Bible Questions Answered:
After Christ died, graves opened up and people were resurrected? What kind of people were these?
Kamal/ Mumbai, India
Bible Answers:
Bible Text: (Calvary)
Matthew 27:50-53 KJV
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.
Our Saviour won the victory over sin and death, and He won that victory alone!
Acts 4:8-12 KJV
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
9 If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;
10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole.
11 This is the Stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the Head of the Corner.
12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Acts 4:8-12 NLT
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people,
9 are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed?
10 Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ
the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.
11 For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,
‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’
12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:8-12 New American Standard Bible NASB
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers and elders of the people,
9 if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well,
10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of
Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead--by this name this man stands here before you in good health.
11 "He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER STONE.
12 "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."
(Not another "he," "she," or "they.")
no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."
The gospels tell us that some things happened immediately after Christ's death on the cross, some things happened after His resurrection from the Tomb.
After His death on the cross, …
Matthew 27:51 KJV
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;
It was the time of the evening sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem, and the great curtain separating the Holy of Holies, from the Holy Place, became torn from the top, to the bottom, clearly a work of God, and not man. How shocked the priest must have been.
It meant, that there no longer was anything separating God, and man. The way had been made clear to God by the blood of Christ, our Eternal High Priest, who offered up His very own blood, as a means of atonement.
Hebrews 9:1-28 NLT
Old Rules of Worship
1 That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth.
2 There were two rooms in that Tabernacle. In the first room were a lamp stand, a table, and sacred loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy Place.
3 Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room called the Most Holy Place.
4 In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
5 Above the Ark were the cherubim of Divine Glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now.
6 When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room as they performed their religious duties.
7 But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
8 By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.
9 This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them.
10 For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established.
Christ Is the Perfect Sacrifice
11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.
12 With His own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—He entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity.
14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the Eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.
15 That is why He is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
16 Now when someone leaves a will, it is necessary to prove that the person who made it is dead.
17 The will goes into effect only after the person’s death. While the person who made it is still alive, the will cannot be put into effect.
18 That is why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal.
19 For after Moses had read each of God’s commandments to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God’s law and all the people, using hyssop branches and scarlet wool.
20 Then he said, “This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you.”
21 And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship.
22 In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood.
For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
23 That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.
24 For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf.
25 And He did not enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal.
26 If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, He has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by His own death as a sacrifice.
27 And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,
28 so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for Him.
Now Matthew puts all the events after Christ's death, in one sentence. The rending of the temple veil, the earthquake, and resurrection of many. The fact is, the resurrection of many (Matthew 27:52), did not take place until after the resurrection of Christ, and we know the resurrection of Christ, did not take place at Calvary, but some three days later on the first day of the week.
Matthew 27:53
And came out of the graves after His resurrection,
So, others were resurrected after Christ was resurrected, Christ being the “First-Fruits,” of all resurrected believers.
I Corinthtians 15:22,23 KJV
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming.
When Christ was resurrected from the dead, yes many others were resurrected as well.
No, they were not resurrected into a glorious immortal body as was our Lord was, but resurrected, as much as there earthly bodies were once again alive (as Lazarus' body), and they returned to Jerusalem, and to their friends.
Who were these resurrected people? They were Old Testament (before Christ) believers, who no doubt looked for the Messiah.
What a witness of the resurrection power of the “Living Christ!”
Not only was He alive seen by hundreds of people for some 40 days, but many others had risen from the dead as well, and were now witnessing of their faith, to the utter astonishment of all those who saw them.
Genesis 18:14 KJV
Is any thing too hard for the LORD?...”
Now someone might say, well if the graves being opened didn't happen at Christ's death, and the scripture bears that out, just what did the Centurion become so amazed at?
A good question and the answer is...
Matthew 27:51 (Cries of terror from the temple, followed by a massive earthquake)
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;
Luke 23:44,45 KJV (Accompanied by total Darkness)
44 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
45 And the sun was darkened...
Luke 23:47 KJV (The testimony of the Roman Centurion.)
Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.
