Sleep, a theological mystery
Will sleep disappear when Christ returns?
Two years ago, I wrote a column about scientific studies of sleep and dreaming (“Why Do We Sleep?”, January 10, 2022), and I don’t want to repeat myself, except to say, that while sleep is complex and does many things, its overarching reality is still not well understood. The American National Institute of Health, in its web article “Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep” says, “Everyone needs to sleep, but its biological purpose remains a mystery.”
We know sleep consists of slow-wave sleep with stages, and our brains have slow synchronous electrical waves and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep when we dream, switching on about a 90-minute cycle. The limited evidence suggests slow-wave sleep helps restore our bodies, and REM sleep helps establish and strengthen memories.
Life without night
But there are also theological mysteries around sleep. In Genesis 1, on the first day light was created, day and night were separated and named: the day for light and the night for darkness. At the end of Revelations, in the description of the New Jerusalem, it says twice that night will be no more (Rev. 21:25 and 22:5). This raises many questions. Is this just a way of saying any bad aspects of night will be no more and thus a metaphor? Will there still be a dark-light cycle? Or is it an actual physical change? There would be profound and complex physical changes if there were no darkness, and it was always light. For example, the earth’s rotation causes day and night for us; would that change? A non-rotating earth would bake on the sunny side and freeze on the dark side. If night is no more these physical changes will go beyond anything I can imagine or explain.
But on a human level, since we sleep at night, does that suggest that we need not sleep on the other side of the grave or when Christ returns?
No more dreams
In Scripture, God seems to speak to people differently in the day and the night. During the day, it appears that God sends messages to people by messengers, either prophets or angels. (To me, Scripture is very vague on how prophets receive their instructions from God.) But at night, God addresses individual people in dreams.
In Revelations 21:3, it says that God will dwell with humans in the New Jerusalem. If this is what will happen, we should be able to listen to God directly. No longer will communications from God need to be through angels and dreams. In this case, maybe one reason for sleep will disappear. If God’s ability to use dreams to communicate is the most important religious function of sleep, then we should not need sleep in the new heaven and earth.
Currently, our bodies appear to need sleep for a variety of reasons. If we have new bodies, these sleep-related functions may be done differently, and any reason to sleep will be gone. Fortunately, at some point, these speculations will be answered.
