THE POTTER AND THE CLAY: GOD AND US

10-10-21 This message may be viewed live streaming video at youtube.com and tabernacleofmoses.org today Sunday at 11:00 am, and repeated 24/7 thereafter. The video, audio, and study notes are archived.

(Gen 2:7)  And the LORD God formed [1] [the body of] man [Adam, and through Adam, God formed the bodies of us his children] of the dust [Heb: clay] of the ground, and [God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [His Holy Spirit]; and man became a living soul [a container of His Holy Spirit]. [2]
1.    formed = Heb: #3335; to squeeze into shape; to mould into a form: fashion, frame, purpose.
2.    (Job 33:4)  The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

(Isa 64:8)  But now, O LORD, thou art our father [our Creator]; we are the clay, and thou our potter [1]; and we all are the work of thy hand [Heb: power].
1.    potter   = Heb: #3335; to squeeze into shape; to mould into a form: fashion, frame, purpose.

(Isa 29:16)  Surely your turning of things upside down [Heb: an upset, perversity /// overturn] [1] shall be esteemed [Heb: regarded] as the potter’s clay: for shall the work [i.e., the vessel] say of him that made it, He made me not? Or shall the thing framed [2] say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
1.    perversity = Dict: obstinacy, stubbornness, unreasonableness, contrariness.
2.    framed = Heb: from #3335; formed.

(Jer 18:1,2)  The word which came to Jeremiah [a type and shadow of Jesus Christ] from the LORD, saying,  Arise, and go down [Heb: descend] to the potter's house [the potter is a type and shadow of Father God who “formed man” (Gen 2:7)], and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

(Jer 18:3,4)  Then I went down [fig. from heaven] to the potter's house [fig. the earth], and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels [1] [“wheels” are a type and shadow of the Holy Spirit].  And the vessel [Heb: pot] [container] that he made of clay was marred [Heb: ruined: corrupt, a waste] in the hand [Heb: power] of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
1.    wheels = Heb: a pair of stones consisting alike of two horizontal disks with a vertical support between. [used for grinding grain (seeds), like meditation (grinding thoughts) of God’s Word]
2.    Commentary: “so he made it again” = if the potter represents Father God, and each human is represented by a clay vessel (container), then this phrase refers to us being “born-again.”
a.    (2 Cor 5:17)  Therefore if any man be in [Gk: under] Christ [Gk: the anointing /// to smear of rub with oil], he is a new creature [“another vessel” (Jer 18:4)]: old things are passed away [forgiven]; behold, all things are become new.
i.    Commentary: Christ the anointing covers us completely, i.e., we are anointed under new thoughts, under God’s Thoughts.

GOD SPEAKING DIRECTLY TO EACH OF US
(Jer 18:5,6)  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,  O house of Israel [1], cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand [Heb: power], so are ye in mine hand [Heb: power], O house of Israel.
1.    (Rom 2:28,29)  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision [make him a Jew], which is outward in the flesh:  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart [Gk: fig. the thoughts or feelings (mind)], in the spirit, and not in the letter [not physically, God judges a person according to an obedient heart]; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
(Jer 18:7,8)  At what instant [Heb: a blink (of the eyes): moment, suddenly] I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;  If that nation, against whom I have pronounced [Heb: spoken], turn from their evil, I will repent [think differently] of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
1.    (Jonah 3:8-10)  But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth [uncomfortable prickly goat-skin], and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.  Who can tell if God will turn and repent [think differently], and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?  And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

(Jer 18:9,10)  And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;  If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent [think differently] of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

(Jer 18:11)  Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device [Heb: a plan] [1] against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
1.    (2 Thess 2:8-12)  And then shall that Wicked [Gk: without law, lawless] be revealed [Gk: to take off the cover, disclosed], whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie [Gk: falsehoods, lies]: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
a.    (John 14:6)  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way [to Heaven], the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father [in Heaven], but by me.


Amen