In the Potter's House.

"This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him." Jeremiah 18:1-4

This is a passage which has presented difficulty to not a few—or probably it would be more correct to say that (in most cases at least) it has been made to present difficulty. Enemies of the Truth have grievously "wrested" these verses and even the interpretations of its friends have not always succeeded in removing the mists which have beclouded the minds of those influenced by error. Because of this, and also as we hope to write upon some later portions in this chapter—a comment or two on its opening verses may prove helpful.

Arminians have appealed to this passage in support of their horrible and God-dishonoring tenet, that the Creator may be thwarted by the creature, that puny man is able to thwart the designs of the Most High God. If such a dreadful calamity were possible, then, to be consistent, they should carry such a premise to its logical conclusion, and avow,

The universe He fain would save,
But longs for what He cannot have!
We therefore worship, praise and laud,
A disappointed, helpless God!"

Such a blasphemous caricature of Deity is repugnant and repellent to the last degree, unto every renewed heart—yet is it one which finds more or less acceptance today in professedly "Christian" quarters. The natives of dark Africa manufacture idols with their hands—but the heathen in Christendom fashion a "God" out of their Satan-blinded minds!

A disappointed and defeated God! What a concept! What a contradiction in terms! How can He be the great Supreme—if man is capable of check-mating Him? How can He be the Almighty—if lacking in ability to carry out His will? Who would render homage unto One who is thwarted by His creatures? How vastly different is the God of Holy Writ, who has but to speak and it is done—who commands and it stands fast (Psalm 33:9)!

Jehovah is no pasteboard Monarch. No, "our God is in the heavens: He has done whatever He has pleased" (Psalm 115:3). "Whatever the Lord pleased—that did He in Heaven and in the earth, in the seas and all deep places" (Psalm 135:6). "This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?" (Isaiah 14:26, 27). "I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all My pleasure" (Isaiah 46:9, 10).

But are there not other passages which speak of God in quite another strain? Suppose such be the case, then what? Why, would these not oblige us to modify our conception of the absoluteness of God's supremacy as predicated in the verses cited above? Certainly not. The Holy Scriptures are not a "nose of wax" (as Papists have wickedly affirmed) which man may twist as he pleases. They are the inspired Word of God, without flaw or contradiction; yet we need wisdom from the Holy Spirit if we are to interpret them aright.

"God is Spirit" (John 4:24), incorporeal, and therefore "invisible" (Colossians 1:15), "whom no man has seen nor can see" (1 Timothy 6:16). Must we, forsooth, modify this representation of His ineffable Being because we read of His "eyes" (2 Chron. 16:9), His "hands" (Psalm 95:5) and "feet" (Exo. 24:10)? "He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:4): is that negated by the statement, "Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep" (Psalm 78:65)—or because He represents Himself as "rising up early" (Jer. 7:13)?

When Scripture affirms that "His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him—What have you done?" (Dan. 4:34,35), are we obliged to place limitations upon such supremacy when we hear Him saying elsewhere, "I have called, and you refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but you have set at nothing all My counsel, and would none of My reproof" (Proverbs 1:24, 25)? Of course not.

Then how are we to avoid such an expediency? By distinguishing between things that differ: by discriminating between God's secret will and Hisrevealed will, between His eternal decree and the rule which He has given us to walk by. The latter passage speaks of men scorning the Word of God, which it is their responsibility to obey. The former passage affirms the sovereign supremacy of God over all, whose eternal purpose is accomplished in and by men, not because of their willing compliance, but in spite of their enmity and rebellion—as was the case with Pharaoh.

Settle it in your mind once and for all, my reader, that the true and living God is King of kings and Lord of lords, the Almighty, whom neither man nor devil can defeat or successfully resist—for such is the plain and positive teaching of His word. The churches may no longer proclaim such a God. The vast majority of those who still pose as His people may no longer believe in such a one—but that alters not the fact that He is so: "Let God be true and every man a liar" (Romans 3:4). Settle it in your mind likewise that Holy Writ cannot contradict itself, and therefore if the meaning of some passages are not clear to you, humbly look to their Author to enlighten you—for the obscurity is in your mind and not in His Word.

When Christ affirmed, "I and My Father are one" (John 10:30), He spoke according to His absolute Deity. But when He declared, "My Father is greater than I" (John 14:28), He spoke as the God-man Mediator. The perfect accord of the two passages is evident when we perceive the dual relationship of Christ to the Father: as the Son and as God-man. In like manner we must learn to distinguish between God speaking as absolute sovereign and as the Enforcer of human responsibility—as the One who deals with men according to their condition.

Now in the verses at the beginning of this article there is not even an apparent difficulty: men must read into it what is not there before they encounter a stumbling stone. The Lord does not affirm therein that He is represented by "the potter" (vv. 5-10 are considered in our next), and if we suppose He is, then we shall be rightly confounded. Jeremiah was sent to a "potter's house" that he might receive instruction from what he saw. While there he witnessed a vessel of clay "marred" in the hand of the potter. Most assuredly that cannot picture man's fall, for his Creator pronounced him "very good" when he left His hands. Nor can it picture the experience of any since the Fall, for the hand of God is the place of safety and not of injury. Further, we are told this potter "made it (the marred vessel) again another vessel." But God never mends what man has marred—but displaces with something altogether new: the old covenant was set aside for the New (Hebrews 8:8), the old creation for a New (2 Corinthians 5:17), the present Heaven and earth by a New (Isaiah 65:17). Rather is the "as seemed good to the potter to make it" the particular similitude fastened upon (v. 6).

"Then the word of the Lord came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it." (Jeremiah 18:5-10)

A superficial reading of those verses may suggest they contain that which supports the Arminian's conception of God—yet a more careful pondering should show there is nothing whatever in them which militates against the "immutability of His counsel" (Hebrews 6:17). The Lord does not here say to Israel "you have become marred in My hand"—you have defeated My purpose concerning you," nor does He declare, "I will repair and make another vessel of you"—revise My intention and try again. Rather does He affirm His sovereignty and supremacy over them: "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand."

Next Part In the Potter's House. 2

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