Good evening, everyone, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #37 of Revelation 2, and we are continuing to look at Revelation 2:27:

And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

We are at the point in the middle of the verse where it says, “as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers”  This is a longstanding illustration God uses in the Bible.  He refers to Himself as the Potter and to mankind as vessels of pottery.  For example, it says in Jeremiah 18:1-10:

The word which came to Jeremiah from JEHOVAH, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of JEHOVAH came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith JEHOVAH. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

In this passage God is speaking to the house of Israel, and He is comparing them to the vessels of a potter.  God also speaks of a kingdom and a nation, and we will find as we look into this word “potter” that God likens Himself to a potter insofar as His relationship to those that are identified with Him, like Israel of old or the New Testament churches and congregations.  In those relationships, He treats some as vessels of honor, and some as vessels of dishonor.  He saves some, His elect, and He recreates them as new and good vessels out of their ruined state.

On the other hand, for the unsaved that are not His elect, they continue as vessels that are marred and ruined by their own wickedness.  God has chosen to allow them to remain in that dishonorable state.  

So this really applies to all people because God is the Creator of all men, but He does use this figure to describe the judgment on the churches.  For instance, in the next chapter, it says in Jeremiah 19:1-3:

Thus saith JEHOVAH, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests; And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, And say, Hear ye the word of JEHOVAH, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.

We recognize this kind of language.  God is judging His people, as judgment begins at the house of God, the New Testament churches, due to their unfaithful dealings with the Word of God.  Then it says in Jeremiah 19:10-12:

Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, And shalt say unto them, Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury. Thus will I do unto this place, saith JEHOVAH, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:

Again, God is likening Jerusalem and its inhabitants to a potter’s vessel, and when it is time to judge them for their rebellion against Him, He speaks of breaking them as one would break a potter’s vessels, or as a potter breaks the marred pottery.

So we are clear that God does use this language of a potter breaking the vessels to typify the judgment that came upon the churches.  Yet it is more than that because the same language is used to describe the judgment on the entire world.

But let us look at one more place where God uses this picture to portray judgment on the churches, as typified by Israel.  It says in Isaiah 30:8-14:

Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of JEHOVAH: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.  Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.

God is breaking those that despise His Word, although they profess to be His people; they were Jews of old, or they were certain Christians of the New Testament era.  They would tell you that they love God.  And yet when God comes forth with His Word, it is uncomfortable for them to hear because it does not flatter them, and it is not “smooth” enough for them.  It is a hard thing, and often that is the case with the Word of God, the Bible.  It is not a pleasant thing, but it is something that God opens in His Word that is a “hard thing,” and it is difficult to hear. 

It may be a grievous thing to bear, like the truth of the end of the church age.  It was not an easy thing for a man who is a child of God, but he knew his wife was so grounded in that church that she will never leave.  Yet out of obedience to the Lord, he must leave, and yet his wife insists that his children must go to a place that is under the judgment of God.  It was not an easy thing.  It was an extremely difficult thing as God was calling His people to come out of the churches while there was still hope that God might bless some unto salvation, but none could be blessed in that way within the churches and congregations. 

The Word of God, which is true and faithful, is what has come forth from His mouth, and that Word that pronounced judgment on the churches was despised by those who stayed in the churches.  They blamed the messengers that brought that Word and pointed out the verses, and they said, “See what it says here in Jeremiah and Ezekiel – we have to leave the churches because the church age is over and God’s wrath is upon them. 1Peter 4:17 explains to us that judgment begins at the house of God, which is the church.”  But they would not listen.  They wanted no part of it.  In that rejection, they despised the Word of God.  In the New Testament, the word that is translated as “despise” is also translated as “reject,”  because rejecting God’s Word is akin to despising it.  You are not hearkening, or obeying what God has said, and therefore you have despised His Word.  If you despise His Word, that means you despise Christ because He is the Word of God.  

That is why the true believer is very careful in studying the Bible to see if these things are true because we would never want to despise, or reject, the Word of God, the Scriptures.  But some are quick to reject these things because they do not like it.  It does not sound right to their ears, or it does not sound at all pleasant, and yet that is the nature of the Word of God in many cases.  It is often not “easy things” that God brings forth from His Word, but they are “hard things” that declare judgment and wrath upon mankind for their sins.  And it was certainly a hard thing when God revealed in the Bible that the church age was over, and 100% of them were under His judgment.

Likewise, it is a very hard thing that God is now teaching that the whole world is under His judgment, and that the door to heaven is shut, and that He has put out the Light of the Gospel unto salvation.  Certainly it is not easy for the true believer because the child of God loves and cares for people that are giving no evidence of salvation, and to know that the day of salvation is over, but the true believer holds onto the hope that God may have saved this person before He shut the door.  And yet we see no “movement” by that person in the direction of obeying God and the Bible, even though we are continually praying for that person.  It is a grievous and sorrowful thing, and yet the true believer cannot do anything but accept what God has taught in His Word.

So someone who professes to be a believer will say, “This is not a right thing, and it is certainly not a smooth thing for us to hear.  It is a hard thing, and therefore I reject it.  I will not listen to it.  I will not even check it out.  I am done with it.”  And yet these people had better be careful because that is how the Word of God is often despised, and it has been that way with many hard truths of the Bible, but mankind wants his own way.

Again, here in Isaiah 30, God is speaking of His rebellious people, and He uses the picture of breaking them as a vessel is broken by the potter, and they will be broken in pieces.

The Hebrew word that is translated as “potter” is also translated a couple of different ways.  God allowed the translators to do this.  You know, it is amazing how God worked through the translators of the Bible, especially the King James Bible, which is the best English translation by far compared to any other English translation.  God allowed them to take the same Hebrew word, and He allowed them to translate it in one, two, or several different ways.  In doing so, He hid truth.  He used this to hide bits and pieces of truth.

The word “potter” is also translated as “formed” in Genesis 2:7-8:

And JEHOVAH God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And JEHOVAH God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

How does the potter make his pottery?  He takes clay, and he “forms” the vessel that he wishes to form.  He makes it, shapes it, and gives it a particular design.  So God formed man of the dust of the ground.  We are made of “clay.”  We are made of dust.  Remember it says in Psalm 103:14: “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.”   He knows what we are made of, as we are the work of His hands.  He has taken the material that is part of this earth, and this earth was created by Him.  He formed the earth, as well as the whole universe.  And God took some dust of the ground, and He molded it.  He used His hands, in a sense, as the hands represent the will in the Bible.  He fashioned us alike, and he created man and breathed life into us, and we became living souls, creatures created in the image of the Creator Himself.  We were created in the image of God, and when we were originally created, we were given a spirit that could have lived forever, but Adam and Eve disobeyed, and since we were all in Adam, we all fell and lost that original blessing, and we became marred pieces of pottery.  We became dishonorable vessels that were “good for nothing,” and worthless.

You know, if you are a potter and your work is to make pottery, and you form a vessel that somehow got ruined, what are you going to do with that piece of clay?  You break it to shivers, and you throw it in your trash pile, and it is all broken to pieces.  That is the picture God uses as He speaks of judging mankind for his sin.  It is our sin, and it is our own doing, and it has caused our vessel to become dishonorable, marred, and to experience ruination, ending in the condemnation of destruction.  It is interesting that God uses that word “destroy” to describe His wrath upon mankind.  He will destroy us, finally, and we will be destroyed and perish forever, if we are not saved.  That bad piece of pottery is a vessel that is good for nothing, and God’s plan is to destroy it.

This word “potter” that applies to God is also translated as “maker” in Isaiah 45:7-12:

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I JEHOVAH do all these things. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I JEHOVAH have created it. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth? Thus saith the JEHOVAH, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

It could be said, “Woe unto him that striveth with his Potter.”  What a glorious illustration God is giving us of His creative work.  He is the Creator.  There is none else.  He is the One who created all things from the beginning.  He is the One who spoke and the world came into the existence, as well as the stars, sun, and moon.  He is the One who created the mountains, the seas, the hills, the valleys, the trees, the animals, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and the creeping things that creep upon the ground.  He is the One who created mankind.  He is the Potter.  He is the Maker.  He is God, and that is what He does – He creates.  He is infinite in His wisdom, and He is infinite in His might, and this creation is a demonstration of His awesome ability to create a world, and to create creatures to inhabit the world He has created.

And what are we?  We are just one of those many creatures.  Just look around at the variety of animals and their beauty, and all the glorious work of God we see in the variety of animals that inhabit the earth.  Have you ever seen a nature video, like a video that gives us a glimpse into the depths of the sea, with all the beautiful creatures that God has created, including creatures that man has only recently seen.  It has been only recently that man has cameras that can go so deep into the sea, and we can see these creatures that God created to inhabit the depths, and they are just incredible in their design in all their splendor and grandeur with which God has fashioned them.

And man is just one of His creatures, and we are the highest form of His creatures because He has created us in His own image.  But He is the Potter, and we are only an earthen vessel, like an earthen bottle, and we are like the potsherd of the earth.  Dare we strive with the Potter?  Dare we speak back to Him and say, “Why have you made me this way?  Why have you not made me more beautiful?”  Some people look at themselves in the mirror.  What are we doing when we look in the mirror?  We are examining the handiwork of God.  He is the One who gave us our face and body.  He is the One who fashioned us exactly like we are, and yet we look in the mirror, and we say, “I do not like this, or that.  Why have you made me thus?  Why do I have this kind of personality?  Why do I have that weakness?” 

And it often involves striving with God over His plan for mankind and for me as an individual.  We do not like what He has done in placing us in the home we find ourselves in.  Maybe we are a wife, and we do not like the husband the Lord has given me.   We are not satisfied with the job the Lord has provided for us, and so forth.  We are dissatisfied with the thing God has made, and we are a mere creature critiquing the Creator’s handiwork.  We can only ask, “Who are we to strive with our Maker, and to argue and fight with God?”  We are doing something that was never intended.  The pottery is simply a work of the Potter, and we are a creature that God has created, a creature that was meant to serve the Creator.  The sooner we realize it, by the grace of God, and the sooner we submit ourselves to the Potter and accept His lot for us, the happier we will certainly be.