Sleep Versus With Christ

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 8
Memory and consciousness remain with both saved and unsaved after death, as can be seen by reading Luke 16:1919There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: (Luke 16:19) to the end. This is the first time in the Bible that the curtain is brushed aside and we get a little view of the unseen world. "Sleep" in Scripture always refers to the body. The whole subject of 1 Cor. 15 is the resurrection of the body. It sleeps until the resurrection morning, when the dead in Christ will rise to receive an incorruptible, and an immortal body. James tells us in chapter 2, verse 26, that "the body without the spirit is dead." Paul tells us that when caught up to Paradise, he could not tell whether he was in the body or out of it. The transfiguration scene does not teach us the sleep of the soul. Both Moses and Elias spoke of His decease which He would accomplish at Jerusalem, thus showing that they were more intelligent than, the disciples who companied with Jesus. One might ask whether being asleep would be "far better," or being "with the Lord" would mean joy to one's soul, if unconscious in sleep. No, it is the body that is referred to when the word "sleep" is used.