Who are the “WALKING DEAD”?
Answers to Bible Questions
Scriptures are from the KJV of the Bible
(Q) Who are the “WALKING DEAD”?
(A) In the book of Matthew chapter 8, Christ was talking to a certain scribe, and also to a professed disciple about the cost of discipleship or the cost of following Him in His ministry. In verse 21 of Matthew 8 this disciple said to Christ, “Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.” Jesus reply to this disciple in verse 22 was, “Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.”
Today, right now, this world is full of walking dead people. There could be billions of people walking around today who are dead, but they just don’t know it yet. You know them because you work with them. If you are in college, they are sitting next to you. They are your neighbors who live next door to you. You see them when you are out having lunch. You see them on television and in the movies. You even see them when you attend church.
The walking dead are not zombies staggering around, but successful, influential people. They are hard workers, great friends, loving and good parents. They have wonderful personalities and some are very intelligent in the ways of this world. They are professional people like lawyers, doctors, dentists, builders, and even ministers in churches. And yet, a lot of these people are “THE WALKING DEAD.”
Hollywood has made movie plots about zombies or the walking dead, and TV has a show based on a world over-run with the undead. If Hollywood could only see the spiritual reality behind their fiendish, movie plots.
So what did Christ mean when He said: “Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.” How can a dead person bury another dead person? Well, it’s like this; everyone from birth is spiritually dead because of their sin nature inherited from Adam’s sin, but they are physically alive and walking around. Anyone who is not a true Christian believer in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus (who is their Lord and Savior because He died at Calvary to pay for the forgiveness of their sins) are spiritually dead in God’s sight. Even though they are still living in the flesh, they are “THE WALKING DEAD,” because they are still in their sins because of their UNBELIEF.
Sin is what makes people “THE WALKING DEAD” and sin cannot go unpunished by a Holy and righteous God. Because of Adam’s choice, he and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. We live in this world and can see much beauty around us, but that is pale when compared to the Garden of Eden. We only know this world, and we accept the evil that surrounds us as normal.
Adam’s sin separated us from God, but Christ’s sacrifice gives eternal life to all walking dead people who admit they are sinners and put their trust Him for the forgiveness of their sins. Christ is our Savior and the only way to salvation.
Jesus was very clear when He talked of salvation. The purpose of His life on earth was to offer us salvation—to be our kinsman redeemer. When Adam chose to sin, fellowship with God was broken. No longer could Adam and Eve live in Paradise…Adam’s sin had condemned mankind to be separated from God and we are still under that curse. We can’t begin to imagine the glory that Adam and Eve knew in the Garden of Eden before they sinned, when they still had fellowship with God.
Sin is like missing the bullseye mark on a target. You only have to miss it once, to be unacceptable by God’s standard. Truth is; we miss the mark a lot more than just once. This is why Jesus came down from heaven to be a man among mankind, living a perfect and sinless life to be that perfect sacrifice that God’s law demanded. Once He did that, He rose from the dead on the third day, and currently sits at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for those who place their faith and trust in Him.
Wars, hatred, and anger are just a part of life as we know it and we are numb to it. We don’t feel the outrage against sin that we should. We who are quickened (MADE ALIVE) by the Spirit, know Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, our sins having been forgiven, and a beautiful life is waiting for us, but for now we have to live in this world of sin.
Those who have accepted God’s free gift of salvation will live eternally with Him and will avoid the lake of fire. Don’t ever think that eternity separated from God in the lake of fire is going to be one big party. It is eternal torment. This is why anyone in unbelief about God and His plan for Salvation through Christ Jesus, is a “WALKING DEAD PERSON.”
The lake of fire is a place of eternal torment and you don’t want anyone you know to end up there, and you don’t want to end up there. It is where the Beast and the False Prophet will be cast into and it is a place of eternal suffering. The only way to avoid spending eternity there is to place your hope and faith in Christ Jesus.
When you’re born again, that spiritual man or woman is revived through the power in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. When a person, comes to the knowledge of this understanding, yet reject the free offer of salvation, they in effect default to zombie mode, “walking dead.” They’re walking, talking, living and breathing, but their dead on the inside spiritually. Jesus didn’t mince words when He called the ‘religious leaders’ of His day “white washed tombs”…pretty on the outside, but full of death and decay on the inside.
If one rejects the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, and they die that way, they in affect commit spiritual suicide. By rejecting Jesus, they’ve condemned their eternal self (their spirit and soul) to eternal death in hell, separated from God forever.
Hell is shown to be a place. Rather than a type of lifestyle or just a struggle as some people believe; the Bible places it as a location. For those who teach that we go through “hell” in this life, fail to see that this world is as close to heaven that they will ever see.
The Bible refers to the fate of the unsaved with such words as the following:
“Shame and everlasting contempt” Daniel 12:2. “Everlasting punishment” Mathew 25:46 “Weeping and gnashing of teeth” Matthew 24:51 “Fire unquenchable” Luke 3:17.
“Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish” Romans 2:8-9. “Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” 2 Thessalonians 1:9. “Eternal fire…the blackness of darkness forever” Jude 7, 13.
This is what the walking dead will experience according to Revelation 14:10-11:
“The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
The theme for hell is eternal, and a pit, rather than a room with a door. Scripture is the basis for the doctrine, and Jesus Himself spoke more of hell than He did of heaven. It was because of His love that He warned of God’s wrath and judgment to come.
In Mark 9:43-48 Christ was warning His hearers about the effects of sin.
“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands then go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.”
Some may think, why would hell be so bad and eternal? Some modern day preachers argue that because God is love, hell must end, or not exist at all. Many cults argue since God is love, He would not do something that sounds so harsh and evil. Such type of foolish arguments only come from men who do not understand the nature of a perfect God, and His goodness that requires justice.
There are three words translated “hell” in Scripture:
Gehenna (Greek): The place of punishment Matthew 5:22,29; 10:28; and James 3:6.
Hades (Greek): The abode of the dead Matthew 11:23; 16:18, Luke 16:23; Acts 2:27.
Sheol (Hebrew): The grave Psalm 9:17; 16:10.
Hell is described in the Scriptures as a place of darkness and sadness Matthew 22:13, a place of fire Matthew 5:22, a place of torment Revelation 14:10, a place of destruction Matthew 7:13, and a place of disgrace and everlasting contempt Daniel 12:2.
The Bible presents Hell, like Heaven, as a real place. The Bible says that God created this terrible place to serve as the ultimate destiny of the Devil and his angels Matthew 25:41. The Bible also teaches that Hell will be the destiny of all people who reject the grace and mercy God has provided through Jesus and who chose, instead, to reject God by following Satan Matthew 25:46.
You see, Jesus didn’t come down to earth and live a perfect life to make bad people good. He came down and sacrificed Himself to give walking dead people life. You and I were dead in our sins before we put our trust in Christ for salvation. Zombie movies shouldn’t scare you, but spending an eternity in hell separated from your Creator should!
The walking dead have been around for the last six thousand years, and they were oblivious to that fact until they literally died and were sent to hades (hell), the only place they were fit for, a temporary holding place in the center of the earth, until they are cast into the lake of fire at the time of the white throne judgement, Revelation 20:11-15: 11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
What does God see when He looks upon a true believer?
I am a true Christian believer, so when a holy and righteous God looks down at me, He doesn’t see me (John) with all my faults and flaws, He sees me (John) covered in the righteous, atoning, sanctifying, blood of Christ Jesus, my Lord and Savior.
My sins have been washed away by Christ blood, not because I’m a good man, but because Jesus was a perfect man. When you become Quickened or made alive, you don’t automatically become Mr. Perfect in the flesh either. You still carry around the nature of the “old man” which you were born with, (which made you a walking dead person, because you were spiritually dead in sin); but when you become a believer and received the righteousness of Christ, you became spiritually alive, because Christ has paid the price for your sins at Calvary. So, in effect, you now have been made alive and have two natures.
The very instant we believe by faith that Christ died and paid for our sins, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise: Ephesians 1:13-14: 13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest (or guarantee) of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 2:4-9: 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
For all who are reading this article, please think long and hard on this question: Are you among “THE WALKING DEAD”? I pray you are not, but if you are, you still have time to become spiritually alive in Christ. Remember, God does not want anyone to perish in the lake of everlasting fire; that is why He sent Christ Jesus into our world to die for our sins. But you have the choice to choose. Do you want to become spiritually alive in Christ or remain one of “THE WALKING DEAD”?
Maranatha (Lord Come)
John