The Walking Dead

In the movie "Sixth Sense" we have the famous line "I see dead people and they don't know they're dead." This is certainly true of those who are spiritually dead, i.e. those who are lost in sin. Many of them do not know that they are dead to God and righteousness. Or, we may say that they are in a "stupor," which is defined as "a state of near-unconsciousness or insensibility," wherein a person is unresponsive to stimuli, being in a kind of coma or where they are numb. 

Another genre of movies that has proliferated over the past few decades deals with zombies, or "the walking dead." Again, as we will see, every lost sinner may be viewed as one of the walking dead, spiritually speaking. 

Jesus said to several would be disciples “Follow me" and we find three responses to that counsel in Luke chapter nine. One of those said "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." Jesus responded to him saying, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:59–60). As nearly all bible teachers affirm, by "the dead" is meant not the physically dead, but the spiritually dead. In other words, he is saying "let the spiritually dead bury their own (physically) dead." 

We also read of some professing Christians whom Paul described in the following words: "But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives." (I Tim. 5: 6 nkjv) Again, we have spiritual zombies or the walking dead. Likewise we read these words of the risen Lord to the church of Sardis:

"And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, 'These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: "I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead." (Rev. 3: 1 nkjv)

By being dead we are to understand not only being cut off or separated from God and life, but cut off from all that pertains to life. But, on that we will have more to say shortly. First, let us notice these words of the apostle Paul:

"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world" (Eph. 2: 1 nkjv)

Notice that! The walking dead! God is life. So, to be separated from him is death. Eternal hell is for this reason called "the second death" because they are forever separated from God and from all good. (Rev. 2:11, 20:6, 20:14, and 21:8)

This spiritual death is further described in these verses:

"Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed." (Eph. 4: 19 niv)

"Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.” (Rom. 11: 8 nkjv)

"For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." (Rom. 5: 6 nkjv) 

A dead person does not see, hear, or feel. So, those who are spiritually dead are likewise without feeling for God, unable to hear or see him because this death has made them blind and deaf and possessed of a cauterized conscience which can no longer feel sensation. (See I Tim. 4: 2) Dead skin, or scarred tissue, no longer has feeling, being calloused. Also, that which is dead lacks ability or strength. So, sinners are impotent and need the grace of God to become sensitive to God and his stimuli towards them. They need to be awakened or quickened. So the apostle writes: "Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light." (Eph. 5: 14 nkjv) Sinners therefore need to be aroused from their slumber, to be made sensible of their sins and of their standing before God. 

There is of course a difference between being "dead in sin" and being "dead to sin." Concerning the latter Paul wrote: "Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 6: 11 nkjv)

To be dead in sin is to be dead to God, dead to righteousness, dead to life, etc. On the other hand, to be dead to sin is to be alive to God and righteousness. A person then may be dead to one thing while at the same time being alive to another thing, death being relative to a particular thing. Those who are dead in sin are very much alive to sin. They are dead to God, to spiritual things, to righteousness. 

In the state of spiritual death the sinner needs to be aroused by the Spirit and word of God. Many scholars call this "prevenient grace," a grace that goes before actual salvation, being a means of awakening the conscience and spirit so that a transformation of spirit may occur. Such convenient (or preceding) grace puts the dead sinner in a state wherein he becomes aware of God and his lost condition. It is when God gets the attention of the sinner. So we read of the conversion of a woman named Lydia:

"A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." (Acts 16: 14 kjv)

By "opening" the heart of this woman simply means that God made her attentive to the things Paul was preaching. We are dependent upon God to open hearts, carnal minds, to him, his word, and his salvation. Remember that Paul said "to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life" (Rom. 8: 6).

Friend, are you one of the walking dead? Are you dead and don't even know it?