Jars of Clay

Paul reminds us that we are but jars of clay.

In 2 Corinthians Paul calls the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit the light. Nice illustration. It's very reminiscent of the Creation story, when God said 'Let there be light.' But Paul doesn't stop his illustration there. He goes on to compare us to ceramic jars that are filled with light.

Read Paul’s words here:

… God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 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 4:6-7).

Nice. But where did Paul get this second illustration from? The first was from Genesis 1, but the second is a nod at Gideon’s famous jars of clay.

Do you remember Gideon from the Book of Judges? Do you remember the military tactics of Gideon? He was a master military commander. If you recall, Gideon commanded 300 soldiers to fill jars of clay with fire, smash the jars, and with that bold tactic, he defeated an army of Midianites--an army which would have destroyed the people of Israel!

We will also win a great battle when our bodies, which God sees as jars of clay, become transformed in the blinking of an eye into glorious shining light. When brittle clay becomes a blazing torch, at the Rapture, then we'll experience our victory against Death.

Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.

“Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon.’”

Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars.

Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.

When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords (Judges 7:16-22).

Remember: What does this have to do with us? You'll only understand it if you recall the Bible's teachings on the Rapture.

In a Flash

The Scriptures tell us why Gideon’s victory was based upon the sudden flash of light coming from broken jars. It wasn't only because the sound scared the Midianites. It's because the torches represented something.

The torches represent our spirits. The torches are the spirits of Christians who have been born again. Yes, we have immortal spirits once they are activated and quickened by the Holy Spirit.

Now, our spirits within us, if they have been baptized by the Holy Spirit, will allow us to be transformed into glorious shining immortal new people. But the obtaining of a glorious new body, what Paul calls spiritual bodies (1 Corinthians 15:44) only happens once our natural bodies have been done away with.

They must be shattered the same way Gideon's jars of clay were shattered.

… we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the Last Trumpet. For the Trumpet will sound, the Dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed… then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory’ (1 Corinthians 15:51-54).

The Resurrection

Just think of our potential! Because we have the light of the Holy Spirit in us, the moment we are freed from our temporal bodies, what were jars of clay will be transformed into glorious bodies of light. This is possible because 'you are but dust and to dust you shall return' [Genesis 3:19]).

Once our clay vessel is broken, and dust returns to dust, and the power of the Holy Spirit revives our spirit, then our great enemy Death will be defeated forever! We will have become immortal.

That's the Rapture. That's the Resurrection. Paul describes it well for us in the following passage.

So will it be with the Resurrection of the Dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: 'The first man Adam became a living being'; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the Earth; the second man [Jesus] is of Heaven.

As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the Earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of Heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the Last Trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the Dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?'

The sting of Death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:44-56).