Asleep.
That is the word that Jesus used to describe the condition of a twelve-year-old girl who had passed away. “She is not dead but asleep” (Luke 8:52). Then he went into her room, took her hand, spoke to her, “her spirit returned” (verse 55), and she rose from the dead.
Asleep is also the word he used when he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up” (John 11:11). He brought him back to life, too.
In Acts 7, when Stephen is stoned to death for the things he was teaching, it is noted that he asked God to forgive his attackers and then “he fell asleep” (verse 60). Asleep is the word that is used to describe King David’s death (Acts 13:36), as well as the death of some of the believers in the city of Corinth (1 Corinthians 11:30, 15:6, 15:18).
Paul used the word three times in three verses when he wrote, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who fall asleep, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).
What if death is no more permanent than sleep?
What if death is just a temporary state of transition to the next life?
What if death is not the end of everything, but only the end of the beginning?
If that is true, we have hope, and we'd better get ready.
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