Are you dead or alive?

God had given Adam and Eve two instructions in the Garden of Eden - Genesis 2:16,17.

• To look after the garden and to keep it well,
• They could eat fruits from any of the trees in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Life was good for both of them until the deceiver subtly manipulated Eve's mind. We know what happened afterwards.

Eve plucked the forbidden fruit an brought it to her husband. Both of them ate the fruit only to realise that what God had told them was true - in the day that they would eat that fruit, they would surely die. Genesis 2:17.

They realised they had become naked. Disobedience brings death. Soon after, both Adam and Eve had to sew fig leaves to cover their nakedness. This was how sin entered into the world.

MAN LOST HIS BLESSINGS; SIN REIGNED IN HIS MORTAL BODY.

Therefore, to deliver man from the curse of sin and death, Jesus came into this world. He did no sin, knew no sin, in Him was no sin. Even then, He gave His life as a sacrifice so that we might live through Him. Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for mankind.

In Romans 7:24 St.Paul says, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Satan has put the fear of death in man and kept man in that bondage. Romans 6:16 - Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

WHO IS DEAD ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF GOD?

1. The person who lives in sin is a dead person - Colossians 2:13. Jesus said, Let the dead bury the dead. On the other hand, when someone is convicted of his sins and repents for it he is born again. Fulfilling God's righteousness makes him alive and grow in it.

Romans 8:11 - if the Spirit of God dwells in us He will quicken our mortal bodies. Then we can be ready for the rapture.

2. After accepting the truth, when someone departs from it, he is compared to a dead man. In Luke 10:30 we see the parable of a man going from Jerusalem to Jericho. He faced a group of robbers on the way, who robbed and left him half dead.

Jerusalem refers to the house of God/fellowship of saints. Jericho refers to the world. Those who leave the house of God and depart are compared to dead people.

3. 1 Timothy 5:6 - But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.

'She' here is compared to the church and 'pleasures' to the joys of worldly life. 1John 2:15 - Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Demas the disciple, left Christ and went after the world - 2 Timothy 4:10. The Word of God cautions us to be careful concerning our clothing.

The state of the church of Sardis is mentioned in Revelation 3:1. They had a name that they were living, but were actually dead. Physically alive but spiritually dead. Therefore let's be found in an alive state so that we are prepared to meet Christ when He comes.

Be blessed 💕