玛格丽特·麦凯（Margaret Mackay，1802-1887）. Explore “Asleep in Jesus! Blessed Sleep”: song information and official sources.
Hope for the end of the age · Eternal life and rest
“Asleep” is a customary New Testament description of believers who have died, and this entire hymn rests on that word. Paul writes, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruit of those who are asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20). First fruits imply a whole harvest still to come, so “sleep” is not a euphemism but a statement with warrant: those who are asleep will wake. The hymn repeatedly calls this sleep blessed because the moment of waking is already appointed. Mackay was a Scottish officer’s wife. A frequently repeated account says that the words “Asleep in Jesus” on a gravestone prompted her to write it; accounts of this origin vary in reliability. At funerals, remember how it comforts: it directs our eyes towards resurrection day, rather than asking us to stop grieving now.
Funerals, memorial services, Qingming or gatherings remembering those who have died; teaching on resurrection in First Corinthians 15.