Three Astonishing Events
“Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” Matthew 27:50-53
As Jesus’ body succumbed to death on the cross, several physical phenomena took place which would have caused people to take notice that something very dramatic and out-of-the-ordinary had just occurred. The first event was the splitting of the vail in the temple. The vail hung between the holy place where the priests ministered and the Holy of Holies where the ark of the covenant bore the mercy seat. The high priest was only allowed behind the vail once a year on the day of atonement to make the sacrifice for the temporary covering of sin of Israel’s people. No other person was allowed into the Holy of Holies, and Gentiles were kept even further away from the vail. Because of sin, men and women had no direct relationship with God. They were kept at a “guilty distance”. Upon Jesus’ death to cover the sins of people, the vail that had prevented access to His Father was split apart allowing all who would come through Jesus Christ free access to the throne of grace, symbolized as the mercy seat. The vail was split from top to bottom indicating that it could only have been torn by God Himself.
The second event reported was an earthquake, not triggered by a volcano, landslide, or an explosion, but was a supernatural event, a response of creation to the death of its Creator. God made the earth and everything in it. It is subject unto Him. He uses events of nature to illustrate His power and sovereignty to man so that man has no excuse to not believe in Him (Romans 1:19-20). This earthquake was of such magnitude that rocks split apart. It was as if they were “crying out” for the suffering Savior just as Jesus told the Pharisees in Luke 19:40 when they criticized Jesus for allowing His followers to publicly acknowledge Him as King: “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out”. The breaking of the rocks was also symbolic of Jesus, as the Rock, being broken for man’s sins and also an illustration of how man’s stony, hard, corrupted heart must be broken.
The third even which took place was the most phenomenal of all. The people who witnessed this event must have been very shocked and amazed, especially those who refused to believe in Jesus. Graves in the cemeteries opened up and many saints arose, went into Jerusalem, and appeared to many of the city’s residents. This occurred after Jesus arose, therefore this event did not occur until after three days past Jesus’ crucifixion. In I Corinthians 15:20, Paul tells us that Christ became the first fruits of those who slept, that is, no one preceded Jesus in rising again. He was the first to be resurrected from the dead never to die again. Those whom Jesus had brought back to life like Lazarus, the ruler’s daughter, and the widow’s son eventually died again and are still awaiting the bodily resurrection of all those who have died in Christ which is termed the “first resurrection” (Revelation 20:5). We are not told who these saints were, whether they were believers who had died recently and would have been recognizable or Old Testament saints who died believing in the promise of the Messiah. These resurrected saints were witnesses to the power of the risen Christ and His power of redemption and salvation to all who would believe. This was necessary because the disciples were too afraid to be seen publicly right after Jesus’ resurrection. We are not told what happened to these resurrected saints.
There is another phenomenon involving dead bodies which will rise again in Jerusalem in the end times. These will be two witnesses who will be given great power to prophesy for three- and one-half years, withhold rain, turn water into blood, bring plagues, and kill their enemies. However, when they have finished their testimony, the beast from the bottomless pit will kill them. Their dead bodies will lie in the street in Jerusalem, but no one will bury them. The people will rejoice that they are dead, but after three and one-half days, God will bring them back to life, and the people’s joy will turn to great fear. God will bring them to heaven in a cloud as the people watch. A great earthquake will happen, ten percent of Jerusalem will fall, and 7,000 will die. This might sound like a horror movie out of Hollywood, but we know that it will happen just as scripture tells us. If dead bodies arose after Jesus’ resurrection, it is for certain that God can raise whomever He desires to accomplish His purpose, and that His promise of a bodily resurrection for all believers will come to pass.