The Potter's Clay! What Christian truths are symbolized?

What crucial truths are taught from these verses and the symbolism found there? (See Gen. 2:7.)

Jer. 18:1-10 
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, 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 the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? Saith the Lord. 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.

We are like the clay in the potter’s hand, even though we are “marred”, God can make us perfect if we have faith in Him.

Isa. 29:16
Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not?  Or, shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

They had no just views of truth. They deemed mere formality to be all that was required. They attempted to conceal their plans even from God; and everything in the opinions and practice of the nation had become perverted and erroneous.

Their perverseness was as if God should be respected as much as we are, that is, as if God was no more qualified to do anything than we are.

Isaiah is showing the right that God has to do with his creatures what he thinks is right.  We have no right to complain because, like the potter He is our Creator. It is absurd for us to complain to God as if He has no intelligence, and no right to make us as He does. It would be absurd for the piece of pottery to complain of the potter as if he had no skill as it is equally absurd for us to complain to God as if He did not have any wisdom.

Isa. 45:9
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?

Potsherd means broken piece of pottery, representing fallen man.   The scripture is saying that we should let the people who are broken, struggle, with the others that are similarly broken here on earth, we are not to fight and argue with them.  We are supposed to go to God for understanding, but when God does give us an answer we are not to question the answer.

Isa. 64:8
But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
Their condition then had been produced by God as clay is molded by the potter, and they would be returned and restored entirely by Him – We have no power to restore ourselves than the clay had to the power to reshape itself. We are totally in his hand and at his disposal the being that transforms us.  Go has the power to mold us as the potter has the power to mold the clay.

We have been formed by God, and we are dependent on God to make us what He wants us to be. This whole verse is an acknowledgment of the sovereignty of God. It expresses the feeling which all have when under conviction of sin; and when we are sensible that we are exposed to the divine displeasure for our transgressions. It is then we feel that if we are to be saved, and it is by the mere sovereignty of God.

Rom. 9:18-21

Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

We can rest assured that, despite the reality of human free will and free choices, and the often calamitous results of abusing that free will, in the end, we can hope in the absolute sovereignty of our loving and self-sacrificing God, whose love is revealed on the cross. Evil won't triumph; God and His love will. What a hope we have!

Whatever other truths are found in the image of the potter and the clay, it does teach us the ultimate sovereignty of God. That is, however hopeless the situation might seem to be, the symbolism of the potter and the clay shows us that ultimately, despite the wrong or even willfully wrong decisions that people make, the Lord is in control of the world, regardless of appearances now.

Living By Faith.

Proverbs 29:25, “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe”. The verse says that the confusion and wretchedness we have in the fear of what a person can do to us, is contrasted with the security of the one, who not only "fears" the Lord, so as to avoid offending Him, but trusts in Him as his protector and guide by faith alone.

Man, on his own cannot know what is right or what is wrong.  To understand the truth of what is right and what is wrong, man must first understand and obey God’s Universal laws as found in the Bible.  Jesus Christ gave strict instructions on how man can understand the truth to gain what we need to live in this life and secure eternal life.  Jesus Christ said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33). 

Trusting God and following His commandments instead of our own wishes, needs to be our first priority.  If we do not learn and follow God’s commandments, we are actually committing idolatry.  A Christian must choose to do what God has told us to do and then have the faith to let whatever happens to us, in the hands of the Lord.

Keeping the Law and having Faith, is living by the commandments of God and Obeying His laws as written in the Bible.  It is not living by the doctrines of man, and trusting in the consequences of your own actions.  The Bible says that if you keep God’s law, you are actually waging war on the wicked. 

The people who keep the law are actually considered wise by God and do not run the risk of shaming their parents.  But, if you turn away from the law and refuse to obey it, and then pray to God, your prayer is as much an abomination to God as any other sin a person could commit.  (Proverbs 28:4, 7, 9).   

The acquisition of wisdom is not done by some intellectual or spiritual exercise.  Wisdom comes from an obedience to a law that comes from outside of our own existence, personal psychology, desires, and culture.  It comes from God’s eternal law as written in the Bible.  You are justified to eternal life by your faith in the eternal law of God which ultimately points to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  (Romans 1:16-17).

Seek the Lord in your daily life.  It is the very law of God that identifies sin and if you cannot identify what sin is, you are in danger of committing sin against God and this ultimately leads to an eternal death. (Romans 7:7-13).  What makes the commandments of God, as written in the Bible, different is that they come directly from God and by living by these laws, you are effectively living a life with God.  The law points us to Jesus Christ and by following it we are then justified by faith.  (Galatians 3:24).  By obeying the law we are drawn closer to the Lord and to the salvation He offers us through our faith in Jesus Christ.

People who do not understand and follow God’s law do not understand the fact that they will be judged by the same standards that the people who follow the law are judged.  People who do understand and follow the law, have a complete understanding of what is at stake, eternal life.  There is no such thing as blind faith.  True faith comes from the knowledge of God’s law.

There are strong words for the Rich who feel they are blessed by God.  If you do not abide by the words of the Bible and follow the commandments of God, it says that the love of God is not in your heart.  This person, no matter how rich he is, will perish like all worldly things will perish, he will lose eternal life.  People are warned not to gain their riches at the expense of those who have less than they do. (Proverbs 28:8).  You will be blessed if you give to the poor. (Proverbs 28:27).  Your riches should come to you as a result of hard work and not by chance.  (Proverbs 28:19).

The Bible also has a handbook for the Poor.  Both the poor and the rich who oppress the poor in order to gain their wealth, were created as equals.  God will shine the light of truth equally in both their eyes. (Proverbs 29:13).  God tells us that you are to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44-45).

Proverbs 28:3 goes on to point out that rain is supposed to be a blessing and be fruitful.  It also says that a driving rain can destroy the crops.  People who are blessed by riches should be careful that they do not become likewise destructive by taking advantage or oppressing those who have less in life.  “Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.” (Proverbs 28:6).  God will reward a righteous poor person far more than any physical wealth that can be obtain in this world.

It is more important for any person to have faith, that by understanding and obeying the laws of God, they are far richer than if they would or could obtain all the wealth that this world has to offer.  This world and all its wealth will perish, along with all the unrighteous.  But, the knowledge of God’s law and obedience to it give us eternal life.  It was King Solomon who said that the only real progress a person can make in this life is by understanding and obeying the laws of God as written in the scriptures and, with the help of God, living by them.

MAN HAS QUESTIONED DEATH SINCE THE BEGINNING.

Death has probably been on the mind of every human being since the time when Cain killed his brother Able. Adam and Eve were living under the first lie that Satan told them, that “...“You will not surely die”...”. In the very beginning God told Adam and Eve a very basic truth. That truth is the fact that man is not immortal. Man can die! 

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2: 16-17)

But Satan told Eve a different story.

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’? And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3: 1-6)

Satan, the serpent in the Garden of Eden, is questioning Eve on commands that God had Given to her and Adam. God had instructed them that they were not to determine for themselves what is good and what is evil. God wanted them to come to Him so that He could instruct them, teaching them what is right and what is wrong.

Satan on the other hand told Eve that she didn’t need to go to God for answers. He said that they could make decisions on their own. That they could determine for themselves what was right and what was wrong. Satan convinced Eve that God was lying to them. Satan told Eve that God did not want them “. . . knowing good and evil . . .” because they “. . . will be like God . . .”. Satan told Eve that God was withholding information from them because God did not want them to become like God. Eve, being the vain woman that she was, decided she wanted to be like God.

God told Adam and Eve that if they turned away from Him, did not look to Him for instruction and decided to make choices apart from God, this would eventually lead to their death. They would cease to exist. They would be no more. God did not tell them that they would stop living as they were but would continue on in some other plane of existence whether it be heaven or hell. God made it plane and simple. He said they would die.