This is the latest installment of the zombies posts. There will be one more.
The key things to remember about zombies are: (i) zombies look alive, even if their bodies are severely damaged or corrupted, but never forget that they're really dead; (ii) they have to consume the living in order to stave off their impending doom; (iii) those that don't get eaten but are merely wounded eventually become zombies too.
In Part 1, we saw how Jesus calling the Pharisees a bunch of "whitewashed tombs" was essentially calling them zombies. The Pharisees preyed on their disciples and used self-righteousness as camouflage. It was an effective means by which to suck the life out of others, and there are those INSIDE THE CHURCH that use the same M.O.
In Part 2, I expanded the notion of what it meant to be a zombie. This was never intended to be a series about false teachers or hypocrites. Rather, this part showed how we are all, and we always will be, zombies. I'll spend a little more time reviewing this because I want to make sure the point is clear.
Humans are not self-existent beings. We rely on outside sources to fuel our lives. This not a result of the Fall. God created us this way. Even in the Garden of Eden, despite having all we needed to live forever, most of what it took was outside of Adam and Eve. Like the zombies in the movies, Adam and Eve had to get life to stay alive. God granted them and endless supply of the very life they craved. He gave them access to the tree of LIFE. They had unmediated access to God--the limitless source of all life. There was no need to prey on other finite organisms to feed on their life.
After the Fall, humans were separated from God and the Garden. All of the sudden, Adam and Eve had to find their own life. Remember, the Serpent told Eve that she would be like God, and that's what hooked her and Adam. God booting them from the Garden is almost like he's saying, "You two think you can be gods? Let's see how well you can handle being self-sustaining!" Obviously, that's not something anything in the biological world can do. We were doomed.
One result of Jesus' atonement is that as individuals and as a species (through the church), God is redeeming us, restoring us, and making us what humans are supposed to be: dependent on him as our source of life.
Is it any surprise, then, that Jesus promises the gift of ETERNAL life? Is it any surprise that he called himself the LIVING water? Is it any surprise that he called himself the bread of LIFE, or even the RESURRECTION and the LIFE?
If it is life we need, and we need an infinite supply, and it is life that our sin and rebellion has blocked us from getting, doesn't it only make sense that the Atonement provide the means by which humans are put back in right relations with the One they need most?
