Observe the potter who takes clay from the ground and begins to apply pure water to the clay. The potter is adding water to the clay to soften it so it will yield to his hands. Water is also used to wash the clay as his hands are shaping it into the vessel he desires. The water removes everything that is not pure clay, such as sand, debris and just plain ole dirt.
After it is washed and shaped as the potter desires, it is placed in a oven under very high temperature, 500 degrees or more, until it is hardened. If the clay retained impurities in its chemical composition, the impurities would cause it not to cure properly; it will crack or have faulty spots. After it has hardened, it can no longer be molded and is of no use to the potter; it is tossed away. If it was pure clay, its chemical composition and physical characteristics changes and hardens into a useful vessel.
God’s children are clay in the Potters hands. The water is His word by which we are baptized in the removal of all worldliness. His hands are symbolic of His Holy Spirit in which we are baptized in the shaping of our life in the spirit.
The oven is the baptismal by fire, the testing of our faith, His finishing work. If the clay yields to the Potter, He will make the vessel into what He desires of it and set it into service according to His good pleasure. God’s purpose for mankind has never changed; if the clay yields, He will make a vessel in His image and the vessel will manifest His glory in the earth whether it is male or female.
James C Sanford
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