is being used till date, especially in schools. Students tend to grasp information better when such information are expressed with symbols, pictures, and portraits.
God has been given various figuratively names as follows:
As the Shepherd
In Psalm 23, King David referred to God figuratively as his Shepherd.
In Isaiah 40:11, Prophet Isaiah referred to God figuratively as Shepherd.
In John Chapter 10, Jesus Christ in various verses referred to Himself figuratively as the Shepherd.
As the Farmer or Sower
In Matthew 13:1-9 and Mark 4:1-9, God is figuratively referred to as the Farmer mentioned in Jesus parable.
As the Vine Dresser or Keeper
In John 15:1, Jesus Himself figuratively referred to God as the Vine Dresser, while He is the Vine and every believer is a branch.
As the Potter
In Isaiah 64:8, God is referred to figuratively as the Potter. Then coming to Jeremiah Chapter 18:6, God referred to Himself figuratively as the Potter and His creation as the clay. So, with this clay-potter illustration, God was teaching us some lessons as shown below:
Lesson 1, Dependency: God is here giving Jeremiah a very strong message to be delivered to the Israelites for them to start seeing God as their only source for everything. Afterall, God gave every human being the gift of life (Acts 17:28) and gave us everything on earth for us to manage after He created us (Genesis 1:28).
The moment we start to divide our loyalty and giving it to other gods (i.e. anything we esteem higher than God), then we begin to disrespect God and we do that to our own detriment.
Lesson 2, Flexibility: One major ingredient that potters use to mould a clay is water. When you add the right amount of water to a clay, it becomes miry and makes it flexible for moulding and any adjustment in case there is any defects.
Jeremiah in verse 4 of chapter 18 says he noticed that whenever a piece of pottery turned out imperfect, the potter would take the clay and make it into something else more beautiful to behold.
This must have been an interesting sightseeing for Jeremiah given the fact that in the Bible, water is used as a figurative representation of the Holy Spirit. When we allow the Holy Spirit to saturate us, we become more flexible for Him to shape us to become more of God and exhibit His nature.
Where in the Bible was water used as a figurative expression of the Holy Spirit?
We will find that in John 3:5 (KJV)
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
KJV
Looking at the Greek transliteration for the conjunction “and” in the above verse (kai) pronounced /ka-hee/), it means “even” or “which is,” meaning that we must be born of water which is(even) the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, not many Bible study teachers understand this statement and therefore they misinterpret the verse to mean baptism by water and then by the Spirit. The truth is there is only one Baptism and it is the baptism of the Holy Spirit received at Salvation, which John used water to symbolize.
Having clarified that, we must be ready to allow the Holy Spirit shape us continually to conform to God’s nature and also the same way water helps the particles of the clay to bond together, we must allow the Holy Spirit to continue to carry out the work of unifying the Church of Christ.
Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 4:3 (GNT) that…
3 Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together.
Remember, the Holy Spirit will never force Himself on us, we need to allow Him. Failure to do that will only lead to destruction just as a useless clay or pot will be broken and scattered in pieces and will no longer be useful.
Lesson 3, Process: Jeremiah’s figurative illustration has clearly shown that God is a God of process. Getting born again and spiritual journey is a process. Everything does not happen in a day. The moment you become born again, you need to feed on the Word of God consistently for spiritual growth. During this process, you will face a lot of tests, temptations, trials, some have even lost their lives in the process. Nevertheless, if you allow God to continually revitalize you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases Him as advised by Paul to the Philippians in Chapter 2:13, then you will not have stunted spiritual growth and you will come out stronger and better from all challenges. Remember, Jesus went through the same thing and came out glorified. Since He lives in you, then you can do it too.
Hebrews 4:15 (TPT) He understands humanity, for as a Man, our magnificent King-Priest was tempted in every way just as we are, and conquered sin.
The Passion Translation
Lesson 4, Disqualification: This is where discipline comes in. We must discipline ourselves in such a way that God’s power through His Word will have a free course perfecting our spiritual growth as He moulds us each new day unto maturity in our spiritual journey.
Let’s see what Apostle Paul has to say about disqualification in 1 Corinthians 9:27 (TPT)
27 but I train like a champion athlete. I subdue my body and get it under my control, so that after preaching the good news to others I myself won’t be disqualified.
The Passion Translation
Your serving God on earth has a reward at the end of the age when the Lord shall come and reward everyone according to how he or she has served on earth. Your work will be tested with fire just like a clay is tested with fire before it becomes a pot. A pot that does not form well is trashed and cannot be recovered. However, a pot can still have a chance of being remoulded into a better form when still in the state of a clay.
Let’s ruminate over Apostle Paul’s message here in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 (TPT)
12-13 The quality of materials used by anyone building on this foundation will soon be made apparent, whether it has been built with gold, silver, and costly stones, or wood, hay, and straw. Their work will soon become evident, for the Day will make it clear, because it will be revealed by blazing fire! And the fire will test and prove the workmanship of each builder.
14 If his work stands the test of fire, he will be rewarded. 15 If his work is consumed by the fire, he will suffer great loss. Yet he himself will barely escape destruction, like one being rescued out of a burning house.
The Passion Translation
If an earthly potter can throw away a non-conforming clay, you can imagine what will happen on the last day for those who have rejected the Salvation of God brokered to us through Christ. Think about this.
To be continued…stay tuned and stay blessed.
Let us pray:
- I pray none of you reading this message will be thrown into hell fire for rejecting God’s offer of Salvation. And to those who have received God’s offer of Salvation already, may your service on earth not be disqualified, in Jesus name.
- I declare concerning your life, no power of darkness, no environmental and institutionalized wickedness, no unregenerate mind, will be able to negatively influence God’s agenda for your life, in Jesus name.
- The Holy Spirit will continue to saturate you, mould you into God’s perfect shape for you to continually manifest God’s nature to people around you, in Jesus name.
- I declare you are not a failure, even in areas where you think you are weak, the Lord God will strengthen you, bring the best out of you and use you for His glory.
Bible Readings For Today: 2 Corinthians Chapters 1, 2 & 3 with Psalm 112
I call you blessed now and always.
Monday August 17, 2020 (DDMI)
