Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #11 of Genesis, chapter 13 and we are going to begin by reading Genesis 13:16-18:

And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto JEHOVAH.

We saw in our last study that all the children of God that have previously lived and died on the earth have returned to the “dust,” except for a couple of individuals that were translated, like Enoch and Elijah. All that have gone in to the grave are awaiting the resurrection. They are awaiting the time of their change. Interestingly, they will be raised out of the “dust of death” to become new creatures. Remember, we saw that statement in Psalm 22, which is a Messianic Psalm. It said in Psalm 22:15:

My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

Just so we know who is in view, it says in Psalm 22:16:

For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

This is very accurately describing what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and what happened to Christ on the cross was a demonstration of the things that took place at the foundation of the world. Therefore, when it says, “thou hast brought me into the dust of death,” it is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, who was brought into the dust of death.

We covered this in our study of Genesis, chapter 2, but it said in Genesis 2:7:

And JEHOVAH God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

This is referring to Adam and when we went through these verses we did look elsewhere in the Bible and we saw that Adam was a type and figure of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, yet, I do not remember if we touched on it, but if we discussed it at all I do not think we spent much time on it. I do not remember discussing the idea of Adam being formed “of the dust of the ground” and spiritually relating it to Christ and likening the “dust” to “death.” Adam was a new creature at that time and he was brand new. It was God’s determination to use the dust to create him. The Lord took dust of the ground, formed the man and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and Adam became a living soul. Yet, it is very interesting that God said of “dust” when the curse of sin fell upon mankind in Genesis 3:19:

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.

Again, that developed the identification of going to the dust with “death.” Returning to the dust is another way of saying that one goes to the grave and the grave is “hell” or “death.” Again, the first Adam (man) was formed of the dust of the ground, but the Bible speaks of another Adam, if we go to the New Testament. It says in Romans 5:14:

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Of course, the one who was to come was Jesus. Adam was a figure. We saw that typology when the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon him (which we did relate to death) and while he slept God took one of his ribs and made the woman. The woman came out of his side. We saw how that related to the cross when the Lord’s side was pierced by one of the Roman soldiers and out flowed “blood and water.” And, yet, as far as Adam being a figure of the One to come, it was in view from the very beginning when Adam was first formed from the dust of the ground.

We also find this likeness between Adam and Christ in 1Corinthians 15:20-23:

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

Then it says in 1Corinthians 15:42-45:

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Here, Jesus is called the “last Adam.” Again, there is that comparison with of historical Adam, the first man, and the second Adam, with the Lord Jesus. The first Adam was formed of the dust of the ground. What did he become? What does the Bible say of Adam’s genealogy? If we look at Luke, chapter 3 we see a genealogy that goes all the way back to Adam. It says in Luke 3:38:

Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

This is very curious that Adam, formed from the dust of the ground, is said to be the son of God. God begat Him. God created him and brought him into existence, so there is an understanding of why it would be said that Adam is the son of God. We cannot help but see the similarity. The first Adam was formed from the dust of the ground and God breathed life into him and made him a living soul, it is as if it were a declaration: “This is the son of God, made in His likeness and His image.” That was the first Adam, but we recognize that God has another son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was “declared to be the Son of God…by the resurrection from the dead.” There is the similarity. Christ died and Psalm 22 speaks of the Lord Jesus’ death on the cross that demonstrated His death from the foundation of the world. Therefore, what is true of His death on the cross is true of His death at the foundation of the world. Again, it said in Psalm 22:15:

… and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

Therefore, at the foundation of the world Christ died. He was the Lamb slain and in His death, it was as though He has gone to the dust. Returning to the dust completely identifies with death. Since He died, He had gone to the dust, but He did not remain dead. He died and paid the wages of sin and the Law of God was satisfied for all those whose sins He bore and the payment was made in full. Then Christ, who is eternal God, arose from the dead. The Father brought Him up from the grave or “hell” or the “dust” and He was declared at that point to be the firstborn Son of God, the firstborn from the dead. That is the language of the Bible in Colossians 1, verse 18 and Revelation 1, verse 5. He was the first begotten Son of God, just as Adam was the first son of God in the earthly sense, Jesus was the firstborn Son of God in the spiritual sense. He was the first to rise from the dead or to come from the dust, as historical Adam came from the dust of the ground. We have that wonderful declaration in Romans 8, verse 29 that Christ was “the firstborn of many brethren.” Christ rose from the dead and all that are in Christ rise with Him and this concerns the “seed” in our verse in Genesis 13:16: “And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth.” What have we learned from Galatians? We learned it was not “seed as of many,” but “seed as of one,” pointing to Christ, in the first instance. Again, God said, “And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth.” The Lord Jesus died and returned to the dust and, yet, He would come from the dust to be the Son of God. In the second instance, we know that all those in Christ are counted for the seed, so just as Jesus went to the dust and did not remain there but rose to be declared the Son of God, so, too, all that are in Jesus will come from the dust. Of course, that is the language of resurrection that we find sprinkled throughout the Bible. It says in Job 14:12-14:

So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

This “change” is referring to the resurrection, as it says in 1Corinthians 15:51-54:

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

It will be the time when all the brethren are “changed” and they also become “sons of God.” We will have followed the example and pattern of the Lord Jesus who went to the dust of death and then rose up out of the dust to be declared the Son of God. It is the example we find written of in Philippians 3:9-11:

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

God does speak of the resurrection as coming up from the dust in Daniel 12:2:

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Also, it says in Isaiah 26:19:

Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

We know very well that this is God’s program and there is no failure when a child of God dies physically and his body goes into the grave. That is to be expected. All throughout history it was God’s plan that from the dust He would raise them again and they will experience the new creation and they will be a new creature. It will be as though it is the very beginning of things, once again. Just as God created this world and universe and formed man from the dust of the ground as a new creature and placed him in the Garden of Eden, at the time of the end God will again form “new creatures” (as we are called in 2Corinthians 5:17) from the dust (death) and places us in the new heaven and new earth where we will dwell for evermore. That will be the major difference because there will be no end to that creation to come. There will be no end to the life given from that raising up from the dust and there will be no more returning to the dust. There will be no more sin and no more death ever again.

This is God’s wonderful program of salvation and, yet, He made allowance for the elect living on the earth at the time of the end to be raptured. We understand the rapture to simply mean that most of the great multitude that was saved during the last part of the Great Tribulation will not physically die, because the time is too short for most of them to die. The majority will remain alive physically until the last day of the earth’s existence, the day of resurrection. It is the day the Lord Jesus spoke of in the Gospel of John when He said, “And I will raise him up at the last day.” Those elect that will be physically alive cannot be said to be resurrected from the dust because they will not have died and gone into the grave. They will not have returned to the dust in that way, but God made a provision when Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011 by bringing the entire world into the “condition of hell.” And “hell” is the grave and, therefore, God brought the world into the condition of “death” as He darkened the sun and there was a thick darkness, spiritually, over the face of the earth. Darkness and death are virtually synonymous in the Bible and God has, in that sense, returned the elect that are physically alive into the condition of “death” or “dust,” just as Jesus at the foundation of the world did not go to literal dust, but he experienced death at the hand of God as God smote Him and slew Him. Therefore, in that death He went to “dust.” Likewise, as God has smitten the world and we find ourselves in a world that has been brought into the condition of “hell” or the “grave,” it is as if we have gone to the dust. And there we wait. We are commanded to be patient: “For ye have need of patience….” It is significant how God speaks of this in Hebrews 10:35-36:

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

The people of God wait patiently in the “grave,” as it were, just as the elect that lived and died in past generations (and their souls went to be with the Lord in heaven and their bodies went into the ground) are also awaiting the completion of their salvation, the receiving of their new resurrected bodies. They, without us, will not be made perfect, according to Hebrews 11. We will all be made perfect at the same time. We are all being conformed to the image of Christ and the image of His death, in order to be properly positioned for the resurrection. As Jesus was the firstborn from the dead to be declared the Son of God, we now have been positioned by God in the condition of “death” in a spiritual sense, so that we are properly placed for the day of resurrection and rapture.