The Potter
7/17/26 Bible Thought (Jeremiah 18-19)
Main Idea: God is Sovereign over the nations and can do as He pleases, just as a potter shapes clay.
A Look at the Text:
Once again, in today’s text, God gives His prophet an illustration.
Jeremiah was to go to the potter’s house and listen for God’s message to him. As he arrived, he saw the potter working, but the project was marred. So the potter destroyed his project, putting it back into a lump of clay, and he started over.
God showed Jeremiah through this that He was truly the potter and Israel was the clay. Just as the potter can do as he pleases with the clay, so God can do as He pleases with nations.
If the people of Judah would listen to God’s words, heed His warnings, and return to Him, they could be spared (Jer. 18:8). If they refused, then the Potter had every right to start over (Jer. 18:9-10).
God called through His prophet for the people to amend their ways, but they never listened. So destruction would come. God was going to bring ear-tingling tragedy upon Jerusalem (Jer. 19:3).
With this, Jeremiah was given another illustration. He was commanded to buy a potter’s vessel and smash it before the elders of the people at Topheth, just outside of Jerusalem (Jer. 19:1-11). This was the place formerly used for child-sacrifice to Molech—a perfect place for a decree of just judgment.
Now, Topheth would be renamed the “Valley of Slaughter” (Jer. 19:6). Judgment was decreed, and it was sure to come.
Bringing it Home:
The Scripture consistently presents that God can do as He pleases. As both the Creator of all and the One sovereignly ruling in the heavens, God doesn’t need anyone’s permission for anything He does.
Just as the clay is entirely subjected to the potter’s hands, so are the nations subjected to Him and His hand.
This in mind, we must always remember that He is the Creator; we are the creature. He is the Sovereign; we are His subjects. He makes the rules, and we are expected to follow them.
Some people may not like how God runs things, but God doesn’t run a democracy. He is the King, and therefore we must submit to Him and His decrees or face His judgment. There is no option C.
Challenge:
Do I take God’s Word seriously?
My reading this morning was in Isaiah 29. Verse 16 uses the potter image as well. That took my mind to Romans 9, where Paul says something similar. Then to the "jars of clay" picture in 2 Corinthians 4. Now you have taken it to Jeremiah, which I am thankful for. It is amazing how God's word forms all these images into a beautiful vessel. Thank you for sharing this!