Jeremiah 18:1-12: What Jeremiah Learned at the Potter’s House

INTRODUCTION

At the end of our Old Testament, we have 16 books by Israel’s great prophets. The three greatest prophets, the ones who wrote the longest and most important books, are Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.

Isaiah’s career began in 740 B.C., before the Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered and her people carried away by the Assyrians.

Jeremiah’s career began more than 100 years after Isaiah. He prophesied in the southern Kingdom of Judah, the part of Israel that remained. During Jeremiah’s time, the Babylonians came and carried many of the people of Judah into captivity in Babylon.

Ezekiel’s career began 34 years after Jeremiah’s call. Jeremiah and Ezekiel didn’t know each other, because Jeremiah stayed in Palestine, and Ezekiel went with the exiles to Babylon.

Isaiah was an educated, literary man. He is often quoted in the New Testament. You have heard poetry from his book in church at Christmas:

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a child is given;

and the government will be upon his shoulder,

and his name will be called

“Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah had a wonderful call from God. He was in the Temple and saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, “high and lifted up—and his train filled the Temple.”

Above the Lord flew the seraphim—fiery, winged creatures that flew back and forth and crying out,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

The whole world is filled with his glory.”

When Isaiah saw that vision, he cried out, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

And one of the seraphim took a coal from the altar and touched Isaiah’s mouth, and so sent Isaiah on his mission.

Ezekiel was a priest. He was eccentric. Some of his prophecies are so strange that ancient Jews argued whether the book should be included in the Bible.

Ezekiel was the prophet who prophesied in the Valley of the Dry Bones. You remember the story about how Ezekiel saw the bones coming together with a rattling sound—and flesh came upon them—and skin covered them—and breath came into them—and they got on their feet, and they were a great army.

Like with Isaiah, God called Ezekiel to his mission with a wonderful vision. He was with the exiles in Babylon, by the River Chebar, when he saw the heavens opened; a stormy wind came out of the north, and he saw a great cloud with brightness all around about it, and fire flashing forth—and, in the midst of the fire, four living creatures.

Each of the creatures had four faces and each had four wings, and their feet were like calves’ feet, and under their wings they had human hands.

But wait!—it gets stranger still—the four faces on each of these creatures were the face of a man, the face of an ox, the face of a lion, and the face of an eagle.

And—it gets even stranger!—they were attached to the four sides of sort of a cart, with four wheels with rims that were full of eyes! And the cart and its creatures rolled back and forth.

Over the heads of the creatures there was a kind of canopy and above that was a throne that looked like a sapphire, and above that was what seemed to be a human form, and above the human form was a rainbow!

And when Ezekiel saw that vision he fell on his face! And the Spirit entered into him and set him upon his feet. Then a hand was stretched out and handed him a scroll and said to him, “Son of man, eat this scroll.” And Ezekiel ate the scroll and it was sweet as honey.

Then the Spirit lifted him up and took him away to the exiles and he proclaimed God’s words to them.

I told you about Isaiah and Ezekiel to contrast their visions with the ordinary, commonplace experience of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a more ordinary sort of fellow. God’s call to him didn’t involve any drama at all.

God showed Jeremiah an almond tree, and used it for an object lesson. Then he showed him a boiling pot. The two visions together symbolized to Jeremiah the beauty and terror of the message he would proclaim.

Jeremiah’s message was full of pathos—but not spectacular metaphors. He talked about the stork, the crane, the spotted leopard, and the lion and wolf.

He talked about the shepherd, the plowman, and the vinedresser, the prostitute by the wayside,

God directed Jeremiah to illustrate his message by walking around with an ox yoke on his shoulders, and again by burying his loin cloth in the mud by the Euphrates and later digging it up and showing the people the rotten loin cloth that represented Judah in her sinful ways.

I. A favorite part of Jeremiah’s book is the story about Jeremiah’s visit to the potter’s house and what he learned there.

God said to Jeremiah: “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.”

“So,” Jeremiah says, “I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him to do.”

—As Jeremiah watched the potter and saw the first vessel ruined—and how the potter started over—a new conception of how God works, flashed through Jeremiah’s mind, and he said this to his people—

The word of the Lord came to him and he said, “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? … Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

“If, at any time, I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind of the evil that I intended to do to it.

“And if, at any time, I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good which I had intended to do to it.

“Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Return, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings” (Jeremiah 18:1-11).

II. Here is the application: God is the potter and we are the clay.

A. Like with Israel, God has a plan for us—to make of us something useful, to make us a blessing in our world.

I have tried my hand at pottery making. It is a work that takes skill, and I never succeeded in making a pot. But I have seen potters at work, and they are fascinating to watch.

God is not like a blacksmith who beats a piece of iron into the shape he wants.

He is like a potter, who puts his hands on us and shapes us with his own hands, gently making us into something beautiful and useful.

A good potter makes his pot quickly on a spinning wheel. But when I have watched potters, sometimes the clay doesn’t cooperate. Then they squash down the clay and start over. It may take the potter several tries to make a beautiful piece.

This is the point God is making to Jeremiah. God tries and tries, and he doesn’t give up when the clay doesn’t cooperate. He starts over.

It is a great comfort that God doesn’t easily give up. We have all failed, but God keeps working with us. He gives us second chances—and third chances.

B. The story of the potter tells us that God has freedom and we have freedom. We can frustrate God’s desires for us, but we can also change our ways and allow God to finally succeed in his plan for us.

We read several times in the Bible of God “changing his mind.” One notable example is in the story of Jonah.

God told Jonah to go to the heathen city of Nineveh and announce to them that because of their wickedness, the city would be destroyed in 40 days.

But the people of Nineveh repented. The king put on sackcloth and sat in ashes. He decreed that no man, nor beast, herd, nor flock should eat anything or drink water, but be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God—and turn from their evil ways. And all the people of Nineveh did so.

And, we read, “when God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them.”

CONCLUSION.

People change. In our son’s church, each month they devote five minutes of their service to a “Faith Story” from one of their members. One Sunday an elderly retired doctor gave his faith story. He began with this: “One year ago I was a pagan…” And then he told how he had found Jesus—in his old age—and how a new and meaningful life opened up for him. That’s unusual, but it can happen.

When we become impatient with people, we need to remember the lesson God taught Jeremiah. People change. None of us is a finished product. We are all like the construction sign says: “A Work in Progress.”

One of the benefits of growing old is that we have opportunity to change—to correct old mistakes, to repent, to accept forgiveness, and draw closer to God. Do you feel yourself to be drawing closer to God? I do. I can look back 5, 10, 20 years and know that I am not the same person I was then. I have learned, corrected mistakes, and learned better what it means to follow Jesus and to be a servant of others.

But that doesn’t mean that I am out of danger. I have also sometimes slipped back. We have to keep on to the end, letting the Lord mold us and make us into the person he intends us to be.

We aren’t clay. We can choose. Our God is powerful and skillful, but he needs our cooperation, and we need to keep on to the end of the road. Because if we aren’t moving forward, we are slipping backward.

I read of a prominent Christian leader who refused to have his biography written while he was still alive. He said, “I have seen too many drop out of the race on the last lap.”

I said, one of the benefits of growing old is that we more time to change—to draw closer to God.

But one of the dangers of old age is that we have more time to drift away from God—to gradually and gently and without really realizing it—to loosen our hold on God.

That is why St. Paul counseled his younger friend Timothy: “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:12).

That is my hope and expectation for all of us here. There’s a favorite old song about God, the potter, and us, the clay—

Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!

Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.

Mold me and make me after thy will,

While I am waiting yielded and still.

Jeremiah 10:23-24 & Proverbs 10:7: True Success

INTRODUCTION

What is it that makes a life a success? Some people think it is money, or power, or to be admired. But the Bible takes a different view.

Here is God’s view, as recorded in Jeremiah 9:23-24:

Thus says the Lord:

“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,

let not the mighty man glory in his might,

let not the rich man glory in his riches;

but let him who glories, glory in this,

that he understands and knows me,

that I am the Lord;

I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth;

for in these things I delight, says the Lord.”

Wisdom is good if it leads us to God, but when we begin to think we are wise, we are fools. The Bible says (Proverbs 3:7): “Be not wise in your own eyes.”

A wise man said, “The more we know, the more we wonder. It needs understanding to understand the extent of our ignorance” (George Tyrrell, Oil and Wine, p70).

Power may make a person great in his own eyes, but God’s “strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Wealth is good if it is used to lay up treasure in heaven, but Jesus said, “Beware of all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15).

Someone asked at a rich man’s funeral: “How much did he leave?” The answer, “Every cent!”

The great thing in life is to understand and know the Lord—that he acts with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the world. And if we understand and know the Lord, we will also act with love, justice, and righteousness in the world.

Now I want to talk about the prophet Jeremiah, the man who wrote the words I read to you. Jeremiah is my favorite Old Testament character because he is the one we know best. No one else in the Bible opens his heart opens his heart to us as Jeremiah does—except the apostle Paul in the New Testament.

Jeremiah shows us his compassion, his sorrow, his despair. He shows us the cost of obeying God.

Jeremiah was given a terrible responsibility—a painful responsibility—a responsibility he hated. But Jeremiah was faithful, and people who study the history of Israel tell us that it was Jeremiah, more than anyone else, who saved the faith of Israel in her darkest hour—a time when Israel had strayed so far from her God that she could have become lost to history—like the Hivites, the Jebusites, the Amelikites, the Hittites, the Moabites, and other ancient peoples that are only read of in history books.

I. Jeremiah received his call from God in 627 B.C.—about 400 years after the glory days of Israel under King David and King Solomon, and almost 600 years before Christ.

A. It was a dark time in Israel’s history. The northern tribes—the Kingdom of Israel—had been carried into captivity by the Assyrians more than 100 years before and had mostly been absorbed into other nations. Only the smaller, southern Kingdom of Judah was left to worship the God of Israel.

The Babylonians were the great empire now. And they were coming to destroy Judah, as the Assyrians had destroyed Israel.

And God chose Jeremiah to be his spokesman to the nation. It was the most difficult and thankless task imaginable.

Jeremiah is one of the longest books in the Bible—52 chapters. I can give you only a few highlights.

B. Have you ever had a job you hated? Jeremiah hated his job. It was a job that made him an outcast among the people he loved.

But Jeremiah was faithful in speaking God’s words to the people, even though they despised him for it.

He could see disaster coming because of the sinful ways of the people, and he warned them—but they refused to listen. Jeremiah was faithful, but he never tasted the pleasure of success.

A good part of Jeremiah is taken up with cries of pain as he sees the coming destruction of his people. He cried out to his people—

My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!

Oh, the walls of my heart!

My heart is beating wildly;

I cannot keep silent;

for I hear the sound of the trumpet,

the alarm of war.

Disaster follows hard upon disaster,

the whole land is laid waste…

(4:19-20).

II. Judah had sinned, and God had determined that since they would not repent, he would send the Babylonians against them to take them into captivity. This was to cure them of their unfaithfulness.

A. Jeremiah proclaimed God’s message, that the only way they could save their city was to surrender to the Babylonians.

It sickened Jeremiah that they would not listen. He cried out to God:

My grief is beyond healing,

my heart is sick within me…

I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.

Is there no balm in Gilead?

Is there no physician there?...

O that my head were waters,

and my eyes a fountain of tears,

that I might weep day and night

for the slain of the daughter of my people!

(8:18, 21-9:1)

B. Jeremiah labored for God for 40 years—but hardly anyone believed his message.

Jeremiah was an affectionate man. But because of the difficulty of his work, God forbade him to marry. He was denied the comfort of a wife and the love of children (16:2).

God forbade him to go any funerals or weddings (Jeremiah 16).

He was isolated from the social life of the community.

His fellow countrymen called him a traitor. They ridiculed him. The king put him in the stocks. Then he was put in a cistern to sink in the mud and die.

It was one of his few friends, an Ethiopian slave named Ebed Melech, who rescued him.

Jeremiah had a struggle with his faith. Sometimes he thought God had become his enemy. He complained bitterly, but he was still faithful to the God who called him.

If people had listened to Jeremiah and changed their ways, the nation could have been saved from the disaster that awaited it. But the Babylonians came and destroyed the nation’s beautiful Temple.

They carried the wealthiest of the people away to Babylon into captivity.

They would have an easier life than the ones who stayed behind. The Babylonians offered to take Jeremiah along. But he decided to stay with the poor suffering people in Judah.

Jeremiah continued to speak God’s words to the people, and they continued to reject his message.

Finally, some of the leaders of the people in Judah fled to Egypt, and—against his will—they took Jeremiah with them.

There the story ends for us. We don’t know how Jeremiah died.

But, without a doubt, he died thinking he was a failure.

As far as Jeremiah could tell his 40 years of labor and suffering had been in vain.

III. But Jeremiah’s life hadn’t been in vain. Jeremiah has a starring role in the salvation story of the Bible.

A. After Jeremiah had died, people looked back on his words and found in them an explanation for their disaster—and hope for the future.

Jeremiah prepared the way for Jesus’s coming. His most memorable prophecy was this:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant

with the house of Israel and the house of Judah…

This is the covenant which I will make

with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord:

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it upon their hearts;

and I will be their God,

and they will be my people…

for I will forgive their iniquity,

and I will remember their sin no more.” (31:31, 33-34).

B. So when the nation came back from captivity in Babylon, they remembered Jeremiah’s words and they took hope. They realized that God had not forsaken them—but rather that they had forsaken God.

Many of them turned to God. We read about it in the books of Nehemiah and Ezra.

They built a new Temple. They met together to read the Scriptures. Prophets and taught them. Their books are in our Bible.

C. When our Lord Jesus was on earth, Jeremiah was remembered as a hero. He was remembered so fondly that some people thought Jesus was Jeremiah, come back from the dead. We read about that in Matthew 16:14.

The prophet Isaiah wrote of Jesus that God’s Suffering Servant would be a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” In Jesus’s time people realized that Isaiah was writing about Jesus. They saw in Jesus that same tender heart that had been Jeremiah’s. They saw Jesus’s tears—his sorrow for sinners. They remembered Jeremiah.

I have told you the story of Jeremiah to point to the truth that God works through us, even when we don’t know it.

APPLICATION

In Proverbs 10:7 we read, “The memory of the righteous is a blessing.” When someone lives for God, his memory lives on.

One person whose memory blesses me was a man named Dudley Sherwood.

It was when I was 19—after my freshman year in college, at the University of Kansas, I began to walk with Jesus.

I was eager to learn more about the faith, so the August, after my freshman year, I went to a little Bible school that met over a drug store in South Chicago. There were three instructors and maybe 20 students.

One of the instructors was this man, Mr. Sherwood.

He taught a course in Bible doctrine. It seems to me now that it would be hard to make a course in Bible doctrine exciting, but the way Mr. Sherwood taught it, it was exciting. I remember him standing before the class with his Greek New Testament, reading and translating the text as he went. I thought it would be so cool to be able to read the New Testament in the original Greek.

Because there were so few students, I had plenty of opportunities after class to ask Mr. Sherwood my questions. He patiently answered them to the best of his ability. I hung on every word. I still remember some of the things he told me—even the tone of his voice.

I decided I wanted to learn to read the Greek New Testament and years later I took a couple of correspondence courses so that I could also read the New Testament a little bit.

The years went by, but I never forgot Mr. Sherwood. After maybe 20 years, I decided I should write Mr. Sherwood and tell him how much his teaching had meant to me.

He wrote back. I don’t think he remembered me. But one thing in his letter stuck in my mind. He wrote, “I have always thought that that summer was spent to no great profit.” He thought his summer had been wasted, but it had meant the world to me.

That taught me a lesson. Sometimes we do more good than we know. The important thing is to do what we can and leave the results to God. The important thing is faithfulness.

If you have been faithful to God, God has used your life—maybe in ways that you can’t know, ways that will only be revealed in eternity.

Maybe it is your example, kindnesses you’ve forgotten, hospitality you offered, the money you’ve given to missions or to those in need.

Maybe it’s the children and grandchildren you read stories to, or the way you did your work.

You have been important in the lives of people you have forgotten and even in the lives of people who have forgotten you.

You have sown a seed in someone’s life that sprouted years later—or has yet to sprout.

When I was a child someone gave me a little plaque which I hung above my bed. On it was a picture of a country lane with flowers along it and these lines:

“Only one life, ‘twill soon be past;

Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

And whatever is done for Christ will last. It will last forever in the lives you have blessed.