Grace Thoughts
Calling The Dead – Part Six
In the last part of our study I shared how I came to the conclusion that salvation is all of God. In this part of our study, I’d like to answer this question:
How can people who are spiritually “dead in trespasses and sins” hear God’s call to salvation? Also, how can dead people respond to God’s call?
Seeing Dead People
I see dead people walking around like regular people.
That’s what a little boy told a child psychologist in the 1999 thriller “The Sixth Sense.” You may have seen it, but if you haven’t I won’t spoil it by telling you the big secret in the film.
What I can share with you is that God sees dead people walking around like regular people all the time. That’s the basic meaning of what Paul wrote to the Christians living in Ephesus:
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. Ephesians 2:1-3
Regular people walking around the world fulfilling the desires of their flesh and mind. Regular people, alive in the flesh, but spiritually “dead in trespasses and sins.” How do I know that God sees them? Because those people are “by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
God sees everything and everyone. He knows your inner thoughts, your secrets. He sees you when you try to hide from Him. There is no hiding from God. He’s everywhere.
In the same context, Paul wrote the Ephesians that they had once been in a position of “having no hope” and being “without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:11-13). Paul wrote people in Rome that they were utterly lost because in God’s eyes “There is none righteous, no, not one .. There is none who seeks after God .. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3)
The good news is that God is loving and merciful. Even though every human being is spiritually dead and under God’s wrath, God has a plan – an eternal plan – to save some.
We know God “sees” dead people, but how does He “call” dead people so they hear Him?
Calling Dead People
We know from what Moses told the Israelites millennia ago that the “secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever” (Deuteronomy 29:29). Is how God calls dead people to life a “secret thing,” or is it something He has “revealed” to us? It may be a little of both.
God has been calling dead people for thousands of years. We looked at that in a previous part of this series. God told Adam that he would die if ate from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve were spiritually dead from the instant they disobeyed God. They walked around fulfilling the lusts of their flesh until the day they physically died, but they were spiritually dead.
How did Adam begin life? He started as “dust of the ground” – dirt. It wasn’t until God fashioned the dust and breathed the breath of life into that fashioned dust that “man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). God gave Adam an intellect and will. Adam was spiritually alive, but he chose disobedience. Adam’s disobedience led to the spiritual death of everyone who followed:
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. Romans 5:12
Adam’s sin did not demolish God’s eternal plan.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:22
Even as God breathed life into dust and brought it to life, so God breathes life into “dead” people. Adam became a living being, but Jesus became a “life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45). God brings life to whoever He wills.
And there you have it. God brings life to whoever “He wills.” It is not now and never has been our will that brings life. It is God’s will that brings life. His will is a mystery that He makes known to those who are His – those He chose in Christ “before the foundation of the world.”
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:3-12
The Will of God
For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. John 5:21
I don’t like “cherry picking” Scripture. Everything needs to be viewed in its full context. So, look at the context of John 5. What do you see? The Jewish leaders persecuted Jesus because He healed a man on the Sabbath. They even wanted to kill Jesus! Because He healed on the Sabbath? Yes, but for another reason as well.
Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. John 5:18
This is the context of verse 21:
Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. John 5:19-23
This next part of the context is important in light of our question about God calling dead people to life:
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. John 5:24-30
The hour is coming and now is, Jesus said, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will life. We know that’s true in the final resurrection and we also know it’s true in salvation. Jesus “gives life to whom He will.” That is the wonderful “mystery of His will” that Paul wrote about to the Ephesians. Jesus gives life to whom He will. It’s His will, not ours, that leads to our salvation. We are dead in trespasses and sins. We are children of wrath. It is the will of Jesus that brings us life.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
I “chose” to believe in Jesus and trust Him for eternal life 51 years ago, but my choice began with His choice – His will. He chose me and millions of others before time began, before the foundation of the world, “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” He “predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” According to the good pleasure of His WILL.
Why me? Why us? Why anybody? Why would God want to to save any human being? Because He loves us and because He wants to show His amazing grace to the powers of the universe.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7
… to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 3:10-11
God is doing something that is far beyond us. Having made known to us the mystery of His will, God is preparing to something that will forever be spoken about with great awe, reverence and praise.
… having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. Ephesians 1:9-10
The credit and glory belongs to God alone. What He has willed to be will be. We are the beneficiaries of His great grace.
Your Decision
Now that I’ve told you salvation is all of God and He chose us before the foundation of the world, you may be wondering whether you can decide to believe in Christ. The answer is ‘yes.’ You can and should. That’s the beautiful thing about salvation. If you want to believe, believe. If you want to believe, it’s because God is calling you. Here’s an example.
The Apostle Paul was thrown into a prison in Philippi along with fellow evangelist Silas. They prayed and sang hymns to God and other prisoners listened to them. Suddenly a great earthquake shook the prison and all the doors opened and chains on the prisoners were loosed. The prison guard awoke, saw the prison doors opened and thought the prisoners had escaped. He drew his sword to kill himself, but Paul called out to him not to commit suicide. All the prisoners were still in the prison. The guard ran to Paul and the first words out of his mouth were, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Why do you think the guard asked that question? Just a moment before he was ready to kill himself. He was spiritually dead and almost became physically dead at his own hand. What changed?
Was it because the guard had been searching for God? That couldn’t be true because we know from Paul’s writings that no one seeks for God. Do you think it was because the guard was basically a good guy and just needed a nudge over the finish line? That couldn’t be true because we know from Paul’s writings that no one is good or does good in God’s eyes. Everyone is by nature a child of wrath. Why then did the guard ask how he could be “saved?” How did he even know anything about Christian salvation? As far as we know the guard was a pagan. Most people in ancient Philippi were pagan unless they were Jews. We have no information that he was Jewish, so it would appear he was like other pagans and worshipped idols. Why then the question about being saved?
The guard heard the same things that night that all the prisoners heard. They heard Paul and Silas praying and singing and in those prayers and songs they heard the Gospel of Christ. Christian prayers and songs contain something in them that no other religion’s prayers and songs can contain – the truth about salvation. Only Christianity has that truth. Every other worldview is a lie. That’s why the guard asked Paul how he could be saved. God had chosen that guard from before the foundation of the world, before time began, to be adopted into God’s family. I might add that it wasn’t just the guard. Everyone in the guard’s household was saved that night. The guard and all his household “believed in God.”
What did Paul say in answer to the guard’s question about how to be saved? Simply this – “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” How did Paul know that everyone in the guard’s household would be saved? Good question. Paul knew the power of God’s calling the dead. What is that call? The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
That’s why I wrote that if you want to believe, believe. The guard didn’t spend months or years investigating the truth claims of Christianity. The guard heard the Gospel, went to sleep, awoke to an earthquake, knew that he would be held responsible for any prisoners who escaped, pulled his sword to take his life, heard the call of the Apostle Paul, and asked the simple but necessary question – “what must I do to be saved?” The answer is this – “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
Salvation is a gift. It’s God’s gift and He gives it to those He chose in eternity. The gift is free. If you want it, receive it with gratitude and commit yourself to the One who is gracious and merciful, loving and forgiving.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”(that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:8-10
Next Time
What we believe should result in action. It’s not enough to just believe in a particular teaching (doctrine) of the Bible. We need to do something about it. If we believe that salvation is all of God, how should we act on that belief? We’ll look at that in the final part of our special series, Calling Dead People.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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