經文: 「那些已經在耶穌裡睡了的人，上帝必將他與耶穌一同帶來。」

不要以為死了，就一了百了，沒有知覺。「今天你就要與我在樂園了。」這是上帝向每一位將要離世的信徒的輕聲耳語。他們在「耶穌裡睡了」，但他們的靈魂卻在「上帝寶座前」，終日高唱哈利路亞讚美詩。
何謂「睡了」？難道是指躺臥在塵土之下的軀體長眠不動？其實深入的意思是指息了地上的勞苦，得享安息。因為睡覺時，我們的生理完全放鬆，不受外界的干擾，身心得著充分的休息。同樣的，在耶穌裡睡了的信徒，他們無需要為生活奔波勞碌，不再需要為世事勞苦愁煩，他們死了，就像安睡在母親的懷抱一樣詳和寧靜。他們腐壞蟲蝕的軀體有天使看守著，直到永恒的奧秘面紗揭開，人類得到完全的救贖。這朽壞的軀殼，就會改變成榮耀的身體，就像從塵土堆裡長出一朵美麗的百合花，也像枯木逢春，從絕處迸發出新生命的綠芽。喔！在主裡睡的人，何等有福，因為有榮耀的生命在等著他。

Morning, June 29
Scripture: “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 inheritors 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.”