Made Alive

I woke up at 4:00 a.m. this morning and turned to Ephesians 2. “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, ² in which you once walked according to the ^[a]course of this world.” It’s a truth I need to hear.

 ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:1-10

God made us alive when we were dead, not when we were good. He made us alive in order to show us His kindness, not because we were kind. He desired that we live so that we are able to walk in the works He prepared for us, not according to the course of this world. Works that set our feet on a path of worship.

God made us alive when we were dead and couldn’t do one good thing. Dead is not nothing. Dead is not non-existent. Dead people can live, act and behave, but the dead cannot live contrary to their nature. Dead people cannot walk in good works, dead people cannot obey God, dead hearts cannot rest in Christ, or interact with God, dead people cannot believe, experience repentance, have faith or a holy ghost infused life, they cannot act according to the nature of Christ. Dead people can only act according to their own nature. Dead people still walk about suffering the sorrows of the fall and hoping in the flesh. Their eyes are blinded, their ears are deaf and their heart hardened toward God. That is the nature of the dead man to walk according to sin and trespasses, that is the course of this world. But God has different works prepared for us, that he desires us to walk in.

Whereas the dead man can do nothing good for himself he cannot turn to God either, which would be good for himself. Good in the respect that it would lead to repentance and righteousness and life. He cannot bring himself to Christ. The bible says that no man comes to the father except through the son and that no man comes to the son unless the father draws him.

Only God’s mercy, God’s choice, God’s unmerited favor and God’s free gift set on a dead man like warm magical breathe makes him alive by somehow connecting him to the source of all life, Christ. Then the dead man who God has made alive can live in Christ, be raised in Christ and sit with Christ. This implies predestination; If we believed, trusted or had even a shred of faith before God made us alive, it would put the onus on us, it would not therefore be only God’s mercy, but also our faith that made us alive. But on the contrary, Paul writes that while we were dead, he made us alive.

who is we, but the saints, the holy ones of course, how did they get that way? We know that it is the habit of God to choose those who cannot even blink. He chose Israel, why? because they believed? Because they were good? because they had faith? No! None of these. God chose Israel because he loved Israel, he set his love on them because they were small in number and while they were slaves, dead to freedom, not their own, walking in the shadows of Egyptian rule, he made them alive and free. He predestined them to be free, them and not Egypt, them and not Midian, them and them alone he chose and appointed to receive His Torah. For it was not we who loved him, but he who loved first. And why did he save them? why did God set them free and give them life while they were “dead slaves”; he did so, in order that they might receive his word and worship at the mountain. You know what the word for worship is in the Hebrew language, WORK; Abad…”created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” God has made the dead alive in order to walk not according to the course of this world, but according to his good worship/work. Once we are saved and made alive and resting in Christ we begin to walk because we can walk in Christ, we can live in Christ, we can worship in Christ, we can believe in Christ, we can learn hear see and he receive the holy spirit, the promise of the inheritance, and we walk in the good works he prepared us for and we are shaped into his work. but not before, we can only walk in the good works in Christ when we are made alive.

The life he offers is an unsolicited gift. We can’t even ask for life, without his mercy and grace.

Oh I want to believe that this verse in Ephesians is all about my works. I want to believe that all the things I do will one day make sense because God has ordained them for me. I want that check plus from heaven telling me I’m on the right path. However, I think what this verse really means is that God made me alive when I was dead not when I was good and I can rest in Christ, and I can walk in good works and I ought to if I am to be His work and I am His work. this is all about HIS works, his greatest work that we believe.

• Dear one, are you alive or are you dead?
• Are you walking in good works or according to the works of the world?
• Are you seated with Christ in the heavenly places or wandering about on earth?
• Have you been raised up together with Christ or are you still in your grave buried beneath the weight of sin?
• Are you experiencing God’s kindness or God’s wrath?

If you are alive in Christ then you are alive.

If God is the one who makes men alive regardless of our preaching, teaching and gospel mongering what is the point of evangelism. Perhaps that is the good work he created us for, and in doing so we are worshiping him. Maybe when we share Christ we are not testifying to the gospel as much as worshiping God.

According to Pauls’ message unless and until God breathes on a man, making him a living soul, man simply cannot do anything but live according to the sin nature. The sin nature being separated from God and therefore without hope. He is not a proverbial Israelite; he is an Egyptian, lost, blind and left behind. There is nothing a man can say to another man to make him turn his heart towards God. It is the work of God that Men even believe. This makes man the greatest most miraculous work of God.