a-slēp ́ (ישׁן, yāshēn, “sleeping,” רדם, rādham, “deep sleep”; καθεύδω, katheúdō, “to fall asleep,” ἀφυπνόω, aphupnóō, “to fall asleep”): A state of repose in sleep, Nature’s release from weariness of body and mind, as of Jonah on shipboard (Jonah 1:5); of Christ in the tempest-tossed boat (Matthew 8:24); of the exhausted disciples in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:43 the King James Version). Used with beautiful and comforting significance of death (κοιμάομαι, koimáomai, “to put to sleep”). Sleep implies a subsequent waking. In the presence of death no truth has been so sustaining to Christian faith as this. It is the distinct product of Christ’s resurrection. Paul speaks of departed believers as having “fallen asleep in Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:6, 18). Lazarus and Stephen, at death, are said to have “fallen asleep” (John 11:11; Acts 7:60); so of David and the ancient patriarchs (Acts 13:36; 2 Peter 3:4). The most beautiful description of death in human language and literature is Paul’s characterization of the dead as “them also which sleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:14, KJV). This blessed hope has wrought itself permanently into the life and creed and hymnology of the Christian church, as in the hymn often used with such comforting effect at the burial service of believers: “Asleep in Jesus! blessed sleep!”
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Author: International Std. Bible Encyclopedia
Keywords: Asleep, Death, Sleep, Resurrection, Resurrection of the dead, Soul sleep
Bible reference(s): Matthew 27:52, John 11:11-13, Acts 7:60, Acts 13:36, 1 Corinthians 15:6, 1 Corinthians 15:18, 1 Corinthians 15:20-21, 1 Corinthians 15:51, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15, 1 Thessalonians 5:10, 2 Peter 3:4, 2 Maccabees 12:45, 2 Esdras 7:32
Source: James Orr (editor), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 5 volume set.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.