1. By what figure does the Bible represent death?
“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him,” I Thessalonians 4:13, 14.
NOTE: When one is sound asleep, he is wholly lost to consciousness; time goes on unmeasured, and the functions of the mental organs are suspended for the time being.
2. Where do the dead sleep?
“And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,” Daniel 12:2.
3. How long will they continue to sleep in the dust of the ground?
“So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep,” Job 14:12.
4. What does Job say he will wait for?
“If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come,” verse 14.
5. Where will he wait for this change?
“If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness,” Job 17:13.
6. While in this condition, what does one know of those he has left behind?
“His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them,” Job 14:21.
7. In what condition are the thoughts of the dead?
“His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish,” Psalm 146:4.
8. Do the dead know anything?
“For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten,” Ecclesiastes 9:5.
9. Do they have any love, hatred, or envy?
“Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in any thing that is done under the sun,” Ecclesiastes 9:6.
10. Are the dead able to praise the Lord?
“The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence,” Psalm 115:17.
11. Is there any remembrance of God while in the hands of the enemy death?
“For in death there is no remembrance of Thee: in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?” Psalm 6:5.
12. Did David ascend into the heavens?
“For David is not ascended into the heavens “ Acts 2:34.
13. With what one thing will David be satisfied?
“As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness,” Psalm 17:15.
14. If the dead will never be raised, what would be the result?
“For if the dead rise not, then is Christ not raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished,” I Corinthians 15:16-18.
15. Is there a promise of a resurrection of the dead?
“Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead,” Isaiah 26:19.
“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,” I Corinthians 15:52.
16. When does the resurrection of the righteous take place?
“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first,” I Thessalonians 4:16.
The leaflets in autumn may wither and fade,
The forest be naked and bare _
The friends of our youth in the grave may be laid,
And we may be laid with them there;
But the winter will pass, and the spring will return
And the forest again will be green,
And the faithful who sleep in death’s mouldering urn
Will arise and in glory be seen.