Sleep Death

Psa 6:5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?


None. Yet don't you believe that giving thanks would be something done constantly if you've gone over from a flesh body to a spirit body leaving behind all the infirmities the flesh has with it? Wouldn't you be shouting your thanks if you were granted heaven upon death? There is NO thanks in death. Death is something to be abhorred, not something to welcome. Don't get me wrong, death can be welcomed by many who are fighting for their lives against a painful, vile disease. What is it that is welcomed though? The end of the pain, not the end of life, just the end of the pain life brings. People who are happy don't wish to die, why? Because they know on some level that death is an ending. Death is the end of their flesh existence and their ability to interact with those still living. If death were something wonderful- an immediate passing into a spirit life living in a wondrous heavenly abode where you could still know everything there is to know about all that is going on with your loved ones- wouldn't it be wise to just encourage the death of ALL the world. Seriously, wouldn't death be desired if we REALLY believed it was a passing into that sort of existence? The thing is people AREN'T sure what happens after death. People want to believe it's a wondrous passing into a spirit life living in a wondrous heavenly abode, but there is something wrong about that belief- it's not TRUE. It simply isn't TRUE. Death isn't any great mystery! It isn't! There is NO question about what death is, not if you believe in Jesus Christ God's Son, the Savior of the World. He says--


Joh 11:11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
Joh 11:12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
Joh 11:13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
Joh 11:14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.


JESUS said plainly-- Lazarus is DEAD.


But Jesus just said-- our friend Lazarus sleepeth.


There are different types of sleeping. A sleep that is nightly. A sleep that is healing (have you ever notice how the majority of sick people seem to need more sleep?). A sleep that is the sleep of death.


Lazarus is sleeping.
Lazarus is dead.


Which is it? Both. Lazarus is sleeping death's peaceful sleep of nothingness, of painlessness.


There is NO mystery here! None! Jesus wasn't confused about what death was. Jesus understood that death is exactly like sleeping, knowing nothing until you wake again. Is it any wonder you can't give thanks in death, do you thank people when you're sleeping? No. Is it any wonder the dead know nothing? No. Do you know anything when you are sleeping? You're clueless as to what is taking place around you, completely clueless until you wake up and your thought process begins again.


Read this…


Psa 88:10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.


No, the dead have no thought why would you show them wonders?
No, the dead won't rise up and praise you, they can't…they're dead.


Ecc 2:16 For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.


Everyone dies the same. Death is the same for EVERYONE. Death is the same slipping down into nothingness of death's sleep for every single person. You can be the richest man in the whole world and when you die you will sleep just as the poorest man. The wisest man and the biggest fool both inherit the sleep of death.


Job 7:8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.
Job 7:9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.
Job 7:10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.


You go down to the grave and you come up NO MORE!
You do not return to your house!
Your place will not know you any more!


Death is a sleep, not some grand adventure into the spirit realm where you can watch the living as they go through the struggle of life. How wondrous would it be to have to watch your loved ones suffer and be able to do absolutely nothing for them? Death is a sleep and nothing more. A sleep you can and will wake from- some to eternal life and others not.


1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.


The DEAD in Christ will RISE!


Why would they need to rise if they are already living as spirit beings in heaven?


1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 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.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 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.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.


The DEAD SHALL BE RAISED incorruptible, when? At the LAST TRUMP.


Remember this… we just read it…

1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

The LORD will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the TRUMP of God!


When our Savior return if we've died in Christ, if we are in death's sleep, we will be awakened by our Savior! Just as the moment awareness comes to us upon waking in the morning from a night's sleep, we will wake when Christ returns for us and the first awareness after we die that we have will be rising to meet the Lord. How amazingly wonderful is that?! How awesome is it to know that death is NOTHING to fear if we live in Christ and have accepted Him as our Savior, loving Him more than life itself.


Our loved ones are not without us in some spirit form in heaven, because truthfully, could they really be happy being without us… their loved ones? Oh sure, people like to pretend they are up there visiting with all those that passed on before them, but it's just not so. They are sleeping, they're not existing in another form without us. What a blessed sleep that is, knowing they'll be woken up by the calling of our Savior Himself!


By the grace and mercy of our Lord, may we be found in Him alive or in death's sleep. To hear the sound of our King's calling us to Him, it's a day not far off, and it's a sound I long to hear.


In HIS love, in HIS righteousness now and forever!


Amen.