The Living Dead

Recently watched "I am Legend," with Will Smith. Talk about intense. The movie didn't have much music, so when something scary happened, it just knocked the socks right off of you. The main antagonists of this film were zombie/undead type characters (though I'm not going to let the movie out of the bag completely).

There's got to be something to this pattern of zombie/derranged-undead type creature movies that have been so common in the theaters in the last 50 or so years. There was "28 Days Later," and "Dawn of the Dead," and "Shawn of the Dead," and "Dawn of the Dead 2," and then came "28 Weeks Later," and on and on it goes. That crazy Romero guy that invented the zombie genre with "Night of the Living Dead" must be pretty proud.

So why do the living dead both fascinate and scare us at the same time? Could it be because we embody something of them, even though our flesh is vibrant and not falling off at the moment? Could it be that in these movies, we some faint reflection of ourselves as human beings that though alive must cope with the reality that one day, we will die, and it won't be pretty?

I can't say, but I know one thing--without God interrupting our world with the Gospel--all we can look forward to is the torture of an unknowing approach to death and the cold grip of its chilling effects, with no hope of life--no hope of personality--a descent into non-existence that confuses, frightens, and frustrates people everywhere. That is the natural state of our minds in regard to our mortality...unless there is another answer. Ephesians says of the lost (those without saving knowledge of the God of the Bible through Christ): "you...who were dead in trespasses and sins." (2:1). So! There it is! We are dead normally! Furthermore, when the Bible refers to hell, it speaks of unending death--the "second death" (Rev. 21:8), where "Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:47).

Our world is overhung by the shadow of death. We live in a world of walking dead...

Unless we know the Gospel and the Hope it gives in the Son Jesus Christ--
Ephesians goes on and says that death is not the end if we come to know God: "...even when we were dead in trespasses, (He) made us alive together with Christ" (2:5).

Actually, we do live in "The Land of the Dead," but today you can trust Christ who can make you alive. You "who sat in the region and shadow of death," (Matt. 4:16) may be made alive in Him today--He is the living One amongst the zombie hoards.