It is all because of His mercy; in His sovereignty, God as our Potter has the authority to make the ones whom He has selected and called to be vessels of mercy unto honor and glory.
It is not because of our seeking, our zeal, our being better than others, or our background or ability – it’s all because of God’s mercy.
The basic teaching of the whole Scripture is that God as the content wants to come into us as the containers for us to receive Him, be filled with Him, and express Him not only individually but also corporately as one corporate vessel.
So God is the content: He went through a process so that He may be contacted, received, and enjoyed by us; we are the containers: we have a tripartite vessel to receive what God is and has done.
When we receive God as the content, when we’re filled with God and we allow Him to fill us and spread into all the parts of our inner being, we become a vessel of mercy unto honor and glory, and corporately we are a corporate vessel to contain and express the Triune God.
We must contain God and be filled with God so that we may be vessels unto honor, sanctified, useful to God, and prepared for every good work. However, many times we have to admit that we are filled with other things.
To be filled with something means that when others touch you or speak to you, something “spills over” from the fullness within.
Some people are filled with what the news say, others are filled with their career, sports, travelling, or some hobby.
Many young people try to fill themselves with what social media websites and apps have to offer; apps such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, and many other try to fill the human vessel, but they never satisfy.
Some try to fill their vessel with the things they do, with the things they think of, or the things they work on; some try to fill their vessel with the things of this world, others with feelings and emotions, and others with pleasures and entertainment.
All these are vain replacements for the real content, which is God Himself.
Only God can satisfy, and we were created in the image of God to receive God and contain God as our content; when we do this, we are full of meaning, but when we don’t contain God and are not filled with God, we are chasing after the wind, we try to obtain vanity of vanities, and we are a senseless contradiction.
May we not be self-complacent now, as believers in Christ, thinking that once we have Christ, it’s all good; may we seek to know Him, receive Him, be filled with Him, and be satisfied with Him, always emptying ourselves from anything else and seeking to be filled with Him.
We are Chosen by God according to His Mercy: His Mercy Reached us and made us Vessels of Mercy
The most far reaching of the attributes of God is not His grace or love but His mercy; His mercy goes further than His grace.
If we are in a good condition and have a proper standing, we can receive God’s grace; but if we are unworthy, sinners, and fallen, only His mercy can reach us.
When we apply the blood of Christ and confess our sins, we are qualified to receive God’s grace; but when we’re still in sin, far from God, and we are so wrapped up in the world and the things of this life, only God’s mercy can reach us.
According to our natural condition, we were far removed from God; we were totally unworthy of God’s grace, and we were eligible to receive only His mercy.
The reason we are saved and we enjoy the Lord today with the saints in the church life is not because we are more seeking than others, we’re smarter than others, or we love God and pursue Him more than others.
Rather, it is because of God’s mercy. God’s mercy reached us; none of us were in a condition that corresponded to His grace, so He reached us in His mercy, and He is daily reaching us in His mercy.
This is the reason that, when we touch the throne of grace, we first receive mercy and then find grace for timely help (Heb. 4:16).
We may feel that now that we’re saved, we are all right, and we don’t sin as much or don’t commit evil deeds like the sinners do; however, it is only God’s mercy that can reach us and can qualify us to participate in His grace.
In His sovereignty God as our Potter has the authority to make us, the ones whom He has selected and called, to be vessels of mercy unto honor and glory (Rom. 9:11, 18, 21-24).
God selected us, He called us, and He made us vessels of mercy; then, in His love and grace, He makes us vessels unto honor and glory.
We need to thank and praise the Lord for His mercy, for we were chosen by God according to His sovereign mercy; He reached us and saved us out of our wretched position into a condition that is suitable for His grace and love (Eph. 2:1-4; Heb. 4:16; Matt. 5:7; 7:1; 9:13).
God decides to show mercy to whomever He shows mercy. Grace can’t reach us until mercy first comes to us; we need to receive God’s mercy until we are in a position and condition to receive God’s grace and eventually His life.
Both mercy and grace are the expression of God’s love, but mercy reaches us no matter what our condition is.
Praise the Lord, man’s disobedience affords God’s mercy an opportunity, and God’s mercy brings man to salvation (Rom. 11:32)!
Praise the Lord that He had mercy on us, and praise Him, He will have mercy on whomever He has mercy!
It is because of God’s mercy that we responded to the gospel when others did not respond, and it is because of God’s mercy that we received a word about Christ as life when others refused to receive it.
It is because of God’s mercy that we took the way of the Lord’s recovery when others drew back from taking this way.
It is mercy all, immense and free, that our God found us, saved us, brought us into the church life and still keeps us in the church life enjoying the Lord with all the saints!
We all can testify that we are in the church life in the Lord’s recovery not because we are smarter or more seeking, not because our behavior is better than others’ and we are more special, but because in His mercy God made us vessels of mercy, earthen vessels of mercy unto honor and glory!
Thank You Lord for Your mercy which reached us! Thank You for choosing us according to Your sovereign mercy, for Your mercy is far reaching, reaching ever further than Your grace and Your love. Thank You for reaching us where we are, saving us out of our wretched position into a condition that is suitable for His grace and love. Hallelujah, we were created to be vessels of mercy to contain Christ as the God of mercy, and it is because of God’s mercy that we received the gospel, we received Christ as life, and we are in the church life! Oh Lord, it’s mercy all, immense and free, that You found us, saved us, and brought us into the church life to enjoy You with all the saints! Thank You Lord for Your mercy!
It’s not of him who Wills or who Runs: It’s all of God who Shows Mercy – Everything Depends on God’s Mercy
In Rom. 9:15-16 Paul clearly shows us that God has mercy on whomever He will have mercy, and it’s not of him who wills nor of him who runs but of God who shows mercy.
Our concept is that if we will something, we will gain what we will, and if we run and seek something, we will gain what we run after.
If this were the case, God’s selection would be according to our effort and labor, and only those who “deserve God” can receive God, only those who are strong and willing can receive His grace, and only those zealous can enjoy His love.
On the contrary, God’s selection is not based on our running or willing but of God who shows mercy; we don’t need to will or to run, for God has mercy on us.
What we need to do is realize we are vessels of mercy chosen by Him, and we can just enjoy Him as grace and love for He had mercy on us.
If we know God’s mercy and realize that it’s all of God who shows mercy, we will neither trust in our effort nor be disappointed by our failures, for our hope is in God’s mercy.
The hope for our wretched condition is in God’s mercy (Eph. 2:4). Everything depends on God’s mercy.
Everything that happened to the children of Israel was not because they were more special or more seeking or more zealous than other people, but because of God’s mercy (Rom. 9:16, 23).
When we come to the throne of grace, we receive mercy, which qualifies us to receive grace for timely help.
God’s mercy bridges the gap between us and God’s grace; His mercy reaches wherever we are, even in our lowest condition, and He clothes us with Christ as our righteousness to be our qualifying robe for us to enter into the enjoyment of the riches of God in Christ.
Thank the Lord that His mercy is always available to us; He made us vessels of mercy unto honor and glory, and we can receive His mercy every day.
There must be at least one time when we see God’s mercy and definitely touch His mercy; especially in these troublesome times, during the lockdown in our city and country and the coronavirus epidemic running wild all over the earth, may we come to the Lord to touch His mercy.
Concerning this matter, our eyes need to be opened at least once; there must be at least one time when we see that everything depends on God’s mercy.
Especially the young ones and the young adults need to realize this and touch God’s mercy at least one time so that they see that everything depends on God’s mercy.
The older ones have already passed through so many failures and mistakes and, if they touched God’s mercy, they are aware that they are vessels of mercy and all depends on God’s mercy.
But when you’re young and you think you deserve to be saved and be in the church life, because you’re so full of zeal and strength…the Lord will have mercy on both young and old.
In His mercy God will allow circumstances and things to take place, and we will fail; and when we do fail, we will thank Him that we are a vessel of mercy.
Whether we see this all at once or we realize it through a process, the minute we touch this matter, we touch a not a feeling but a fact; the fact is that everything depends on God’s mercy.
Thank You Lord for having mercy on us; You have mercy on whomever You will have mercy, and in Your mercy You reached us and saved us. We stop our running and struggling and we simply open our vessel to You, Lord, for You created us to be vessels of mercy unto honor and glory. May we know Your mercy and touch Your mercy so that we may not trust in our effort nor be disappointed by our failures but realize that the hope for our wretched condition is in God’s mercy. Amen, Lord, may we realize that everything depends on God’s mercy. We worship You for Your mercy and we depend on Your mercy to be qualified to enjoy Your love and grace.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 98-99 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, week 5, God as Our Sovereign Potter Making Us His Vessels, His Containers, to Contain Him.
- Hymns on this topic:
– He left His Father’s throne above, / So free, so infinite His grace; / Emptied Himself of all but love, / And bled for Adam’s helpless race: / ’Tis mercy all, immense and free; / For, O my God, it found out me. / ’Tis mercy all, immense and free; / For, O my God, it found out me. (Hymns #296)
– God, we praise Thee for Thy mercy, / ’Tis so great and so profound! / In our weakness and our failures; / With its greatness it abounds. / We adore Thee! we adore Thee! / With such mercy we’ve been crowned! (Hymns #26)
– Father, to us Thy mercy Thou hast shown, / In Thine own way; / Sinners like us as dear sons Thou wouldst own, / In love for aye. / Vessels of mercy, Thou didst us prepare; / Vessels of honor, we Thyself declare. (Hymns #25)
