"Not Dead, but Sleepeth."
By Epsilon
THE great Teacher, who "brought life and immortality to light through the gospel," called death, sleep; and the result of his teaching was, that his disciples preached "Jesus and the resurrection." Sleep implies two things: unconsciousness, and a final waking. The sound sleeper never dreams; and time, long or short, is but a moment to him. In Matt. 9: 23, 24, we have an account of our Redeemer's raising from death the daughter of Jairus:— "And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, he said unto them, Give place; for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth." Why did Jesus not say that the maid was not dead, but alive in Heaven? Did he not know her true condition? Did he say one thing and mean another? Jesus was a model teacher. Good teachers are thoughtful and use plain language. But what did our Lord say? "The maid is not dead, but sleepeth." Says one, "He meant that the body sleeps." Then, if the body sleeps, it is the body that is not dead. Says the Romanizer, "It is the immortal soul that is not dead." Then if it is the "living soul" that is not dead, it is the "living soul" that sleepeth. The Romanizer may take whichever horn of the dilemma he pleases; for either is fatal to his theory of disembodied spirits. In the eleventh chapter of John, we have an account of Lazarus being called back to life by Him who is "the resurrection and the life." His words are, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep." Verse 11. Why did he not say, Our friend Lazarus has gone to Heaven; but I go that I may call him from Heaven? When the weeping sisters met him, why did he not comfort them by assuring them that Lazarus was happy among the angels? His comfort was, "Thy brother shall rise again." Mary understood, for she had sat at the feet of Jesus. The weeping Saviour gave the only comfort that the Bible warrants in such cases. See 1 Thess. 4: 13-18, especially verse 18. The great hope of Job was in the fact that he had a living Redeemer, who would stand upon the earth at the latter day; and that, after being destroyed by worms, he would yet see his Redeemer, when called from his sleep in the dust. He saw nothing but silence and darkness in death. It was in hope of that resurrection-life that he gloried. See Job, chapters 14 and 19. Said he, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." That he had a living Redeemer, made his resurrection sure. The Redeemer himself also said, "Because I live, ye shall live also." John 14: 19. His life made their lives a certainty. They were dead, or, under condemnation of death; but "Your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Col. 3: 3, 4. The Judgment is the "Judgment to come." Eternal life is given "in the world to come." The punishment of the wicked is "the wrath to come." All these are still future. The coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, is the time of rewards and punishments. "The dead praise not the Lord," "know not anything;" "their thoughts perish." Death is called "the land of forgetfulness." The dead "sleep in the dust of the earth."