Austin's Blog

The Bible consistently and often uses the metaphor of “sleep” to describe the deaths of believers.

• Matthew 9:24 – Jesus says of a deceased girl, “The girl is not dead but sleeping.”
• Matthew 27:52- Many Old Testament saints came awake from their sleep after the resurrection of Christ.
• John 11:11-14 – Jesus refers to Lazarus’s death, saying, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going to wake him up.” He then clarifies, “Lazarus is dead.”
• Acts 7:60 – As Stephen is being stoned, he prays and then “fell asleep,” signifying his death.
• Acts 13:36 – Paul says, “David… fell asleep and was buried with his ancestors.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:6 – Paul refers to witnesses of Jesus’s resurrection, noting that “most of them are still living, though some have fallen asleep.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:18 – Paul speaks of those who have “fallen asleep in Christ,” referring to deceased believers.
• 1 Corinthians 15:20 – Christ is described as the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:51 – Paul declares, “We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,” speaking of death and resurrection.
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15 – Paul encourages believers not to grieve “like the rest of mankind” about those who have “fallen asleep,” affirming their resurrection.
• 2 Peter 3:4 – Scoffers mention, “Since our ancestors died (literally, ‘fell asleep’), everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”

Why does the Bible use this metaphor to describe our deaths? First, sleep indicates that our death is temporary. The heinousness and hideousness of death is the seeming sense of finality—that this marks an end. Yet, death is not the end. Phillip Keller writes, “For the child of God, death is not the end but merely the door into a higher and more exalted life of intimate contact with Christ. Death is but the dark valley opening out into an eternity of delight with God. It is not something to fear, but an experience through which one passes on the path to a more perfect life.”

Second, the Bible uses the metaphor of our death as sleep to highlight the fact that we are cared for. We are radically dependent. So much so that a third of our life is spent in an unconscious state where anything could happen. Why is this the case? To highlight the fact that God is sovereign and takes care of us. John Piper remarks, “Sleep is a parable that God is God and we are mere men. God handles the world quite nicely while a hemisphere sleeps. Sleep is like a broken record that comes around with the same message every day: Man is not sovereign. Man is not sovereign. Man is not sovereign. Don’t let the lesson be lost on you. God wants to be trusted as the great worker who never tires and never sleeps.” Indeed, He who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps (Psa. 121:4). Just as God cares for us as we physically sleep during our lifetime, God cares for us as we go to sleep in death.

Third, sleep is a metaphor for rest from our labors. Alexander Maclaren notes, “They who have died in Christ live a fuller and a nobler life, by the very dropping away of the body; a fuller and a nobler life, by the very cessation of care, change, strife and struggle; and, above all, a fuller and nobler life, because they ‘sleep in Jesus.’” We rest from our sins, struggles, strife, and the scorching life under the sun of this world. Revelation 14:13 says, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” Death brings rest for the Christian. The mission is over. Everlasting joy and beauty is before them.

Fourth, and likely the chief reason the Bible uses “sleep” to describe death is it points to our future resurrection. We one day wake up! God intends to do to us and the whole world what He did to Jesus on the third day. Jesus got up! He arose. He’s got the keys (Rev. 1:18). He abolished death and brought immortality to light through the Gospel (2 Tim. 1:10). Paul triumphantly declares in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, “Behold! I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” There’s coming a Day when Gabriel and all other saints will rise to the sound of a trumpet call. Their bodies sleep for now. They are sown in the garden of the world and are awaiting when the Master will reap His crop.