The Walking Dead!
“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Every person experiences a physical birth and one day a physical death. Like Nicodemus when he met with Jesus at night, most people do not recognize their spiritual condition. We are born into this world spiritually blind and dead. We are indeed the “Walking Dead” spiritually.
And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev. 20:10).
The Bible says, “The natural man understands not the things of God, to him they are foolishness because they are spiritually discerned, and he is spiritually dead.”
The popular television series, The Walking Dead takes place during a worldwide zombie apocalypse. These zombies or “walkers” try to find life by eating human flesh. Humans that get bit or scratched by zombies become infected and eventually turn into walkers as well.
The spiritually dead roam the earth today
The writers of the show reveal that all living humans carry a pathogen so that if they die from any cause, they will also turn into walkers. The only way to permanently kill a walker is to damage its brain or otherwise destroy the body by cremation.
In the show, Deputy Sheriff Rick Grimes is the leader of a group of survivors. They try to protect themselves not only against attacks by walkers but also from other groups of survivors. The people in this group are willing to ensure their longevity by any means necessary.
This television horror story may be science fiction and entertaining, but there are billions of spiritually dead zombies roaming the earth today. The Bible says that unregenerate men and women do not know God and will perish and spend eternity in hell. They cannot receive the things of the spirit of God because they are dead and in a state of sin. They love the darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil.
There is profound blindness that engulfs the souls of all human beings. We were all born and infected by original sin. All men and women are born with a sin nature, and because they carry a sin nature, they are eternally damned to hell.
This sin is our “pathogen” that causes us to be slaves to sin. Evil, pride, and selfishness infect us all. The Bible says, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Eternal Death
Herod orders the killing of children … The massacre of the innocent – Matt. 2:16
This state of spiritual blindness leads to eternal death – Hell. It is outer darkness and a place where a person is separated from God. The Bible says it is a place of torment.
We all enter the world spiritually blind and spiritually dead, but we don’t have to leave this world that way. Some of us come to see. God will deliver some of us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God. Some of us will be “born from above,” a spiritual rebirth. We will come to the light of the world – Jesus Christ – in whom all darkness is dispelled.
Without God invading our lives, we are members of the “Walking Dead,” some permanently and some temporarily. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
The result of sin is death, and spiritual separation from God (Romans 6:23). God sent His Son to die for your sins! Jesus died in our place, so we could have a relationship with God and be with Him forever.
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). But it didn’t end with His death on the cross. He rose again and still lives!
“Christ died for our sins. He was buried. He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Jesus is the only way to God. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6).
Eternal Life
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18-20).
Unless we hear and respond to the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ, we will not experience the “spiritual” birth by the Holy Spirit. We will remain among the “walking dead” for eternity.
Jesus said, “We must be “born from above.” If not, we will remain unknowingly or knowingly following and worshipping the fallen angel, Satan. He is the father of lies, a murderer, and a thief (John 8:44).
As a follower of Christ, our mission is to “go and tell.” We must present the gospel to everyone, all the walking dead around us.
“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true in His Son Jesus Christ this is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20).
A new creation in Christ!
Jesus is the eternal life. It is essential that men and women know that they need to repent and acknowledge their sinfulness. Men and women must turn from sin and die to self. “So, whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
It is clear; a person must acknowledge sin and submit to Christ. Salvation comes to those who believe in Him and turn from their sin and surrender to Christ. When that happens, eternal life begins with the Holy Spirit indwelling in that person. Then, he or she is no longer among the “Walking Dead,” but he or she is now spiritually alive, “Walking in the Spirit.”
Salvation came by God’s grace.
Nicodemus learned that he could not earn salvation by works. He discovered that salvation came by God’s grace. God opened his eyes and gave him faith – faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. When we acknowledge Jesus Christ died for our sins, then we ask for His forgiveness. When we turn from our sins—that’s called repentance.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is God Himself. He works today in our lives and our world. It is through the Holy Spirit that God is active in the world.
God came down to earth and became a man—and that man was Jesus Christ. Jesus was fully human; He bled when He was injured, and He got hungry and thirsty like everyone else. However, Jesus was also fully God. Christ said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
But Jesus is no longer with us; He has been taken up into heaven. The Holy Spirit is still present on earth. He convicts people of sin and restrains evil. He is active in our lives, giving us the strength to live the way we should. When we give our lives to Christ, God Himself comes to live within us by His Holy Spirit.
We are no longer spiritually dead
For Christ, women have an intrinsic value equal to that of men (John 4:27).
The Bible shares how the Holy Spirit lives in men and women and brings them back to life spiritually. The Bible says in Romans 8:1-17:“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mindset on the flesh is death, but the mindset on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mindset on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
“However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
The Apostles John and Peter ran to the empty tomb (John 20:3-5).
“So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
Like Nicodemus, we know we have been “born from above,” when the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God. We will then acknowledge Him, serve Him, and worship Him for eternity.
(E-Book: Born from Above; Introduction; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7; Chapter 8; Chapter 9; Chapter 10; Chapter 11; Chapter 12; Epilogue)