“Jesus, when he had cried 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” (Matt 27:49-53).

An unbelieving friend once objected to me that the account of the graves opening and the dead coming back to life and walking around Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection demonstrates that Matthew’s Gospel is a fake.  And it is true that at first glance the passage has problems, the major one being that it is not mentioned by the other gospels.  It is a startling narrative and one wonders why it is so apparently lonely in scripture.  But when we look into it more deeply we see that it is corroborated wonderfully in other significant passages of scripture, so it would be good to consider the elements of it.

• At the moment Jesus died, the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom by invisible hands.  This is confirmed by Mark (15:38) and Luke (23:45).  But nothing in the rest of the passage is confirmed by any of the other gospels.
• At the same time there occurred an earthquake which was so powerful that the rocks split and graves were rocked and split open.  Those graves weren’t simply holes in the ground like the graves of our time and culture; they were more like chambers in the rock, and had doors of stone rolled across the opening to seal them up.  The corpse was smothered with perfumed ointment and then wrapped in cloth bandages to alleviate the foul odour that rotting flesh exudes (Jn 11:39; Lk 24:1). 
• Immediately following the earthquake, not only did the graves spring open but many corpses came back to life.  These were “the righteous dead”; or, as Matthew has it, saints; i.e. faithful believers and servants of God.  There were no unbelieving sinners said to have been raised to life at this event.
• The most recently dead of these resurrected saints would have still been wrapped in their grave-cloths; the wrappings of those who had been interred for a long time would have been in various states of decomposition. 
• This brings to the imagination hideous images of rotting corpses with filthy rags hanging from the bodies, with maggot-infested flesh falling away in chunks, and grinning skulls with empty eye sockets.  This is a wrong image, of course, a purely Hollywood horror movie scene, because these dead saints had now received glorified and spiritual bodies; they were resurrected and glorified beings; they had been “raised incorruptible” prior to the sounding of “the last trump” (1 Cor 15:42-54); nevertheless, at this stage, they could still only have been clothed in their decayed and filthy grave cloths.
• After Jesus’ resurrection, these dead saints went into Jerusalem “and appeared unto many” of the living inhabitants of Jerusalem.  What an utterly bizarre and disturbing spectacle this must have been!
• One can only speculate as to what the citizens of Jerusalem thought when they saw these men and women walking around the city clothed in such macabre apparel. 
• How long had they been entombed?  Were they all recently dead and buried so that they would still be recognised by living relatives and friends?  Had some of them been buried such a long time ago that nobody would have been able to identify them?  Where did they go?  Were they brought back to their homes by their living relatives?  What about the long-time dead saints – where did they go?  As they were in this state for 40 days (to be discussed later), where did they get food?  Did they even need food?  And what about appropriate clothing?  The possibilities are almost endless.

Though I’ve made some light-hearted speculations here, the questions arising in consequence of resurrected saints at the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection deserve serious consideration, as they present problems for some, causing them to doubt the whole gospel itself.  To bolster his claim that this is a fictional account by Matthew, my friend rightly observed that none of the other gospels mention it.  Considering that it would have been a highly significant event, why didn’t the others mention it?  Indeed, this is a major reason why many people doubt the authenticity of Matthew’s gospel.

And it has to be admitted that the absence of the account in the other gospels is mysterious, considering that Matthew’s earthquake would have literally rocked the whole city – this alone should have been reason enough for them to mention it.  But if not, the resurrected saints wandering the streets of Jerusalem must certainly have been reason enough for its inclusion in them.  Where has anything like this ever been mentioned anywhere in any cultural or historical narrative?  It hasn’t.  Where such a thing does occur, however, is in fictional horror movies.

I can’t give any other reason than that God chose to inspire Matthew and not Mark, Luke, and John, to include it in their gospels (2 Pet 1:21).  But although it isn’t mentioned by the other gospel writers, those resurrected saints are discussed in two other places in scripture, namely Ephesians and Revelation, and it is to these that I turn now.

Jesus led Captivity itself captive

In Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, he writes: “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men” (Eph 4:8).  The marginal reading for “captivity” is “a multitude of captives”.  Paul’s quote is from Psalm 68:18: “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the LORD is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.  Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them”.  These “captives” were liberated from the captivity of death by Jesus and he took them with him into heaven when he ascended.

Commenting on the twenty four elders in heaven, Uriah Smith (p. 369-370) says: “These are some of those who came out of their graves at the resurrection of Christ, and who were numbered with the illustrious multitude which He led up from the captivity of Death’s dark domain when He ascended in triumph on high.  Matthew records their resurrection, Paul their ascension, and John beholds them in heaven, performing the sacred duties which they were raised up to accomplish” (Rev 4:4). 

Smith then goes on to quote (John) Wesley, who wrote, “This, and their golden crowns, show that they had already finished their course, and taken their places among the citizens of heaven.  They are never termed souls, and hence it is probable that they had glorified bodies already.  Compare Matthew xxvii. 52” (Smith, p. 370 – emphasis mine).

Again, commenting on the twenty four elders in heaven, Uriah Smith (p. 369-370) says, “It will be observed that they are clothed in white raiment, and have on their heads crowns of gold, which are tokens both of a conflict completed and a victory gained.  From this we conclude that they were once participants in the Christian warfare, once trod, in common with all saints, this earthly pilgrimage, but have overcome; and for some good purpose, in advance of the great multitude of the redeemed, are wearing their victor crowns in the heavenly world…..these, then, were a class of redeemed persons – redeemed from this earth, redeemed as all others must be redeemed, by the precious blood of Christ”.

But what are the seats referred to in Revelation 4:4 upon which the twenty four elders were seated?  The seats were divans or even mats or rugs rather than thrones (Greek thronoi).  This, according to Smith, “throws light on the expression found in Daniel vii:9: ‘I beheld till the thrones were cast down’.  These are the same thrones”, Smith says, upon which the elders were seated.  The verse says, “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire”.

Smith says: “the meaning is not that the thrones were overturned, or cast down, in the ordinary sense of that expression, but placed, or established; and the figure is taken from the Eastern custom of casting down, or placing mats or divans for distinguished guests to sit upon.  These four and twenty elders (see on chapter v.) are assistants to Christ in His mediatorial work in the sanctuary on high; and when the judgment scene described in Dan. vii. 9 commenced in the most holy place, their seats, or thrones, would be set, or placed, there, according to the testimony of that passage” (Smith p. 371).

Four beasts in heaven?

Furthermore, another mystery in heaven presents itself.  “And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind”.  What kind of monster is here presented and how could they be in the presence of God? 

The word translated “beast” is, in Greek, “zo-on”, and means “living being, or creature”.  It can refer to animals and human beings; Origen even uses it of Jesus Christ.  Some commentators believe that these “beasts” are actually human.  Uriah Smith quotes several commentators of his time e.g. Bloomfield, Scholefield, and Bulkeley, Scott, Barnes, John Wesley, and others, and writes: “These living beings are even more intimately connected with the thrones than are the twenty four elders, being represented as in the midst of it and round about it.  Like the elders, these, in their song to the Lamb, ascribe to Him praise for having redeemed them from the earth.  They therefore belong to the same company, and represent a part of the great multitude, who, as already described (see remarks on verse 4), have been lifted up on high from the captivity of death” (Smith, p. 372).

Matthew Henry describes them thus: “Four animals, living creatures, between the throne and the circle of elders; these seem to signify the ministers of the gospel and are described by their many eyes, denoting sagacity, vigilance, and circumspection.….Their continual employment, that is, praising God and not ceasing to do so night and day….The elders sit and are ministered unto; these stand and minister: they rest not night nor day….The adoration of the four and twenty elders, that is, of the Christian people represented by them; the ministers led, and the people followed in the praises of God….” (Henry, M. p. 2180).

Commenting on “vials full of odours” (Rev 5:8), Scott says: “It is indisputably manifest that the four living creatures join in, or rather, lead, the worship of the Lamb, as having redeemed them to God; and this proves beyond controversy that part of the redeemed Church is meant by this emblem, and not angels, whose worship is next described, but in language evidently different” (quoted by Smith, p. 378).

Smith then quotes Albert Barnes as writing: “The idea here is, therefore, that the representatives of the Church in heaven, the elders, spoken of as ‘priests’, are described as officiating in the temple above in behalf of the Church still below, and as offering incense while the Church is engaged in prayer” (Smith, p. 378).

However, there are varieties views of the book of Revelation in the Church, and Smith addresses the view of those who deny the “idea of there being anything real and tangible in heaven”.  He writes: “There is reality in all the things described; and we gain an understanding of the reality when we get a correct interpretation of the figures.  Thus, in this vision we know that the One upon the throne is God.  He is really there.  We know the Lamb symbolizes Christ.  He too is really there.  He ascended with a literal, tangible body; and who can say that He does not still retain it?  If, then, our great High Priest is a literal being, He must have a literal place in which to minister.  And if the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders represent those whom Christ led up from the captivity of death at the time of His resurrection and ascension, why are they not just as literal beings while there in heaven as they were when they ascended?” (Smith, p. 379).

Conclusion

So we see from the pages of the bible itself that the saints who were resurrected from the opened graves in Jerusalem at the death and resurrection of Jesus, in a passage seemingly isolated and disconnected from the rest of scripture (Matt 27:49-53), are the same saints whom Jesus took with him into heaven (Eph 4:8), and are also the twenty four elders gathered around the throne of God in heaven (Rev 4:4).

References

Henry, M. 1997, “The Matthew Henry Study Bible: King James Version”, copyright Thomas Nelson Inc., pub Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, MA.

Smith, Uriah, “Daniel and The Revelation”, undated (circa 1899-1912), published by The Stanborough Press, Watford, Herts.