六月廿九日

那已經在耶穌裏睡了的人，神也必將他與耶穌一同帶來。（帖前4：14）

我們不要以爲靈魂睡了以後是沒有知覺的。基督對每一位臨終的聖徒說：“今日你要同我在樂園裏了。”他們“在耶穌裏睡了”，但他們的靈魂却在神的寶座之前，在他的殿中時時贊美他，向那用寶血洗除他們罪的主唱哈利路亞。身體孤零零地睡在大地的床中，上面蓋著青草的毯子，這是一種什麽睡呢？這種睡的意思與“安息”有關，這是神的靈所啓示我們的思想。白天操勞，晚間睡眠便得安息。

睡把靈魂的門關緊，使外來的一切煩擾暫時止步，好叫裏面的生命進到夏日休憩的樂園。疲勞的信徒安靜地入睡，正像困倦的孩子在母親的懷中沉睡一樣。在主裏死了的人有福了，他們息了他們的勞苦，他們工作的果效也隨著他們；他們必然安眠，直到神叫他們起來得賞賜的時候。在那承受榮耀的人睡了之後，有天使看守，有永遠的奧秘掩蔽，直到完全被救贖的時候來到。

他們醒來是一種什麽情形呢？他們被安放在安眠之處已經精疲力倦，但當他們起來的時候却不是這樣了；他們滿臉縐紋、枯槁憔悴地進入安息，但當他們醒來的時候却滿了榮美；醜陋的種子從土裏出來的時候，換了好看的樣子，成了一棵美麗的花。墳墓的寒冬過去，救贖的春天、榮耀的夏天就接踵而至。在主裏死了的人有福了，因爲那是藉著神的能力，脫去我們工作的服裝，給我們穿上永不朽壞的婚服。那“在耶穌裏睡了的人”有福了。

June 29

"Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." -- 1 Thessalonians 4:14

Let us not imagine that the soul sleeps in insensibility. "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise," is the whisper of Christ to every dying saint. They "sleep in Jesus," but their souls are before the throne of God, praising Him day and night in His temple, singing hallelujahs to Him who washed them from their sins in His blood. The body sleeps in its lonely bed of earth, beneath the coverlet of grass. But what is this sleep? The idea connected with sleep is "rest," and that is the thought which the Spirit of God would convey to us. Sleep makes each night a Sabbath for the day. Sleep shuts fast the door of the soul, and bids all intruders tarry for a while, that the life within may enter its summer garden of ease. The toil-worn believer quietly sleeps, as does the weary child when it slumbers on its mother's breast. Oh! happy they who die in the Lord; they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them. Their quiet repose shall never be broken until God shall rouse them to give them their full reward. Guarded by angel watchers, curtained by eternal mysteries, they sleep on, the heritors of glory, till the fulness of time shall bring the fulness of redemption. What an awaking shall be theirs! They were laid in their last resting place, weary and worn, but such they shall not rise. They went to their rest with the furrowed brow, and the wasted features, but they wake up in beauty and glory. The shrivelled seed, so destitute of form and comeliness, rises from the dust a beauteous flower. The winter of the grave gives way to the spring of redemption and the summer of glory. Blessed is death, since it, through the divine power, disrobes us of this work-day garment, to clothe us with the wedding garment of incorruption. Blessed are those who "sleep in Jesus."