IMAGINATION
The Potter's House
The 'Potter's House' is a parable where the 'potter' represents one's own human imagination, and the 'clay' represents oneself or one's current state. To 'go…
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The Potters House
Tonight’s title is “The Potter’s House.” This story is told in the 18th chapter of the book of Jeremiah. “The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, ‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ So, I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.” (Jeremiah 18:1-4) Now, as we told you last week, these stories are parables. You have to extract the meaning from the story. In the 64th chapter of the book of Isaiah you read, “O Lord, thou art our Father, we are the clay, and thou art our potter; we are all the work of thy hand.” (Isaiah 64:8) Here he equates the Lord our Father with the potter, and it is stated quite clearly that we are the clay. If I am to go down to the potter’s house, I need not move from where I am. For am I not told, “We are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in us”? (I Corinthians 3:16) So, where could I go, other than just where I am? So, this [indicating the body] is the “potter’s house.” The word potter means by definition in the Bible – if you take James Strong’s Concordance – it means imagination. It means “to determine; to form a resolution.”
The 'Potter's House' is a parable where the 'potter' represents one's own human imagination, and the 'clay' represents oneself or one's current state. To 'go down to the potter's house' means to turn inward, as the body is the temple of God. If one's 'vessel is spoiled' (one is not the desired self), the solution is to 'rework it' through imaginative acts, rather than discarding it.