Jar Broken

The Sovereign Lord is Righteous, Holy and Just. There is none above Him. As I am taken to this Bible verse, I immediately jump to the story as I know it. Here is the familiar text.

Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you. Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching. Jeremiah 19: 1 – 2 and 10.

Our free and unmovably Wise Lord and Supreme Teacher, who is never boxed in or made to follow convention, as human minds expect, has taught me, once again, that He is the Teacher and He uses whatever He wishes, to teach His students exactly what they need to know.

Our patient and ever correcting Master has had to move me from the boundaries of a little learning, to make me totally surrendered to Him, in order for me to receive this personal word. It is in this part of one verse, that simple, plain facts about His perfect right to me, have been brought. 

Believers in the Lord, we know that Jesus has died to save us. We know that we are His. We know that He loves us, but still we lack. Our Loving Lord has seen that even though we know that He loves us, we do not live as though He and He alone has perfect right to us. Our actions and responses to so many of life’s commanding, intimidating and chilling experiences, evidence that we do not know, in our mortal clay, in these jars of clay, that we are the Lord’s and His alone. We are His mortal jars and He is jealous for us.  

I offer you now, our Lord’s words, which will divinely draw you ever so close to Him. As the Present Spirit has opened me to receive, may He do the same for you.

In one of John Wesley’s great hymns, which speaks of Christian Holiness, he calls on the Saviour, Jesus, to assist him with His heavenly grace. John Wesley prays for his entire being to be taken over by his Lord’s Love, so that he will hear and speak of no other love but his Saviour, Jesus. As his prayer in song continues, he writes this, that has been pulled out before me.

Henceforth may no profane delight,

Divide this consecrated soul;

Possess it Thou, who hast the right,

As Lord and Master of the whole.

Lord Jesus Christ, You have the right to me, all of me and mine, for You are Lord and Master of the whole of me. Grant me a responsive heart and a yielding spirit. Remove me from what I know about Jeremiah chapter nineteen, and free me to come as a willing student, to learn all that You show and tell me. Amen! 

Jeremiah, God’s prophet, has been given a mission, where the words he speaks to the children of God must be visibly seen by them. The Lord wants visibility and clarity so that all will understand exactly what God is saying to them. The Lord wants the same for us, as He speaks this word to all who will hear and accept. It is in the instructions given to Jeremiah that we are given clarity and visibility, so that all will be understood by the smallest and simplest minds.  Listen to the instructions given to Jeremiah in the above quoted text.

• Go to the place of a potter where jars are made.

• Buy a clay jar from the potter.

• With the jar in your possession, journey to the place I have named. Take along with you some leaders – elders and priests.

• With jar in hand, proclaim all the words that I have told you.

• Break the jar while those who have gone with you are watching.

It is from these given points that a life-picture has been erected for you of who your God is, and who you are in His Hands.  

Consider these facts as you listen to the story of a clay jar and how it was radically changed for life.

This is a jar which has never been bought before. It is a jar that has been in the potter’s workshop from the time it was crafted. It is a jar that has known no freedom whatsoever. It is a jar that belongs only to the potter.

You are the clay jar, the earthen vessel that has been taken and shaped in the mold and mind of the world. The deceiver is the potter who has done a perfectly good job in making you an earthen vessel of the world. You are his. You must understand this image of truth. As the clay vessel was in the potter’s place, so too you are in the deceiver’s place. The devil has perfect right to you – no one else.

This jar is bought by Jeremiah, from the potter. Note these very pertinent and solid facts.

• The jar never went to Jeremiah to be bought. He went to the potter’s place for it.

• The jar was paid for in full. No bartering took place. The asked for price was paid. There is nowhere, where it states that Jeremiah bargained for the jar, hoping to beat down the potter’s price.

You are the bought clay vessel. Jesus came down to earth where you lived. You were in the form and fashion of the deceiver, your master. Jesus faced the evil one and asked to purchase you. The agreed price was paid, the price of Jesus’ life, His precious blood. Jesus made absolutely no bargains or deals, nor did He try to get any adjustments made in the asked for price.  Nothing was paid on hire purchase or any such, no down-payment offers. Jesus made a one-time payment in full, for your life. 

The Lord has perfect right to you – no one else.

This jar, once purchased by Jeremiah, was taken away from the potter’s place, to a new place. Jeremiah never bought it and asked the potter to hold it for him until a later date. He took it away from the potter’s place immediately as he bought it. It was now in the hands of Jeremiah.

You are the taken away clay vessel. Jesus never bought you with His Life and then asked the deceiver to keep you until He returned to get you. Jesus never said to the evil one; hold her or him, on your shelf for me until I come back. No! A thousand times, no! Jesus bought you and brought you out of the house of sin, straightway. He took you away from the devil. You are now in the hands of the Lord.

The Lord has perfect right to you – no one else.

This jar now has a new owner. The potter was no longer its owner, for Jeremiah now earned the title of owner. This meant that the jar now lived under different management and control. Jeremiah, not the potter, decided what to do or what not do with the jar. From the time the jar was bought, the potter had no claim whatsoever to the jar. In fact, he became powerless to wield any authority over the jar.

You are the property of Jesus, your new owner. Jesus earned, fairly and squarely, the right to the title of ‘Owner’ of your life. This means that you are now under the control and dictates of Jesus, not your old master. From the time Jesus bought you, the devil lost his claim to you. In fact, the devil has become powerless to have any authority over you. You belong to Jesus and no other.

The Lord has perfect right to you.

This jar was bought for a specific purpose; never forget that.  Jeremiah bought the jar, so that it could serve him. He never bought it just to put it down as a show piece.  It was bought to serve and to serve, it had to be broken.

You are the earthen vessel, of the Lord, bought so that you can worship and serve Him. Jesus never bought you and left you in the hands of the deceiver to keep you, until His return. He saved you from the stronghold and slavery to Satan, so that you may serve Him and Him only. To serve the Lord, He has to break you. Unless your heart, mind and will are broken, unless your, self is denied, unless it dies to you, you will not show God, in thought, word and deed.

God’s Perfect Right in you.