Asleep
King James Dictionary [1]
ASLEE'P, a. or adv. a and sleep.
1. sleeping in a state of sleep at rest.
Sisera was fast asleep. Judges 4 .
2. To a state of sleep as to fall asleep.
3. Dead in a state of death.
Concerning them who are asleep, sorrow not. 1 Thessalonians 4 .
4. To death.
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue. 2 Peter 3 .
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types [2]
Acts 7:60 (b) Christians who die are said to "fall asleep." This expression is used in regard to saints who die. The reason is plain; the body of the Christian will come forth from the grave to walk again with GOD. The body of the sinner will never be permitted to walk again in the enjoyment of GOD's blessings, but will awake to shame and everlasting contempt. He will be brought into GOD's presence for judgment at the Great White Throne, and will then be cast into outer darkness, which is the Lake of Fire.
1 Corinthians 15:6-18 (b) The meaning in this passage is similar to the one above. When we think of a person being asleep, we know that he will soon waken to live and walk with his loved ones. So it shall be with the believer. His very body will be raised and will be reunited with his circle of loved ones whom he knew on earth, and who were saved by grace. (See also "SLEEP").
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [3]
a -slēp ´ ( ישׁן , yāshēn , "sleeping," רדם , rādham , "deep sleep"; καθεύδω , katheúdō , "to fall asleep," ἀφυπνόω , aphupnóō , "to fall asleep"): A state of repose in sleep, Nature's release from weariness of body and mind, as of Jonah on shipboard ( Jonah 1:5 ); of Christ in the tempest-tossed boat ( Matthew 8:24 ); of the exhausted disciples in Gethsemane ( Matthew 26:43 the King James Version). Used with beautiful and comforting significance of death ( κοιμάομαι , koimáomai , "to put to sleep"). Sleep implies a subsequent waking, and as a symbol of death implies continued and conscious life beyond the grave. In the presence of death no truth has been so sustaining to Christian faith as this. It is the distinct product of Christ's resurrection. Paul speaks of departed believers as having "fallen asleep in Christ" ( 1 Corinthians 15:6 , 1 Corinthians 15:18 ); as proof of the soul's immortality he terms the risen Christ "the first-fruits of them that are asleep." Lazarus and Stephen, at death, are said to have "fallen asleep" ( John 11:11; Acts 7:60 ); so of David and the ancient patriarchs ( Acts 13:36; 2 Peter 3:4 ). The most beautiful description of death in human language and literature is Paul's characterization of the dead as "them also which sleep in Jesus" ( 1 Thessalonians 4:14 the King James Version). This blessed hope has wrought itself permanently into the life and creed and hymnology of the Christian church, as in the hymn often used with such comforting effect at the burial service of believers: "Asleep in Jesus! blessed sleep!"
