Threshing, Molding, and Baking the Good Bread

     Adam, who was taken from the ground, means "red". Theologians submit that "Adam" means red clay and represents all mankind. Adam is the progenitor of all men. Thus, Adam means mankind and red clay. God took Adam from the dust and breathed life into him (Gen 2:7). The breath of life which reforms mankind is "living water" (John 4:10).  Adam seems to have been molded into what he was, and logically, both physically and spiritually. That red clay has significance throughout Scripture, and Job validated the process:

Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me. Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again? (Job 10:8-9).

     It seems that Job knew that mankind, or Adam, was taken from the dust and molded from the clay. The implication is that there was some sort of liquid added. I submit that that "liquid" was the Holy Spirit represented by living waters. Keep in mind that the Tree of Life was watered by the River of God. 

And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Rev 22:1-2).

     The Tree of Life is Jesus, not only symbolically but physically and spiritually. Jesus was there in the beginning. (John 1:1-2,14). The Living Water is the "water of life". "It" must have been used to wet the clay which God fashioned into the first man.  The Tree of Life bore "twelve manner of fruits". Mankind is to be Christlike and bear the same fruits. (Hang onto that thought for a moment).    Adam was made in the image of God. It is written, that he was made in "our image". The conclusion must be that Adam was made in the image of the Creator, the Tree of Life, and the Living Water - or Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Adam was thus made pure! God mixed those ingredients with the dust and molded man. Job once again attested to that:

Behold, I am according to thy wish in God's stead: I also am formed out of the clay. (Job 35:6).

Let's examine an analogy from Holy Scripture:

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. (Jer 18:1-6).

      The Word revealed to Jeremiah that the house of Israel - the line of Abraham and Isaac through Jacob - that the vessel which is made from clay - those of that seed - would be marred in the hands of the potter. In other words, God allowed Satan to sabotage the vessel. However, God replaced the old "vessel" with a new one. This represents a change from the Old Covenant with the New One - from works to grace. Likewise, it represents a change from the old creation to the new creation, or how those not righteous are born-again. (2 Cor 5:17).
     Isaiah conforms that contention with those words: 

Now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. (Isa 64:8-0)

     In the beginning God made Adam with moldable clay. He molded mankind into what he wanted him to be. Adam and Eve, who was taken from his side, were taken from the pure virgin dust, mixed with Water, had life breathed into them, and became a living creature. The first - or original sin - changed all that. Mankind became a dying creature when the yeast was added to the clay. Those born-again are transformed from the dying creature back into the living creature! The Potter remolds the clay as Isaiah said as God removes the iniquity from the creature. The process of doing that is called "sanctification" - the clay being transformed back to it's pure unadulterated condition.

     In another place, the clay - mankind - is represented as dough: "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." (Gal 5:9). Since mankind was created in the image of Jesus who is the bread of life that has significance. (John 6:35). We are the lump of dough which the Baker makes into bread. Leaven is yeast. In Scripture, yeast represents sin many places of which the following is one:

Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: (1 Cor 5:6-7).

     "Your glorying" is mankind lifting up himself which is pride, the original sin when mankind came to think they are gods (Gen 3:5). The yeast - sin - contaminated the whole lump of dough which was intended to be bread, or the image of Jesus.  The removal of the leaven is what happens when one is born-again. Thus, unleavened "bread" is dough without yeast and is the justified person. God took the grain threshed out - the good grain from the bad - adds living water - removes the naturally infused yeast, and good bread is formed in God's hands. The reforming of the dough is the process of salvation. It turns contaminated bread back to it's original condition after being threshed.
     In my series Killing God, it is explained that the "threshing floor" represents God's judgment. He makes the bread from what was threshed. That is God having church with his creatures!
     In these stories, God is the Farmer who grows the grain, the Miller who threshes the good grain from the chaff, the Creator who made the dust, the Potter who created molded man from the clay, the Baker who cleanses the natural yeast, and the same Potter who remolds the man back into his intended "shape". In those stories are the Innocence, Testing, Judgment, Transformation, and Sanctification. Those are the story of mankind. Even without the yeast in the dough, God raises mankind. Sin can do that too but people must have God's leaven. The bread is made with love from God.
     The good bread is mankind bearing the twelve fruits: love, kindness, etc. from the Vulgate's Galatians 5:22-23. After the dough is made without yeast, being cleansed by all things - the blood of Jesus - it's made into good bread. The flesh has been transformed by the blood from marred clay into remolded clay. Dough and clay don't seem to go together but in God's shop it does! (I laughingly think of Playdough as I write this.)
     Whatever the ingredient, God transforms from what was contaminated into what is made righteous - molding us into His own manner.
     Bread made with yeast quickly molds. Clay can be easily broken if it is too brittle. The clay of which Israel's seed was used became brittle and broken. Unless the impurities are removed the Church and its people can be broken as well. Going back to the "dough" analogy, the rapture is when God raises the good dough even without the yeast.