Christmas is the time we celebrate, in a special way, the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Coming to be born of a woman, to take on flesh and be like unto us, sin excepted! I’m not one to exalt the Christmas season because as a believer I celebrate the birth of Christ every day, along with His death and resurrection as I celebrate Him and the salvation that He brought for His people. So a post on vessels of mercy might not seem too Christmassy but as I rejoice in Christ Himself I also rejoice in the reason He came, to save His people from their sins. I rejoice that I am a vessel of mercy!

“Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor.”-Romans 9:21

“What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.”-Romans 9:22

“And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory.” –Romans 9:23

These are familiar, well loved scriptures for those of us who believe in the Sovereignty of our God, a God who makes man for His own purposes, for His own Glory, who molds from the clay, as the potter, vessels for His use. Scripture tells us that He molds two types of vessels, some that are fitted to destruction and have been prepared to be the objects of His wrath and some that have been made to know the riches of His glory and to be filled with His mercy.

O, the riches of His glory that He has made known to those He has elected from before the foundation of the world to be vessels of His mercy. We are undeserving, we deserve to be under His divine wrath just as the vessels of dishonor, but we are not!

He reveals to us that as vessels of mercy we have been predestined to glory (Romans 8:30). God has given us to Christ and Scripture tells us that by His suffering He will bring many sons unto glory (Hebrews 2:10). Our own light afflictions in this life work for us “an eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17) with the suffering being temporal yet that which we cannot see and what we long for is eternal, it is our inheritance; we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. . It is in this hope of glory that we now rejoice (Romans 5:2) These are the riches that are revealed to us, the predestinating will of our Father, that we are His vessels of mercy

The Word became flesh willingly to dwell among us to accomplish His Father's will, that is our celebration at Christmas.

Hallelujah what a Saviour!