Welcome to Lesson 1 of Tent Time Devotions,” Are They Real?” series. This lesson will attempt to answer the question, Are Zombies Real? The main objective of course will be to take a look a what the Bible has to say about it. Use this Tent Time as a family devotion or just read through for your own enjoyment! Either way, hope you have fun and share what you learn:)
Lesson 1
Are Zombies Real?
Get Ready
Gather Bible, Tent Time Devotion, pitch your tent, and bring any other items you want to use to make this family time special.
(If your children are teens, you will want to modify this to fit their needs. However, routine is still important and indicates being intentional. Try sitting on the bed or around the dinner table with a favorite snack)
If you are pitching a tent:
- Take off your shoes
- The “password” to enter is to tell God something you are thankful for.
- Once everyone has entered, give God a compliment! Praise Him!
- Open in prayer. Keep it simple. Something like…
Dear God we thank you for this time that our family has come together to worship you.
We invite your Holy Spirit to join us here in this tent.
Please give us ears to hear what you would like to tell us through Your Word.
We love you! Amen
What is a Zombie anyway?
Today there is a zombie apocalypse! It seems as though zombies are showing up everywhere. From video games, movies, and TV shows the zombies have taken on new life. Both adults and kids are zombie crazy!
(Take some time and see how your children answer the question,What is a zombie? Their answers will give you some good information on how much they know and maybe what they have seen.)
If you look up the definition of a zombie you would find something like this.
A zombie is a corpse, dead man or woman that has come back to life.
We are not talking about someone who died in a hospital and came back to life using medical methods like CPR. No, a zombie is specifically a person who was once dead and buried, came out of the grave, and begins to walk around. According to History.com archaeologist believe that ancient Greeks feared those who had died would come back to life and come out of the grave. They believed this because old graves have been discovered with rocks or other things laying on top of the bodies to weigh them down. Who ever buried those guys did not want them to come back to life or at least didn’t want them to get out of their grave.
Where did Zombies come from?
Maybe the better question is when did people start believing in zombies?
Long before we had access to the internet, televisions, newspapers, and even before ink pins, people passed down information in a different way. Instead of sharing pictures or reading a book, people would sit around and tell stories about things that had happened in the past. This passing down of memories or old stories from generation to generation was often the way that legends were formed.
Where did these stories come from? It is very possible that many of them came from events that took place in the Bible. Remember that in Biblical times, not everyone believed in Jesus. Actually most people did not. The Jewish people believed in the God of the Bible but they were just a small group of people compared to the rest of the world.
Instead of believing in the Bible, These other people groups put their faith in idols, other gods like the Sun, and often times magic. We already mentioned that Greeks feared the dead coming back to life. where did they get this idea? Imagine if you were one of those people and you heard about some of these events that happened in the Bible.
What does the Bible Say?
Listen to God’s Word – Here are some “Living Dead” stories straight from Scripture! You can read them to your children or have them read some to you. Feel free to also tell the story in your own words or just read part of the Scripture depending on their ages.
There are lots of stories of those who were resurrected from the dead. The ones we want to look at, though, are only those who were buried. Because that is what a zombie is, right? Someone who came back to life out of the grave. Check out these Bible stories!
A man was raised from Elisha’s tomb.
Elisha was a great prophet that lived way before Jesus was born. He had died and was buried in a tomb. One day while the Israelites were in the middle of a funeral, some of Israel’s enemies who did not believe in God had come to start a fight. Because the Israelites needed to hurry to protect themselves, they just threw the man’s body into the closest grave (tomb) they could find. It just happened to be Elisha’s grave. When the man’s body touched the bones of Elisha, he came back to life and came out of the grave.
2 Kings 13:20-21 (NIV)
Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders, so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones the and came to life and stood up on his feet
Lazarus is raised from the dead.
Lazarus was a friend of Jesus. When he died, Jesus was a few days journey away. By the time Jesus got to his friends house, Lazarus’s sisters had already buried him in a tomb. Lot’s of people had traveled there to tell the family how sorry they were. Lazarus had been in the grave for 4 days and his body had already started to decay. But Jesus walked up to the tomb and commanded him to come out. All of the sudden, in front of everyone there, Lazarus got up and came out of the tomb still wrapped up like a mummy with the clothes that they had wrapped him in when he was still dead.
John 11: 43-44 (NIV)
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Jesus is raised from the dead.
While this is the most remarkable account of a resurrection in the Bible, It doesn’t quite meet the same criteria. Jesus was different from everyone else because He was never spiritually dead like you and I were born. He was fully alive and choose death in order to once and for all pay the debt of sin. Now because of His death and resurrection, all those who believe in him can be made alive even though they were once dead in sin.
The days of the living dead!
Once Jesus rose from the dead, something else miraculous happened. Through His death on the cross, the Bible says that Jesus experiencing the darkness of death, defeated hell and the devil and set all those who were held captive by death free. When Jesus came back to life, he brought some people with Him.
Matthew 27:50 – 53 (NIV)
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
If you had been there, what kind of stories would you have told your friends or your children about that day.
Maybe you would have said something like this.
“You will never believe what happened! The things that Jesus said actually came true. Even though He had done nothing wrong and had helped everyone, it was like the whole world turned against Him. They crucified Him on the cross. After He died, there was an earthquake and graves all over the city opened up.
Then it happened, three days later just like He said, Jesus rose from the dead! People said that he appeared to his disciples and lived among us again for 40 days. Not only did Jesus rise on this resurrection day, but remember when all those graves opened up? On resurrection day those who had been God followers before their death came back to life. Yes it was the days of the living dead. They walked around and talked to people like they had never died. The once Jesus ascended back to heaven, they were gone.”
So are Zombies Real?
I think we could say that according to the Bible the “Living Dead” are real! However, we must remember that God’s greatest enemy likes to steal, kill, and destroy everything. The difference of the living dead in the Bible and the living dead in today’s horror movies is this.
- Both come up out of the grave
- One has come fully back to life with a beautiful, strong, resurrected body
- The other has rotting flesh and likes to kill and eat people.
- One glorifies God
- The other glorifies death
Zombies as the world presents them are not real. They are just a gross lie that the enemy uses to keep us distracted from the truth. God has placed inside each of our hearts the desire for the supernatural. Satan throws out cheap imitations or tricks to keep us distracted our to lull us to sleep.
Why does Satan wants so bad to destroy the term living dead?
Because it scares him! It reminds him of his ultimate defeat.
The only true “Living Dead” are Christians!
Paul said, that as Christians we have been crucified with Christ, so now we no longer live but Jesus lives in us.
- Christians are new creations. The old self is dead and the new has come (Gelatinous 2:20)
- We consider ourselves dead to sin and alive in God (Romans 6:11)
- We die to sinful nature and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2;24)
Why do worldly zombies eat flesh?
Our inheritance from Christ victory through the cross is life; eternal, never ending, and abundant LIFE. Jesus came to give us life and to give it to us in abundance. Satan only wants to consume life. He wants to destroy that which he can not have. Before Jesus went to the cross He gave His disciples these instructions in John chapter 6. Those who wanted the life that Jesus cam to give must eat of His flesh and drink His blood. This of course was figurative language that He also used during the last super.
The flesh eating zombies of the world are partaking in more death. Those who believe in Jesus, the Bread of Life and Living Water, are partaking in eternal life.
The Real”Zombie Apocalypse” is yet to come!
There is a day coming soon when the graves of the earth will open up again! The Bible tells us that when Jesus comes back for a second time He will come with angels and a loud trumpet sound announcing His arrival.At the sound of that trumpet, those who are asleep (people who love Jesus but have died) will come up out of the grave They will not be ugly flesh eating monsters. Nope! They will be beautiful and have brand new glorious bodies that show off God’s power and victory over death and the devil. Read 1Thessalonians 4:13-18
Let’s Discuss What the Bible says?
What are some things we do that represent life? (kindness towards others, telling about Jesus, being a good example, playing with, reading things, and watching things that represent God, life, and light)
What are some things we do that represent death? (selfishness, lies, bad thoughts, watching things that are evil in God’s eyes)
How should this information impact our lives?
Pray and Listen
Spend a quiet moment in prayer and ask God to speak to you about what you learned in Tent Time.
Closing
There are several ways you can close your Tent Time Devotions. Use all of these options or choose the way that is best for your family.
- You can end with a time of sharing what you heard.
- Encourage each person to write down what God told them in a journal.
- Sing a praise chorus together.
- Share prayer request with one another.
- Ask if any member of the family needs help with something. How can you serve them?
- Speak a blessing that God would help each person let their sins die so that Jesus could fully live in them..
I know this was Long but I wanted to give you enough material to be able to have some discussions with your kids. There is still more I didn’t write but I am curious to know your ideas or thoughts. Leave me a note in the comments below!
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