1. Lessons for Israel
a. The Potter at Work (1-4)
b. For the Land of Judah (5-6) 1
c. For the Church of Jesus Christ 2
2. Lessons for the Nations
a. Example (7-8)
b. Counter-Example (9-10)
c. Judah's Response (11-12)
3. Personal Application
a. God Is in Control
b. Are We in Compliance?
1 Jeremiah 18:1-12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lessons Learned from the Potter
i. 1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I shall announce My words to you.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.
ii. Jeremiah was sent to the house which doubled as the workshop of the local potter
(1) the potter would search for and gather clay to use in his craft
(a) not any clay would do for he must find the right kind
(b) even that had to be dug, washed and pounded
(c) then it would be left to set to the right consistency
(d) so that it was uniform throughout and free of air bubbles
(2) when Jeremiah arrived there the preliminary tasks had already been done and the potter was at work at his wheel
(a) the term in Hebrew for the wheel was his “two stones”
(b) these stones were flat and round, one below and one above
(c) they were connected by a vertical shaft held in place by a wooden framework
(d) the upper wheel was set in motion by the potter's feet on the lower wheel bringing it to such speed as needed
iii. so Jeremiah watched the potter at work – though he had no doubt seen it before, it was interesting to see – thus he did as God directed
(1) while the wheel was the potter's implement, his tools were his fingers which kneaded and shaped the clay as he desired
(a) but, as Jeremiah watched him, the vessel being formed was spoiled – perhaps only slightly, but so the potter knew it
(b) the problem was not in the wheel or the fingers
(c) but in the clay: some lump, some inconsistency in moisture
(d) so that the shape could not be properly produced or the vessel would not survive the firing in the furnace
(2) so, the potter would break apart the clay of the vessel being made to knead the clay again and then begin over
(a) note that the potter does not throw the clay away – as I might do in a fit of anger – he has already invested too much time in acquiring and preparing it for that
(b) the word potter in Hebrew literally means “deviser” which is used in the same sense as we use the term craftsman or artist
(c) and the potter's goal in his work was not simply to make a functional vessel but the one that he pictured in his head
(3) God told Jeremiah that when he went there, He, God, would announce words to him; a message that was for …
b. For the Land of Judah (5-6)
i. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, 6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”
ii. the potter, his work and actions, are said to resemble the work and actions of God
(1) the potter is a deviser of vessels of various uses and shapes out of clay
(2) God is a deviser of men, also, moulding them out of clay
(a) individually: Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
(b) and collectively as families, clans and nations
(3) the potter has in mind a specific object to emerge from his work, just as God also has a purpose
(4) and if the result is not according to that purpose, if it is spoiled, then he is ready to start over to get it right
iii. now it is very easy for us in looking at these verses to come with a certain attitude which affects our interpretation as to the lesson of these verses
(1) in my preparation to teach from Scripture I make reference to a number of commentaries of Bible scholars
(2) these include, on the one hand, such as Jean Calvin and John Gill who make reference to Paul's words in Romans 9:21, “Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honourable use, and another for common use?”
(a) and focus upon election and God's predestination
(b) and so apply the lesson of these verses in that way
(3) while on the other hand, Adam Clarke, having an Arminian persuasion, comes arguing from that background, that God would not take such pains as a potter to create a man and then deliberately send him to an eternity of destruction in hell
(4) but, though God does form man as an individual, and the Bible does teach election and predestination, that is not what this passage in Jeremiah is all about
(5) it is about why and how God treats nations as nations
iv. now Judah was the remnant of the descendants of Israel
(1) the northern ten tribes had long previously been sent into exile on account of their falling away from God
(2) now the two southern tribes are on the brink of the same fate, and it will be only a remnant that will one day return to God's land and God's people
(3) so the LORD's point is that He is the Potter who formed this nation for Himself
(a) and He has a high ideal and purpose for them
(b) which was expressed in His covenant with the patriarchs
(c) and later with the people through Moses
(d) a covenant with both promises of good and evil
(4) that He now has every right to deal with this nation as He sees fit
(a) not simply to destroy them arbitrarily as the Sovereign Lord
(b) but by His grace to bring His remnant according to the election of grace to the spiritual fulfilment of His purpose
v. and it is in that sense that this passage applies also for …
c. For the Church of Jesus Christ
i. we have been looking in our adult Bible class for the past 15 weeks at chapters 12 to 14 of Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth
(1) and one thing that comes through loud and clear is that God has a purpose for the church
(2) that church was overly concerned with the spectacular gifts, those that made an impression on those having them and those observing them
(3) but, using the picture of the church as a human body, Paul shows that all those gifts are given as God wills in order to build up the body, so that all things are done for edification, that is, building up the church of God (1 Corinthians 14:26, cf., Ephesians 4:12)
ii. now, if the church, either as a local body of believers, or those in a nation, or even in many nations
(1) falls short of the ideal that God has set for it, just as Israel, then Judah fell short, what can we expect?
(2) God will take action!
(3) this becomes quite apparent as you read the letters to the seven churches of Asia in Revelations 2 & 3
(4) that is the practical outworking of 1 Peter 4:17, “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
(5) which is a good introduction to the second set of lessons, the …
i. in looking at the later verses in the passage before us this morning, I am not going to draw from them, as also not from the earlier verses, all the lessons contained in them: there are just too many; rather I hope to leave you familiar with them so the by the Holy Spirit's work you can see their application to the nation in which we live and the visible church of God in it, and pray God bring us revival
ii. 7 “At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; 8 if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.”
iii. the first example is that if God sends a national warning
(1) saying that He is going to tear that nation apart
(2) in any of the ways that a nation can be destroyed
(3) and the leaders and people of that nation heed the warning and stops doing the evil it has been doing
(4) then God will relent – actually change his plan of destruction – and cancel the coming destruction of that nation
(a) the preaching of Jonah to Nineveh is one such case
(b) now you can see here that it is not God who changes
(c) His face is consistently against evil and for good
(d) what has changed is that repentant nation, taking them from a state of judgement before God to a state of acceptance
i. 9 “Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; 10 if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it.”
ii. now comes the contrary situation
(1) here God has promised blessing to a nation
(2) He intends and is going to do good to them
(3) He will strengthen that nation; He will establish it
(4) that is His avowed purpose
iii. but wait: that nation, like Israel, like Judah
(1) now sets out on a course of purposeful evil
(2) it decides to repudiate the one true God
(3) to wantonly dismiss His word and His laws
iv. once again it is the nation who has moved, not God
(1) where they were once in the place of His acceptance
(2) now they are in the place of His judgement
(3) that is Judah
i. 11 “So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.”’ 12 But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”
ii. Josiah had brought about a reformation about a generation or so prior to this time which was in the midst of Jehoiakim's reign
(1) they had restored the temple worship and feasts
(2) these were full of pageantry and spectacle with the sounding of trumpets and the splendid, colourful robes of the priest
(3) Judah loved that pageantry just as do nations today
(a) on Remembrance Day, this past Friday, there were a number of services in our land, province and cities
(b) there was one at 7:30 in the morning, another at 10:30, then the service proper at 11:00
(c) at each there were different people officiating
(4) but like Judah this was merely lip service
(a) there was no heart worship in Judah, nor on Friday, except from the small remnant who truly trust in the Lord
iii. God the Potter continues His plan to correct His people
(1) He fashions calamity; He devises a plan (“potters a plan”)
(2) and the reason for its necessity – gathering and reshaping the clay as He should please – is evident in their response
(3) “We are going to follow our own plans”
(4) “ You do not really matter to us, God, we will persist in what you call evil, because it's hopeless, impossible for us to do otherwise; that is what we want to do, and we are going to do it.”
iv. that is the attitude we hear all around us as people reject Jesus Christ
i. that is as true now as in the potter parable spoken against Judah
ii. applicable to nations and to our nation today
iii. but with much of the so called Christian church having left the faith
iv. we who trust in God seeming to be a small minority
v. it is only as individuals in God's remnant that we can respond; to answer rightly the question …
i. that we yield to the hand of the Potter to mould us as He wishes
ii. the step that may lead to revival in our church and nation
iii. that we move from a state of judgement to acceptance by God.
© 2022 by Garth Hutchinson, Faith Fellowship Baptist Church of Aurora (Ontario): may be distributed or quoted freely, only let this be done to the glory “of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ” (Titus ii.13). Except as noted otherwise, quotations are from the New American Standard version, used by permission. Various other English versions of the Holy Bible may be used in this sermon. Explanatory additions to the Bible text are shown in braces. Version identifiers are:
AV Authorized (King James) Version of 1769
BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (MT)
ERV English Revised Version of 1881
LXX Septuagin (Septuaginta interpretum Juxta Exemplar Vaticanum)
LXXE Brenton's 1851 translation of the LXX (Alex.)
NAS New American Standard version © 1960, 1995 The Lockman Foundation (usually the 1977 edition)
NIV New International Version © 1984 by the International Bible Society
NKJV New King James Version © 1979 Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers
NLT New Living Translation
NRSV New Revised Standard Version © 1989 Division of Christian Education of national Council of Churches of Christ
I have incorporated ideas from the following two sermons
By Alan Carr, “Lessons Learned from the Potter”, Kerux sermon #427
By David Holwick, “Having Faith in America”, Kerux sermon #1144
Some of the commentaries and resources used in the preparation of this message are identified as follow:
BM – Biblical Museum – Vol IX, Jer to Ezek – Comper & Gray
Calvin – Commentaries on the Bible, by Jean Calvin; translated into English & published in the Online Bible.
Clarke – Adam Clarke's Commentary
EBC – The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, © 1986 Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 49530, MI:
Gill – Exposition of the Old Testament, Exposition of the New Testament, by John Gill, D.D.
JFB – Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, Jamieson, Fausset & Brown; S. S. Scranton & Co. 1872
K&D – Keil & Delitszch Commentary on the Old Testament
Kerux – The sermon & illustration data base compiled by Revd David Holwick at the web-site, www.holwick.com.
Meyer – Jeremiah, Priest & Prophet – F. B. Meyer (ca 1890)
NICOT – New International Commentary of the Old Testament; Jeremiah by J. A. Thomson; Wm Eerdmans