Genesis 1:26-27 NLT‬
[26] “Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” [27] So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

‭Genesis 2:7 NLT‬
[7] “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.”

What an amazing statement! Of no other creature does the Bible describe the process of creation. The natural world and its inhabitants came about by God’s spoken word, “And God said.”

Genesis 1:20, 24 NLT‬
[20] “Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.”…
[24] Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened.”

However, in one magnificent act, God united heaven and earth in the formation of a human.

The greatest miracle of all is that God breathed into the first man His own eternal life. Since man is dust and divine breath, once made, he can never cease to exist. God can never take back into Himself what came from Him, just as a mother can never take back her offspring into herself. From the moment if conception, that child becomes, another person in whom is God’s breath.

However, when sin intervened, death became a tragic reality. Dust and divine breath are once again separated. Dust returns to the earth from which it came…

Genesis 3:19 NLT‬
[19] “By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”

And God’s breath in humans….

‭Ecclesiastes 12:7 NLT‬
[7] “For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.”

Evolutionists deny this unique event in which God made a being in His image to share His life forever. Evolutionists claim that, since humans and primates share so much DNA, humans must have evolved from primates! That’s like saying that a car is made of so much material similar to a motor cycle that the car must have evolved from the motor cycle! Give it millions of years, and a new species of vehicle will evolve by chance and natural selection!

The logic, for them, is that humans have no more value than animals since humans are only a higher form of animals.

This way of thinking is not even logical. It’s foolishness!

Nowhere in Scripture does God say that animals have divine breath in them or that they will live forever. They simply return to the dust from which they came. Humans alone are uniquely created to have a share in God’s life which will never end.

The problem is that, since humans are born with an impenetrable barrier between themselves and God, sin (i.e. rebellion), their spirit nature is dead. Sin has cut them off from God.

‭Ephesians 2:1-3 NLT‬
[1] “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. [2] You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. [3] All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.”

They cannot participate in God’s life without His active intervention.

‭Ephesians 2:4-6 NLT‬
[4]” But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, [5] that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) [6] For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.”

By this mighty act of mercy, God brings dead spirits back to life, reviving the “life” part of human created beings, and reunites them with Himself to live now and forever in His realm.

This raises another question. What happens when this “divided” being separates at death? Humans are now divided beings. Dust will still return to dust because God has said nothing about redeeming dust from death, but the spirits will return to him as disembodied beings. Will we live eternally with Him as another race of spirit beings diffetent from the angels?

No! God added one more glorious ingredient to the mix. He never intended humans, created to live forever, to be without bodies since our bodies distinguish us from all other beings.

Here is the place where the resurrection of Jesus is vital. Jesus was a human who went through the death process but, because He was sinless, death could not keep its grip on Him. He rose again in a resurrection body that can never die.

His death was accomplished on our behalf to forgive and take away our sin. He gives us His perfect righteousness which qualifies us to receive perfect immortal bodies like His when He returns.

He is the beginning of God’s harvest of resurrected bodies to complete His plan for man from the beginning.

‭1 Corinthians 15:23 NLT‬
[23] “But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.”

‭1 Corinthians 15:51-57 NLT‬
[51] But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! [52] It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. [53] For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. [54] Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. [55] O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” [56] For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. [57] But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

For those who have faith in Christ, we have this hope, that these mortal bodies, though they will be sown in the ground and return to dust, will rise again in a state of perfection and immortality, to live with Christ forever. So Paul encourages us…

‭1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 NLT‬
[15] “We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. [16] For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. [17] Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. [18] So encourage each other with these words.”

Dust to dust, yes, but not forever.