Articles
The Potter Lesson - Jeremiah 18
The Potter Lesson - Jeremiah 18
The first lesson here is that God is the CREATOR. This is affirmed many times in the Bible. As CREATOR, He has the right to rule, govern, and control what He has created. He has chosen to allow men, made in His image and given many of the same aspects of their nature as Him but in a lesser capacity, to choose and make decisions concerning how they live. For all of this, they will be brought to judgment and God is the judge of all the earth.
In such sovereignty over His creation, God chooses at times to actually intervene. This is not a universe of a Deistic God who never intervenes. It is impossible for me to read the many statements of God’s stated providence and the times that He actively intervened in the affairs of men. Truly, as Nebuchadnezzar learned, God rules in the kingdoms of men (Dan. 4).
We live in an era where we have become much more deistic in our thinking than the people of the Bible era! They were able to keep a balance that we have lost. They understood that men made choices and reaped the consequences, and yet God oversaw and guided things for His purposes. God raises up and removes kings and kingdoms, hence we are urged to pray for kings and rulers (1Tim. 2). God provides not only for His creatures but for men (i.e., us – you), and thus we not only give thanks for our daily bread but pray for Him to provide it (Matt. 6). We are urged to cast our cares upon the LORD for He cares for us, and such an invitation has at its base the concept that God will respond!
Thus we see the 2nd lesson concerning such judgment and we are shown a picture of God’s Holiness/righteousness/wrath against sin AND His grace/mercy/and love as He offers forgiveness (Jer. 18:7-10). Here the lesson is about nations and kingdoms, but the principle also applies to individuals. God sees, knows, judges, and has spoken concerning judgment upon evil. Here, God has decreed that He would destroy Israel because of their evil ways, but he promises to relent IF THEY WOULD REPENT AND TURN FROM SUCH EVIL WAYS. One of the best-known illustrations of this is found in the book of Jonah. Nineveh was under the decree of God to be destroyed, yet the men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah and God let them live. True, they returned to their evil ways and a later generation WERE destroyed, but that generation experienced the patience and forgiveness of God.
So it is with the whole message of the Gospel: REPENT. It was preached by John the Baptists (Mark 1: 4), by Peter (Acts 2:28-29; 2Pet. 3:9), by John (Rev. 2:5, 16, 21, etc.), Paul (Acts 17:3 ), and of course by Jesus (Mark 1:5, Luke 24:45-47).
God is GOD, the CREATOR and JUDGE. WE are His creation, created for HIS glory. We have been entrusted with the ability to choose to glorify Him in righteousness OR to dishonor Him by living a sinful and ungodly life. We can only escape judgment for such sin repenting of such and returning to God through the mediatorship of Jesus. Examine your life. As you discover things that are wrong, repent and pray. Is your life right with God?
Hugh DeLong
