Information Related to "Christ and Biblical Writers Compare Death to Sleep"
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What happens to a person when he dies? The Bible compares death to a state of sleep. It is not a normal "sleep," of course. It is a sleep in which there is no thought, brain activity or life whatsoever. Passages throughout the Bible show this to be the case.
For example, Job spoke of the state of the dead on more than one occasion. "Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? ... For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; then I would have been at rest ... There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest" (Job 3:11,13,17).
Many centuries later the biblical account of the death of Lazarus, a friend of Jesus, illustrates death to be a sleeplike state. "Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany" (John 11:1). Jesus decided to go to him, but, so He could perform a miracle to strengthen His disciples' faith, He waited until Lazarus died.
Before going to Bethany, Jesus discussed the condition of Lazarus with His disciples. He told them Lazarus was asleep and that He was going to awaken him (John 11:11-14). The disciples responded that sleep was good because it would help him get well (verse 12). Jesus then plainly told them, "Lazarus is dead" (verse 14). Notice that Jesus stated emphatically that Lazarus was dead, but at the same time He described death as a condition like sleep.
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Table of Contents that includes "Christ and Biblical Writers Compare Death to Sleep"
Lazarus:
