Luke 15:32 ESV
“…your brother was dead and is alive; he was lost and is found.”

The prodigal was dead though he was fully engaged in human excess, decadence and debauchery. We fallen creatures think that is “THE LIFE!”

He is the picture of living death. He could only sin, fail, and end in utter despair and shame. When he returned to his father’s life, then and only then was he considered alive.

And the father gave this son his existence, position and identity.

We don’t know what life is. We walk, work, move and speak so we assume we live and that all humanity lives. But we were “dead in our trespasses.” Born dead in the sense of Real Life. True living.

Humanity is Living Dead.