The Potter's Field
By Jerry Ousley
Do you
remember those art classes in school when you had to make
something of clay? I remember making an ash tray for my Dad once
(he smoked then but hasn't for many years now). It was a lot of
fun molding and rubbing that clay to get it into just the right
shape. But I'm no artist. When that thing was finished it looked
like a lumpy little dish. It wasn't geometrically correct. One
side was higher than the other and I wouldn't have wanted to use
it to make a perfect circle, that's for sure!
Matthew 27:5-10 tells us the story of Judas after his betrayal
of Jesus. He was full of deep remorse and regret. Somehow, in
his mind, he felt that they would put Jesus in jail at best. I'm
not denying that he was "The son of perdition," the Bible tells
us this. But he was still a man. After he realized that they
were going to kill Jesus he returned to the Jewish leaders and
tried to return the thirty pieces of silver he received for
"selling Jesus out." Of course, they had Jesus where they wanted
Him and there was no way they were going to back out of this
deal.
The Bible tells us that Judas cast the money down, then promptly
went out and hung himself. This was a negative reaction to his
sorrow; instead of repenting, he ended his life in sin.
The point I really want to make, however, is this: The priests
took the thirty pieces of silver and bought the potter's field
with it designating it as a place to bury the poor. It was
called "The field of blood." It is really interesting that
hundreds of years before Zechariah had prophesied this very
thing to happen. Hear the words of Zechariah 11:12-13: "Then I
said to them, 'If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and
if not, refrain.' So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces
of silver. And the LORD said to me, 'Throw it to the
potter-'that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty
pieces of silver and threw into the house of the LORD for the
potter." WOW! Talk about prophecy being fulfilled!
The cool point about this is that in Jeremiah 18 the potter is
compared to God, molding and remaking vessels of clay. We are
compared to those vessels. Jesus paid the terrible price for sin
so that we could be thrown to the potter and there be remade
into something beautiful for God. Regardless of how wealthy we
are or how poor we are as far as this world is concerned, we are
all poor when compared to God. Our poor souls can never measure
up to His holy and righteous standards. We are all in a hopeless
situation without the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I'm sorry He
had to die for our sin. But I'm glad He loved us so much that He
allowed Himself to be sold for thirty pieces of silver and paid
the price for our sin on the cross. I'm glad He is the Master
Potter and we can be thrown to Him and become new creations in
Christ.
All it takes is for us to yield ourselves to Him. Allow Him to
have His way in our lives and live by His word. When we do it
will simply amaze you as to what God will and can do for your
life. Submit to the Potter today!
Jerry D. Ousley is the Author of three books, "Soul Challenge",
"Soul Journey" and "Ordeal." Listen to our daily broadcast
Spirit Bread. Find out more by visiting www.spiritbread.com
or email us at jousley@spiritbread.com
