From nothing to nothing. From dust to dust. From death to death. Man.
Dirt, dust, nothing - that's what the earth is. That's what man is. Here and then gone. The wind blows and the dust fades away. Like the flower of the field, he perishes. But man is transformed dirt, resurrected dirt, dirt living by the Breath of Life. The God of heaven breathed, and a miracle happened: the dust of the earth was not blown away. It was raised up, made new, made man.
Man was from the dirt, and for the dirt. He was called to cultivate the earth, to do what God did to him. God said, “Adam, breath life into the dirt, the dust that is this earth. Bring life from death, life from the dust.” So Adam cultivated, he breathed the breath that was put into him, and gave it to the world.
But one day, Adam saw the beautiful fruit that the world was going to become, and he wanted it now, he wanted it without sacrifice without hanging on a tree for the world. Here was the life and beauty that the sacrifice and toil of giving and sacrifice had created, here is was to be taken and eaten, to be his. He wanted it all, all the life that would be in the earth, and he wanted it now. He rebelled. He acted like rebellious dirt, not like living life-giving fruit for the rest of the world, and so God sent him out of the garden.
Adam still had to cultivate the world, but now he was not longer in a garden. He was in a wilderness and was cursed to cultivate the earth through thorns and thistles. The ground was cursed and man was cursed to toil in it by the sweat of his brow. He was condemned to a life of vanity, to endless toil over the earth, toil that brings forth thorns and thistles, not fruit. “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it...For dust you are and from dust you shall return” (Gen. 3: 17, 19).
An endless cycle of death, of rebellion. How can life come from dust? Dust is dead. Dust to dust, and death to death. Adam, the man of dust, rebelled and now he is cursed to work with the rebellious dirt that is so like himself. Where is the fruit in this? Where will life come from?
After years of Israel clinging to the dust, loving the dirt and stain of sin, God sent the end to this death. His Son was dust, like us. He was Adam. He came in the form of dust. He came for the dust. Like man, He was from the dirt, and for the dirt. But He was also the Breath of Heaven. He was life itself. He was already glorified, not needing to be lifted up Himself, yet He came to be glorified for our sakes. He came to bear the fruit where we refused to bear it in our lives. He came to be the fruit of the earth, to hang Himself upon a tree and sacrifice Himself for the life of the world. And with Him, the whole world hung upon the tree. The earth died.
This is what heaven came to earth to do. He pierced the earth. He killed the weeds, and by the bloody sweat of His brow He watered the dead wilderness of earth. The harvest is the fruit of His body, hung upon a tree. He was lifted up. The world was in Him. He was the world. The earth was in His bones and He glorified it.
The earth was slain on a tree, pierced by the tree, buried in the slain earth, and risen again to new life. Wait, life? This was all death. The earth, the dust. How can dust save dust, how can dirt pierce and conquer dirt. How can there be victory. Well, how can there be creation? Here it is all over again; from nothing to the Breath of Life in all things. It was all dead and He resurrected it all. Not only that, He used it all too. He was not ashamed of this dust. He did not come to take it way, to erase what He did in making it at creation. In fact, He came to make it more dust-like, more earth-like. He made it more created, more what it was meant to be. He is the new new dust, the new Man.
Christ breathes and the earth is transformed. He breathed life to the whole world. The tomb is the proof. He was not in the tomb. He was lifted up. He ascended. Dust sits at the right hand of God, and this is not blasphemy, this is not silliness. This is praise, this is glory.
The dust that is man will never be blown away by the Breath of Life. We are dust that defies the dust. We will not be moved, we will not be blown away by any wind, not even the Wind of God; the Son was lifted up, the Wind of the Spirit was upon Him and the chaff of the world was blown away. The Wind blows away the curse. Thorns and thistles cannot grow. This dirt, this body of dust will produce fruit. Sins and sorrows are no more. Let them no longer grow.
From Breath to Breath. From life to Life. From resurrection to resurrection. Man. The breath of God.
