By Still Waters

Chapter 3

The Potter

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. (Isaiah 64:8)

The Name

We lived for thirty years in the Potteries in North Staffordshire, where world-famous ceramics companies were located—Wedgewood, Royal Doulton, Minton, and others. What makes the pottery famous and valuable? The name.

The Bible says Christians are “called by His name.”

When Saul was directed to Ananias’s house in Damascus, the Lord said to Ananias, “Saul is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15).

In Acts 15:13–18 (TLB), we read that Paul was in Antioch to deal with a division among the believers about circumcision.

When they had finished, James took the floor. Brothers, he said, listen to me. Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to bring honor to his name.

This fact of Gentile conversion agrees with what the prophets had predicted. For instance, this passage is from the prophet Amos.

Afterwards says the Lord, I will return and renew the broken contract with David, so that Gentiles, too, will find the Lord—all those marked with my name. That is what the Lord says, who reveals his plans made from the beginning. (Acts 15:17 TLB)

What a privilege that we believers are called by His name. It was in Antioch where His followers were first called Christians. Peter referred to the name “Christian” in 1 Peter 4:16: “If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.” The NLT renders this verse as “It is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name!” In the NIV, the verse ends with “Praise God that you bear that Name.”

Bearing the name of Christ brings responsibility not to dishonor His name. It also requires boldness. Many Christians have suffered martyrdom for being loyal to Christ. There is a contrast in the action of the apostle Peter who had denied being a follower of Jesus, saying “I know not this man.” (Mark 14:71).

The Clay

Ceramics are made from clay. Some would say clay is good only for growing roses. What is clay? A smelly, dirty, slimy substance like mud, like us in the sight of God. But in the hands of the Potter, the clay is transformed into something new.

Though Paul was to bear the name of Christ (what an honor!), he was only clay. But on the road to Damascus, he was changed to a vessel of honor to bear the name of Christ. If you are a true believer, then you too will be changed. The Bible states that if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation, and we honor His name.

Where does the clay come from? The pit! We remember a beloved brother who in his prayer would often say, “Lord, You took me out of the pit, the pit!” That is precisely what the Lord has done for us just as the psalmist explained in Psalm 40:1–2

I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

The Potter

The skilled potter moulds the formless lump of clay on a wheel with his hands and feet on a treadle and fashions it into a beautiful object. When Jesus was resurrected, He appeared to His disciples and showed them His hands and feet.

Jesus is like the Potter who changes a horrible lump of clay into a beautiful object. He did it by being crucified; He suffered at the hands of God and paid the penalty of our sins.

Unfortunately, the unbeliever has said in his heart, just as the prophet Isaiah predicted in Isaiah 29:15–16 (NLT).

The Lord can’t see us, they say. He doesn’t know what’s going on! How foolish! He is the Potter, and He is certainly greater than you or me, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, He did not make me? Does a jar say, The potter who made me is stupid?

Today evolutionism passes as high science denying that we were formed by the Potter. How wonderful to know that the Potter is still working on us and that one day, He will produce a masterpiece that will be fit for His presence in heaven. Paul wrote,

For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:20–21 ASV)

Thank you, Lord.