The Brief Notation Is Enough

THEN, BEHOLD, 
THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE
WAS TORN IN TWO
FROM THE TOP TO THE BOTTOM;
AND THE EARTH QUAKED,
AND THE ROCKS WERE SPLIT,
AND THE GRAVES WERE OPENED;
AND MANY BODIES OF THE SAINTS
WHO HAD FALLEN ASLEEP WERE RAISED.
(Mt 27:51-52)

     This is another of  those passages that we tend to read over without much notice.  The opening of the graves catches our interest momentarily, but then we move on to more “interesting” things.  There is, in that momentary catching of attention, however, the seed of all our hope.  For here is the first phase of the first resurrection.

     The first resurrection occurs in three distinct phases.  First, these saints (and Jesus Himself three days later) are raised.  We should note that it was not merely two or three graves that were opened, or only a handful of saints who were resurrected.  When the Bible speaks of this event, the word is “many.” 

     In a way, it almost seems an unnecessary detail.  Our hope would have found firm basis in Christ’s resurrection alone.  But God, knowing the skeptical human heart, understood that many would say that the resurrection did not pertain to anyone but the Son of God Himself.  The devil is always about the business of  tearing down our hopes.  Therefore God chose to give us a promise of the resurrection to come in the persons of those saints who were raised on the day of the crucifixion.

     On the other hand, it was no small event in its day.  The opening of the graves would have caused some small turmoil had it happened only in the context of the earthquake that also happened.  The disturbance of graves is a frequent occurrence during earthquakes, yet it always receives mention in the press.  Let us set the scene for this great event.

     It was dark.  Very dark.  In the middle of the day the sky had faded from daylight to a terrible and fearsome darkness.  This was no mere solar eclipse, where the light takes on an other-worldly cast, but the darkness of midnight, with neither stars nor moon to lessen the terror.  Surely, the thieves on either side of Jesus were moaning in their agony, but Jesus was silent apart from the several utterances He made before yielding up His Spirit.  That alone would have struck fear in the hearts of many.
   
     Then the earth quaked.  Again, this is no small detail.  It was more than a minor shaking of the ground, for the rocks split.  In darkness as thick as pitch the ground began its terrible rumbling, followed rapidly by a great shaking.  Consider the sounds the rocks must have made as they split.   Each one, like the crack of a high-powered rifle, made their fearful hearts quake a bit more as they split the darkness.  Few, if any, of the people in Jerusalem that day had ever experienced an earthquake.  They were a primitive people, and many probably did not even know that the earth could quake.
   
Because of the darkness, no one saw the saints arise from their graves.  It was not until the light returned that it could be seen that the graves had been opened.  Imagine the shock, the utter horror, as the people went to the various graves and found them empty.  Or their terror in meeting those who had formerly occupied those graves.

     No, it was no small event, and the real surprise is that it received so little “coverage” in the accounts of that day given in the Bible.  Yet, God is always the Master of Understatement.  A brief notation is sufficient to assure us that it happened.  A couple of verses are enough to place our own hope of resurrection on a firm foundation.

     If the resurrection of many saints on that day was big news, the translation of the saints at the rapture is going to be much, much bigger.  Far more is written in the Bible concerning the rapture of the Church than is written concerning that first phase of the first resurrection that occurred those many centuries ago.  But those were raised that we might know assuredly that the promises of our resurrection are sure.