“Heavenly Alarm Clock”

Acts 7: 60: “And falling on his knees, Stephen cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them!’ And having said this, he fell asleep.” There’s currently a lot of unbiblical thinking concerning the state of the believer between death and resurrection. One concept clearly found in the earliest New Testaments writings is that of sleep: used here to describe Stephen, repeatedly in 1 Corinthians 15 (vv. 6, 18, 20, and 51), and don’t forget Jesus’ words to describe Lazarus: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awaken him out of sleep.” (John 11: 11) Whether this is metaphorical or literal is hard to say, but one thing is certain: When it’s finally time to wake us up, Jesus is the best alarm clock in the business!