Christian "sleep" is a metaphor for death

[kayne]

Christian "sleep" is a metaphor for death.

 

[Petros2015]

Christian "sleep" is a metaphor for death.

It is a metaphor for many things

Lilith, by George Macdonald

“Our moon,” he answered, “is not like yours—the old cinder of a burnt-out world; her beams embalm the dead, not corrupt them. You observe that here the sexton lays his dead on the earth; he buries very few under it! In your world he lays huge stones on them, as if to keep them down; I watch for the hour to ring the resurrection-bell, and wake those that are still asleep. Your sexton looks at the clock to know when to ring the dead-alive to church; I hearken for the [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] on the spire to crow; ‘AWAKE, THOU THAT SLEEPEST, AND ARISE FROM THE DEAD!’”

 

[com7fy8]

"Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light."
(in Ephesians 5:14)

Here we can see how sleep can be conscious and being dead can be conscious. One who sleeps in sin and is dead in sin is conscious, but not alive in God's love.

 

[RileyG]

Christian "sleep" is a metaphor for death.

agreed

 

[ViaCrucis]

Christian "sleep" is a metaphor for death.

Sleep is often a euphemism for death in the New Testament. Yes. Which is why we have often spoken of the "reposed in the Lord", those whose bodies have fallen asleep; because in Christ death has lost all its power, and the dead who sleep in the dust of the earth shall rise on the Last Day at Christ's return.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[prodromos]

The word "cemetery" comes from the Greek "κοιμητήριο", which means "place of the sleepers"

 

[kayne]

Sleep is often a euphemism for death in the New Testament. Yes. Which is why we have often spoken of the "reposed in the Lord", those whose bodies have fallen asleep; because in Christ death has lost all its power, and the dead who sleep in the dust of the earth shall rise on the Last Day at Christ's return.

-CryptoLutheran

So since the Christian hope is the resurrection of the body, and those who "sleep in the earth" are dead, as in "the dead in Christ shall rise first", then as it says of King David, he has died, has seen corruption, and has not risen into heaven, "His tomb is with us to this day" HE is in the ground, dead and buried, and suffering corruption.
Those who are spiritually dead but then have "seen a great light" die and are buried awaiting the 'actual' physical resurrection of themselves in their new bodies; are those who have been spiritually resurrected in this life, died with Jesus and risen with Jesus into the heavenlies, and reigning with Him as kings and priests while they lived in this present world. Those who are spiritually dead and remain so, die and remain in the grave until they are resurrected in their old body which will be found to be spiritually bankrupt, not having been subjected to the infusion of the spiritual life of Romans 8:11.
Jesus said that those who believed in Him would never die, clarifying that with "they will never see death", because all physically die but believers will never see the death that is the "second death" which is the true and final death from which there is no recovery. So all "sleep" in the earth but only believers will rise from that "sleep" into life, while the "sleep" of unbelievers is the sleep of impending eternal death, to be confirmed upon their resurrection of condemnation by virtue of having continued to "live in the flesh" up until physical death.
Where the Sadducees were admonished for disbelief in the resurrection, it was said that God is the god of the living, not of the dead, "for to Him, all are alive", (but "asleep") not meaning that they were still alive somewhere, but that as far as He is concerned, they are alive, even though in the ground, dead, because He sees them through the impending resurrection as being alive.

 

[kayne]

"Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light."
(in Ephesians 5:14)

Here we can see how sleep can be conscious and being dead can be conscious. One who sleeps in sin and is dead in sin is conscious, but not alive in God's love.

This is talking about people in this present life who are spiritually dead, sinners, who are not alive in Christ. So in this sense yes, they are conscious as living breathing entities, otherwise they would be unconscious. Metaphorically they are "asleep" in sin but also only metaphorically "dead" because they are physically alive, though they be spiritually dead.

 

[ViaCrucis]

So since the Christian hope is the resurrection of the body, and those who "sleep in the earth" are dead, as in "the dead in Christ shall rise first", then as it says of King David, he has died, has seen corruption, and has not risen into heaven, "His tomb is with us to this day" HE is in the ground, dead and buried, and suffering corruption.

His body, yes. But he is present with Christ until the resurrection.

Those who are spiritually dead but then have "seen a great light" die and are buried awaiting the 'actual' physical resurrection of themselves in their new bodies; are those who have been spiritually resurrected in this life, died with Jesus and risen with Jesus into the heavenlies, and reigning with Him as kings and priests while they lived in this present world.

Yes, that's what our baptism means. Having been crucified, died, and buried with Him in Holy Baptism, we have been raised to new life with Him; and are therefore born again, are new creations in Christ.

Those who are spiritually dead and remain so, die and remain in the grave until they are resurrected in their old body which will be found to be spiritually bankrupt, not having been subjected to the infusion of the spiritual life of Romans 8:11.

Romans 8:11 is pretty specifically and explicitly about the resurrection of the body. I don't have any dogmatic position about what happens to the unbaptized/unbelieving. Though I believe Scripture does indicate that ultimately there may/will be those who refuse the redemption and healing that is in Christ, even to the point of what St. John describes in his Apocalypse as a "second death". As for what that ultimately means has been a matter of discussion and speculation for the last two millennia, and where Scripture and the Church are silent, I choose to not to speculate dogmatically.

Jesus said that those who believed in Him would never die, clarifying that with "they will never see death", because all physically die but believers will never see the death that is the "second death" which is the true and final death from which there is no recovery.

I think it's more simple than that. The redeemed never see death because even through the death of the body they remain--alive in and with God, kept with Him until the Last Day. As the Apostle says in his second epistle to the Corinthians, that (on account of the sufferings and trials of this present age) it is preferable to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. That there is a conscious existence between the death of the body and the resurrection of the body is clearly indicated in both Old and New Testaments, and in the non-biblical 2nd Temple period literature of Judaism. Such that Christ speaks of the dead rich man and poor man as being in She'ol/Hades with a chasm between Gehenna and Gan-Eden, aka Paradise or Abraham's bosom.

As our Lord also says, God is not a God of the dead, but of the living. In Christ Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and indeed all the Old Testament saints have life: bodily life in the resurrection of course, but they are alive, even now, with Christ. For even the death of the body cannot separate us from the love of God which is ours in Jesus, bodily death cannot destroy the Communion of Saints. And therefore the author of the Epistle of Hebrews reminds us that we are, indeed, surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.

That should comfort us, as we--and they--share in our common hope of that glorious future Day when God makes all things new, and we are raised, transformed, and share in the incomprehensible glory and good of the Tomorrow God has purposed.

So all "sleep" in the earth but only believers will rise from that "sleep" into life, while the "sleep" of unbelievers is the sleep of impending eternal death, to be confirmed upon their resurrection of condemnation by virtue of having continued to "live in the flesh" up until physical death.

I don't presume to know what can't be known. I have no idea what St. John means when he speaks of the second death, only that he describes it in the apocalyptic language of a lake burning with sulfur and fire. I do find it interesting that he chooses to use sulfur here; which in the ancient world was a purifying agent associated with the holy and divine--hence the Greek word for sulfur also means "divinity".

I also hold out hope in the words of St. John of Patmos that the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations. But, again, I do not presume to speculate or dogmatize.

Where the Sadducees were admonished for disbelief in the resurrection, it was said that God is the god of the living, not of the dead, "for to Him, all are alive", (but "asleep") not meaning that they were still alive somewhere, but that as far as He is concerned, they are alive, even though in the ground, dead, because He sees them through the impending resurrection as being alive.

The Pharisees also believed in a continued existence of "the soul" beyond death. The Sadducees did not. So it's not a choice between bodily resurrection and a continued existence beyond bodily death. It's both. It's just that the absence of the body is nakedness and unnatural, and is merely and intermediate condition between the death and resurrection of the body. Such has always been the teaching of the Christian Church, from the Apostles until this very day.

-CryptoLutheran