The Undead

I have sometimes been in a great time of prayer and study with the Lord, and suddenly, I am at so much peace I fall asleep. What's up with that? I tell myself that I feel guilty for falling asleep when God is speaking to me through His Word and prayer. The physical sometimes hinders what is happening in the spiritual; the best thing to do is pick it up where it all left off. Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying and asked his disciples to stay awake with Him as He prayed before being arrested by a mob, and they let Him down by falling asleep. Sometimes, we fall asleep if our sleep habits are not taken care of properly, and we have just emptied our energy tank with abusive habits. In Acts 20, we read of a moment when someone's sleep overwhelmed them.

Acts 20: 7 On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight. 8 The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps. 9 As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below. 10 Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!” 11 Then they all went back upstairs, shared in the Lord’s Supper, and ate together. Paul continued talking to them until dawn, and then he left. 12 Meanwhile, the young man was taken home alive and well, and everyone was greatly relieved.

A young man is how Eutychus was described, and he was sitting on the window sill three stories up, listening to Paul speak. To set up the room, Paul was leaving the next day, so he was going to give them all the instructions he could in the short time he had left. The room was lit by flickering lamps, which means candles in lanterns, and there was heat coming from them that made the room rather warm. Eutychus became very drowsy, and he fell asleep and fell three stories to his death! Eutychus was dead after the fall, nuff said!! Paul stopped preaching, went down, took him into his arms, and said, "Don't worry. He's alive!" This is the same Paul God had given the power to perform unusual miracles, as stated in Acts 19:11 God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles. The power of God was strong in Paul, and Eutychus was not going to remain dead when held in the arms of the Apostle Paul. Keep in mind THE POWER OF GOD! God is all about "life," and the power to bring a person back to life was evident in certain situations in the Word. That life-giving power is even more obvious today for those who are believers. The resurrecting power of God is real and evident for each person who has been born again. Death is not the end but the beginning!

God has given each of us "real" life in the Spirit, and that life is so powerful it is called an "abundant" life in John 10:10. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life and have it abundantly. God gave Eutychus back his life, and he who was dead became The Undead. God reversed the power of death with His miraculous life-giving power and used Paul as an instrument to distribute that power. Luke does not record in this chapter anything about the people going "ooo" or "ah" about Paul stating the boy was alive, but they just got up and went back upstairs and shared a Lord's Supper together, and Paul continued preaching until dawn. Eutychus remained alive, and he went home afterward alive and well, and everyone was greatly relieved.

God controls life and death, and His power over these two things is real and lasting. Even better than this, God controls "eternal" life and death, and that is why our relationship has to be right with Him to reach heaven or paradise. If you have never received Christ, then you are not going to have eternity in paradise but eternity in hell. Accept Jesus today by faith, and you will have the security to know that God is holding you in "His" arms should you drop dead today. You have a choice, so make your choice well. Choose Jesus and be born again in the Spirit, and eternal life is guaranteed because of the power of God!! We are the Undead!!