1 Thessalonians 4:13, commentary and pictures

The verse teaches that those who have died in faith lie asleep in the grave in a silent, unconscious rest, free from pain, sorrow and care until they are awakened. That sleep is only for a little while, not the final end, for they will rest until the morning of the resurrection when Jesus comes. Believers may truly sorrow when friends die and weep with those who weep, yet not with the hopeless grief of those who have no hope. Their hope rests on Jesus who died and rose again, so that at His descent from heaven with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God the dead in Christ shall rise first in glorified immortal bodies and be caught up together with the living to ever be with the Lord. Comfort therefore comes not from the thought that the dead have already passed into glory at death, but from the coming resurrection and joyful reunion when all will be known again and part no more.

Occasion and Background

The letter was addressed to the believers at Thessalonica to comfort them and to correct their ignorance about those among them who had died since their conversion. These were newly converted believers who had hoped that all of them would live to witness the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven. As one after another of the believers fell under the power of death, they sorrowed greatly and feared that it had become impossible for the dead to behold that desirable event.

Those Thessalonian believers were facing persecution and death. They had turned from heathen idolatry to faith, yet vague pagan ideas about death still mixed with their new faith. Under that influence they had believed there was no future life and no reunion with loved ones.

The words about not being ignorant mean that full and definite instruction has been given about the dead. That instruction is scattered all over Scripture.

Meaning of Sleep

Them which are asleep means the dead are asleep in death in an unconscious state. The entire being slumbers in the grave, not a conscious soul departed at death to eternal happiness or misery. This teaching on the sleep of the dead belongs together with the destruction of the wicked. The Thessalonians had turned from heathen idolatry, yet vague pagan ideas about death still mixed with their new faith, leaving them to suppose there was no future life or reunion with loved ones. Full and definite instruction has been given about the dead, scattered all over Scripture, so that believers need not grieve for them as people who have no hope. Their hope rests on Jesus' death and resurrection, that when the Lord returns the dead in Christ will rise and the living faithful will be gathered with them to meet him and remain with him.

That sleep is unconsciousness, silence, and inactivity in the grave. There is no remembrance, no thanks, no praise of the Lord, and no knowledge of anything, and love and hatred and envy and all emotions and passions have perished. It is a time of silence in the grave, at rest beyond pain and sin and sorrow and care. Those at rest are free from grief and want and distress, and from the perils and trials and sorrows of life until the Lifegiver raises them. Their sorrow for separation is therefore mingled with joy and rest and peace in Jesus, looking through faith to the resurrection when he calls them from their prison-house to triumph over death and the grave.

This sleep is temporary, not an eternal sleep and not the final abode of the saints. The grave holds the dead only for a little while, a short rest until the morning of the resurrection when Jesus awakens them to eternal glory. They are not to be raised before then, but rest until the Lifegiver raises them to glorious immortality. Death while serving faithfully does not cancel the promise, and being laid to rest until Jesus comes is not the hopeless end of life. Because Christ passed through the tomb, reunion will come in a little while at his appearing, when those who remain faithful will meet their loved ones and receive eternal life and a crown of glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life.

Those who sleep are those who sleep in Jesus, who have died in Christ, in the Lord, in faith. They include a wife and mother, a daughter, a church elder, faithful servants and pioneer workers, and God's chosen ones. Their life is hidden with Christ in God, and their testimony to the truth may continue to bear witness after death. When such believers are silent in death, the bereaved may weep with those who weep, yet have joy at heart and comfort because Jesus is their only hope and consolation. Because Jesus died and passed through the tomb, the tomb is brightened with hope for all who lay their loved ones to rest in Jesus, looking forward to meeting them again in the heavenly royal family with no more parting.

Sorrow With Hope

When friends are taken by death it is natural for the stricken heart to sorrow and to ask what their condition is and what their future prospect is. Believers are not commanded not to sorrow, for they may weep with those who weep when a wife and mother, a daughter, a church elder, and others who believed in and loved Jesus lie silent in death. Their sorrow is real and calls for deep sympathy, yet it is held with hope and is not even as the hopeless sorrow of others which have no hope. That sorrow is mingled with joy and rest and peace in Jesus, with joy at heart and comfort because Jesus is the only hope and consolation and the dead sleep in Jesus. They rest beyond pain, sin, sorrow, and care, at rest and free from grief and want and distress, until they rise at the last trumpet to live again, freed from death and the grave in immortal life. Hope looks through faith to the resurrection when the Lifegiver calls them from their prison-house to triumph over death and the grave, to reunion of loved ones among the redeemed, to walking in the streets of the New Jerusalem singing the song of Moses and the Lamb with jeweled crowns, sustained by God's unfailing kindness and His purpose to work all things for good to them that love Him.

The Christian hope in Christ stands in contrast to the terror of those who have no hope. When people feared that the judgment day had come, that hope brought joy and confidence.

Grief over those who have died should not become a consuming sorrow, for bereavement comes to all but mourning cannot help the dead or the living. Mourners are not to dwell at the grave or spend time there bringing a shadow of gloom over their pathway, for the hope of Christ's resurrection lightens grief without requiring this. The reason is that Jesus passed into the grave and the prison-house of death and came forth again, giving comfort to all who mourn those who died in faith. The faithful dead are asleep in restful sleep with their work done until the morning of the resurrection, and the living are not to sorrow by seeking to call them back from that rest to a life of toil and pain. The gate of heaven is open and light shines on the pathway, so the bereaved can lean on Christ, carry forward their work without complaint, and use their own affliction and loss to know how to sympathize with and help others passing through sorrow.

Resurrection at Christ's Coming

The hope that takes away hopeless sorrow rests on Jesus' death and resurrection, for as Jesus died and rose again, even so those who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him from the dead. Because Jesus died, passed through the tomb, was laid in the tomb and raised, and so wrought out redemption to give pardon, purity, peace, and a heaven of bliss, the tomb is brightened with hope. A door stands open that no one can close, and Jesus passing into the grave and coming forth lightens grief without requiring mourners to dwell at the grave. The grave is a place of unconsciousness but not the final abode of the saints, for they shall be redeemed from it with a great and glorious redemption.

The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. They are released from the grave and given immortal life when the last trumpet sounds, and when the Lifegiver calls the dead from their graves they rise to eternal life. Then the living who remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall they ever be with the Lord, which is comfort. The living and resurrected share a joyful reunion with no more parting, when people of every age will be together and no one will grow older.

Jesus' resurrection is the pattern of their resurrection, for as He rose with a body, manner, and voice familiar to His followers, so those who sleep in Jesus will rise again. Individual identity is perfectly preserved, and they will be known and recognized by friends who love them. Though deformed, diseased, or disfigured in mortal life, they will come forth not in former mortal bodies but in resurrected, glorified, immortal bodies. Their familiar features will be seen in faces radiant with light shining from Jesus, freed from death and the grave.

The dead wait for the trump, judgment, and blessedness and are raised to glory when the Lord comes for them at His second coming. Those who sleep in Jesus will be awakened when the archangel's trumpet sounds to enter endless joy. Hope looks through faith to the resurrection when the Life-giver calls them from their prison-house to triumph over death and the grave, to reunion of loved ones among the redeemed, to walking in the streets of the New Jerusalem singing the song of Moses and the Lamb with jeweled crowns, sustained by God's unfailing kindness and His purpose to work all things for good to them that love Him. Their life is hidden with Christ in God, and they rest for a little while until the time of indignation has passed; their death is therefore a reason for hope and rejoicing.

The dead who have died in faith rest until the morning of the resurrection and are not to be raised before then. Some present at the Conference would die before Jesus came, including Clarissa M. Bonfoey who died three days after the vision, while others would remain alive until His coming and be translated. Faithful workers who die are laid to rest while the work continues through new workers. Death described in the phrase fall asleep in Jesus is sleep for those who die in Christ, and their testimony to the truth may continue to bear witness after their death.

Refuting False Teachings

Comfort about those who are asleep comes from the doctrine of the resurrection at the Lord's second coming, not from blessed immortality at death. The dead are asleep and wait for the trumpet, judgment and blessedness, and are raised to glory when the Lord comes for them. To say that at death the Lord comes for each person and the dead have already passed into glory takes the place of the second coming and obscures and neglects the glorious truth of the resurrection.

That sleep means the entire being slumbers in the grave, not that a conscious soul goes at death to eternal happiness or misery. This removes the mystery around the resurrection and gives it new and sublime importance, explaining why Scripture dwells so much on the resurrection of the body. If the soul were already rewarded or punished and its lot appointed at death, there would be no need for the resurrection of the moldering body, and a final judgment afterward would be confused and useless. The hope for the bereaved is therefore future, looking forward to the glorious day when the Lifegiver breaks the fetters of the tomb and the righteous dead arise and leave their prison-house to be clothed with glorious immortal life, so believers need not grieve without hope.

Understanding that the dead are asleep is essential to avoid being deceived by supposed appearances of deceased loved ones. Their apparent return through familiar forms, words, and voices is a satanic counterfeit and deceptive manifestation of spiritualism rather than communication from the dead. The sleep of the dead together with the destruction of the wicked is truth belonging within the shut door faith, not an abomination brought in by a Jezebel prophetess. To call them an abomination is error and darkness that brings gloom, and those who teach against them must be humbled and renounce that error.

Comfort for the Bereaved

Grieving believers are comforted by the certainty of reunion, for they need not grieve for believers who have died with the hopelessness of those without hope. The dead are asleep in the grave only for a little while, awaiting the resurrection when death will be destroyed, and those who remain faithful will meet their loved ones at Jesus' appearing and receive eternal life. That Christian hope is grounded in Jesus' death and resurrection: those who sleep in Jesus will be raised when the Lord comes, the dead in Christ rising before living believers are gathered to meet the Lord, so believers can comfort one another with reunion in the heavenly royal family. When the Lifegiver calls the dead from their graves the righteous dead arise from their prison-house clothed with glorious immortal life.

Hope in God gives cheer in bereavement, and God stands by the afflicted as sun and shield. The grave holds a loved one only a little while and reunion will come in a little while, so grief for the dead need not be hopeless but can be borne in affliction by enduring faithfully. Enduring the trial well and holding fast to truth leads to receiving a crown of glory together with the departed companion at the appearing of Jesus, being crowned with glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life.

Afflicted ones are to be of good comfort in the hope of the resurrection morning, for the bitter waters of grief are made sweet by the love of Jesus, just as the bitter waters of Marah were made sweet and pure and safe to drink when the bush God had created was cast into the fountain. Sorrow over believers who have died is not hopeless because Jesus passed into the grave and the prison house of death and came forth again, giving comfort to all who mourn the faithful dead and lightening grief. The bereaved are therefore not to sorrow as others who have no hope, nor to spend time at the grave bringing a shadow of gloom over the pathway, for the gate of heaven is open and light shines on the pathway. The bereaved mother is called to entrust herself to God, who can help beyond what she can ask or think, to lean on Christ, to carry forward the work without complaint, and to use affliction and loss to know how to sympathize with and help others passing through sorrow.

The faithful dead rest with work done in restful sleep until the morning, free from the perils, trials, and sorrows of life until the Lifegiver raises them to glorious immortality, for Christ passed through the tomb and death is not an eternal sleep. Death for those who trust is being laid down awhile to rest to save them, with life to spring up from the dust as a body hidden like a seed soon to rise in deathless bloom and the broken family made complete again in sweet reunion in heaven. Therefore the living should not mourn hopelessly nor wish to call the faithful dead back to earth where they would be exposed to fall and to toil and pain. It is better to bend over their cold form while they hold the truth than to see them yield it, making it the anxious care of the living not to be missing when all are there.

Death is described as sleep for those who die in Christ, giving hope that death is not a final loss. To die is to sleep in death, as with Mary who was about to sleep in death, and being laid to rest until Jesus comes is not the hopeless end of life but awaiting His coming. Believers can therefore face the possibility of dying with trust and peace rather than hopelessness.