Stay awake, don’t slumber in unbelief

When Paul says that Christians should not sleep as others do—that is what he says, as others do—he is pointing out that the normal state of affairs in the world is that people are asleep to God. That is what is normal for the world around us: insensitivity to God, the fact that God exists, the demands of God, the call of God in the gospel, the warnings of God of judgment in the end. John Lillie writes, However wide awake they fancy themselves to be, however knowing and sagacious they think themselves, they are really asleep. When it comes to the things of the soul, of eternity, of God, they are in a state of habitual, deep, lethargic slumber, insensible to present duty and the looming threat of judgment. Let me ask you—is that you? Are you enjoying, as it were, the blissful folly of sleepiness to the reality of God and his Word and the fact that he is coming? There is going to be a judgment at the end. But that same God offers you salvation today.

Well, if you are asleep in unbelief, the Bible has illustrations for you as well. They are illustrations of sleep leading not merely to temporal loss but eternal doom. Think about Sisera, the enemy of the people of God in Judges chapter 4. Oh, he lay in his tent to sleep, and Jael came, and she drove a spike through his skull—unsuspected—at a time he was not thinking. He was dead, facing God and his judgment. And then there is the prophet Jonah. Jonah is a picture of the hardened unbeliever. He was sleeping in the hold of the ship while the storm was raging above, and he was thrown overboard. He was buried at sea. He is a picture of the judgment that must come to all who are unaware of God and his gospel. Now, God had mercy on Jonah. He sent the great fish to rescue him. And God has mercy on you. Are you slumbering in unbelief? God sends the Word to you now. He causes the gospel to be proclaimed. He has the prayers of God’s people. And your only hope of salvation is to awaken in faith to God and to his Word and the gospel offer in Jesus Christ. Oh, awaken from sleep and believe in Jesus.¹

Richard D. Phillips