The Sleep of Life
Submitted by Frank Williams
Written Nov 2015
June 17, 2024
Joh 11:11 …Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
As a family, we just buried my oldest brother, Leon. After several years, cancer was finally able to eat away at his flesh… until it could no longer function. We sat before his body, both out of respect for him and for the gracious God Who created us. And then we gently lay his body in the earth.
Death in the Bible does not mean that a person ceases to exist. It always refers to A SEPARATION. When a body has drawn its last breath of air, and its heart has stopped beating, and its brain has stopped functioning—a separation has taken place.
At death, the soul exits the body and is escorted by angels to one of two places – Heaven or Hell.
Leon’s body is but sleeping. There is a difference between the Sleep of Life and the Sleep of Death.
In John 11, the Bible records the death and resurrection of Lazarus. Jesus referred to his death as SLEEP. When a saved person dies, the body simply goes to sleep, and there in the grave it slumbers to be awakened when the Lord Jesus comes.
We are forever grateful that Leon was a saved man. It comforts the depths of our souls to know that he sleeps the Sleep of Life.
But sadly, there are many of our loved ones and friends who have passed on, only to sleep the Sleep of Death. Today they are separated from God’s grace in hell. Tomorrow, when their body is resurrected and reunited with their soul – body and soul shall be cast into the Lake of Fire. There they will be existing forever in the Second Death. (Revelation 20:14)
The truth is that God is so loving that He does not desire that any should ever perish.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
If a person does not repent & believe in Jesus Christ, the consequence will not be pleasant.
I encourage you to evaluate your relationship with God. There is an appointment of death coming that you cannot cancel.
Consider – Be sure when your head is pillowed in death that it is but the Sleep of Life.
Did You Know? The word "everywhen" means all the time or always.
