Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus,
There are a few Scriptures in Matthew 27 that when I read them in the past, I was perplexed. Specifically, in Matthew 27:50-53. Notice verses 52-53 speak to graves opening, bodies of saints which slept (were dead) arising, coming out of their graves, going into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appearing unto many. Why did this happen? Did these that arose continue to live in Jerusalem? Why are The Scriptures silent about the outcome of these risen saints? I’ve spoken to several persons in the past, many trained in Bible Colleges, Universities, or Seminaries, that were perplexed, like me. What I’ve learned in the past twelve years of deep diving into The Scriptures, questioning The Holy Spirit, and speaking in tongues over the questions and areas where I am lacking in knowledge and wisdom, is God will answer all our questions. And the answers are always in The Scriptures.
One thing that puzzled me in the past was why only Matthew records these events. This is not found in Mark, Luke, or John. Studying, seeking diligently, The Holy Spirit revealed to me that Matthew was written specifically to the Jews. Only Jews would understand the events and the significance of the events. Only Jews would understand what happened and why it happened. Mark was written to the Romans, Luke was written to a broader gentile audience, and John was written to the world. The gentiles and the world would not understand these events and their physical and Spiritual significance. We’ll see why as this message unfolds.
Matthew 27:50-53
50 Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
For us to begin to understand something a Jew would understand immediately, we must investigate the Jewish feasts. Three times a year, Jews had to go to Jerusalem to celebrate seven kinds of feasts. Three feasts were celebrated in the Spring, three feasts were celebrated in the Fall, and the Pentecost occurred fifty days after the Spring feasts.
The Spring feasts were three feasts held in one week. The feasts celebrated in the Spring are:
Passover
Unleavened Bread
First Fruits
Fifty days later, the Jews celebrated Pentecost.
The Fall feasts were three feasts held in one week just like the Spring feasts. The feasts celebrated in the Fall are:
Trumpets
Great Day of Atonement
Tabernacles
The Spring feasts are prophetical of Jesus’ first coming. The Fall feasts are prophetical of Jesus’ second coming.
The intent of this message is not to look at the significance of each of the seven feasts. It is only to examine the feasts that apply directly to the events of Matthew 27:50-53. We want to answer the questions about the strange event of dead saints rising out of their graves and being seen in the holy city of Jerusalem.
I want to set the stage to answer the questions I posed earlier about Matthew 27:50-53. On the day of Passover, Jesus Christ was offered as the Passover Lamb for all of mankind. When we read Mark 15:33-37, we can see the time-of-day Jesus suffered the sin and curses of all mankind and the time-of-day Jesus died. We see that at the sixth hour of the day, or 12PM, God inflicted Jesus with all the sin and curses of fallen man. God also took out His righteous anger for sin against Jesus and judged Jesus during this time. This is what Mark refers to in Mark 15:33 as “darkness over the whole land.” Verses 33, 34, and 37 tell us that Jesus gave up the ghost, or His soul, at the ninth hour of the day, or 3PM. We’ll see below why this time of 12PM to 3PM is significant.
Mark 15:33-37
33 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?
35 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, He calleth Elias.
36 And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take Him down.
37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
On the day of Passover, after the last lamb was sacrificed, which started at the sixth hour of the day, or 12PM, and ended at 3PM in the afternoon, the High Priest and his entourage would cross the Kidron Valley and walk up the Mount of Olives to a small barley field the Levites had planted just for this event. They would squeeze stalks of barley together, and they would tie a cord around them “marking” ten sheaves of barley. But they didn’t cut them from the roots because those ten sheaves were being marked as the first fruits. They were the sheaves that were going to be offered to God in the Temple on the day of the Feast of First Fruits. During this marking, on the day of Passover, after Jesus gave up the ghost, there was an earthquake that occurred which was felt by the High Priest and his entourage. The Scripture, in Matthew 27:51, tells us that about the time they were tying the sheaves to mark them, there was an earthquake. And it caused the stones on certain tombs to split. This is what Matthew was referring to when he said, “the rocks rent.” This was the “marking” of the first fruits of the resurrection.
It is important for us to understand when Matthew recounts this in Matthew 27:50-53, it appears these events happen one right after the other. But this is not the case. When Jesus gave up the ghost, the events of Matthew 27:51 occurred. However, the events of Matthew 27:52-53 occurred later in the day as we’ll see.
After the first fruits were marked, the High Priest and his entourage went back to the Temple, and they ate the Passover meal at sundown. Now, understand the Passover lambs were sacrificed from 12PM-3PM on Nisan the 14th. The Passover lamb was put on the fire to roast after 3PM, and it usually wasn’t done until the sun went down, which was the start of the next day. We must remember the Jewish day runs from 6PM to 6PM or sundown to sundown. So, the High Priest and all of Israel would eat the Passover lamb the next day, Nisan the 15th, which is the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The High Priest and Israel ate the Passover meal and then Friday and Saturday (Jesus in the tomb) passed and about an hour to an hour and a half before the sun was to rise on the first day of the week, Sunday, it was time to harvest the first fruits. The High Priest and his entourage would go back to the same barley field to harvest the ten tied, but uncut sheaves, about an hour to an hour and a half before sunrise. The High Priest would take a sickle and cut the bottom of the stalks freeing them from the roots in the earth. He would place each one of the sheaves in the basket and take them back to the Temple to present to God as first fruits at sunrise.
At the same time the High Priest was harvesting the first fruits, Jesus was resurrected. At the VERY moment the High Priest swung and cut the first sheave of first fruits, Jesus’ body came to life in the tomb. But not just Jesus.
Matthew 27:52-53
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
The bodies that resurrected in Matthew 27:52-53 did so AFTER Jesus’ resurrection. When the High Priest went to “mark” the sheaves that were to be cut for the First Fruits offering, the tombs of those that were to be raised as first fruits of the resurrection with Christ Jesus were marked by the earthquake and the renting of the stone covering the tomb. When Jesus drew His breath into His new body and resurrected, the stones covering the tombs of the other saints that were marked as part of the first fruits Jesus would offer to God, rolled or fell away (and the graves were opened).
After the ten sheaves of the first fruits were harvested by the High Priest, they were taken back to the Temple to prepare them for the offering to The Lord God. There was about an hour and a half between the harvesting of the first fruits and the time the High Priest would have them prepared for the offering to The Lord. It is important to note Jesus’ soul entered His body in the tomb the moment the High Priest cut the first sheave of the first fruits separating the sheave from its roots.
There was time between Jesus’ resurrection and the time He was to appear before God in the Temple of Heaven to offer the First Fruits, about an hour and a half. This is why the resurrected saints from the tombs were able to go into Jerusalem and visit with loved ones and friends as referenced in Matthew 27:53. Also, in John 20:16-17, when Jesus revealed Himself to Mary Magdalene outside the tomb, what did Jesus say unto Mary?
John 20:16-17
16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God.
Notice that Jesus told Mary not to touch Him for He had not yet ascended to Heaven to present Himself and the saints as the First Fruits offering to God. Jesus did not ascend until it was the designated time for the High Priest to offer the first fruits to The Lord in the Holy Place of the earthly Temple in Jerusalem. At the same time the High Priest offered the first fruits in the Holy Place, Jesus appeared before God to offer the first fruits in the Temple of Heaven. The First Fruits offering consisted of Jesus, the saints whose tombs were marked in the earthquake, and the saints in the Bosom of Abraham in the earth.
I hope this helps clear up these subject verses in Matthew 27 for you if you lacked the understanding as I did several years ago. Our Father is a good Father, and He withholds nothing from us if we diligently seek Him about it. The key is “diligently seeking.” Diligently seeking implies one earnestly and persistently pursues a relationship with God and has a deep desire to know Him and to live by His commandments. Sadly, and it will grow worse as the Rapture draws near, only a remnant of the Church of this earth will diligently seek God (this includes pastors, teachers, evangelists, and missionaries). What I see a lot of today among Believers is described by Jesus in the Parable of the Sower. There are two soils that describe many Believers who become offended by The Word (i.e. don’t like that tithing message or don’t like The Word’s take on homosexuality) or when “persecution” comes because you are a Believer and you stand for The Word, or that are distracted by “the cares of the world” such as worry, wealth, and worldly desires. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wealth or desires as along as they are obtained according to and in line with The Word of God. I pray you are one of the remnant that diligently seek Him every day.
John 20:6-7
6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him [John], and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
7 And the napkin, that was about His [Jesus] head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
In closing this message, I would like to take a quick look at John 20:6-7. Peter and John have run to Jesus’ tomb after Mary Magdalene reported to them the tomb was empty. Upon entering, they see Jesus’ linen clothes folded and the napkin that covered His face folded and set to the side. Now, there must be significance to the linen clothes and the napkin being folded and set apart from each other or The Holy Spirit would not have included it in The Scriptures in such detail. There are differences of thought on the significance of the folded clothes and folded napkin. One line of thinking that I subscribe to and makes the most symbolic sense has to do with a Jewish dining tradition. When a master folded his napkin and left the table, this signaled he was coming back. If the napkin was crumpled, the master was done. Some would say, what does a dining tradition have to do with a tomb and burial? What was sacrificed on the Passover and eaten on the Feast of Unleavened Bread? The Passover lamb. Jesus IS The Passover Lamb for all mankind. The Master signaled to His disciples and followers, then, and now, that He is returning – that He is NOT done. We know this from our recent messages of the End Times series. Isn’t The Father wonderful in how He communicates EVERYTHING to us through His Word. But only the diligent will see It.
Blessings in Christ Jesus,
Larry