The Potter and the Clay I. Questions II. Base Text: Jeremiah 18:1-12 III. Context and Interpretation A. Understanding the time 1. Jeremiah, prophet to Judah, late seventh/early sixth centuries BCE 2. Time of the end of Judah 3. God's frustration with idolatry and iniquity B. The Message 1. God uses the potter and the clay to describe His desired relationship with Israel 2. He wishes that He could re-mold Israel to be His people doing His will 3. Their hardness of heart, however, makes this impossible 4. Even the nations sometimes repent (cf. Jonah), and if they do not repent, and God has promised good to it, the good will not be done and evil will occur (cf. Isaiah 13-14) IV. Manifestation in Jeremiah's Life A. We see this very difficulty playing out in Jeremiah's own prophesying B. Jeremiah 26:1-19 C. Jeremiah comes and speaks in the name of YHWH D. Instant reaction of the "priests and the prophets": Jeremiah deserves death for "daring" to say such things about Jerusalem and the Temple in the Temple (Jeremiah 26:9) E. The priests and prophets are saying such things, of course, because God's hand of judgment is strongly against them because of their iniquity (Jeremiah 2:8, 2:26, 4:9, 5:31, 6:13, 8:10, 14:18, 23:11-37, etc.) F. The officials of the city, however, disagree with the priests and prophets (Jeremiah 26:17) G. The elders of Jerusalem, however, remember Micah of Moresheth (Micah 3:12), and how disaster was averted in Hezekiah's day, and they lament the current state of affairs (Jeremiah 26:18-19) H. We can see, then, how some hearts were hardened and others more soft V. Manifestation in the Life of Christ A. While the exile of Judah in the latter days of Jeremiah did lead some to repent and change their ways, the return to the land was by no means the end of hard hearts B. The religious authorities, the Pharisees and Sadducees, of Jesus' day constantly sought to work against Him and would not hear of His message (Matthew 23:13, John 11:45-48, John 12:37-42, etc.) C. The poor, the ill, and especially foreigners, seemed to desire to hear Him more (Matthew 14:5, John 4, John 12:12-13, etc.) D. Yet again we see that those who represent the religious authorities having the hardest hearts, having their own hypocrisy exposed V. Manifestation in Preaching the Gospel A. It should not surprise us, then, that when the Gospel is preached to these same persons, that we should see the same results B. Two instances of preaching illustrate this contrast C. Acts 2:5-47 1. The people see the Spirit poured out on the Apostles, hear them speaking in tongues, hear Peter's preaching about Jesus as the Christ (Acts 2:5-36) 2. These Jews hearts are at least made soft by the preaching: they are cut to the heart, and desire to know what to do (Acts 2:37) 3. They are given their answer and become the first Christians (Acts 2:38-47) D. Acts 6:12-7:60 1. Stephen is hauled up to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish authorities (Acts 6:12-15) 2. Stephen makes his defense of the Gospel by showing how the ancestors of the Jews before him sinned against God, and how they are following in their ancestors' footsteps (Acts 7:1-53) 3. They also were "cut to the heart," but with a different consequence: they stoned Stephen to death for his proclamation (Acts 7:54-60) E. Yet again the religious authorities have the hardest hearts, and will not hear the message of God toward repentance! V. Manifestation to Ourselves A. What can we learn about the Potter and the clay? B. All the examples we see show how the soft heart that is molded by God is approved by Him, and all those who have hardness of heart are condemned C. Furthermore, there is a tendency for religious persons, especially religious authorities, to be the ones guilty of hardened hearts 1. A natural tendency: desire to feel as if they have "arrived", want no one questioning their position or understanding 2. Nevertheless, a manifestation of a lack of humility and especially a lack of self-inspection 3. Consider Paul's use of the potter and clay image in Romans 9:19-24: to the religious people, the people of Israel, to explain how God is in the right if He desires to bring in Gentiles 4. Who do we think we are if we would answer back to God in presumptuous ways? D. How can we avoid having a hard heart? 1. We must have humble and contrite hearts (Isaiah 66:2) 2. We must have no glory in ourselves, but only in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:31) 3. We must look to His Word to guide our lives, and always be willing to reconsider our beliefs by it (2 Corinthians 13:5, 1 Corinthians 4:6) 4. We must certainly not conform to the ideas of men (cf. Romans 12:2; example Jeremiah 7:31, 19:5, 32:35)...but we must always be open to continually being transformed by God (Romans 12:2, Hebrews 13:12) E. Let us constantly consider ourselves and make sure that no matter how convicted we are in our faith that we do not become hardened before God! F. Songbook/invitation Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith YHWH. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel" (Jeremiah 18:6). God wanted Jeremiah to learn from the potter and the clay. As the potter is able to make whatever he will from the clay, thus Israel should have been able to be molded by God according to His purposes. Yet they became hardened, and thus only able to be broken, just like clay. Why should the people of God prove pliant in the hands of God? 2: "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because ye shut the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye enter not in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering in to enter" (Matthew 23:13). Some in Israel proved pliant of heart and heeded what Jesus had to say. The religious authorities, however, were hardened, and Jesus rebuked and condemned them. Through their influence they hardened the hearts of many others who also would be condemned. What happens when people of hardened heart harden the hearts of others? 3: Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? (Romans 9:21) As Christians we must continually be on guard against presumption before God. He is the Potter; we are the clay. It is not for us to presume to understand things beyond our capabilities, and consider God as in the wrong. We do better to trust in God and His covenant loyalty. In what ways might we speak or act presumptuously before God? 4: And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). Christians today have the same challenge set before them as Israel of old. Will we be as clay in the hands of God which He can use to His glory and honor, transformed according to His purposes? Or will we harden ourselves before God and be molded to the ways of the world, leading to brokenness and death? May we all prove pliant before God and do all things to glorify Him!