Have you ever wondered why Jesus referred to
death as sleep? But just a very few minutes in
our heart -to -heart talk, we're going to take
the very words of Jesus. Everything that I say
today will be backed up. with his word the highest
authority in heaven and earth i am going to read
to you from the eleventh chapter of john and
immediately you will recognize that portion of
the word of god that tells about the raising
of lazarus now a certain man was sick named lazarus
Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
And it was that Mary which anointed the Lord
with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair,
whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his
sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he
whom thou lovest is sick. And when Jesus heard
that, he said, this sickness is not unto death
but for the glory of god that the son of god
might be glorified thereby now jesus loved martha
and her sister and lazarus and when he heard
therefore that he was sick he abode two days
ill in the same place where he was Then after
that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into
Judea again. And his disciples saith unto him,
Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee,
and goest thou thither again? Jesus answered,
Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any
man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because
he seeth the light of this world. But if a man
walk in the night, He stumbleth, because there
is no light in him. These things said he, and
after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus
sleepeth. But I go, that I may awake him out
of his sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord,
if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus
spake of his death. death, but they thought that
he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then
said Jesus unto them, Lazarus is dead. I am glad
for your sakes that I am not there, to the infant
ye may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto
him. Then said Thomas. unto his fellow disciples
let us go also that we may die with him then
when jesus came he found that he had lain in
the grave four days already now bethany was nigh
unto jerusalem about fifteen furlongs off and
many of the jews came to martha and mary to comfort
them concerning their brother then martha As
soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went
and met him, but Mary sat still in the house.
Then said Martha to Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst
been here, my brother had not died, but I know
that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God,
God will give it to thee. And Jesus said unto
her, Thy brother shall rise again. And Martha
said unto him, I know that he shall rise again
in the resurrection at the last day. I know all
about that. But Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live,
and whosoever liveth, believeth. in me shall
never die. Believest thou this? She said unto
him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Son of God, which shall come into the world.
And when she had so said, she went away and called
Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, The Master
is come, and he calleth for thee. And as soon
as she heard of that, she arose quickly and came
unto him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the
town, but was in that place where Martha met
him. And the Jews then, which were with her in
the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary,
that she rose up hastily and went out, followed
her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep
there. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was
and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying
unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother
had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping,
and the Jews also weeping which came with her,
he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and
said, Where have ye laid him? And they said unto
him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said
the Jews, Behold how he loved him. And some of
them said, Could not this man, which opened the
eyes of the blind, which caused that even this
man should not have died? Jesus therefore again,
groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It
was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. And Jesus
said, Take ye away the stone. And Martha, the
sister of him that was dead, saith unto him,
Lord, by this time he stinkest, for he hath been
dead for days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not
unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, thou
shouldst see the glory of God? And then they
took away the stone from the place where the
dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and
said, Father, I... thank thee that thou hast
heard me and i knew that thou hearest me always
but because a people would stand by i said it
that they may believe that thou hast sent me
and when he thus had spoken he cried with a loud
voice lazarus come forth and he that was dead
came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes,
and his face was bound about with a napkin. And
Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him
go. Why did Jesus here speak of death as sleep?
Twice before in the record of our Lord's ministry,
we see him standing in the presence of death.
Once it was a child, the child of Jairus. And
then again, there was a time when it was the
son of the widow. Here death is seen in the case
of the brother of Martha Mary. And on that physical
level, this incident is superlative. In the first
case, the child was dead in the house. and not
many hours had passed. In the second case, the
boy was on his way from the city to a burial
and not yet buried. But here we have the presence
of death of a man who had been dead for four
days, buried, and yet Jesus spoke of death as
a sleep. Let's consider this. To me, this is
very thrilling. First of all, we see that Jesus
had a clear view of the fact of death. He knew
the fact of death as they saw it, but he also
knew it in a way that they did not see it. When
the disciples misunderstood him and thought he
was really referring to natural sleep, then John
says he said plainly. Now mark that word. He
said distinctly, positively. He is not taking
a rest. He is dead. He has died. his shared experience
is covered by the word that men had constantly
used he is dead he is numbered among those who
are dead he saw death as they saw it and consequently
when they did not understand him he said the
plain thing he is dead emphasizing it in the
word that he used completely dead actually dead
the body has been put in the sepulcher It's lifeless.
He's dead. See something. What is sleep? When
we go to sleep, it does not mean our being has
ceased in sleep. What is it? unconsciousness
of all things around. Now, I'm dealing with normal
and proper sleep. We're unconscious of everything.
We say sometimes that someone's sleeping like
a baby. There is, therefore, completely unconsciousness
of surrounding things. And that's the figure
that our Lord used. And therefore, we've come
rightly and very beautifully. to associate the
idea of sleep with repose. That's what those
men with Jesus thought that he was referring
to. If Lazarus was asleep, he would recover.
If a man has been ill, has really gone to sleep,
he will recover. He'll be saved. And literally,
that is what they thought. The danger is past,
for he is sleeping. but jesus was seeing more
than they did mary and martha saw a lifeless
corpse and martha all bless her was so blunt
in her description of the condition of that corpse
as she expected that it was by this time and
those disciples would travel along with jesus
as peter said let us also go that we may die
with him If they had been able to look into the
tomb when the stone was rolled away, they would
have seen wrapped in grave clothes the body of
that one who was dead. That's what they saw.
And that's all they saw. But Jesus said, that
is not all. As a matter of fact, it is not the
supreme fact. He's dead. He's lost the consciousness
of all the things that are around him, his sisters,
his friends, and everything else. He's dead.
But he is not dead in the full and deep sense
of the word. Death as we know it. He saw the
dead body, but he saw the man. The man was not
in the sepulcher as he saw him. So that he said,
so far as this side is concerned, so far as you
are concerned, as far as the loved ones are concerned,
he is dead. But so far as he is concerned and
the things of this side, he's unconscious. He
knows nothing about them. But that's not the
end. That is not the end. What then is the teaching
which we have here? First, the clear evidence
that Christ's outlook on personality was that
of his continuation beyond death. When a man's
heart ceases to beat, that is not the end of
that man. Even when, as to this world, they are
asleep, unconscious, and we cannot communicate
with them in any way, they were not actually
dead. They had not ceased to be. Notice his sympathy.
When presently he told them to roll away the
stone, and they had done it, what did he do?
He spoke to the man. He spoke to him by the name
they had known him. Lazarus. Come forth. He spoke
to the same man, the same personality. That man
could not have heard Martha if she had said,
Lazarus, come forth. Oh, no. He would not have
heard Martha. That man could not have heard Peter
or John standing there if they had called into
the void after him. But he heard Jesus, and Jesus
addressed him by name. he did the same with the
little girl he laid his hand on her and said
little lamb arise he spoke to one who could hear
him not the father and mother they could not
reach her she was asleep so far as they were
concerned she was not asleep so far as jesus
was concerned And when he approached that one
who was dead and said, young man, arise, as to
one who could hear the son of the living God,
the one who did hear him, the one who is resurrection
-like, that one came forth. They all heard him.
He brought them back. from the sleep that was
the unconsciousness of the things here and now
and brought them into consciousness of them and
into the position in which they became conscious
of them and he called it sleep but watch lazarus
but only one could bring him forth, the Son of
God. Lazarus heard, struggling to an upright
position in his gray clothes. Loose him, Jesus
said, and let him go. The little girl, not yet
wrapped in her gray clothes, but lying there,
she heard his voice, the divine voice, and she
sat up and opened her eyes. The young man was
able to struggle up. possibly sitting upright.
And Jesus gave him back to his mother. So that
if we speak of death as sleep, we must recognize
that the only one, get this now, the only one
who can wake out of sleep is our Lord himself.
The one who can bring back into consciousness
those fallen. on sleep no one else can remember
that forever and ever and ever oh beloved only
one can say arise I say unto you, the hour cometh
now is when the dead shall hear the voice of
the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
All that are in the tomb shall hear his voice,
and shall come forth. They that have done good
unto the resurrection of life, they that have
done evil unto the resurrection of judgment.
When he spoke to Martha, he said, I am the resurrection
of life. He that believeth on me, though he die,
yet shall he fail. Only one voice. can give life.
His voice.