“The Potter” (Isaiah 64:8)

Isaiah 64:1-9

Listen to Sermon

Pastor Tom Johnson, December 3, 2017

Our Advent prayers are bold and urgent: “Stir up your power, O Lord, and come!” And we pray simply, “Come, Lord Jesus!” Today’s reading from Isaiah has a similar ring: “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down!” Isaiah remembers how God came down before. The pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night came down from heaven. This is how the Lord came before: as a luminous body on Mt. Sinai. He shook the mountains. Fear seized the hearts of God’s people. He gave the Ten Commandments. Now Isaiah prays for God to do the same thing for all nations—that God would gather his army, raise the heat, turn up the noise, and shake the world—that every human being would be obedient to God and worship him in spirit and truth. When we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.” We pray for the Lord of hosts to come in his glory, to roll back the heavens as a scroll, to judge the living and the dead, to right every wrong, and to make all things new.

But Isaiah remembers the fullness of who God is. He remembers that all of us are sinful even those of us who consider ourselves the people of God—especially if we call ourselves the people of God: “We have all become like one who is unclean,” the prophet says, “and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.” “Stir up your power your power and come”—“Tear open the heavens and come down” to me the sinner—to all of us who live in this beautiful and broken world. Jesus himself says he came not for the righteous but for the sinner. Isaiah remembers this gracious God: “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter, we are all the work of your hand.” Those hands we want to tear open the heavens are potter’s hands. And we are the clay. The Potter laid out the universe and shaped the stars, planets, and moons. He took the clay and dust of the earth and fashioned Adam—and all humanity—from the bottom up and breathed into his nostrils the spirit and breath of life. God continues his creative work. Each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made by the Potter. We are all his clay. He molds and shapes us into vessels of his glory. As his earthen vessels, we have purpose and usefulness in the Kingdom. A few months ago, Professor Tietz gave a group of us a tour of the Oriental Institute. We saw for ourselves the pottery of the day. Some is used for perfume, some for oil, wine, grain, water, and any number of uses. So God gives us many diverse, unique and useful gifts.

But it is also unsettling. It can even be painful. It one thing to ask for his hands to go to work in the world. It is quite another to invite his fingers to work in our individual lives. He confronts our sin and imperfections. The Potter puts us lumps of humanity on the kick wheel and spins us. He carves away what we don’t need and what’s not good for us—every weight and sin which clings so closely. He squeezes, presses, and pulls us into shape. Do we still want to pray, “Stir up your power and come”? Are you and I malleable? Or have we become hardened—hard-hearted like old Pharaoh who would not be shaped or changed by God. God is the master Potter. He just adds water, the Spirit, and the Word of Baptism to transform our dry, stony hearts into soft, moldable clay. “We are they clay, and you are our Potter.” “Soften me, mold me, shape me, transform me into a vessel of honor and usefulness for your Kingdom. Stir up your power and come.”



I love what Isaiah says about God in his prayer: “You did awesome deeds that we did not expect.” God does the unexpected. The Potter is not predictable. He is full of glorious surprises. He came down on the mountain to give the Ten Commandments. It was glorious, fearsome, and transformative. But it was also unexpected. As Christians, we should remember how unexpected it is for God to send his only Son into the world and take on human flesh. Stir up your power and come, indeed! He came from heaven to earth. The Eternal stepped into time and space to be born of the virgin Mary. The Potter took on clay. He is both an earthen and heavenly vessel. He came to stir things up. He challenged the people of God. He confronted the abuse of power—of religious and civil leaders. He confronted our sin and brokenness. He is the Potter who has come. His hands healed. His hands reshaped the world. Those potter’s hands were pierced on the Cross but they were also extended out to the world in acceptance and forgiveness. He stirred up his power and transformed the rock-hewn tomb from a symbol of death and decay to promise of eternal life and victory. He ascended into heaven at the right hand of the Father where he continues to stir up his power and come. By his Word and Spirit he makes all things new. We are not just inviting the Lord of glory into the world when we pray. We invite the Potter to reshape our lives here and now. We invite an artist and life-transformer—the Potter. We are the clay. He is the Potter. He makes all things new. Amen, come Lord Jesus.