When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. Matthew 9:23-25

            Jesus called the little dead girl “asleep.”  Her body and her spirit were in a state of suspension, much like when we fall asleep—we are present physically, but our consciousness is absent.  Jesus “woke her up,” transitioning her unresponsive body to responsiveness.

            She was not resurrected, which means her spirit would have been absent from her body and in the presence of God.  The girl’s spirit was still present, hovering and waiting, but her body was dead.  A resurrected body is also a permanent body.  This girl would grow old and die one day.