Day 9/26 – Earthen Vessels

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
Earthen Vessels
Day Two Hundred Sixty-nine

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7

Again and again Paul reminds us of our precious Possession. Christ who dwells in us is in sharp contrast to the container. We are a vessel, made like a piece of pottery, destined to again return to dust. There is nothing about us that warrants the indwelling Christ. It matters not how great we may think we are, a drop of contaminated water or a breath of bad air can kill us. We are frail and easily destroyed. The earthen vessels are not just our frail bodies, but weak, suffering, perishing people.

Paul contrasts the visible means and the effects produced as proof that the sufficiency is not in us, but in God. Any propensity to pride is quickly dispelled by the reality of this contrast between the vessel and its Possession. God designed us in this fashion so that the power in spreading the gospel should be recognized as His. He chose humble instruments so that all could know that the power of the gospel could not have been produced by our own ability.

Life surrounds you with infirmity; Christ surrounds you with glory. The infirmity is yours; the glory is God’s. The simplicity of your vehicle calls attention to the glory of the Occupant.

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Isaiah 1-2 Galatians 5 (New King James Version)

Isaiah 1-2
Judah Called to Repentance
1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The Wickedness of Judah
2
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!
For the Lord has spoken:
“I have nourished and brought up children,
And they have rebelled against Me;
3
The ox knows its owner
And the donkey its master’s [a]crib;
But Israel does not know,
My people do not [b]consider.”
4
Alas, sinful nation,
A people [c]laden with iniquity,
A [d]brood of evildoers,
Children who are corrupters!
They have forsaken the Lord,
They have provoked to anger
The Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away backward.
5
Why should you be stricken again?
You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart faints.
6
From the sole of the foot even to the head,
There is no soundness in it,
But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;
They have not been closed or bound up,
Or soothed with ointment.
7
Your country is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire;
Strangers devour your land in your presence;
And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8
So the daughter of Zion is left as a [e]booth in a vineyard,
As a hut in a garden of cucumbers,
As a besieged city.
9
Unless the Lord of hosts
Had left to us a very small remnant,
We would have become like Sodom,
We would have been made like Gomorrah.
10
Hear the word of the Lord,
You rulers of Sodom;
Give ear to the law of our God,
You people of Gomorrah:
11
“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?”
Says the Lord.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fed cattle.
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs or goats.
12
“When you come to appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?
13
Bring no more futile[f] sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.
The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
14
Your New Moons and your appointed feasts
My soul hates;
They are a trouble to Me,
I am weary of bearing them.
15
When you [g]spread out your hands,
I will hide My eyes from you;
Even though you make many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of [h]blood.
16
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil,
17
Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke [i]the oppressor;
[j]Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.
18
“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.
19
If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
20
But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword”;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
The Degenerate City
21
How the faithful city has become a [k]harlot!
It was full of justice;
Righteousness lodged in it,
But now murderers.
22
Your silver has become dross,
Your wine mixed with water.
23
Your princes are rebellious,
And companions of thieves;
Everyone loves bribes,
And follows after rewards.
They do not defend the fatherless,
Nor does the cause of the widow come before them.
24
Therefore the Lord says,
The Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel,
“Ah, I will [l]rid Myself of My adversaries,
And [m]take vengeance on My enemies.
25
I will turn My hand against you,
And thoroughly[n] purge away your dross,
And take away all your alloy.
26
I will restore your judges as at the first,
And your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”
27
Zion shall be redeemed with justice,
And her [o]penitents with righteousness.
28
The destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together,
And those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
29
For [p]they shall be ashamed of the [q]terebinth trees
Which you have desired;
And you shall be embarrassed because of the gardens
Which you have chosen.
30
For you shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fades,
And as a garden that has no water.
31
The strong shall be as tinder,
And the work of it as a spark;
Both will burn together,
And no one shall quench them.
The Future House of God
2 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2
Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
3
Many people shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4
He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning [r]hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.
The Day of the Lord
5
O house of Jacob, come and let us walk
In the light of the Lord.
6
For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob,
Because they are filled with eastern ways;
They are soothsayers like the Philistines,
And they [s]are pleased with the children of foreigners.
7
Their land is also full of silver and gold,
And there is no end to their treasures;
Their land is also full of horses,
And there is no end to their chariots.
8
Their land is also full of idols;
They worship the work of their own hands,
That which their own fingers have made.
9
People bow down,
And each man humbles himself;
Therefore do not forgive them.
10
Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust,
From the terror of the Lord
And the glory of His majesty.
11
The [t]lofty looks of man shall be humbled,
The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down,
And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
12
For the day of the Lord of hosts
Shall come upon everything proud and lofty,
Upon everything lifted up—
And it shall be brought low—
13
Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up,
And upon all the oaks of Bashan;
14
Upon all the high mountains,
And upon all the hills that are lifted up;
15
Upon every high tower,
And upon every fortified wall;
16
Upon all the ships of Tarshish,
And upon all the beautiful sloops.
17
The [u]loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low;
The Lord alone will be exalted in that day,
18
But the idols [v]He shall utterly abolish.
19
They shall go into the holes of the rocks,
And into the caves of the [w]earth,
From the terror of the Lord
And the glory of His majesty,
When He arises to shake the earth mightily.
20
In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver
And his idols of gold,
Which they made, each for himself to worship,
To the moles and bats,
21
To go into the clefts of the rocks,
And into the crags of the rugged rocks,
From the terror of the Lord
And the glory of His majesty,
When He arises to shake the earth mightily.
22
Sever[x] yourselves from such a man,
Whose breath is in his nostrils;
For [y]of what account is he?
Footnotes:
• Isaiah 1:3 manger or feed trough
• Isaiah 1:3 understand
• Isaiah 1:4 Lit. heavy, weighed down
• Isaiah 1:4 offspring, seed
• Isaiah 1:8 shelter
• Isaiah 1:13 worthless
• Isaiah 1:15 Pray
• Isaiah 1:15 bloodshed
• Isaiah 1:17 Some ancient vss. the oppressed
• Isaiah 1:17 Vindicate
• Isaiah 1:21 Unfaithful
• Isaiah 1:24 be relieved of
• Isaiah 1:24 avenge Myself
• Isaiah 1:25 refine with lye
• Isaiah 1:27 Lit. returners
• Isaiah 1:29 So with MT, LXX, Vg.; some Heb. mss., Tg. you
• Isaiah 1:29 Sites of pagan worship
• Isaiah 2:4 knives
• Isaiah 2:6 Or clap, shake hands to make bargains with the children
• Isaiah 2:11 proud
• Isaiah 2:17 pride
• Isaiah 2:18 Or shall utterly vanish
• Isaiah 2:19 Lit. dust
• Isaiah 2:22 Lit. Cease yourselves from the man
• Isaiah 2:22 Lit. in what is he to be esteemed

Galatians 5
Christian Liberty
5 Stand[a] fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is [b]a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
Love Fulfills the Law
7 You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.
11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. 12 I could wish that those who trouble you would even [c]cut themselves off!
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
Walking in the Spirit
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: [d]adultery, [e]fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, [f]murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 [g]gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Footnotes:
• Galatians 5:1 NU For freedom Christ has made us free; stand fast therefore, and
• Galatians 5:3 obligated
• Galatians 5:12 mutilate themselves
• Galatians 5:19 NU omits adultery
• Galatians 5:19 sexual immorality
• Galatians 5:21 NU omits murders
• Galatians 5:23 meekness