Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
The sleep of death
1. Death is like sleep in its outward appearance. This likeness should remind us, when we lie down to sleep, of that death which sleep resembles. It should teach us to look upon it without dismay.
2. Sleep and death are both a refuge from the ills and cares of this life, and a rest from its labour.
3. In both the soul is conscious still. The soul never sleeps, and hence the phenomena of dreams.
4. Each is followed by an awakening. The consideration that you must shortly “sleep in the dust,” and you know not how soon, should constrain you to seek for the pardon of your sins, and the removal of your iniquity, ere it be too late. (G. Cole.)