In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Gen 3:19)That seems benign - you will die! I'll address the emphasis on "dust" firstly: It appears that Adam was formed from red clay. "Clay" has great significance in the Bible because it represents people: God molded and remolded the nation of Israel, or so it seems:
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 18:3-6).Literally, that meant the Israelite people, but figuratively in meant the first Adam. Isaiah beseeched God to come out of Heaven and show His face (Isa 64:1). Why? "But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. (Isa 64:8). It is God who molded Adam-kind from clay and remolded his soul back to the original condition - cleansed from sin. Adam was repaired, but merely washed, only to be soiled again! God did that for Adam: "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam (Jesus) was made a quickening spirit" (1 Cor 15:45). Adam was molded "very good" (Gen 1:29). Jesus was made perfect and true as he was without sin.
Adam was mankind's first chance, and Jesus man's last chance. However, God is graceful: Shortly after he had reformed Adam, a sort of remolding somewhat back to his own image, God took the "red clay" - Adam - and mixed in more blood, literally the blood of a lamb (surely), but figuratively the blood of the Lamb Jesus. It was God who provided the blood, but the last Adam had yet to come, so Adam was remolded vicariously through the sacrfice of an animal - the first instance of death!
If we think of the "molding process," the potter has a vision, plans the process, provides the turn-table, and by his own hand turns out a beautiful and useful product. As God pointed out to Jeremiah, the potter turns out slightly marred pots. A perfect molder, if He Exists, would turn out perfect pots.
The idea of the "pot" is figuratively the container for the human soul: "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love" (Ephes 1:4). God selected His "pottery" long before it went to the turntable. He even selected and adored Jesus long before the foundation of the world (John 17:24). God made Adam in the image of Jesus, but not as Jesus. Before God began to mold mankind, He made the turntable. Those with discernment should realize that the world is the "turntable" on which mankind was molded! How better to mold than with a lighted room? Before God made the turntable to turn the clay, He made light, and put it into two separate places to avoid shadows. (All these things are in Genesis chapter one.)
The notion of mankind came from an idea in the Mind of an Almighty Potter. That idea was our souls, the container for the spirit which needed a vessel in which to pour His Spirit. Rather than a pot, it seems God made a cup for mankinds' souls. Jesus expressed that: "And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt" (Mat 14:36). Jesus wanted his cup taken away to the presence of God. He didn't want his "cup" broken. Adam's cup was molded not to be broken, but it was; Jesus's cup was made perfect and was molded to be broken!
Some theologians believe that Jesus's "cup" was what was about to happen - his purpose. I believe, in his human agony, he dreaded the loss of his "clay" that from which he was molded. Jesus, just like mankind, dreaded the sting of death, even though he knew that he would be remolded. Resurrection is a physical remolding of mankind. Regeneration is a spiritual remolding. God will do as the potter did; He will take the imperfect clay and mold it into a better pot. When mankind is glorified, God remolds our clay and makes it perfect and incorruptible; it cannot be broken!
Adam was vicariously remolded when God covered his flaws with the skin of an animal that gave its life. That spiritual "remolding" is akin to the second birth - becoming born again (John 3:7). It is a re-genesis; God had the idea to make perfect, but perfection only comes when God glorifies mankind. That event is the "snatching away" from the world (turntable) and is called "the rapture." The dead in Christ shall rise first, then the living (1 Thes 4:15-17). To be made perfect, the Potter will take the clay and remold it far away from the influence of corruption. The world is an imperfect place for a turntable, as God knew it would be.
Adam will finally be physically remolded at the rapture. Until then, the world would take its toll on him, as "by the sweat of his face" he will earn his keep. The sun which is a source of life is also a cause of death. Think of the molded clay cup (Adam) exposed daily to the rays of the sun; his cup would become faded and overheated to the extent that soon it would break. Jesus didn't seem to want to die like Adam - by exposure to the world. He asked that God take him away to where God is!
The Serpent taunted Adam with, "You surely will not die," (Gen 3:4), although God said that he would (Gen 2:17). Eve ate and didn't seem to die, so Adam ate. Neither seemed to die. They were both cast out into the Garden and the sun took its toll. They immediately began to die as their cups were exposed to the sun. The sun is light which is representative of knowledge. That knowledge of which they ate of the Tree of Knowledge began to make them die. Foolish people still don't believe that knowledge without wisdom and false knowledge kills. The eighteenth century enlightenment; "The Age of Reason," accelerated the ruination of mankind. ever since mankind's cup has been broken to the extent that repair is difficult. Only Jesus can restore the broken "cup."
Because Adam and mankind were cursed to work the "clay" from which we were formed, the "pots" slowly fade and break. When the pots usefulness to God is through, the cups finally reaches their limits and break with the suddenness of a hornets sting. The pots, still on their pedestals, fling to one of two places: to the garbage dump of Gehenna or back into the Potter's Shed which is in Heaven. There, the Potter will make perfect pots which cannot be broken.
"From the dust you came, and to the dust you will return," seems as if it is annihilation - the pot will be no more. Not so: the red clay will return from whence it came. Remember, that the human soul is timeless and immortal. The clay from which the pot is made is not as important as the container in which God breathed his Spirit. Life is not of this world; God breathed life unto Adam (Gen 2:7), and Adam became a living soul.
Adam pre-existed before he was given life. His "soul" was and is a supra-natural container for God's Spirit. Just as the pot contains blood and water, the soul contains Spirit. When the clay is broken, the Spirit seeps out... often not quickly but a little at a time: "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb 3:12-13).
Hardened clay breaks easily. The Word of God shields those "repaired" from breaking again. Breaking again is not a quick task; it takes time because time is a weapon Satan uses to ruin the clay: "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren" (Jas 1:13-16). Sin, then, spoils the clay and with more time and more sin, an explosion of sorts occurs; the pot becomes beyond repair and is damned to the scrap heap which is Gehenna.
Thus, regeneration is when God first repairs the "cup." With time and use, it continually is despoiled. Life is tribulation until the Great Tribulation when "cups" will be broken quickly. The china cabinet of the earth shall be emptied except for 144,000 "cups." They are the God's chosen cups - the Jewish people!
Ironically, time which humans crave so much, is the very essence which destroys our cups. Infants who die are freshly molded cups which are kept safe from harm without need for repairing. God takes the children who die directly to Heaven and their souls remain perfect "china" without ever needing repair. Their "cup" was made in the iniquity shed (the womb) but before it can be broken, it is taken away and made imperishable in the Potter's final "lacquering booth."
God tempers the pots with His Presence; there is no need to ever be exposed to the kiln. God, a long time ago, went into the kiln, and saved three particular pots from over-baking. Nebuchadnezzar stood there and watched the Potter (Jesus) saving the pots from the kiln. They had been exposed to the heat, but had not been broken beyond repair. As they arise from the clay from which they were made, Jesus will step in again and forget repair, but remold them better than their original condition!
God spoke in mysteries: Adam was created in the Garden of Eden. Dust was taken from the red ground and Adam was formed. According to sacred literature, Shem carried Adam's bones back to the Garden. Jews believe that the dust for Adam's creation was taken from the Foundation Stone beneath the Dome of the Rock. They also named Calvary, Golgotha - "the place of the skull." It''s not merely the place of any skull but a specific one ; The Skull of Adam, which is the title of my book on that subject. Adam's dust was taken back to the Garden from whence it came! God says things for a reason, and He was specific about Adam's dust. Indeed, it came back to the place of his origin!
When Adam is resurrected, God knows where Adam's dust lies. He prepared a place and called it Golgotha. To this day, Adam's proposed cave tomb is in the cleft of the rock below Calvary, fulfilling God's covenant in Genesis 3:15.
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