Bible Studies

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And To Dust You Shall Return

“Then the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7 (JPS)
Man was formed out of the dust of the ground. Man is made of earth. It also says, “And Abraham answered and said: 'Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, who am but dust and ashes.’” Genesis 18:27 (JPS)
Sha’ul even takes this one step further by saying, “Thou, thus! Who art thou ? O man; that thou repliest against God! Shall the potter's vessel say to the former of it, Why hast thou formed me so?” Romans 9:20 (Murdock)
Sha’ul talks about people not just as being clay, coming from the earth, but as being pottery, clay formed into a container.
“These are they which are unclean to you among all that swarm; whosoever doth touch them, when they are dead, shall be unclean until the even. And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherewith any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even; then shall it be clean. And every earthen vessel whereinto any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean, and it ye shall break.” Leviticus 11:31-33 (JPS)
This is the law of when an unclean thing falls onto anything. When it falls onto a clay vessel, one made from earth, that vessel must be shattered. It cannot be cleansed. As men walk in the world, it is natural to come into contact with uncleanness. Whether by eating something unclean, or by touching a dead, unclean animal, or coming into contact with human death. It is a part of life on this defiled earth. In fact, the moment one is born, they are unclean, because it says, “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: If a woman be delivered, and bear a man-child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of the impurity of her sickness shall she be unclean.” Leviticus 12:2 (JPS)
From birth, mankind is unclean, because this world is unclean. Because of this, the human body, being made from clay, must be destroyed. It must be shattered. There is no possible way to cleanse it. That is why it says,
“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.” Genesis 3:19 (JPS)
However, men are made of two things, the body, formed from the dust of the earth, and the soul, which is the breath of life.
“Who hath set our soul in life, and suffered not our foot to be moved, For Thou, O God, hast tried us; Thou hast refined us, as silver is refined.” Psalm 66:9-10 (JPS)
The soul is likened to silver, which is refined. “The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, and a man is tried by his praise.” Proverbs 27:21 (JPS)
Again, a man is refined as silver and gold. Metals can be purified if anything unclean touches them. “Howbeit the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of sprinkling; and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make to go through the water.” Numbers 31:22-23 (JPS)
So there are two purifications of a metal. There is the purging by water, and by fire. “Husbands, love your wives, even as the Messiah loved his church, and delivered himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, and cleanse it, by the washing of water, and by the word;” Eph. 5:25-26 (Murdock)
This is the washing in water, in the Word, which was made possible by the death of Yeshua. This was done in order to sanctify and cleanse the congregation, just as the washing in water is to cleanse and purify the metal.
“I baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that will come after me is stronger than me. I am not worthy to remove his sandals. He will baptize you by the Holy Spirit and by fire.” Matt. 3:11 (Younan)
The second baptism is in the fire of the Holy Spirit. The washing by water was to repentance, to removing impurity. But the washing by fire, it goes on to explain, “‘He whose winnowing fan is in his hand will cleanse his threshing-floors and will gather unto his granaries and the chaff he will burn in the fire that does not extinguish.’ Then came Yeshua from Galeela to the Yordanan to Yukhanan” Matt. 3:12 (Younan)
This purification by fire is to destroy all the chaff, the undesireable parts.
People are not the only things that go through these purifications. “And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; every thing that is in the earth shall perish.” Genesis 6:17 (JPS)
In the Great Flood, the earth was purged by water.
“For a fire is kindled in My nostril, and burneth unto the depths of the nether-world, and devoureth the earth with her produce, and setteth ablaze the foundations of the mountains.” Deuteronomy 32:22 (JPS)
There will be a purification by fire. Again, it says, “Therefore wait ye for Me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for My determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them Mine indignation, even all My fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy.” Zepheniah 3:8 (JPS)
And again, “And the first sounded; and there was hail, and fire, which were mingled with water: and these were thrown upon the earth; and a third part of the earth was burned up, and a third part of the trees were burned, and all green grass was burned.” Revelation 8:7 (Murdock)
But, in the end, the earth has to be destroyed, because it is an earthen vessel. “And I saw new heavens, and a new earth: for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away: and the sea was no more.” Revelation 21:1 (Murdock)
The sea was no more, because if there is water in an earthen vessel, and a dead unclean thing falls into the vessel, the water is no longer fit to drink.
Some say that this really means that the heavens and the earth will be made new. However, that cannot be. “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22 (JPS)
And it also says, “And there will be no more night; and they have no need of the light of a candle, or of the light of the sun; because the Lord God giveth them light: and they will reign for ever and ever.” Revelation 22:5 (Murdock)
There will be no more night, and so the earth must not remain anymore. It has been destroyed, just as a defiled earthen vessel must be destroyed.
Amein!

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