Most times when I am praying ‘the full armor of God’, and I come to the ‘shoes of the readiness (or preparation) of the Gospel of Peace’, I see an image of Jesus - mostly His feet - in sandals, walking a dusty road. Matthew 4:12-13 tells us, “Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.” Capernaum, Israel, has hot, dusty, summers. The roads there were unplanned and unpaved. Jesus surely walked through the dust.
Jesus - who had no place to lay His head (no earthly home) - walked this earth much. He was either in a boat, or walking from one destination to the next. In fact, Jesus was mostly walking which means His feet got dusty just like mine did, and still do. I wonder if He, too, enjoyed walking in fine loose dust when He was a little boy? The scriptures don't discuss such things. We do know from scriptures, however, that one of Jesus’ final acts was to wash the dust off the feet of His Disciples in a moment of teaching servanthood by His example.
Dusty feet is not an uncommon thing - especially among the poor and the traveler. Dusty feet is a trademark of Jesus’ followers as they live the life, and do the work, of the Gospel of Peace - peace between man and God. The Gospel shoes are for living, and sharing, the Gospel in our everyday life journey. Glory to God in the Highest! There was the time when Jesus was sending His Disciples out to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He was sending them out to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Jesus instructed the Disciples in this way, saying “... Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.”
When King Jesus was born into this earth there was no room for Him except to be born in a barn and laid in a manger following His birth. A manger is a rack for fodder, or a structure or feeder used to hold food for animals. The manger Jesus was laid in was made of stone. Yes, Jesus was born in a barn and laid in a food trough - after all, we are the Sheep of His pasture and He is the Bread of Life! In birth, even, Jesus identified Himself with the lowly and poor. It would have been dusty in that barn where Jesus was born, I'm certain. Proverbs 16:19 says, “It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.” Jesus did not come to divide spoil with the proud. He came to restore and reconcile what is His back to Himself! King Jesus began with the lowly and poor - the dusty commoner.
Later, in Jesus’ adult life, a Scribe offered to follow Him saying, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go." Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Matthew 8:19-20) Surely there were times Jesus may have had to lay His head upon the dust - or very near the dust - to sleep.
Dust tends to permeate every environment, and makes its way into even the palaces of Kings. When I lived out in the country on a farm in order to keep up with the dust one would have to be in a perpetual state of dusting. When I did housekeeping for a wealthy family, in their home, I dusted every day. Dust is a fact of this life which no one escapes. We are made from dust by our Creator, even, and to dust we will return.
In Genesis 3:17-19 God pronounces to Adam the consequence of his disobedience in eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God warned Adam not to eat of that tree, and that if he did he would die. Here, then, is God's pronouncement:
Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
To the serpent who tempted Eve God said, "Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life…” (Genesis 3:14) This is reiterated in Isaiah 65:25 where it says, “... dust will be the serpent's food.”
In the book of Ecclesiastes, verses 3:19-20, King Solomon writes, “For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.” And again in verse 12:7, “... then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.”
Dust. Dry bones. From these God is able to create and instill life! Ezekiel 37:1-10 tells of a most miraculous and awesome account! Here Ezekiel says:
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?", and I answered, "O Lord GOD, You know." Again He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD.'" So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life."'" So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Very dry bones. Very dry dust. From these the Creator can, and does, bring life. In Isaiah 26:19 God says, “Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.”
In 1 Samuel 2:6-8 Hannah recites a song of thanksgiving when God relieved her of her barrenness. She says, “The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts. He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with nobles, and inherit a seat of honor; for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He set the world on them.”
Dust - laying in the dust; throwing dust on one's head - was often a way for one to express their extreme sorrow, or humbling one's self before the Lord. Jesus chose the dusty path of humility. He was known as ‘Man of Sorrows’. The King of Kings came and identified Himself as the Son of God, Son of Man, by donning a body of dust, and living in this dusty world along with all us dusty and dying sinners. Then, at the Cross, Jesus won victory over sin and death, giving those who will believe and trust in Him beauty for ashes. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44,49,51-57 tells us:
“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, 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.
… If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
… Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is the gift of God for His children created from dust, for those who will believe. “... Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
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