As a Christian, I certainly believe in the resurrection of Christ. I have also accepted the marvelous benefits that God has given me through His resurrection. It is a grand and personal blessing. But what does the resurrection have to do with what is happening in the world? Does the resurrection relate to the war in Ukraine, the national debt, or men playing women’s sports? Is it relevant to current events and today’s headlines coming out of the Middle East, Russia, or China? Does it help explain anything that is happening in our world today? Ephesians 2:1-9 clearly teaches us that what happens in the world is directly related to what is happening inside us.

When we look at ourselves and others, we only see the externals on the surface: rich or poor, liberal or conservative, communist or capitalist. But the Bible teaches what actually occurs deep within us, which is the same in everyone. The Bible says that what is happening inside all unregenerated men is death. That explains it all. Let’s try to think it through.

Observe what the Bible teaches us about lost men. We learn they are dead in the trespasses and sins in which they daily walk, blindly following the fallen pathways of this world; they are all working in complete harmony with the prince of the power of the air. They are, by their very nature, prone to disobedience. They seek to carry out the wicked desires of the body and the mind. They are children of wrath. This is why the headlines read as they do. This explains it all. Evil is not just what they choose to do; because death reigns in them, evil is what they are. You might say weak men rule our world. That may be true, but our world is also primarily governed by dead men, and therein lies the problem.

“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:” Matthew 5:19

So, we take that dead heart and mind and think we can use them to solve all the world’s problems. You may say that some of our world’s leaders seem like nice people. They may be, but that alone doesn’t mean they have life. The wicked man may go off and get drunk, and the nice man may stay home with his family and drink sweet tea, but if they are both dead, neither one can bring life to the world. Neither has life to offer. 

When Adam sinned, God spoke to him and said: “Adam, where art thou?” Here is the first thing that you need to understand about a man. God was not inquiring about Adam’s geographical position; He was speaking of Adam’s spiritual position. Adam was dead, just as God promised. Death is a separation. Physical death is the separation of the soul and spirit from the body, and spiritual death is the separation of the soul and spirit from God. Regardless of your social, political, or military position, if you are spiritually dead, you are dead!

Yes, you might say, but if dead men genuinely try, they might devise a plan to bring lasting peace and stability to the world. Well, has this ever happened in the entirety of human history? I mean, a real, lasting peace and stability? It’s not as though some cultures were failures, but others learned from them and rose above it all. That seldom happens, and even when it does, as in the case of our founders, it is usually forgotten in a couple of generations. We never learn from history. We make the devil’s job easy because we repeatedly make the same mistakes.  There are flashes of brilliance here and there, but every society eventually grows corrupt and dies. We are dead men capable of accomplishing a little temporary good, but we can’t keep it up for more than a few generations. The spirit of death within us is too strong. The evolutionists say the world is improving; we are all evolving into a higher life form. We all know this is a lie.

So, if our culture is declining, and while we can discuss all the political, racial, and moral reasons that might contribute to our decline, our Lord is reminding us that we are still not addressing the root cause behind them all. It is because we are dead. If you’re a dead man with a family, you will help create a dead family. That dead family will then contribute to a dead city. That dead city then contributes to a dead state, a dead country, and a dead world. And, the more power that dead man has, the more damage he will do.

It is no secret that, in the end, you will live in a messed-up world. So, if you want a better world, you must start by becoming a better man. How does a dead man become a better man? The answer is simple: he must find life!

Those who reject the greatest reality of them all, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died and then rose from the grave, become incapable of accepting other realities. Without receiving that truth, they will not diagnose their own death or the possibility that they may actually find life. The dead heart usually does not concern itself with hurting others or long-term consequences. Truth can easily be sacrificed for what is felt to be expedient.

So, what all unregenerated men have in common is this deadness to reality. Here’s how we can observe how dead they really are: We see it in their inability to change by their own power. A man might change his politics, but he can’t just choose or contrive his own way out of his deadness. Dead people can’t leverage their way to life. That is what the Bible teaches. Life comes from only one source, and that source is Jesus Christ. 

The further we read, the worse it gets. Since men are dead on a personal level, that means they have created an entire culture of death that surrounds them. Ephesians 2:2 refers to “the course of this world,” which means this is the way our society functions. Isn’t it fascinating that nothing even close to a perfect society has ever appeared in all of human history? Unfortunately, it gets even worse. As if the course of this world is not bad enough, the devil gets involved. He is identified in Ephesians 2:2: “the prince of the power of the air.” That is another name for Satan. Why does the Bible call him “the prince of the power of the air”? It may be because Satan’s influence is not restricted to one small area. It’s not as though there are dark places only here and there. You cannot get away from Satan’s influence in this world. Even as Christians, we don’t know what it would be like not to swim in a daily ocean of temptation and seduction. 

Satan is a compulsive liar. He builds his influence on lies. He inspires us to lie. Most men can’t get through a single day without lying. If you haven’t noticed, the whole world appears to run on lies. How often does the government lie to us? Do advertisers lie to us on occasion? Man has learned to feel totally comfortable in a world of deception. The entire life of a dead man is a lie, and it is dead men who are leading us. So, we live in a world ruled by dead men who are often, whether they know it or not, inspired by the devil himself. No wonder the Bible says in Ephesians 2:3 that we are “by nature children of wrath.” We are so bad that we deserve God’s wrath. Isn’t that a cheerful Easter message?

We might think God would just give up on us and consider us a lost cause. But God had a different plan. See what the Bible says in Ephesisans 2:4-9: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

So, do you see the problem? The world is primarily ruled by dead men. Their hearts, minds, and spirits are dead. That is not to say one is as bad as another; I am just saying that few of them can rule unselfishly.

So, what is the cure? Dead men don’t need reviving; they need resurrecting. Just as Easter reminds us that Jesus is committed to the resurrection of your body, since He is not the God of the dead but of the living. Easter also reminds us that Jesus is equally committed to the resurrection of your mind and heart. This means He is committed to removing all that deadens your heart and mind: all the sins, addictions, arrogance, and insecurity; all the stuff that makes you less than a man; all the thirst for power and all the crutches you lean on to make you feel like you are essential. This is the tragedy of our deadness, which describes the condition of most of the rulers of this world.

But underneath all this is something even more tragic: most men, including our world leaders, feel the shame of not being real men. The surest thing most men know about themselves is that they are not one. Man is not what he was meant to be. This shame resides deep in the core of his being, permeating everything he says and does. Jesus is committed to seeing you come alive in this life, glowing with love, grace, and power. Speaking with the mind of Christ while radiating joy and peace. 

So, this is how the message of the resurrection is repeated constantly in our daily news. It is a message of dead men doing stupid stuff and caring less about how it affects others. Easter reminds us that we don’t have to wait for a physical resurrection, as glorious and certain as it may be; each day, we can be more alive than the day before as we await that day when we shall be completely alive. This is the wonder of resurrection, a wonder we can walk in every day. Oh, the joy of experiencing a resurrection in the now. 

Now, you might say, “Pastor, I am a Christian, so I believe in the resurrection.” Yes, but your heart can still have areas of deadness. I know world leaders can’t get along, but neither can some of us. World leaders can’t control their spending, but neither can some of us. World leaders are selfish and short-sighted, but so are some of us. Perhaps our hearts and minds might need a little resurrecting also. Oh, the joy of experiencing a resurrection in the now. 

Dr. Worthington has been in the ministry for nearly fifty years and serves as President of Pathway Ministries and Christian Bible College.