VI. “Sleep” of Death Followed by Resurrection “Awakening”

Jesus and then Paul are the principal New Testament witnesses to the truth that the “sleep” of the “first” death embraces both saints and sinners, and is an unbroken slumber until the resurrection morn,—when the sleeping saints will awaken to the call of the Life-giver. The Biblical concept of unbroken rest, or sleep, accentuates the necessity of the Second Advent and its concurrent resurrection. Holy Writ repeatedly declares death to be an unbroken sleep, from which none will awake until Jesus comes to summon forth the righteous dead. It was because of this that the Second Advent was the radiant hope of the Early Church, the goal of all holy expectation.CFF1 225.4

We repeat, the first death, as a “sleep,” comes upon all men alike, irrespective of character, whereas the “second death” is the retributive punishment for willful, unrepented sin, and is executed only after the due determination of the judgment. And it is also to be remembered that the awakening of the sinner for that retribution comes a thousand years after that of the righteous—in other words, at the close of the millennium, instead of at the beginning. They are not synchronous or simultaneous.CFF1 225.5

1. CHRIST AND PAUL BOTH EMPLOY METAPHOR OF SLEEP

As we have seen, Jesus spoke definitively of death as a “sleep.” Thus:CFF1 226.1

“Our friend Lazarus sleepeth [koimao, “to lie down in sleep”]; but I go, that I may awake [exupnizo, arouse] him out of sleep .... Howbeit Jesus spake of his death” (John 11:11-13).CFF1 226.2

The two expressions, sleeping and awakening, thus stand out in logical antithesis. On another occasion Jesus said, “The maid is not dead [in the sense of being beyond the summons of the Life-giver, but sleepeth” (Matthew 9:24). And the record adds, then “he ... took her by the hand, and the maid arose” (Matthew 9:25). In this connection it is interesting to note that our English word “cemetery” comes from the Greek koimeterion, a sleeping chamber or burial place (from koimao, to put to sleep). Paul likewise uses the same metaphor of “sleep” with telling force:CFF1 226.3

“If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain .... Then they also which are fallen asleep [keomaomai, to fall asleep involuntarily] in Christ are perished .... But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians 15:17-20).CFF1 226.4

In John 12:1, 9, 17 the variant verb egeiro ^{55) According to Companion Bible, of the 141 uses of egeiro (to awaken, wake up, arouse from sleep) 70 usages refer to the resurrection. (For example: Matthew 10:8; Matthew 27:63; Luke 20:37; Luke 24:10, 34; John 12:1, 9, 17; Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 5:14, et cetera.} (to rouse from sleep, to raise) is used by John in referring to the “raising” of Lazarus.CFF1 226.5

Anastasis is one of the most common Greek terms for “resurrection.” It was often used by Christ, as in discussing the resurrection with the disbelieving Sadducees (Matthew 22:23, 28, 30, 31), and in referring to the “resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14). It was likewise used by the apostles in referring to Christ’s own resurrection (Matthew 27:53; Acts 1:22; Acts 2:31; etc.), and by Paul in the great resurrection chapter (1 Corinthians 15:12, 13, 21, 42), as well as by Peter (1 Peter 1:3). (Connect to Libronix)CFF1 226.6

The noun anastasis (a standing up, as from the dead; hence, resurrection), occurring 42 times, is always translated “resurrection,” except in Luke 2:34. The verb anistemi occurs 111 times, 35 of which refer to resurrection. (For example: Matthew 17:9; Matthew 20:19; John 6:39, 40, 44, 54.)CFF1 227.1

2. NO CONSCIOUS LAPSE OF TIME BETWEEN DEATH AND RESURRECTION

Death as a deep unbroken sleep is the inspired depiction, enshrining a wondrous and blessed truth. For the sleeper himself there is no perceptible interval, no conscious lapse of time, between the moment of falling asleep in death and the instant of awakening, or resurrection. The closing of the eyes in the death slumber is succeeded immediately, as far as he is concerned, by the hearing of the sound of the last trump and the awakening call of Christ on the resurrection morn. Thus the passage of time is annihilated. It is more rapid than the lightning’s flash across the sky. It will be like the “twinkling of an eye.”CFF1 227.2

It cannot be overstressed that there is complete unconsciousness during the entire interval. The saints are not in Heaven, but in gravedom. Though thousands of years should elapse—as with righteous Abel (Hebrews 11:4)—there is no wearisome, frustrating passage of time. A long or a short period is identically the same to the one who is insensible. The moment of loss of consciousness is, to him, immediately followed, the next moment, by the regaining of consciousness, only now with the body in glorified, immortalized form (1 Corinthians 15:52-54). In the light of this comforting fact of the sleep of the saints, the second coming of Christ is as near to every individual in the embrace of death, and to every generation, as to any and all others. That should never be forgotten.CFF1 227.3

3. PREMISE OF “SLEEP” ONLY WAY OF UNDERSTANDING PAUL

Paul, in comforting the Thessalonians, along with all other Christians, always speaks of the dead as sleeping, and holds out the assurance of glorious final awakening, or resurrection. Indeed, the only way the apostle can be understood in all of his many statements is on the premise of a state of sleep between death and the resurrection. And as in natural sleep there is suspension of the senses, so in death there is cessation of all the functions of life.CFF1 227.4

We therefore believe it to be clearly established that the state of death is, in the New Testament, set forth as one of unconscious sleep between death and the resurrection—that unconsciousness continuing until the actual moment of awakening, which is the resurrection. Hence the Greek verb egeiro, we repeat, commonly rendered “to raise,” may, when used in the context of those who have died, be properly translated “to awake,” “arouse,” “rouse up.” This is strikingly set forth in 1 Corinthians 15, the great resurrection classic, where the “waking” is frequently placed close beside the “sleeping” expressions of death. Thus:CFF1 227.5

“That Christ died for our sins ...; and that he was buried, and that he rose [egeiro, “hath been raised,” or “awakened”] again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep [koimao]” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6).CFF1 227.6

And now read 1 Corinthians 15:12-18, and 20, where egeiro may be uniformly rendered “awakened,” and is, in fact, the alternative reading in various translations:CFF1 227.7

“Now if Christ be preached that he rose [egeiro, “awakened”] from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of [from among] the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen [awakened]: and if Christ be not risen [awakened], then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up [awakened] Christ: whom he raised [awakened] not up, if so be that the dead rise [wake] not. For if the dead rise [wake] not, then is not Christ raised [awakened]: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished [from which there is no awakening] .... But now is Christ risen [awakened] from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept [or, have fallen asleep, from koimao]” (1 Corinthians 15:12-20).

Awakening is clearly the converse of falling asleep.CFF1 229.1

4. SLEEPING DEAD DO NOT PRECEDE THE LIVING

Another point should be noted. 1 Thessalonians 4:15—“We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [anticipate, precede, or go before] them which are asleep”—assures us that those who are still living and remain at the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who “are asleep” in death. Obviously Paul is not saying, “before those who have been before us in glory for centuries.”CFF1 229.2

Neither the “quick” (living) nor the “dead” (sleeping) shall precede or be gathered, before the other. But the changed living and the awakened “sleepers,” both immortalized at one and the same time, “shall be caught up together,” to “meet the Lord in the air,” thenceforth ever to be “with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).CFF1 229.3

5. INTENT OF THE “QUICK” AND THE “DEAD.”

It should be added that the term “quick” appears thrice:CFF1 229.4

No passage of Scripture employing this metaphor of sleep says that it is merely the body, or any single part of man, that sleeps, but always the person himself—the man as a man, or personality (see Job 7:21; Deuteronomy 31:16). Thus Jesus said, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.” And Paul declares, “Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” It is the dead who sleep, not simply their corpses.

Picture 2: Christ Raises Daughter of Jairus:
Christ, the Life-giver, Raises the Daughter of Jairus—a Token of His Power and Purposed to Resurrect the Redeemed at His Coming.
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