Response to Bruce Barber’s post on 11/1/2013 entitled ‘Zombies’.
 
Dear Bruce, I read with interest your post on Zombies.  It was good!  I am attaching for your interest a chapter from my new book entitled ‘Seek First the Kingdom’.  Hope you enjoy!  Tyler
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The Walking Dead II

 “The Walking Dead”

 

We are all born dead, and for this reason we must be born again! 

 

This simple statement aptly describes the need for a new birth.

 

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  He who has the Son has eternal life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5: 11, 12).

 

To understand how we are born dead we need to revisit the Biblical account of Adam and Eve.  We were all born dead because we inherited the same spiritual affliction that caused the death of Adam (and Eve) in the Garden of Eden; namely, a sin nature. This death sentence can only be pardoned and reversed by being born again in the image and likeness of God, in Christ.  Let’s look at it.

 

Adam was created a three-part man (spirit, soul and body) in the image and likeness of God (Father, Son and Spirit).  Because of this Adam could respond, have fellowship with God and uniquely reflect His love, glory and holiness.  Adam (and Eve) lived in a personal fellowship with God that involved moral obedience and intimate communion.  They had a perfect relationship with God and often “walked with Him in the cool of the day”. 

 

Then one day, God instructed Adam as follows:

 

“And the Lord commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2: 16, 17 - NAS).

 

(Note, the Hebrew word for the term “day” as used in the above verse is ‘bayom’ and is translated; “a point in time or moment” – Nelson’s Expository Dictionary of the Old Testament – page 89, paragraph 1).

 

Despite God’s warning, they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and their disobedience caused them “to die” just as God warned.  When they sinned, their moral likeness to God was severed but they retained their natural likeness to God having been created with intellect, will and emotions i.e.[a soul].

 

 

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Some believe that the phrase “you shall surely die” refers to physical death.  There is an element of truth to this since God intended for Adam and Eve to live forever by providing the ‘tree of life’ in the garden, for this purpose.

 

However, when they disobeyed God’s instruction, He drove them from the garden and stationed cherubim to guard the tree of life.  It was no longer available to them (Genesis 3: 22-24 NAS Bible).  “Expelling Adam and Eve from the garden was both a punishment and an act of mercy, lest they should eat of the tree of life and live forever in a state of death and alienation (separation from God) ” (footnote Gen. 3: 22-24 – NAS Bible).

 

Please notice that even if Adam and Eve could have lived forever by continuing to eat from the tree of life, they would have existed in a state of death.  This confirms, beyond doubt, that the type of death that they incurred, by eating from the tree of good and evil, was not physical.

 

  But the explanation of Adam dying physically, by eating from the tree of good and evil, doesn’t fit this verse of scripture for another reason.   It is clear from scripture that Adam didn’t die the natural (physical) death at the point in time that he ate from from the tree of good and evil because Adam lived hundreds of years after this transgression occurred!  The Bible tells us that Adam lived 930 years (Genesis 5:5).

 

This raises the question; how did Adam die (at that moment in time) when he partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?  We know that something happened to Adam because he was never the same after his disobedience.  His relationship with God was broken and he became corrupt. 

 

To understand the answer to this question we must look at the origin of life.

 

God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Genesis 1: 26 NAS).

 

God did create man in His image and likeness…and that man was Adam.

 

Adam was created complete with body, soul and spirit in the image and likeness of God.  It was the spirit aspect of his being that provided awareness and access to God’s fellowship and divine nature. 

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Adam’s spirit was ‘the God part’ of his being.

 

  This describes the genesis of the Adam’s spiritual life, the spirit part of Adam. 

 

Genesis 2:7 describes the creation of Adam’s natural life, the soul part of Adam.

 

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7 KJV).

 

You will notice that there is no mention of man’s spirit in this verse. This is because the spirit is not part of the natural birth process.  Flesh gives birth to flesh (natural/ soul birth) and Spirit gives birth to spirit (spirit birth) - see John 3: 5, 6).  By this verse we also understand that the natural life exists because of the presence of the soul.  This verse of scripture declares that Man is a living soul!  We can therefore conclude that Adam would have died physically (on the day he ate from the tree of good and evil) had his soul perished.  But, he continued to live a long, long life!   Clearly, his soul did not perish.  So how did Adam die?

        

It was God’s divine nature present because of Adam being created in the image and likeness of God that disappeared when he ate from the forbidden tree. His spirit “died” along with his fellowship with God.  Adam fell from the lofty perch of ‘God’ consciousness into a fallen state of ‘self’ consciousness. Absent the heavenly influence of God’s divine nature, Adam became corrupt.  He was reduced to the natural state of body and soul only (soul life).  This is the condition that all mankind inherits from Adam because of his transgression. 

 

Since the Bible tells us that the spirit is eternal we must be careful to correctly interpret the word ‘death’ as it relates to Adam’s spirit having perished.  Spirit death and physical death are not synonymous.  Physical death is separation from this ‘natural’ life.  Spirit death is separation from God.  Because of Adam’s transgression he was separated from God.  When Adam’s spirit “died” his spiritual life with God ceased to exist.  Of course, Eve suffered the same consequence. As a result of Adam’s transgression, he lived most of his life absent his (God-connecting) spirit.  This explains his abrupt transition to the ‘dark’ side.

 

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Genesis 2:7 also reveals that, unlike the soul that supports natural life (i.e. man is a living soul), the spirit does not appear to provide any bodily functions and is therefore not necessary for sustaining physical life.  The natural life can exist without the spirit as is the case for all who have not been born again and who are still in Adam’s ‘soul life’ state.  Animals live the natural life with a body and soul only.  Therefore, we can conclude that man’s regenerated spirit, introduced when one is born again, exists solely to support the divine, spiritual life while the soul exists solely to support the natural life.

 

Every person born since Adam inherited his fallen, spiritual condition!  We know this to be the case since Adam’s children, all born after his fall from grace,  were born in Adam’s likeness and image, not the image and likeness of God, as was Adam.  We see evidence of this in Genesis 5: 3 (NAS). 

 

“When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth” (Genesis 5:3 NAS).

 

We also see this lived out in the case of Adam’s first-born, Cain, who murdered his brother, Abel.  Clearly, Cain was not created in the image and likeness of God!

 

  Thus, it appears that only three people were ever created in the image and likeness of God; Adam, Eve and, of course, Jesus.  All others were (and are) born (spiritually) dead absent the eternal, life-giving presence of the (God-connecting) spirit.  They were born in the image and likeness of ‘fallen’ Adam.  The only remedy for this inherited condition is to be born again.  Adam gave us eternal death and the second Adam (Jesus) gave us eternal life. 

 

Can we know that the unsaved man exists without the spirit?  Please note the following verse of scripture:

 

 “I tell you the truth no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh (soul/natural life), but the Spirit gives birth to spirit (spirit/eternal life).You should not be surprised at My saying, you must be born again” (John 3: 5, 6 – Oxford Scofield Study Bible).

 

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Notice in this verse that it is the Holy Spirit that gives birth to man’s spirit when he is born again in the image and likeness of God, in Christ.  Up until the time one is born again (the spirit birth) he has been living the soul life, absent the (God connecting) spirit!  This was precisely the condition of Adam, after he ‘fell from grace’ in the Garden of Eden that all mankind inherited.

 

“And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.  But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

 

Here again, this verse of scripture indicates that man’s spirit (the God part) is dead and is only alive if Christ is in him, after having received a new birth by way of the Holy Spirit regeneration.  Had man’s spirit been alive in man it could have been restored but because it was dead it had to be re-born (re-created)! 

 

When I was seeking answers on this subject from the Lord, I asked Him whether people who were unsaved had a spirit.  His answer is as follows as taken from my journal book #5 that covers the period from February 6, 2009 to November 6, 2010.

 

Journal entry - 11/11/09 beginning at 11:55 A.M.

 

“Lord, what happens to an ‘unsaved’ person’s spirit when he dies?  Does it go to hell with his soul, or does it return to the Father?  If it returns to the Father, what happens to it then?”

 

Tyler, man’s spirit is his link to the heavenly realm.  In other words, man’s spirit is his ‘God part’.  His spirit existed before the foundation of the world and is sent to live in him when he is born-again.  This spirit is eternal.

 

         “Lord, is the spirit of an unsaved man actually dead or just dead to God?

 

Tyler, there is no (God-connecting) spirit in an unsaved man.  The only spirits in existence today are born-again spirits.  Evil spirits and angels are spirit beings, not the spirits of men. 

 

God seems to be making the following points:

        

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1.    Spirits are eternal.

2.    Man’s spirit is his connection to God and existed before the foundation of the world.  It is received by man at the ‘new birth’ when he is born again.

3.    Evil spirit-beings exist and are eternal but are outcasts.

4.    Born-again people are truly “new (three-part) creatures in Christ Jesus”.  They are literally unique creatures in the earth.

5.    Man does not have a spirit (the God connection) until he is born again.

 

Number #5 seems to make sense for the following reason.  Evil spirit beings can (and do) possess unsaved people.  They cannot possess born-again people who have resident internally, the Holy Spirit.  Since man’s (God-connecting) spirit and the Holy Spirit are only present after one is born-again (John 3: 5, 6), and the unsaved person is void (empty) and ruled by his corrupt soul (as was Adam); he is prey for evil spirits (demons). This might also explain how unsaved people can commit unthinkable crimes against humanity.  From this we can conclude that:

 

The presence of one’s soul is evident at natural (physical) birth and produces a ‘soul life’ that is temporary.  This was the condition of Adam after he ‘fell’ in the garden.

 

The presence of one’s spirit (the God part of man) is evident when one is born again by the power of the Holy Spirit.  This new birth produces the ‘God life’ that is eternal.

 

Although the soul and spirit are both ‘spiritual’ in nature, it should be clear that they are different entities and have different purposes, by God’s design.  This recognition will serve as a baseline of understanding for the next chapter ‘Salvation and the Broken Foundation’.  I have two final thoughts:

 

One can choose to live once and die twice; or one can choose to die once and live twice.

 

And, how many of the people that we walk by every day are part of the walking dead and do not know it?   

 

         Tyler L. Cole - tcole@triad.rr.com