This is one event at the death of Christ on the cross that is often overlooked. Rightfully so we notice the tearing of the veil from top to bottom, the earthquake, and rocks split. This remarkable event recorded in today’s text tells us that certain saints’s came out of their graves and appeared to many people. Let us no longer ignore this magnificent happening! However, questions arise if they were real tangible bodies and why did they get the privilege of rising from the grave?
There are no names provided to identify the saints. I cannot imagine how their appearance to relatives and friends caused them to be dumbfounded. These were not ghosts or zombies. They were real people and real bodies. If that were not so, the Bible would’ve explained it in a different way similar to when a witch supposedly brought Samuel back from the dead to talk to King Saul.
Allow me to offer my suggestions for the reasoning of this event. For many, many months since Jesus taught his disciples that he would be murdered on the cross and that after three days he would be resurrected. Surely, the fact that the saints came out of their graves when Jesus died is confirmation that the resurrection power was not just for Jesus. It was for all people who trusted in Christ as Savior and gained the hope of a glorious eternity with God. In this first explorative thought, we have Jesus saying he would be resurrected but had to die first. The saints that came out of their graves had already died and were confirmation the resurrection was not just for Jesus. It was for all believers.
The rising of the dead saints was a confirmation that the old Mosaic law had no power over death. The rituals and ceremonies of the law had no power even for the most devout believer. This rising of the saints was a testimony against the law and for the power of Christ. They foreshadowed for what all believers would someday experience. Our reliance is not on rituals. It is on the grace of God who provides mercy to all undeserving penitents. Their appearance to other people was necessary as a demonstration of what would involve all people living under the power of God.
The persons who rose signify the hope of Israel because that’s where the event occurred. It was not in some faraway distant land that a good person came out of his grave to startle friends and family. Since it was confined to Jerusalem, it was a promise from God for the future hope of those Jews who would turn to Jesus. These saints were selected as representatives for God that believing Jews would see their nation confirmed under the prophecies of God. Keep in mind that approximately 35 years later the Roman Gen. Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple so that no longer would those rules and rituals apply. As a result, those Jews were stripped of their religion and through the years caused it to evolve into something different from what God established.
The rising of the saints was a confirmation for those who anticipated a general resurrection to be delivered from Hades and united with God. Before the resurrection of Christ even a devout believer was said to have gone down whereas after his resurrection, these devout believers were said in Scripture to have gone up. Check for yourself. Notice in the writing after Jesus how that believers went up to heaven the moment they died. Paul said to be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord.
During his ministry, Jesus brought people back to life who are afflicted by death for various reasons. During those times it was necessary for the physical presence of Jesus to enact such a significant miracle. We like to use the phrase that says Jesus conquered death. Here is the example of his victory in mass. When the rapture occurs, Jesus will not go from grave to grave calling people out of their rest. The entire population from all of history who were obedient to God shall meet him in the sky together. What a wonderful experience this verse is to us that we need not fear because Jesus is our Victory!
Christian Writer 