Ephesians 5:14 Why he said, Awake you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. Since it is light that manifests, there must be a rousing voice to awake the sleeper, that the light of life may be poured fully upon him. I. THE PERSON ADDRESSED. "Thou that sleepest." Sleep is an apt figure to describe the sinner. 1. He lives in an unreal world, full of dreams and fancies, quite unconscious of the real world around him. The sinner dreams of safety and peace. He is carnally secure (Romans 13:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:6). He may even walk in his sleep. 2. He is wholly unprotected against danger. If he knew of his danger, he would not be asleep. He needs, therefore, to be roused. 3. His work is wholly suspended. So long as the sinner sleeps in spiritual death he does no good, he gets no good, he cares for nothing. The figure of the text is, therefore, very expressive. II. THE COMMAND ADDRESSED TO THE SLEEPER. "Awake ... and arise from the dead." The first thing is to open the eyes; but we are not to suppose that the sinner has any power of himself to open them, any more than the man with the withered hand had power to stretch it forth before Christ said, "Stretch forth thine hand." It is the light which Christ is to shed upon the sleeper that will awake him. Just as the sun in the natural heavens, shining upon the eye of a sleeper, awakes him, so the beams of the Sun of righteousness end the sleep of death. 1. The cry, "Awake!" is the voice of love. A mother's love will lull her child to sleep, but if the house is on fire, it will take another turn, and startle the child from its slumbers. 2. The cry, "Awake!" is the voice of wisdom. The sinner loses much by sleeping. The thief pilfers by night. The tare-sower goes forth in darkness to sow his seed. If you sleep on till death, you lose everything. 3. The cry is a voice of command. Who commands? It is he who redeemed you with his precious blood. 4. It is a voice you have often heard - in sermons, in sickness, in sorrows, in calamities. III. THE PROMISE TO THE SLEEPER. "And Christ shall give thee light." The light that comes from Christ can reach even the dead: "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). The dead are not quickened before they hear his voice, but his voice causes them to hear and live. Christ will give you light to carry you out of the society of the dead into the companionship of the children of light, because it has already introduced you into the fellowship of the Father and the Son. "Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the amour of light." - T.C. Parallel Verses KJV: Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.WEB: Therefore he says, "Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." |
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