02/16/2024
Asleep in Jesus
Does the spirit (or soul) of man sleep after death? Or does the body? And what shall be awoken on the Last Day and Great Resurrection?
The natural man fell in Adam and in the fall was condemned to death and separation from God. The common and most dreaded judgement which is shared by all of Adam’s posterity is the fact that our natural lives will end one day in death or transformation. Every being groans with this pronouncement and terror of death as long as it lives. As long as it lives it is continually experiencing the corruption of death and will one day cease to live and shall molder back to the dust from which it came. So final and so horrible to the natural mind, the carnal mind, the mind of the flesh, and to dwell on this end is torment and misery, so the Apostle proclaims, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Cor 15:19) But this proclamation points to one giant truth, there must be a life beyond “this life”. The truth of the gospel is clear that when the Spirit of God quickens our inward man, our soul, our spirit, from the covenant of death inherited in Adam, He abides in us and frees us from the law of sin and death and that which is born again shall never taste death. The friend of Jesus, Lazarus was sick unto death and at his appointed time by the will of God he died. No doubt the sisters of Lazarus were sorrowful and torn by the departing of their brother, and while they cried Christ delayed His coming to be with them for four days. When asked by the apostles of Lazarus’ condition (For they were unaware that he had died), Christ told them “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.”, Jon 11:12-16 Listen to this scripture closely, Christ did not look upon the death of Lazarus’ body with a mind of torment and fear, but rather looked upon his death as a “sleep”. A “sleep” is a temporal condition, one from which one can be waked. To Christ, Lazarus’ death was as harmless as a peaceful night’s rest. But to those who were around him, the occasion brought sorrow and pain…. but only for a short time.
Jesus then went to comfort, Lazaurs’ sisters and because of His compassion on them as His friends He even wept with them. “Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.” John 11:17-27
Did you hear that, how could He pronounce those words to a grieving family who had, four day’s earlier, laid their brother in the grave? He was boldly saying that those that believe in Him, though dead, will live and that which lives will never die! Though Lazarus’ body had laid in the tomb under the bo***ge and corruption of death itself, Jesus proclaimed that he would live again and that there was something in Lazarus that would never die. Jesus then called for Lazarus’ body to wake up and come from the grave and it did that those there would know that Jesus had power over death and it obeyed! And a few days later He demonstrated that power even greater with His own death and resurrection.
What part then is there in man that believes on Jesus and never dies? That is, the Spirit of God in man, which God gives and God sustains and God is everly with. “and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” Eccl 12:7 When a child of God dies, the living spirit in man returns to God from which it came. It does not die, it does not sleep but arrives in the presence of God to await the waking of it’s mortal body in the resurrection. The Baptists of old clearly stated in this the first London Confession of Faith in 1689, “The bodies of men after death return to dust, and see corruption; but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous being then made perfect in holiness, are received into paradise, where they are with Christ, and behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies; and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell; where they remain in torment and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day; besides these two places, for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.” LCOF Ch 31 part 1.
Notice this that upon the moment of death our inward man is immediately brought into the presence of God in Paradise, like the thief on the cross, not at some future moment but “this day”. Our spirits being in the presence of God are not mindful of those things earthly. They are not mulling about doing natural tasks, thinking on things they had done, nor looking for their loved ones to come to heaven and join them. They are not enjoying the ecstatic natural pleasures dreamed up by the natural mind, but rather they are with God beholding His glory and cannot be disturbed by this temporal frame.
So, then the child of God has hope beyond this life only, to a life eternal in Christ. So that’s it, right? No, let us not forget that which sleeps. The body that, in our mortal eyes, is annihilated by time and corruption, is still very much in the mind of God. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Rom 8:11 Our bodies shall not be forgotten, but just as Lazarus was, in Christ’s eyes, only sleeping, so also our bodies though in the grave for millennia are only sleeping. “But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him” 1 Thess 4:13-14 Like He comforted Mary and Martha, He comforts us, commending us not to sorrow as those that have no hope, like those who only look to this mortal life, but rather be comforted by the promise that those who are asleep in Him will be quickened at the Last Day.
“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor 15 50-57
So when we think of death and of sleep let us, with the weight of scripture in our minds, hold to the word and know that a part of us (our spirits) will never die, will never sleep, will never be separated from God and the other part (our bodies) will not be cast off forever but will be awoken to power, glory and immortality to be complete again one day, when we will wake in His likeness and are satisfied.
Elder Billie Campbell
Feb 26, 2024
