Shaking The Foundations (Easter Sunrise Service 2022)

SHAKING THE FOUNDATIONS

Text: Matthew 27:51- 54

Matthew 27:51-54  At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.  (52)  The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.  (53)  After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many.  (54)  Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, "Truly this man was God's Son!" (NRSV).

Suffering and death

It was in the sixth hour since they vertically suspended Jesus up on His cross. Following the scrourging, the mocking, the crown of thorns, Jesus began the journey from the Praetorium, down the Via Dolorosa [the Sorrowful Way] which was known as the route that the Roman forced Jesus to take some 2000 feet (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Dolorosa) away from Golgotha [Aramaic for skull] ---the place of the skull (Matthew 27:33) which Luke calls Calvary [Latin for skull] the site where they mailed Him to the cross. The skull has often been associated with death. For most, death meant the end! Jesus had come to destroy sin, its wages of death and the fear of death!

Condemned though innocent

How can an innocent but condemned Messiah save us from our sin? Can you imagine the weight of carrying that cross beam that was about seventy-five pounds or more for 2000 feet after what they put Jesus through? How could Jesus defeat sin, death and the fear of death when it looks like death is sure to conquer Jesus? He was so weak from the abuse that He could not carry His cross all the way. Jesus fell under it and the Roman soldiers compelled Simon the Cyrene to help Jesus carry His cross (Matthew 27:32). Simon the Cyrene had come an approximate distance of 800 miles to observe Passover (Guzik’s Commentary). No one had ever been able to come back from a crucifixion. Death certainly looked like it had the final word at that moment.

Rising and falling of many

They crucified Him between two thieves (Luke 23:33). In Jesus’s infancy, Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed (Luke 2:34). One of thieves would rise [ and repent] and the other would fall and failed to repent(Luke 23:32). Simeon had been right about the falling of many. But, was he wrong about the rising of many?

Heart piercing grief

Simeon had also prophetically said something that was now being fulfilled as the thoughts and hearts of many were now being revealed and that her heart would be pierced with grief (Luke 2:35). How the truth of that foreshadowing came true when Jesus said “Mother behold your son” as He was dying on the cross (John 19:27).

Like Mary, His disciples thought that death had conquered Jesus on the cross of His crucifixion. Their hearts were pierced with grief also. They thought that death would have the last word.

Earth shaking events

Shaking number 1: Matthew 27:51-52  At that moment the veil in the Holy of Holies was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth shook violently, rocks were split apart,  (52)  and graves were opened. Then many of the holy ones who had died were brought back to life and came out of their graves (TPT).

What could the tearing of the temple curtain mean? It meant that we no longer had to go through a priest anyone because Jesus is our High Priest.

Hebrews 7:27  He [Jesus] is not like other high priests; he does not need to offer sacrifices every day for his own sins first and then for the sins of the people. He offered one sacrifice, once and for all, when he offered himself.

Hebrews 9:12  When Christ went through the tent and entered once and for all into the Most Holy Place, he did not take the blood of goats and bulls to offer as a sacrifice; rather, he took his own blood and obtained eternal salvation for us.

What about the graves of the saints that were opened the moment Jesus died on the cross?

John Wesley once speculated that Simeon, Zacharias [the father of John the Baptizer?] and John the Baptist were among those whose grave opened with that earthquake (Matthew 27:52: John Wesley’s Notes on the Bible). We are not told the exact number or the names of the Saints whose graves opened but they were seen by many (Matthew 27:53).

Shaking number 2: Matthew 28: 1 - 4