On September 26, 2010, at around 6:00 on a Sunday evening, I felt numbness throughout my entire body. I was crying hard while leaning against a column of a building, listening to a teaching about the Holy Spirit of God. Suddenly, an electrical current flowed from the top of my head to the soles of my feet, causing me to fall on the floor, shaking my entire being. Inside my head, I heard and understood a small voice telling me things, one of which concerned my little brother, who was with me during the event. I was amazed by the joy and peace I felt after the experience. When I got home in the late evening, and read the Bible, an unusual understanding overwhelmed me as if the Bible was speaking to me directly, like a person. Something inside me that can decipher and understand the language of another world has been revived and activated. Then I realized that this must be one of the meanings of being born again in spirit.
“5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”
John 3:5-7NKJV
Saul was physically alive, making havoc on the early church, arresting men and women who claimed to follow Jesus Christ (Acts 8:3). He was so energized to travel and persecute the disciples of the Lord. He was indeed physically alive doing such duty, but a turning point happened,
“Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord? ”Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. [a]It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do? ”Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.”
Acts 9:1-9NKJV
Being active and alive, doing what he taught to be the way of living, and serving his duty, were not meant to be living in the eyes of the living God. We can learn from Saul’s story that living is more than actions: eating, drinking, working, etc. Living is more than being alive. One must be born again.
“And to the [a]angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
Revelation 3:1 NKJV
How can a person be dead if he is alive? You may ask this question. First, we must understand what death is from the Biblical point of view. The carnal world thinks that death is the end of life, the finish line. But in the Bible, death means separation.
If we read Revelation 2:11, 20:6, 20:14-15, 21:8, the word “second death” is mentioned. Anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. The second death is living in the lake of fire. Second death is a place of torment day and night, forever and ever. The second death is the separation between the one found written and not written in the Book of Life. The second death is eternal separation from the living God.
Then we read Revelation 20:13, the word “death” was mentioned together with Hades, the Greek word for death in this verse is “Thanatos”, which means physical death, the cessation of life. When does physical death happen? It happens when the soul of a person is separated, eternally cut off from the physical body. When the silver cord connecting the body and spirit is loosed.
Remember your Creator before the silver cord is [b]loosed, Or the golden bowl is broken, Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, Or the wheel broken at the well.7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 NKJV
Unless that silver cord is loose, you can still travel your spirit and soul away from and return to your physical body. As Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel, John, Enoch, and some other biblical characters did. Physical death is the total separation between the body and soul. Some may end up living in Hades and Death while they are physically dead, waiting for the final judgment.
Now, as physical and second death both mean separation from two realities, then this next one is the same, the “spiritual death or dead spiritually”. From the introductory question, we have “How can a person be dead if he is alive?” He can, by living physically, but doesn’t have a spiritual body at the same time. Let me explain a little further as we read,
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify[a] you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 NKJV
The spirit, soul, and body are parts of a human being. Our merciful God created us as complete beings from the beginning. Nothing was lacking in humans before sin came into our story. The original order of these parts was First: Spirit, Second: Soul, Third: Body. The spiritual part is the one that comes from the breath of God (Gen. 2:7), which is responsible for sensing the spiritual world. This part will be the one who can see, hear, feel, understand, and communicate with the Spiritual God. In short, our spirit lives in the spiritual world, he exists for us to connect to the unseen eternal realm. Unfortunately, when Adam and Eve sinned against God, the original order was rearranged and became body-first, soul-second, and the worst thing happened to the spirit – he died. God did not lie when He told Adam and Eve the result of eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17). Something in their human part died, the most important piece of their being, separated from them after the fall. The part they need to face the living God and still live has gone. The spiritual bodies that had once been clothed with glory disintegrated, causing them to notice their nakedness (Gen 3:7). The overriding of the order causes their physical eyes to see their nakedness and shuts their spiritual eyes from seeing the covered glory. Without their spirits, they cannot continue to live as immortal beings. They have been cast out of the Garden of Eden to live in a world that is now subject to decay. Because of the curse of their action, every material and living thing in this world is going to die physically, even the earth itself.
Every human being is a descendant of Adam and Eve. You and I are related to them as our greatest ancestors. Like them, we are going to experience in our lives the same thing, that is, death.
A woman today still shares the curse of painful childbearing and labor. A man needs to toil the cursed ground to eat (Gen 3:16-19). Adam and Eve live in this dying world without original spiritual bodies, like you and me. Because of sin, we are dead in the spirit.
In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins. 2 At that time you followed the world's evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God. 3 Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God's anger.
Ephesians 2:1-3 GNT
We think we are fully alive, but if we don’t have the spirit from God, we are really dead in the eyes of the living God. We cannot understand spiritual things nor comprehend the mysteries of God, of who He is. We cannot have a divine encounter unless our spirits are revived, or what is commonly called “Born of the Spirit”.
“5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”
John 3:5-7NKJV
Back to the story of Saul/Paul, after his encounter with the light of God while traveling to Damascus he became blind. When prophet Ananias placed his hands on him, something like scales fell from his eyes, and he could see again (Acts 9:17-18). What amazed me was that Paul was not just able to see the physical world after that, but he saw the mysteries of God in the spiritual world. He even wrote in his epistles things regarding the future and the mysteries of the past. I believe his spiritual part has been reborn and received revelations regarding the Kingdom of God. From being a persecutor of Christians to one of the apostles of Christ. HOW DID IT HAPPEN? How was his spirit born again? In one of his letters, Paul beautifully describes how to be alive again in the spirit.
But God's mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, 5 that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved. 6 In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world. 7 He did this to demonstrate for all time to come the extraordinary greatness of his grace in the love he showed us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7 GNT
How can we be born again in spirit? Through our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. God brought us to life with Christ. The heavenly world is within our reach if we continue our right union with Jesus. We must be born again, born of the Spirit; this is our first step in our divine encounter. Our union with the Lord Jesus Christ is the entrance to the Kingdom of God.
Why did I start by sharing this thing before the story of each song of the album? Because every song we have written related to this first album was inspired by our born-again experiences. The Holy Spirit inspired us to receive and write these songs as testimonies of God’s reality and our encounters with Him. As we try to explain the messages of each song, of how God showed us through His words, we pray that you will also experience the revival of your spiritual part.
In connection with the intro of this chapter, I told you that the Bible was talking to me like a real person. One of the songs on this album was indeed written in a way that was not typical for me. That indeed convinced me that God is calling me into songwriting and music production. I will share the full details in that song’s chapter. So please, before anything else, I humbly ask you to pray to the living God for a continuous divine encounter with Him, to know, serve, and love Him with everything you have.
Enjoy the journey as you read each song’s story.
A fellow brother in Christ,
-shepherd-