MATTHEW 27:50-53 (First posted Thurs., April 5, 2018)
“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many of the bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” (ESV)
Only Matthew includes the startling bit of information recorded in Matthew 27, verses 5o and 53. None of the other gospel writers make mention of this phenomenon. Matthew doesn’t say these folks came out of the graves BEFORE Christ’s resurrection. He says they came out of their graves AFTER His resurrection. Nor does the passage say they came out in spirit bodies (See I Corinthians 15:35-44), but simply “many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.” After coming out of their graves AFTER His (Christ’s) resurrection, they “went into the holy city, and appeared to many.”
Reading from the New King James Version: “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, AND THE ROCKS WERE SPLIT.” What rocks? The rocks customarily rolled in front of the tombs! Since those resurrected were not resurrected in their immortal spirit bodies whereby they could have passed through the rocks blocking their tombs, God split the rocks so that these resurrected saints could come out of their tombs. These would have had to have been men and women who had died recently as pictures, photos, paintings, etc. of people were forbidden by Jewish custom. Had they been folks who had died centuries before no one would have recognized them. Living people who knew what these recent dead looked like upon seeing them would have been convinced they had arisen from the dead.
And what does the 52nd verse say immediately after the 51st verse reveals that “the rocks were split?” “And the tombs also were opened…” Yes, they were opened by the splitting of the rocks blocking the entrance to these tombs. God was bending over backwards, you might say, to give undeniable proof of Jesus’ resurrection and proof He was indeed the promised Messiah. Following Christ’s resurrection these resurrected saints went in to Jerusalem and appeared to many who might have doubted Christ’s resurrection. Doubters now had more indisputable proof that Jesus had come back from the dead.
Matthew is then silent about what subsequently occurred after their resurrection. Did they, like Lazarus, then live on for some amount of time to die again some time later? Since no indication is given that they were resurrected in glorified, eternal bodies, they obviously did die again some time later. Hope this helps the reader’s understanding of this perplexing passage of scripture.
Christ’s Aged Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley