Sleep and death

Death described in the imagery of sleep

The sleep of death for human beings in general

Psalm 90:3–6 NIV84

You turn men back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, O sons of men.” For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning— though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.

See also Job 7:21; Job 14:10–12; Ps 13:3; Da 12:2; Mt 9:24

Death as resting with the ancestors

1 Kings 2:10 NIV84

Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.

See also Dt 31:16; 2 Sa 7:12; 1 Ki 11:43 Solomon; 1 Ki 14:20; 1 Ki 14:31; 1 Ki 16:6; 1 Ki 22:50 Jehoshaphat; 2 Ki 14:16; 2 Ki 15:7; 2 Ki 16:20; 2 Ki 20:21 Hezekiah; 2 Ki 21:18 Manasseh

Those who fall asleep in Christ

Revelation 14:13 NIV84

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

See also Jn 11:11–14; Ac 7:60; 1 Co 15:6; 1 Co 15:17–19

Death is not the end of existence

John 5:28–29 NIV84

“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

See also Job 14:13–15; Ps 17:15; Is 26:19; Da 12:3; Lk 16:22–23; 1 Co 15:20; 1 Co 15:51–57; 1 Th 4:13–18

Sleep denoting the finality of judgment for the lost

Jeremiah 51:57 NIV84

I will make her officials and wise men drunk, her governors, officers and warriors as well; they will sleep forever and not awake,” declares the King, whose name is the Lord Almighty.

See also Ps 7:3–5; Ps 76:5; Je 51:39