This is an excellent verse!
God's Word is excellent but he lacks spiritual understanding.
I don't deny that many indeed saw the body of saints, as we cannot deny scripture. I
absolutely believe that the body of saints appeared unto many, just as the word of God reports. But, get this,
this miracle performed by God, like every other miracle done by God directly or through the Prophets, Christ and the Apostles, were simply
a sign pointing to
some "deeper" spiritual truth. Note God's word says the graves were opened and "the body of saints" arose,
not the souls. God's Word is not incidental or by happenstance, it is every jot and title God breathed. Because the physical body is the only thing that was down in the grave. Selah! This is a miracle of God in reconstituting the bodies of the saints, that they
appeared unto many as a "
sign!"
Matthew 27:50-53
- "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
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;
- 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."
The tearing of the physical veil of the physical Temple building was a
sign signifying the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New Covenant in the resurrection of Christ. The body of Moses resurrected not by law, but by a New and Living way, that is through the veil, which is Christ's flesh (Hebrews 10:20). Thus, the Instant we read here that Christ died, the veil was torn from top to bottom and
many people see this miracle of graves opening and bodies resurrected. These are
not the glorified bodies of the saints, as glorified bodies do not appear as normal human bodies. This was obviously done as another
sign that Christ was the resurrection and the Life, just as when He raised Lazarus. Therefore, this is not a confirmation that the physical city, Jerusalem, at the cross or in 70AD was holy as a fool thought.
What we really are
clearly told here, is that the
bodies "of" the saints came out of the grave after His resurrection, and appeared unto many. Not the souls of the saints, or the saints themselves, but the
bodies of the saints. These "bodies" [
soma] came out of the grave after His resurrection and went into the Holy city and appeared unto many
as a sign. By the normal use of grammatical expression, we would understand bodies coming out of the grave (on earth) and appearing unto many, as referring to things happening on earth. It doesn't say nor imply that dead bodies went into heaven and appeared unto Spirits, Angels or to God in Heaven. There is no reason to "read into this text" that they went into heaven and appeared unto many spirits there, but ample reason that they should appear unto men on earth as a sign, and those men
TESTIFIED of this.
And there was NOTHING holy about the earthly Jerusalem after the resurrection, including 70AD.
Nevertheless, it was still called the Holy City (Matthew 4:5).
Mat 4:5-6
(5) Then the
devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on
a pinnacle of the temple,
(6) And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Even as it is to this day. And for "
God's purposes" it was called that here. And that is how the testimony of Jerusalem would be recorded that we understand the deeper spiritual meaning of bodies rising out of the grave after Christ's resurrection and
going into it. Since Jerusalem is "called" the Holy City. The Building is "called" the Holy Temple. The nation "called Israel, the Holy nation. This is done in Scripture specifically
because God is "
signifying" by this, the deeper Spiritual truth. Namely, the resurrection of the saints from "Spiritual death" unto
New Jerusalem,
manifested in this bodily resurrection from physical death and these bodies going into earthly Jerusalem.
Vis-à-vis, think about this carefully, the resurrection of Lazarus spiritually,
is manifested to us in the resurrection of Lazarus physically. The healing of people spiritually,
is manifested to us by the healing of people physically. The Poisoning of men spiritually,
is manifested to us by the poisoning of men physically. The feeding of the hungry spiritually,
is manifested to us by the feeding of the hungry physically. The list of such miraculous phenomenon goes on and on. And the point of
"ALL" of them is some spiritual truth that transcends these physical miracles on Earth.
Selah!
So even as physical healing really has
nothing to do with true salvation, so corpses leaving the grave and appearing to many in the Holy City of Jerusalem, has
nothing to do with spiritual resurrection.
But it is a "picture" or snapshot of this true Resurrection for all to consider. And that's why it's in the Bible. The same reason the Bible tells you to lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
Acts 21:28
- "Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place."
Yes, there is nothing Holy about this place, but it's still "called" the holy place by men. And indeed, God could have reduced Jerusalem to a speck of dust, never to be heard from again. But He didn't. That men still know this city as the Holy City, and the temple built there as the Holy place, even though it is no longer standing even to this day, is a testimony to God, not to them. He named it the Holy City, and He had the dead come out of the graves and enter into it. Not as a testimony to it's holiness or to them, but to the Resurrection.
Selah.
