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THE UNSAVED SLEEP A PERPETUAL SLEEP AND NOT WAKE

Updated - 5/24/10

We read 2 verses in Jeremiah 51 that declare that the unsaved will sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake:

39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.

57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

Both of these verses talk about the unsaved sleeping a perpetual sleep and not waking. When we read the word “sleep” we think of someone without any consciousness at all, so we can read the above two verses and conclude that the unsaved will never have any consciousness throughout eternity future.

However, we have to check out our understanding of the word “sleep” throughout the Bible, to make sure that we have come to a Biblically-correct conclusion. We will now examine some verses that help define how God uses the word “sleep” in the Bible.

We read in Isaiah 29:10-12:

10 For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

Isaiah 29:10-12 is talking about the false prophets among the unsaved of God’s corporate people. In verse 10 we learn that God has already “poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep.” They are already “asleep” according to this passage.

Yet, Isaiah 29:10-12 is talking about people who are in this world and are conscious. It is talking about unsaved false prophets among God’s corporate people.

In Isaiah 29:10-12 God describes people who are conscious in this world and yet God talks about them as in a “deep sleep”. How can this be?

We get help in understanding when we read that God “hath closed your eyes” in verse 10. God has closed the eyes of the prophets. God goes on to describe in verse 11 a “book that is sealed” to them. The book that is sealed to them is the Bible. God is saying that the false prophets cannot understand the Bible because God has closed the Bible to them or God has sealed the Bible so that they cannot understand it.

One principle that we must keep in mind is that for anyone to understand the true Gospel teaching of the Bible, God has to open his understanding. We can learn many facts by reading the Bible, but in order to come to significant Gospel truth, God must give us understanding or open our understanding of the Bible. We read about this fact in Luke 24:45:

Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.

This is teaching that the Lord Jesus had to open the understanding of the disciples that they might under the Bible. This is true for anyone.

Therefore, if God does not open our understanding that we might understand the Bible, then the Bible remains as a “book that is sealed” to us. We will not be able to understand the true Gospel teachings of the Bible. This is what God is saying in Isaiah 29:10-12.

In Isaiah 29:10-12 God is declaring that He has sealed the Bible or closed the understanding of the Bible to false prophets. They will not be able to understand the Bible because God will not give them understanding. This is similar to the teaching that we read in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12:

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

In verse 11, God talks about sending a “strong delusion” to the unsaved so that they are not able to understand the truth of the Bible.

In Isaiah 29:10-12, God calls the withholding of truth by God as a “deep sleep”. The unsaved are in a “deep sleep” because they are not conscious of Gospel truth from the Bible, yet they are still conscious in this world, like everyone else is.

Isaiah 29:10-12 teaches us how God can use the word “sleep” in the Bible. God does use the word “sleep” to indicate that someone is not conscious of something, but that does not mean that the person has no consciousness at all.

We see a similar theme in Isaiah 56:10:

His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.

In Isaiah 56:10 God is talking about unsaved people with emphasis on unsaved false prophets of God.

God calls them “dogs”. Dogs were an unclean animal in the Bible. The unsaved are referred to as dogs in other parts of the Bible. God says that they are “sleeping” and “loving to slumber”. Again, God uses the idea of sleeping to speak of people who are conscious in this world. Yet, they are not conscious of certain Gospel truths. They are “asleep” to Gospel truths of the Bible.

We get further help in understanding this verse by the language, “His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant”. The unsaved are “blind” and “ignorant” to the truths of the Bible.

In Isaiah 56:10, God is using the figure that the unsaved are “sleeping” in the sense that they are not conscious of Gospel truth from the Bible, but they are still conscious in this world.

We read more about being “asleep” in 1Thessalonians 5:4-8:

4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

6 ¶ Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

In verses 4-5, God is telling the true believers that the Day of the Lord will not over take them as a thief, because they are “all the children of light, and the children of the day”.

Then in verses 6-7, God is talking about the unsaved who “sleep”. We see the word “sleep” in both verses. God is not talking about sleeping in bed at night. Neither is God talking about people who do not have any consciousness at all. Rather, God is talking about those who do not “watch”. Those that are “drunken” on wrong gospels. They are “asleep” or not conscious of important Gospel truth. Yet they are still conscious in this world.

The word “sleep” is pointing the fact that they are not conscious of Gospel truth. They are conscious in this world, but are not conscious of Gospel truth.

Let’s consider another verse. We read in Ephesians 5:14:

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

In Ephesians 5:14 God is giving a command to the unsaved. The command is for them to become saved. As we study the Bible carefully we learn that man of himself cannot accomplish that command. Finally, God has to fulfill that command in man. That why salvation is not of works as we read in Ephesians 2:8-9:

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Nevertheless, in Ephesians 5:14 and in many other passages, God commands mankind to come to God and to become saved. That is because mankind is made in the image of God and accountable to God. God addresses man as someone made in the image of God.

In Ephesians 5:14 God refers to the unsaved as one that “sleepest”. The unsaved are conscious in this world just like the saved are conscious. However, the unsaved person “sleepest” because he is not conscious of Gospel truth of the Bible. He is “asleep” to the Gospel truth of the Bible, but is still conscious in this world.

We read more about “sleeping” in Mark 13:35-37:

35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:

36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.

37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

The context of Mark 13:35-37 is the end of the world and Christ’s second coming. God is telling us that we are to watch unless Christ comes and finds us “sleeping”. The Lord is not talking about someone sleeping at night. When Christ appears, there will be people sleeping in their beds because it will be the middle of the night in some parts of the world.

Rather, the Lord is talking about “sleeping” in the sense that we learned in Isaiah 29:10-12 and other passages. When Christ comes, most people will be “sleeping” in the sense that they have never become saved. They are “asleep” to the Gospel truth of the Bible. They have never become saved.

We see another important usage of the word “sleep” in Matthew 25:1-7:

1 ¶ Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

The 10 virgins represent the corporate people of God in the New Testament era, the churches and denominations. The 5 wise virgins represent the true believers. The 5 foolish virgins represent the unsaved that appear to be true believers. These people are called “tares” in Matthew 13:24-30 & 13:36-43. They are not true believers but appear to be true believers.

We read in Matthew 25:5 that all 10 virgins “slumbered and slept” and in verse 7 all the virgins “arose” or awaked.

Matthew 25:1-7 is written a little differently than the other passages with the word “sleep”. In the past, the word “sleep” was applied only to the unsaved because they are not conscious of gospel truth. However, in Matthew 25:1-7 God says that both the saved and the unsaved in the local congregations were “asleep”. Then, when we get close to the end of the world, the time that the “bridegroom cometh”, then all of the virgins arose or woke up. Both the saved and the unsaved woke up.

If we keep in mind that God refers to someone being “asleep” to indicate that he is not conscious of something, but still can have consciousness, then we can understand what God is teaching in Matthew 25:1-7.

Another important point that we must understand is that God has written about certain truth in the Bible but has kept that truth hidden so that no one could understand it. Then, when we get near to the end of the world, God began to open the understanding of the true believers to this truth. This teaching is talked about in Daniel 12.

In Matthew 25:5, all of the virgins “slumbered and slept” because they were not conscious of certain Bible truth. Both the true believers and the unbelievers in the local congregations “slumbered and slept” because they were not conscious of certain Bible truths that God kept hidden until the end. God is not teaching that they had no consciousness at all. Rather, God is teaching that they were not conscious of certain Bible truths kept sealed up by God until the end.

Then, in Matthew 25:7 all of the virgins arose or woke up. They now became conscious of new Bible truths because God has opened the understanding of the true believers to more truth near the end of time. The unbelievers in the congregations can also learn some of these truths because the true believers are teaching them. The unsaved can learn some of these truths even though they remain unsaved.

This helps us to understand Matthew 13:25:

But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

Matthew 13:25 is part of the parable of the wheat and tares. God talks about “while men slept”. God is not talking about people sleeping at night in a bed. Rather, God is talking about “sleep” in the sense of Matthew 25:1-7 in the parable of the 10 virgins. The men “slept” in the sense that they were not conscious of certain Gospel truths that might have helped prevent tares from getting such a strong hold of the local congregations.

We have seen a number of verses in which God declares that the unsaved are already “sleeping” in the sense that they are not conscious to Gospel truth. However, they still have consciousness. This is the sense that God is talking about “sleep” in Jeremiah 51:39 & 57.

When the unsaved are cast into the lake of fire at Judgment Day they will “sleep a perpetual sleep”. That is, they will never become saved, they will never become conscious of the Gospel truths that believers have been given. However, other passages teach that they will be conscious in the lake of fire.

Let’s put Jeremiah 51:39 together with Isaiah 29:10-12 and Ephesians 5:14:

Jeremiah 51:39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.

Isaiah 29:10-12:

10 For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

Ephesians 5:14:

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Jeremiah 51:39 says that the unsaved will “sleep a perpetual sleep”. We may think that means that they will have no consciousness at all. However, we have to let God define His own terms.

We learn in Isaiah 29:10-12 and Ephesians 5:14 that the unsaved are already “asleep”. They are “asleep” in sense that they are not conscious of Gospel truth.

In this world, there is always the hope that an unsaved person will awake to Gospel which comes with salvation. Now the unsaved are “asleep” to Gospel truth, but the hope is that they might awake to truth when God saves them.

However, Jeremiah 51:39 & 57 are teaching that once we come to Judgment Day, the unsaved will remain forevermore “asleep”. They will never awake to Gospel. They will never become saved.

A BODY SLEEPING IN THE DUST

We will now continue our Bible study by looking at another way that God uses the word “sleep” which is to speak of the failure of the body, it’s loss of consciousness and final return to the dust. The Bible speaks of that as a body sleeping in the dust.

We find this language used to speak of believers as well as unbelievers. We see the following verses below:

For believers:

1 Kings 1:21 Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.

1 Kings 2:10 So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

1 Kings 11:21 And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me depart, that I may go to mine own country.

Acts 13:36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:

1 Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

For unbelievers:

1 Kings 14:20 And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

1 Kings 16:6 So Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah: and Elah his son reigned in his stead.

1 Kings 16:28 So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria: and Ahab his son reigned in his stead.

1 Kings 22:40 So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

2 Kings 10:35 And Jehu slept with his fathers: and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead.

2 Kings 13:9 And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria: and Joash his son reigned in his stead.

2 Kings 14:16 And Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead.

2 Kings 14:29 And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead.

2 Kings 15:22 And Menahem slept with his fathers; and Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead.

2 Kings 16:20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

2 Kings 24:6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

2 Chronicles 28:27 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

It is possible that one of the kings listed above might have become saved. However, the Biblical language is so negative concerning these kings that we know that probably all of them remained unsaved.

We also read in Daniel 12:2 that the bodies of both the saved and unsaved sleep in the dust:

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

We see a number of verses that teach that both the body of the saved and the body of the unsaved sleeps in the “dust of the earth”. This is when his body fails and there is no more consciousness in the body. By these verses we see another way that God uses the word “sleep”.

This raises an important question in our mind:

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE “SLEEP” IN JEREMIAH 51:39 & 57 REFERS TO THE BODY “SLEEPING” IN THE DUST SO THAT JEREMIAH 51:39 & 57 WOULD TEACH THAT THERE IS NO CONSCIOUS AWAKING OF THE UNSAVED?

Someone can read Jeremiah 51:39 & 57 and see the language that the unsaved “sleep” and wonder: Are these verses talking about the body sleeping in the dust and therefore Jeremiah 51:39 & 57 would be teaching that there is no conscious awaking of the unsaved at Judgment Day?

For several reasons, we know that the “sleep” of Jeremiah 51:39 & 57 cannot be the sleeping of a body in the dust. Rather it must be the “sleep” that we read about in Isaiah 29:10-12, Ephesians 5:14 and other passages. The “sleep” of no consciousness to Gospel truths of the Bible; the present condition of the unsaved.

We will now examine the how we can know that Jeremiah 51:39 and 57 cannot be talking about the bodies of the unsaved that are sleeping in the dust:

1. DANIEL 12:2 SAYS THAT THE BODIES OF THE UNSAVED, AS WELL AS THE SAVED, WILL AWAKE.

We will compare Daniel 12:2 and Jeremiah 51:39 together:

Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Jeremiah 51:39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.

Daniel 12:2 declares that “them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake”. The rest of the verse includes the unsaved in the “them”. However, Jeremiah 51:39 states that the unsaved will “sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake”.

These two statements may seem to contradict each other, but we have to remember that the Bible never contradicts itself. Both statements are true. Also, some have said that Jeremiah 51:39 & 57 somehow nullify or override Daniel 12:2. Again, every verse in the Bible is important. One verse does not override another verse. Also, these verses are not talking about ceremonial laws or anything that was completed in Christ. Both Daniel 12:2 and Jeremiah 51:39 stand and are true.

The answer comes when we remember that God uses the word “sleep” in different ways in the Bible.

We learned earlier in this study that God uses the word “sleep” in different ways. Jeremiah 51:39 is a follow-on to Isaiah 29:10-12, Ephesians 5:14 and other passages that teach that the unsaved are presently “asleep” or not conscious of Gospel truth. Jeremiah 51:39 & 57 teach that the unsaved at Judgment Day will forevermore remain “asleep” to the Gospel truth. That is, they will never become saved. Yet, they will be conscious, like they are conscious Today.

Whereas, Daniel 12:2 is talking about the bodies of the saved and the unsaved that sleep in the dust of the earth. If we compare Daniel 12:2 and Jeremiah 51:39 carefully, we see that there are key differences between these two verses so that we can know that they are using the word “sleep” in different ways.

2. Daniel 12:2 speaks about both the saved and the unsaved; whereas Jeremiah 51:39 only speaks about the unsaved.

Daniel 12:2 talks about the saved which are those that awake “to everlasting life” and it talks about the unsaved which are those that awake “to shame and everlasting contempt.” Daniel 12:2 is talking about the resurrection of the last day which is a resurrection of both the saved and the unsaved (John 5:28-29, Acts 24:15). On the other hand, Jeremiah 51:39 and the context refer only to the unsaved. This helps us to understand that Jeremiah 51:39 and Daniel 12:2 are talking about a different kind of “sleep”.

3. Whenever God talks about a body sleeping in the dust, God gives clues so that we know that God is talking about a CORPSE. Daniel 12:2 uses this kind of language to point to the CORPSE. Jeremiah 51:39 does not have this kind of language.

This is an important point. Whenever God uses the word “sleep” to refer to the unconscious corpse that is “sleeping in the dust” God always uses special language so that we can know that God is referring to a body “sleeping in the dust”. We can see this by looking at the representative verses below:

2 Samuel 7:12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

In 2 Samuel 7:12 God says that He will “set up thy seed after thee”. This language is common and refers to the son taking over as king for his father, whose body is now sleeping in the dust.

1 Kings 1:21 Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.

We read the language “sleep with his fathers”. This language points to the body sleeping in the dust. Also, there is other information in this verse that shows that it is talking about a time when King David is gone.

1 Kings 11:43 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

Often, God includes the language that he was “buried” so that we can know that God is talking about a body sleeping in the dust, a corpse.

1 Kings 22:40 So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

In 1 Kings 22:40 we have two clues that this verse is talking about the body sleeping in the dust. God says that Ahab slept “with his fathers” and that his son “reigned in his stead”, another indication that Ahab was not here anymore.

2 Chronicles 26:2 He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.

In 2 Chronicles 26:2 we see the language that he “slept with his fathers”. That points to the body sleeping in the dust, along with the bodies of his fathers that had gone before him.

Matthew 27:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

The reference to “graves” indicates that Matthew 27:52 is talking about the body that “slept” in the dust.

Acts 13:36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:

In Acts 13:36 there are several clues that indicate that this is talking about the body of King David that slept in the dust. An important clue is the reference to “corruption”. It is the body sleeping in the dust that sees corruption.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52:

51 ¶ Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Verse 51 talks about “sleep”. In verse 52 we read about being “raised incorruptible”. It is the body of the true believer that will be “raised incorruptible”.

1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

1 Thessalonians 4:14 talks about those that “sleep in Jesus”. Jesus will bring them with Him when He comes in the Rapture. This is talking about the true believers in heaven in their spirit-essence. They will come in their spirit-essence. Therefore, it is their bodies that “sleep in Jesus”. Another reference to a body sleeping in the dust which is a corpse.

The above verses are representative of all of the verses that talk about a body that sleeps in the dust. Every time that God talks about a corpse in the context of “sleep”, God always puts clue language in the verse so that we can know that God is talking about a body sleeping in the dust. Therefore, if see a verse that talks about “sleep” without any reference to the corpse, we have added assurance that this verse is not using “sleep” in the sense of a body “sleeping in the dust”, a corpse.

It is very significant to note that whenever God talks about a “corpse” in the context of “sleep”, God gives clues to indicate that He is referring to a body sleeping in the dust, which is a corpse. Therefore, the lack of any clues in a verse is a strong assurance that this verse is not talking about a body “sleeping in the dust”.

Let compare Daniel 12:2 and Jeremiah 51:39 again:

Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Jeremiah 51:39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.

In Jeremiah 51:39 we see no language that points to the “sleep” referring to a body sleeping in the dust, a corpse. However, in Daniel 12:2 God has put key language that points to a corpse, a body sleeping in the dust. God talks about them that “sleep in the dust of the earth”. Both the words “dust” and “earth” tie into the body that is made of this earth. We find these same 2 Hebrew words in two key verses:

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust <06083> of the ground <0127>, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground <0127>; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust <06083> thou art, and unto dust <06083> shalt thou return.

Genesis 2:7 is talking about the formation of man’s body. God “formed” man’s body of the “dust <06083> of the ground <0127>” or “dust <06083> of the earth <0127>” using the same 2 Hebrew words.

Genesis 3:19 is talking about when man’s body fails and returns to the dust of the earth. In other parts of the Bible, that is referred to as a body sleeping in the dust.

God has given very careful language to show that Daniel 12:2 is talking about man’s body that sleeps in the dust. Whereas, the lack of any reference to the body in Jeremiah 51:39 affirms the teaching that this verse refers to the “sleep” of knowledge of the Gospel like we read about in Isaiah 29:10-12 and Ephesians 5:14.

4. THE BIBLE TEACHES THAT THE BODIES OF THE UNSAVED WILL “AWAKE” USING A HEBREW WORD THAT ALWAYS SIGNIFIES CONSCIOUS ACTION.

As we have seen God has put significant language in Daniel 12:2 that shows that this verse refers to the corpses of the unsaved and the saved. The Biblical definition of a corpse is a body that is sleeping in the dust of the earth.

God has carefully selected the Hebrew word translated “awake” in Daniel 12:2. It is only used to signify an “awaking” to increased consciousness.

Let us examine the Hebrew word translated “awake” in Daniel 12:2. We find this same Hebrew word in the following verses:

1 Samuel 26:12 So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul’s bolster; and they gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked <06974>: for they were all asleep; because a deep sleep from the LORD was fallen upon them.

Psalms 3:5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked <06974>; for the LORD sustained me.

Psalms 139:18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake <06974>, I am still with thee.

Isaiah 29:8 It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh <06974>, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh <06974>, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

In these 4 verses we see that this Hebrew word translated “awake” in Daniel 12:2 is used to refer to the awaking after a nights sleep. This awaking is definitely to increased consciousness.

Psalms 17:15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake <06974>, with thy likeness.

Psalm 17:15 could be referring to the “awaking” of the body of the believer that is sleeping in the dust. That occurs at the Rapture and at that time his body will be completely in the “likeness” of God’s body. His body will come to consciousness.

Psalms 35:23 Stir up thyself, and awake <06974> to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.

Psalms 44:23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise <06974>, cast us not off for ever.

Psalms 59:5 Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake <06974> to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.

These 3 verses from the Psalms use this same Hebrew word to talk about God “awaking”. God is conscious. However, the setting of these verses is that God is not conscious in the sense that God is not acting to help the true believers or to bring judgment upon the unsaved. In each of the 3 verses above, the “awaking” that is asked of God requires conscious action. The Psalmist is asking God to awake to some conscious action.

In Psalm 44:23 the translators selected the translation “arise” which can make some people think of unconscious bones arising out of a grave. However, the context of this verse is that God is to arise or awake to take conscious action to deliver the true believers. The way that God uses this Hebrew word in Psalm 44:23 requires conscious action.

The translators probably picked the translation “arise” because in the first part of the verse they had already put the word “awake”.

Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake <06974> and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

In Isaiah 26:19 God is talking about bodies sleeping in the dust. They will awake to consciousness.

Joel 1:5 Awake <06974>, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

Joel 1:5 is a command to the unsaved to “awake” to consciousness about their sinful condition and their standing before God.

In all of the above verses and in all usages of this Hebrew word translated “awake” in Daniel 12:2, the context requires conscious action. God defines words by how He uses them in the Bible. By this, God is teaching that the “awaking” of Daniel 12:2 is an awaking to consciousness of the bodies of both the saved and the unsaved.

God uses this same Hebrew word in 2 other significant places. We will examine those now:

We read in Habakkuk 2:19:

Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake <06974>; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

God is giving a warning in Habakkuk 2:19. God is commanding that we do not tell an inanimate object such as a piece of “wood” or “dumb stone” to “awake”. That is because those objects have no consciousness. They cannot “awake” using this same Hebrew word found in Daniel 12:2 because God has defined this word to signify increased consciousness.

In an interesting way, God is teaching that this Hebrew word translated “awake” must signify a conscious awaking. God is telling us that we are not to command an inanimate object, an object that cannot be conscious, to “awake”. This is because this Hebrew word is used only to signify a conscious awaking.

2 Kings 4:31 provides a key proof that Daniel 12:2 must signify aN awaking to consciousness.

We read there:

And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked <06974>.

2 Kings 4 describes a child born to a childless couple. This child becomes sick and dies. His corpse is put in the house. The mother goes to Elisha about the death of the child. Elisha sends his servant, Gehazi, on ahead with his staff to put the staff on the child. Gehazi comes to the corpse of the child and puts the staff upon the corpse and then goes back to Elisha and gives the report. In 2 Kings 4:31 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Gehazi reports to Elisha that the child is “not awaked”.

In 2 Kings 4:31 God is giving definition for this Hebrew word translated “awake”. God is teaching that an unconscious corpse is not awake. God put these words in the mouth of Gehazi so that we know that God defines an unconscious corpse, like the corpse of that boy, as not being awake.

Therefore, when the Bible teaches in Daniel 12:2 that the bodies of the unsaved, as well as the saved, will “awake” at the end of the world, an unconscious corpse cannot fulfill that statement. Therefore, the bodies of the unsaved, along with the saved, must awake to consciousness at the end of the world. They cannot remain as an unconscious corpse like the unconscious corpse of that boy.

God has very carefully crafted 2 Kings 4:31 to define that an unconscious corpse is not awake using the same Hebrew word “awake” found in Daniel 12:2. Therefore in order to fulfill Daniel 12:2 the bodies of the saved, as well as unsaved, must awake to consciousness.

We have looked at a number of verses that show that the “sleep” of Jeremiah 51:39 & 57 is not talking about the corpses of the unsaved. A key point is that whenever God talks about “sleep” in the sense of a body “sleeping in the dust”, God always put clue language in the verse so that we know that a corpse is in view. Jeremiah 51:39 & 57 do not have this.

Jeremiah 51:39 & 57 are related to Isaiah 29:10-12, Ephesians 5:14 and other passages. Jeremiah 51:39 & 57 describe the fact that the unsaved will be eternally “asleep” to the Gospel truths of the Bible. They will never become saved. However, other passages teach that the unsaved will awake to consciousness at Judgment Day.

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