You're Dead to Me

Genesis 2:17 (New American Standard Bible)

17but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

"You're dead to me!" It's a quote that we hear on TV, typically by gangsters. It's a way of saying that what you have done has so offended me that I can no longer fellowship with you. I can't be around you at all because of your choices and actions. You have removed yourself from my good graces. It's interesting that God would use this typed of terminology with us!

We all know the story about the fall of man. How God had perfect fellowship with them in the garden; how He gave them everything they would ever need. We know that God gave them more then they would need. Of all the things that He created for them, there was only one that they weren't allowed to touch; the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We couldn't control ourselves, though, and went ahead and ate it's forbidden fruits. We sinned and death became us!

I've been on a death kick lately. Mostly because it's come and stared me in the face with recent family events. It's strange how God can use hurt to open our eyes to His Grace and Love.

It's been assumed for years that Adam and Eve were created immortal, but I haven't found any scriptural backing to that. We know that plants and animals die and that they are without sin. Why would we expect that our human bodies, created and functioning the same as all other life on Earth, wouldn't eventually die too. I think that God's words in Genesis were speaking of a spiritual death. We know that Adam and Eve lived a long time after they partook of the fruit. If they were to die (physically) that very day, that would have been the end of it all! The death referred to here in Genesis is spiritual death. A separation from perfect communion with the Father. Sin, disobedience, is in and of itself the most disgusting thing to God. He cannot stand to be near it. So when we stumbled, when Satan deceived us, we outright offended the Creator. He had to say, "You're dead to me!" (well this isn't very uplifting)

Romans 6:23 clearly points this fact out. "The wages of sin is death....." But the Bible is clear to let us know that there ARE two deaths! (Revelation 20:6, 2:11, 20:14 Matthew 10:28) With this in mind, I think that we all need to realize that no matter what kind of person you are, Christian or Jew, Muslim or Hindu; your physical body will die! Understanding the fact that all "life" dies makes it easier to understand why "good people" get cancer, why kids die in car wrecks, why boats sink. It's not punishment for sin. It's the way God designed the universe! Like the Lion King says, "It's the circle of life..." The physical death is merely "sleep" according to the Bible. (1 Thessalonians 4:14) The death that we need to fear is spiritual. We are born spiritually dead! In order to gain life, to eat of the tree of life, to drink the living water, we must recognize that Jesus is the Lord and Messiah. We must believe that He died and shed His blood to atone for our sins. He paid the piper (so to speak) and covered our sins with His blood. The Cherubim were set at the gate to the garden to protect the Tree of Life (Jesus) and to keep Adam and Eve from eating from it. When Christ came to earth and walked as a man, the Cherubim were removed!! The age of Grace began. We who were dead (spiritually) are made alive because we can come to the Tree of Life and EAT. It's a buffet of LIFE!

Ask yourself this question--If the death referred to in Genesis is physical and meant for all, but the gift of God is life eternal through Christ Jesus (the rest of Romans 6:23) why do Christians still die?