We Are the Clay, God Is the Potter (Isaiah 64-66)

We Are the Clay, God Is the Potter

 

Isaiah 64-66

 

The Bible is basically a book of revelation. It is because, through the words in the Bible, God reveals us the future things that were planned by God and are to happen in the coming ages. Thus, with the word of God, we can learn about things to come, be warned, and be prepared for the future. If we don’t read the Bible as “God’s Word on future things,” we may not get any benefits from reading the Bible. The biblical view of history is “linear,” and it is also “purposeful.” That is, the history has its beginning and the end, and the process between the two, and it goes in the way and direction of fulfilling “God’s purpose” encompassing all human souls according to “God’s plan.” Our history is a story about what God does to “each person” in this confined space and time created by God in order to achieve the purpose of “the Only Living God.” Therefore, God’s revelations are scattered around throughout the books in the Bible, and thus, they are all interconnected and are pointing to the same “one ultimate consummation.” Isaiah is one of the major prophets in the Old Testament, and the Revelation in the New Testament was written around 800 years later. Still the last part of Isaiah contains many texts reminding us of the Revelation, the last book in the Bible prophesying about the Last Days of the world. For example, in Isaiah 65:17, the Lord God says, “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” Revelation 21:1 also says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.” In Isaiah 65:25, the Lord says, “The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” and Revelation 21:4 says, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” With regard to the City of Jerusalem, furthermore, in Isaiah 66:12, the Lord says, “I will extend peace to her (that is, Jerusalem) like a river, and the glory of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees,” and Revelation 21:23-24 says, “The city (that is, Jerusalem) does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.” One more, in Isaiah 66:24, the Lord says, “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind,” and Revelation 20:10 says, “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Considering all these verses, we can see that God keeps telling us about “the final consummation in the future” through the generations by sending his prophets and lastly his Son Jesus Christ.

 

Then, what is the “purpose” that God wants to achieve through this history? I would like to think about God’s purpose based on Isaiah 64:8 of today’s text. It says, “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” According to this verse, we are the clay, and God is the potter who forms the clay. Moreover, this God is our Father. The purpose that God wants to achieve through the history is “making us, who are like the clay, into God’s children.” God, who is good, has the same glorious purpose for all the souls in the world. Nevertheless, this purpose may not be fulfilled for all of them. It is because some of them do not admit God’s being the Father and the potter, and our being the clay. In Isaiah, we can find some verses showing this. Isaiah 29:16 says, “You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘You did not make me’? Can the pot say to the potter, ‘You know nothing’?” In addition, Isaiah 45:9 says, “Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’?” In these verses, man is described merely as “what is formed,” and “nothing but a broken piece of a pot on the ground.” Still, they deny God’s being the potter who made them, and despise his power and wisdom. So they reject God’s good work on them.

 

In order for God’s good purpose to be fulfilled among us, we must remember that we are “the clay.” This is not a metaphor. In fact, God made man out of the dust of the ground. Genesis 2:7 says, “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” God made man with two elements. One is the dust of the ground and the other is “the breath of life.” As the man sinned and fell, however, he became “flesh.” Therefore, the Spirit of God couldn’t be with him any longer. Having fallen into the miserable situation, people should have become humble and their hearts poor. They should have come to God, repenting and seeking his forgiveness, salvation, and restoration. But they didn’t do so. Genesis 6:5-6 says, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.” As a mere flesh, man cannot please God at all. During the days of Noah, people forgot God, and instead, they enjoyed their days of flesh to the fullest, “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark” (Matthew 24:38). Even after the Flood, they, instead of seeking God’s glory, tried to build a high tower with bricks and tar reaching to the heavens so that they might make a name for themselves (Genesis 11:3-4). In verse 5 of today’s text as well, Prophet Isaiah deplores, “You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved?” Verse 7 also says, “No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins.” God is always good and does good to us, but we continue to sin and provoke his anger. Our boasting righteousness is rather our sin and dirt. So, verse 6 says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” Truly, we are merely dust and clay. Apart from God, our being is itself unclean, weak, and vanishing very quickly. Nevertheless, God never loses his hope for people. And he gladly becomes the potter who forms us in his good purpose.

 

We are hopeless clay.  Yet, thankfully, we have a hope because God is our potter. But this hope is a true hope only when we are alive to God our potter. Who are those who are alive to God the potter? Isaiah 66:2 says, “‘Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?’ declares the Lord. ‘These are the ones I look on with favor:  those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.’” According to this verse, God shows his favor to and take care of “those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at his word.” Simon was a fisherman who was catching fish in the Sea of Galilee. One day, Jesus came to him and said, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch” (Luke 5:4). To this word of Jesus, Peter answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Peter told about his poor situation honestly. “We’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.” Peter was poor, and also humble enough to admit his poorness. His poorness and humility should be ours. Our life is like Peter’s overnight fishing, “having worked hard all night but having caught nothing.” We sweat in the ground all the days of our life, and then return to the ground with empty hands (Genesis 3:19). We must remember that there is no hope in me, but only in God. On the other hand, despite his failure, Peter listened to Jesus’ word, and he obeyed the word. He said, “But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” He had his own way to catch fish, which he had learned through life-long experiences. But he didn’t insist on his way, but followed what Jesus said. He caught fish in the way instructed by Jesus. Isaiah 65:2 says, “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations.” Most people walk in “ways not good, pursuing their own thoughts.” They ignore God’s callings and sayings. Considering this, it is really amazing that Peter, who was a fisherman, denied his own thoughts and obeyed Jesus, letting down the nets exactly as Jesus told him to do. When he let down the nets in obedience to Jesus’ word, Peter caught a large number of fish until his nets broke and his boat sunk. Seeing the large number of fish caught, Peter fell at Jesus’ knee and begged, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). In the presence of Jesus, Peter found himself a miserable sinner. The Bible doesn’t mention what sins he had committed. His contrite heart is a natural, and unbearably painful shame and fear that a man feels when he finds his naked self fully exposed to God. Jesus comforted Peter who was in extreme distress, and said to him, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” Jesus showed his favor to Peter who “was humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembled at his word.” And he called Peter who was like coarse clay, and formed him into “a fisher of men” (Mark 1:17).

 

We are the clay. We are poor, having nothing precious, and are sinful, doing nothing righteous. Nevertheless, God gave us extremely precious gifts. They are Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. Figuratively saying, with these gifts, God gave us both of “his body” and “his heart” out of his love. And these gifts are for forming us, who are the clay, into “God’s children.” John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” And Romans 8:14 says, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” When we receive and believe in Jesus, the Word of God, we are given the right to become children of God, and when we are led by the Spirit of God, we are now the children of God. Truly Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the gems of God’s love to us, transcending all the blessings we may expect from God. Still, there is another gift that we are waiting for. What is that? It’s I, I not as clay but as God’s child, the best of me who is holy, glorious, and everlasting like our first brother Jesus Christ. Without this gift, all the good things we may have in God are nothing. Jesus says, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16:26). This is true, and this is why God sent us his Son, and his Spirit to us. It is for me. It is to form me into the best of me. It is to form the clay into his child. This is God’s sole purpose of history. And God who began a good work in each of us carries it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6). We are the clay, the clay alive to God by trembling at God’s Word and following God’s Spirit. Whether through washing in water or through refining in fire, may our Father form each of us into his holy vessel!!!