Potter in Charge

People come in different shapes and sizes. This is true spiritually as well as physically. Some people have prominent positions, flourishing ministries, and seemingly easy lives. Others serve silently, experience setbacks, and are plagued by suffering.

It is God who determines the shape of each person's life. He shapes the believer according to the specific purposes He intends for that believer to accomplish. A Christian is unable to choose either his purpose or his shape.

When someone does protest, God remonstrates, "You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made would say to its maker, 'He did not make me'; or what is formed say to him who formed it, 'He has no understanding'?" (Isaiah 29:16).

Indeed, God does know what He is doing. He doesn't make mistakes. He doesn't blunder in His design. The believer who patiently and humbly allows himself to be molded by God, accepting the shape and style that God determines, is prepared to serve God according to His purposes.

Much will happen in the coming year that will contribute to the molding process. Some of it will be welcome and pleasant. Some will be difficult and demanding. Some will be painful and crushing. All of it will contribute to God's work of shaping.

May we determine in this year to submit to God's design. May we yield to His processes so that we are adequately prepared for what He wants us to do. Let us give the Potter freedom to do exactly as He wishes.

Prince of Peace

"For a child will be born to us ... and His name will be called ... Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).

Shalom - meaning to be safe, well, happy, and friendly - abstractly refers to welfare (health, prosperity, and peace). The word, used as a greeting, expresses a desire for the other person to be well on many levels. People can wish peace and wellness for others, but only the Prince of Peace can actually accomplish that objective. As the highest ranking person in the realm of giving peace, Jesus has sufficient dominion, authority, and power to provide peace.

Jesus creates peace in individual hearts.
Jesus establishes peace with God for those who are saved. "And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross" (Colossians 1:20). "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son" (Romans 5:10). "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).

The peace Jesus gives believers supersedes all other peace, providing peace even in difficulty and tribulation. "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you" (John 14:27). "And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7). "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

Jesus provides peace with other people.
Although naturally people struggle to get along, God creates a bond of peace between believers and enables them to live in precious peace with each other. "So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another" (Romans 14:19). "Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3).

It is not as easy to maintain peace with non-believers, due to the fundamental division that exists. "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34). However, a Christian still has the ability to enjoy peace instead of friction with family, friends, neighbors, and others. "Pursue peace with all men" (Hebrews 12:14). When Jesus enters the heart, relationships mend and improve.

Jesus facilitates peace within nations.
Entire nations can find peace in Jesus, which is what God intended for Israel. "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace!" (Luke 19:42). "The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ" (Acts 10:36).

Salvation through Jesus binds people across ethnic boundaries. "For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall ... so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body" (Ephesians 2:14-16). Peace can exist between Jew and Gentile. When Christianity has spread to new countries, rival ethnic groups have united in fellowship, and the aggression of war has lessened or ceased.

Jesus will establish peace in the world.
Jesus' millennial kingdom will bring the peace that the world has long sought. "But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain. ... I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall shatter them like earthenware" (Psalm 2:6,8-9). "And it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established ... and He will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war" (Micah 4:1&3).

The extent of peace in that kingdom will be incredible. "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven ... and he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years" (Revelation 20:1-2). "The bow of war shall be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; and His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth" (Zechariah 9:10). "And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:6-9).

Jesus will institute eternal peace.
The peace of heaven will be unmatched. "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth ... and there will no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping and the sound of crying" (Isaiah 65:17&19). And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain" (Revelation 21:4). This will be true and complete "Shalom" like man has never experienced before! "There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace" (Isaiah 9:7).

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men" (Luke 2:14).

Eternal Father

"For a child will be born to us ... and His name will be called ... Eternal Father" (Isaiah 9:6).

Of the four names of Jesus included in this verse, this one seems to be the most awkward. After all, Jesus is the Son. How can He be called the Father? We might struggle to understand this name without the book of John, but this name actually corresponds very well to the revelation included in John. Before considering the "Father" part, however, let's examine the "Eternal" part.

"He [Jesus] is before all things" (Colossians 1:17). In fact, "by Him all things were created" (v. 16); Jesus existed before the creation of the world. "He was in the beginning with God" (John 1:2). Revelation 1 and 2 call Jesus "the first and the last" or the Alpha and Omega. He has no beginning or ending. Both Psalms and Hebrews refer to Jesus as "a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (Hebrews 7:17), of whom the noteworthy distinction was that he was "without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life" (Hebrews 7:3). Jesus Himself claimed eternality when he declared, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am" (John 8:58). Jesus claimed the eternally existing name of God; this hallowed designation permeated the Old Testament, and the listening Jews knew exactly what Jesus was claiming, because they picked up stones to kill Him. Yes, Jesus is eternal.

Jesus can be called the Eternal Father because God is one. The remaining verses, all from the gospel of John, reveal the unity of the Godhead.

The Son and the Father have a unity of essence. What one is, the other is. "For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself" (5:26). Their existence is intertwined and interdependent. "I live because of the Father" (6:57). Whom one loves, the other loves. "He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him" (14:21).

The Son and the Father have a unity of operation. What one does, the other does. "Whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner" (5:19). "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working" (5:17). "Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes" (5:21). "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son" (5:22), so that the Son's judgment is the Father's judgment. Their fellowship with the believer can't be either/or; it has to be both together. "We will come to him and make Our abode with him" (14:23). Together they securely hold the believer. "No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father ... is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand" (10:28-29).

The Son and the Father share a unity of mission. Jesus came solely on His Father's authority, so that Jesus' mission was the Father's mission. "I have come in My Father's name" (5:43). "For I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me" (8:42). They are so united, that Jesus could not do anything apart from the Father. "I can do nothing on My own initiative. ... I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me" (5:30). "I always do the things that are pleasing to Him" (8:29). "I do exactly as the Father commanded Me" (14:31). Jesus could not even speak except to speak the Father's words. "I speak these things as the Father taught Me" (8:28). "For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. ... Therefore the things that I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me" (12:49-50). "The word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me" (14:24). There was no possible deviation in the unified mission, even when the result was death. "The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?" (18:11).

The Son and the Father share a unity of equality. The Jews recognized that Jesus "was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God" (5:18). When one is hated, they are both hated together. "He who hates Me hates My Father also" (15:23). They own the same things together. "All things that the Father has are Mine" (16:15). They share eternal glory together. "Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (17:5).

The Son and the Father share a unity of inseparability. One cannot be honored without the other being honored. "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father" (5:23). One cannot be known without knowing the other. "If you knew Me, you would know My Father also" (8:19). One cannot be seen without seeing the other. "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (14:9). They must be approached together. "No one comes to the Father but through Me" (14:6). They cannot be apart from each other. "I am not alone, because the Father is with Me" (16:32). They are in each other. "The Father is in Me, and I in the Father" (10:38). Ultimately, Jesus said, "I and the Father are one" (10:30).

Jesus, in flesh, was the revelation of the God who is Spirit. "No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him" (John 1:18). As odd as it may seem, Jesus is the Eternal Father.

Mighty God

"For a child will be born to us ... and His name will be called ... Mighty God" (Isaiah 9:6).

The word "mighty" means powerful; it is used of someone who has complete control, such as a champion warrior or mighty tyrant. The Hebrew word in this verse is actually the intensified version of another word that also refers to a valiant man or warrior; Jesus has greater power than the strongest human champion, requiring a superlative word. He is the Mighty God.

Jesus created the world and sustains His creation.
"For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16-17).

Jesus was mighty in His demeanor and words.
He spoke boldly, and no one dared to interfere (John 7:26). Even officers sent to apprehend Him returned empty-handed, declaring, "Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks" (John 7:46). Jesus' complete knowledge placed Him above question; it was obvious to His listeners that He "came from God" (John 16:30). When a band of soldiers came to arrest Him, a simple three-word response from Jesus caused them to fall to the ground (John 18:6). Even the ruler who examined Jesus had no trouble believing Jesus was a king (John 18:37).

Jesus performed miracles over nature.
He turned water into wine (John 2:9). He exponentially multiplied quantities of food to feed thousands of people (Matthew 14:15, Matthew 15:22). He orchestrated unexplainable catches of fish (Luke 5:6, John 21:6). He placed money in the mouth of a fish and caused that particular fish to be caught by Peter (Matthew 17:24). He caused a fig tree to wither precipitously (Matthew 21:19). He calmed a mighty storm (Matthew 8:26). He walked on the water in a stormy sea (Matthew 14:25). He caused a boat to immediately reach land from the middle of the sea (John 6:21). He appeared to disciples (and disappeared) by ignoring walls (John 20:19, John 20:26, Luke 24:31). He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9).

Jesus performed miracles of healing.
Jesus healed what might be considered normal illnesses, those that come within the course of life, and that sometimes reach the point of being life-threatening. He healed the nobleman's son (John 4:46), Peter's mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14), the centurion's servant (Matthew 8:5), and Malchus's severed ear (Luke 22:51).

Jesus healed demon-possessed people: a man with a demon (Luke 4:35), a blind-mute man with a demon (Matthew 12:22), two violent men with demons (Matthew 8:28), a mute man with a demon (Matthew 9:32), a woman who couldn't stand upright due to a demon (Luke 13:11), a child with a cruel demon (Matthew 15:22), and a demon-possessed boy who was very sick and in danger of killing himself (Matthew 17:14).

Jesus healed those with long-term and life-long conditions. He healed a paralytic man (Mark 2:4), a man with a withered hand (Matthew 12:10), a woman with a twelve-year hemorrhage (Matthew 9:20), a bed-ridden man with a thirty-eight year illness (John 5:5), and a man with dropsy (Luke 14:2).

Jesus healed terminal illnesses. He healed a leper (Matthew 8:3) and even ten lepers at the same time (Luke 17:12).

Jesus restored lost senses. He healed two blind men (Matthew 9:27), a deaf and dumb man (Mark 7:33), a blind man (Mark 8:23), a man blind from birth (John 9:1), and two blind men (Matthew 20:30).

These lists are certainly not exhaustive, as other passages reveal that this activity was habitual for Jesus, and that He sometimes healed multiple people in a single setting (Luke 4:40, Mark 1:34). These passages don't reveal details, but simply relate that He healed many or as many as came to Him or all manner of illnesses. "They brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them" (Matthew 4:24).

Jesus performed miracles of resurrection.
Jesus raised a widow's only son (Luke 7:11). He raised Jairus's daughter (Matthew 9:18). He raised Lazarus after he was in the tomb for three days (John 11). He even took back His own life after He was crucified (Luke 24:6, John 10:18).

Jesus has power that can be considered nothing but divine.
The blind man Jesus healed recognized His divine power, stating, "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing" (John 9:33). Jesus demonstrated His power to forgive sins. "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" (Matthew 9:6). Jesus has the power to hold fast the eternal security of His followers. "I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:28). Jesus has the power to build and protect the church. "Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it" (Matthew 16:18).

Was Jesus the Almighty God? Undoubtedly and indisputably. Though born as a baby in a manger, He was in fact God and had all the divine power belonging to God. Jesus continues to exercise His divine might as He still stands as the world's only Savior.