SLEEP. Why does Jesus refer to the death of a believer as sleep ? Simply because while we are asleep , after going to bed , and before we wake in the morning....we know nothing. We see nor hear anything ( unless a noise wakes us)....and, it seems like just minutes that we were last awake. Physical sleep is literally a state of unconsciousness......it is the same unconsciousness that a patient on an operating table is in......the only difference is that their sleep has been induced and can be controlled. Our physical sleep is subject to how much rest we need. Some need a full 8 hours, some need less. We rise refreshed because we have been at rest. This is how it will be at the resurrection of the dead in Christ. Jesus describes our physical death as sleep because it will seem like a moment in time....even though many saints have been dead for thousands of years. In Psalm 16: 9-10 King David knows his body will rest secure in the grave ( not hell as has been mistranslated) and Job asks God to hide him in the grave ( Sheol)....... until His ( Gods) wrath has passed......which is at the end of the age. Job further tells us that even though his skin and flesh will rot in the grave ....yet he will see Christ with his own eyes......and Job has been dead for thousands of years. .... Job said, in Chapter 19, verse 26. ....., Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for myself and not another though my reins be consumed within me. In other words, Job said though my body rots in the grave, somehow in some way, yet in my flesh, Ill see God. That is the belief in a bodily resurrection. When you come into the New Testament, Jesus begins early in His ministry to promise a literal, physical, bodily resurrection. For example, in John Chapter 5 and verse 28, Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall here His voice and shall come forth. All that are in the grave, said Jesus, shall hear His voice and come forth. So...lets stroll through the Word....word by word....and see how our sleep will end...and what the result will be. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. We will NOT precede ( go before ) those who have fallen asleep ( died).....so, no pre trib rapture there, then...NO believer will go to be with jesus BEFORE the dead in Christ have been resurrected. Scripture will confirm exactly when that is...... Job 14:12 So a man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep. The heavens are no more when Jesus returns.....when the elements in the sky ( the sun , moon and stars ) all pass away....and Jesus becomes the light of the world. THIS is when we are awakened, resurrected....not before. John 11:11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” John 11:23-25 …23. Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. 24. Martha said to Him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. 25. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,… When is the resurrection of the dead in Christ ? On the LAST day....not the second to last day....or 3 years and a half years BEFORE the last day ( as pre tribbers preach )....but on the LAST day of the world. Jesus Himself prayed this to the Father....... John 17: 14-17 …14.I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15.I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. 16.They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.… DO NOT TAKE THEM OUT OF THE WORLD.......Could this be ANY clearer ? Protect them from the evil one ....says the Lord . WHERE , then....does a pre tribulation rapture figure into that verse ? It doesnt. When we die we sleep....resting securely , awaiting the day when Jesus will call us forth from our graves ....if we should die before He returns. Notice not ONE verse ever mentions a separate soul or spirit that has floated off , to live on somewhere else. Does that separate, disembodied soul or spirit come back INTO our bodies when we are resurrected ? Id love to read that scripture.....in 30 years I have never seen it. We sleep....awaiting the day of Jesus return. Clear . Easy to understand. Simple...really.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 10:00:40 +0000
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