Asleep in Jesus (John MacDuff)

1 Thessalonians 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.” 

It is beautiful to see the surging waves of daily life rocking themselves to rest—to note, say, in some vast city, when night has drawn its curtains around, light after light put out in the windows, the street lamps paying solitary homage to the stars as they look down from their silent thrones! What a hush pervades the recent 'stunning tide of human care and crime!' Why? Because sleep is locking up ten thousand eyes of those who are dreaming away care and sorrow, fatigue and toil. But again, as the gates of morning open, and when from the silent monitors of fleeting time, the hour summoning to labor strikes, in a moment the ring of countless hammers breaks the trance of night. All is again astir. Sleep has refreshed the workman's wearied body; sleep has put new pith and sinew in that brawny arm. The whole world has arisen like a giant refreshed, and sleep has been the elixir that has soothed its wounds and healed its pains.

We need not wonder, then, that this priceless blessing to the weary, has been taken by God Himself to describe the quiet rest of His own people in the grave. David, the man after God's own heart, after he had served his day and generation, "fell asleep and was gathered to his fathers." "Our friend Lazarus sleeps," said Christ. Stephen, when struck down by his murderers, "fell asleep." Following the same imagery, "Those also," says the Apostle, "who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him."

But what does Paul mean by this sleep? Is it the sleep of the soul? Is it that the spirit, at the moment of dissolution, falls into a state of inactivity or insensibility, in which it remains until startled at last by the trumpet of God? No! Let us return to the analogy of earthly sleep. We know that when the body is in a state of profound rest, when the eye is closed in seeming unconsciousness on the pillow, it is only apparently so. The mind is in a state of constant activity; all its powers are vigorous as ever. Memory is there, bringing up old and treasured scenes. Imagination is there, combining these in strange fantastic medley. Gorgeous visions come and go—magnificent combinations, in comparison with which waking realities are dull, prosaic, and commonplace. So it is with the soul at death. While the body "sleeps" in its grassy bed, the spirit is roaming in regions of activity and life. It departs "to be with Christ, which is far better."

''There is no death—the stars go down
To rise upon some fairer shore;
And bright in heaven's jeweled crown,
They shine for evermore.

"There is no death—an angel-form
Walks o'er the earth with silent tread,
And bears our best-loved things away;
And then we call them dead."

Isaiah 28:12

“To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.” 

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