Sleep Sound in Jesus

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13

“You might be a king or a street sweeper, but everyone dances with the grim reaper.” Most of us dance with him for the first time at somebody else’s funeral. Sooner or later, in that most personal of all meetings, he will save the last dance for us. So, here we are today, as America’s poet laureate Henry Wadsworth Longfellow put it so well:

And our hearts, though stout and brave, 


Still, like muffled drums, are beating 


Funeral marches to the grave.

Death confronts us all. As he does, only one question matters: Are you confronting death with Christ or without Him? Do you stand alone, or does Jesus stand at your side?

In our text this morning, Paul says three things about the Christian and death.

For the Christian, death is not without sorrow.

The apostle Paul is very honest about this. We grieve, Paul says, and we ought to! It’s not wrong to weep at funerals; Jesus did (John 11:35). Lazarus died according to God’s plan. Jesus would not intervene (John 11:14-15). Yet, when Lazarus died, Jesus’ heart ached at the loss– the family’s loss and His own loss  (John 11:36-38).

Like Jesus, we grieve the loss of our loved ones gone before. They are not lost to God, but they are lost to us. We will never again feel the touch of their hand, the sound of their voice, the warmth of their presence while this life endures.

For the Christian, death is not without knowledge.

Paul literally says, We do not want you to be agnostic, brothers, about death. Where does the strength come to stand courageously in the face of death? It does not begin in our hearts with what we feel. Paul says it begins in our heads with what we know with absolute certainty.

How can we be certain in the face of death? Well, because God has spoken: 

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. (1 Thessalonians 4:15)

The God who used words to stretch out the cosmos, to build the starry sky, to lay the foundations of the earth; the God who uses words to uphold the created order (“For He upholds all things,” the write of the Hebrews says, “by the word of His power”)— this God uses words to build a firm place for you and for me to stand this morning, a place to rest our souls, a place that won’t give way or crumble beneath our feet, a place of absolute security.

Of what can we be certain when it comes to death and the Christian? First, we can be certain that death brings no harm to the Christian. The Thessalonians, it seems, were concerned that Christians who had died would somehow lose out at the last day—as if somehow they wouldn’t enjoy the same benefits as those who remained alive until Christ returned, or as if somehow they were doomed to be disembodied spirits forever.

Second, we can be certain death brings only gain to the Christian. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul says: “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). In other words, If life means Christ to me, then death means more of Christ. Death brings me home to Jesus. The grave is not a dark hole down to nowhere. For the Christian, the grave is the front door of the Father’s house. 

Third, we can be certain Christians don’t even die when we “die.” In our bodies, we simply fall asleep.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. (1 Thessalonians 4:14)

We see a beautiful illustration of this as Christ died upon the cross. For millennia, Jewish mothers, when they lay their little ones down to sleep, have prayed a bedtime prayer taken from the Psalter. Well, when Mary laid Jesus down to sleep, she would have prayed, “Into your hand, we commit our spirits, for you have redeemed us, O Lord, the faithful God!” (Psalm 31:5)

With that in mind, can you imagine what Mary thought as her son died upon the cross? What were His last words? “Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). He’s saying, I have done all the dying I have had to do. My people’s debts have been paid. Mom, I am not dying; I am falling asleep into the presence of my Father. My body is just taking a little nap, while my soul flies home to God. For the Christian, death is no more to be feared than a catnap at the end of a long, long day.

For the Christian, death is not without hope.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep…. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, emphasis added)

The Bible uses the word hope differently than we do today. We hope for things that might happen. For example, I hope to go to Hawaii one day. Or a teenager might hope to get a new phone for Christmas. The Bible uses the term hope to describe something more certain than your next heartbeat, something more certain than the ground beneath your feet.  

This certainty has nothing to do with us or something we have done. This certainty is built simply on Christ alone and in Christ alone. United to Jesus, we are part of Him forever. So we die as we have lived: “in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Not even death can separate us from Him. Body and soul, we rest in Him forever. This union took our sin and made it belong to Jesus. This union took His death, burial, and resurrection and made it belong to us. This union took His righteousness and made it belong to us forever. Through faith, we are as much part of Jesus as His right arm.

Back in Northern Ireland, we have a saying to describe something absolutely secure: “as safe as houses.” Well, the Christian, while he lives, as he dies, and forever and a day is “as safe as Jesus.” Let these words encourage you as you think about your life and your death in your Savior.

(The substance of this message was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the funeral of Paul Bayne Eaton, Jen Grinwis’ father).