“The Sovereignty of God”

Jer 18:1-4

“The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: "Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words."  Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the wheel.  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.” NKJV

In chapters 18 and 19, specifically, the fact of God’s judgment is emphasized, the sovereignty of God is insisted upon, and His sovereignty is interpreted with the metaphors and imagery of what Jeremiah is instructed to see in the potter’s house.

“Arise and go down to the potter’s house and there I will cause you to hear my words.”

So the prophet paused to look upon the work being done in the potter’s house.  What did he see?  He saw the potter at work on the wheels upon the clay.  He saw that the vessel that the potter was making was marred in the hands of the potter, and he saw the potter making the selfsame chunk of clay into another vessel.  The secrets revealed to the prophet were that of the molding, the marring, and the remaking.

The figure of the potter and the clay has always been full of fascination and has been used by some of the mightiest men in the Bible.  Isaiah, the man with the clearest vision of the throne of God used the figure of the potter and the clay.  Paul, that great man of faith and vision, that great teacher, used the figure.  Jeremiah, that heroic prophet whose warnings of impending judgment went unheeded by the people, speaks of the potter and the clay.

Going down to the house of the potter then, these three things demand our attention: the potter, the wheel, the clay.  The potter is an intelligent and capable worker; the wheels are proper instruments used and under the command of the potter’s foot controlling the pressure and speed of the wheel; and clay, a pliable material, it must be clay.  Clay, it is the stuff that the potter wants.  Hard, unyielding stuff is unusable in the potter’s hand.

Realizing that the potter is God in our figure, we see something remarkable.  We learn of the potter’s interest in the clay.  We see the special focused attention of the potter on the clay, and we notice the power the potter has over the wheel and the clay.  We see in the eyes of the potter his keen interest in his work.  As we watch him we see power restrained at first with gentleness to center the clay on the wheel.  We watch as he crushes everything out of shape, and then molding it back into marvelous beauty.  

Turning my attention from the potter for a moment I then look at the wheels, revolving wheels; wheels turning, turning, and nothing more.  The revolving wheel of the potter is the whirling wheel of circumstance.  Let me say that here in this building today as we are gathered for worship that the Potter is not so busily occupied with us, as He is during the busy working days of the week.  It is in the midst of the week, with its whirl and its strife, its drive, and its tension, its restlessness and its race, that God is able to do His best work with men and women. 

Watching the potter, watching the wheels, my attention is now diverted to the clay.  Two things impress me as I watch.  First, I see that the clay has tremendous capacity within itself.  What else can you find that will suit the working fingers of the potter but clay?  Clay—it is the very stuff that the potter uses.  It is the very stuff that the Potter wants.  Man is the very stuff God wants in order to do something in the universe which He cannot do in any other way.

In our imagination, standing side by side with Jeremiah, Isaiah, Zechariah, and Paul in the potter’s house there are several things we must observe. 

In the potter’s house we discover a principle, a purpose, and the Person of the Potter.

Until I have discovered the principle my life will be a failure, but if only the principle I know, my heart will be filled with terror.  I must also see the purpose of the Potter, but in seeing the purpose only, I dread the future.  Why?  I know the pressing, the pounding that the clay must endure so as to fulfill the purpose of the Potter.  I must know the Potter. 

What then is the principle?  It is the sovereignty of God, and man’s unquestioning submission to that sovereignty! 

I watch the revolving wheel, and I watch the potter at his work, and I am profoundly impressed with His right over the clay.  It is an absolute right; his power over the clay is unlimited.  I stand silent, I listen to the whirr of the wheels, and I watch the manipulating fingers of the potter, and I am impressed with His right and with His power; and for a moment everything else seems to be as nothing.  I glance from the potter to the clay, and I observe the clay lying plastic on the wheel, beneath his hand, with no wish, and with no right; but with infinite possibility; yet with no power within itself to realize the possibility that lies within itself.

Infinite possibility!  The clay is but a mass of grey, or half dirty white material!  Turn from the wheel, and behold the vessels of beauty and of glory.  All that lay resident as possibility within the dull and shapeless clay; but there was nothing within the clay that was able to realize its own possibility. 

I glance at the wheel itself, and notice that it is under the complete control of the potter, having no effect upon the clay apart from the pressure of the potter’s foot; but answering the pressure of the potter’s foot, bringing the clay constantly nearer to the potter’s hand, back, and back again; the revolving wheel presses the clay into the potter’s hand.  The potter’s hands must bring the clay into the center of the wheel.  It is only there that the potter can begin to mold and shape the clay into the vessel he has in mind.  How is the potter to know when the clay is in the center of the wheel?  It is only when the clay stops being tossed about unevenly on the wheel; it is when the clay ceases to move about.  Being in the center of God’s will brings rest and allows God to mold us into a vessel of His choosing.

But notice this!  The clay has no will, but we have a will.  The clay is lifeless, but we are alive.  I have been created by this Potter, God, with power to choose, to elect.  There is a profound difference between the clay and the Potter, and the distance between the clay and the potter is enormous.  Moreover, there is a greater difference between our Creator and man than between a lump of clay and the Potter, but the DISTANCE between God and man is much closer than the distance between the clay and the potter.  Between the potter and the clay there is no link, of intellect, emotion, or will.  The clay cannot cooperate with the potter.  In a man these three things, intellect, emotion, and will are present.  We are kin of God.  We can cooperate with God.

Man’s highest wisdom lies in his accepting the figure of the clay, and ceasing to wish except as within the sphere of the Divine will; ceasing to choose save in answer to the Divine choices.  The Potter’s sovereignty, His absolute right, His unlimited power; these are the first things I learn.

If I speak only of the sovereignty of God my heart is filled with terror.  When men hear only of the absolute sovereignty of God, man will rebel.  It is not enough to talk merely of God’s unlimited power, His absolute right with man, His unyielding resolve to make us as He sees fit; for if this be true, that I am what I am by His creation and the work of His hands; and being what I am, I ask a reason for the pressure, an explanation of the pain, a vindication of the crushing. 

The principle: the absolute sovereignty of God.

I now must ask myself this question—what is the purpose?

This figure of the potter’s house does not tell me what God’s purpose is, BUT it does tell me that God has a purpose.  This is revealed in the statement of Jeremiah, “He wrought His work on the wheels.”

This reveals to me that God IS doing something!  The potter was not fooling with the clay, he was not playing with it, nor was he amusing himself!  It was work, it was serious; there was purpose in it.  I do not how you may think of it, but how much comfort that brings to me.  In the midst of life, with all the pressures, anxieties, sorrows, sicknesses, trials, and tribulations and pain God is not playing with me!  “He wrought His work on the wheels.”  There God stands, there the wheel, there the clay!  In His mind there is a purpose!  What is it?  The clay does not know.  The person looking on cannot tell.  The potter knows.  I behold Him with His hands on the clay, working; and presently the onlooker will know what was in his mind when he began his work; and lifting the figure into the higher realm, and admitting human consciousness, presently, the clay will discover that which it did not know at first; the purpose of the potter.  But the thing of comfort is that when the potter took that clay and put it on his wheel, and placed his hand upon it, he meant something.  God means something!  As yet I do not know what, even as to myself.  God is not playing with humanity!

John 5:17

"My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."  NKJV

The Potter has a thought in His mind for the clay, and He alone is able to transfer His thought to the clay.  The clay is ignorant of the thought in the Potter’s mind, nor can know it, save as it plastically yields itself to Him, and lets Him carryout His great design. 

There is the relationship!  God is at work.  Man, as clay yields to God who is at work!  Man gains something by yielding to the hands of the potter.  The One who knows His stuff, who knows man, who knows me, can mold and shape and fashion me to the ultimate purpose of His will.  What does God gain in man?  What does the Potter gain in the clay?  Yes!  God gains a vehicle of vision.  God takes the vessel that He makes and through that vessel of vision others can see the Potter, they can see the glories of God, they can receive the revelations of God.  Others can look at the finished result and see the outcome of the clay in the potter’s hands, a vessel of beauty, a vessel of honor, a vessel ready for use, a vessel of God to reveal the heart and mind of God. 

Eph 3:9-11

I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.  God's purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.  This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. NLT

Finally, we come to look at the potter, God!  The sovereignty of God creates terror in my heart.  The purpose of God may in and of itself cause me to draw back from the pain and suffering through which I find myself going through.  However, when I allow my eyes to rest upon the potter, my heart is strengthened.  We can gaze upon the potter, but who can fix His eyes on God?  Yet that is the supreme value of this figure.  Don’t focus on the clay, don’t focus on the wheels of circumstance, and don’t focus on the pressure of the hands of God. Focus on the heart of God!  “Show us the Father,” is the heart cry of humanity.  I must see God.  Who is this Potter of the universe?  Absolute, supreme, molding humanity like clay, working seriously toward a goal, who is He? 

God has answered the cry!  The Son of the Father’s love, His only begotten Son said to Philip, and He says to us today, “He that has seen me has seen the Father.”

“Would we view God’s brightest glory, we must look in Jesus’ face.”

In Jesus the great Potter came into view that we might see Him and know Him.  I look again, and I watch Him at work in the Potter’s house.  I watch that foot that turns the wheel, and I watch the hands that press the clay.

“In His feet and hands are wound-prints.”

Now my heart has found its ultimate rest.  It is the Person of the Potter which is the supreme matter.

The clay must be centered on the wheel.  How do I know I am centered on the wheel?  When I no longer moving off the center.  I am calm.  I am at rest.  I quit moving. 

The potter begins to hollow the clay inside and form the lump of wet gray mass.  Don’t fight back.  Don’t harden yourself.  Remain pliable!  Don’t try to make yourself into something other than what the potter wants to make.  We learn to relax in the hand of the Potter and allow Him to form us just as He wants us.

The next part is the hardest part - the firing.  To harden the clay into something useful, it has to be fired.  This involves placing the finished pot in a very hot oven for quite a long time.  And then once it’s taken out of the oven, it cools, is glazed, and then goes back in the oven.  It is one thing to find ourselves in the center of God.  It is one thing to learn to relax enough that the Potter can shape us according to His will.  But what about this intense heat we have to go through?  Is it really necessary?  Yes.  Because we can be shaped just right but the fire is what gives us strength.  A bowl beautifully crafted won’t do much good if it is too soft to hold anything.  So what does this fire look like?  It will be different for every person.  There will be difficult circumstances that hurt, that you have to fight through, and that push you almost to your breaking point, but God will walk with you the entire way and you will be stronger for it in the end, ready to be used for the purposes for which He created you. (Mark plays “The Potter’s Hand”)

For the rest of our lives here on earth, Lord, help us to remain pliable, centered, yielded.  Mold us, shape us, strengthen us in the fire, beautify us with your sweet Holy Spirit, fill us with your love and joy, use us for your service when needed.  INVITATION