The Potter's Hand

"I am the potter, you are the clay." Many of us have read this but do we know the original context and scripture this thought is found in? Here is where it comes from:

“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel." Jeremiah 18:6

Those of us who belong to Yah through His Son, Yahshua have the prospect of being molded to God's purposes. The house of Israel was in a covenant relationship which they freely entered into at Mt. Sinai. Those of us who have been purchased under the better covenant through Yahshua's blood have the same prospect although now God's Son is the agent through whom the molding takes place. This is why Paul stresses the importance of the building up and uniting of Christ's Body which is his assembly or church.

"from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." Ephesians 4:16

Like a body builder, Yahshua builds his body up! He is the head of the body and hence still part of it but he molds and sculpts each part, each individual so that we grow in faith and support each other in love. Yah is still the originator of this power to transform but He has given it to His Son to mold us to be co-heirs in God's Kingdom. Once set by the potter's hand we can say:

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." 2 Corinthians 4:7

Who Am I?

Then he asked them, "But who do you say I am?" Peter replied, "You are the Messiah." Yahshua asked this question of his disciples because he wanted to gauge their faith in God's promise to Moses which was this:

"I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him." Deuteronomy 18:18

Didn't Yahshua fit that description? Look at his genealogy as cited in the Book of Luke. He is a Jew! "A prophet like you from your brothers", means he would be a Hebrew man like Moses. Regarding having the Father's words put into his mouth, Yahshua said:

"I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me." John 12:50

Yahshua is citing the source of eternal life which included his own because he was not immortal. He could not truly die for us if he wasn't but immortality has been given to him as a reward by the Father. Secondly he confirms who he is by saying that he speaks just as the Father has told him. So I believe Yahshua asks us the same question today. When Peter said, "The Messiah!" Mark 8:29, we should realize that Yahshua said Peter was correct! Attempting to add to or alter that answer based on later traditions and surmised doctrines will always be a mistake.
The Messiah=Son of God=King of Israel who will rule the earth from that Kingdom.