When The Graves Open Series

Allow me to open our Easter message with an illustration: Eight-year-old Philip had been born with a disability. He looked and acted different from his classmates, and so he never was part of the group. On Palm Sunday, Philip’s Sunday school teacher gave each of her students a plastic egg – the kind that panty hose come in – and she instructed them to bring the eggs back with a symbol of the resurrection inside.

The following week, the eggs were opened and the children explained the meaning of the symbol they had brought. One held a pretty flower; another held a leaf. In another there was a rock. However, Philip’s egg was empty. Some of the students said things like, “That’s stupid,” or “He didn’t do his homework.” But Philip spoke up and said, “I did so do my homework! The egg is empty because Jesus’ tomb was empty!” Silence followed.

From then on, Philip became a full-fledged member of the class. He died not long afterward from an infection. At the funeral, this class of eight-year-olds, along with their teacher, marched straight up to the casket; not with flowers, but to each lay on it an empty pantyhose egg.(1) They understood that, just as Jesus had been raised from the dead, Philip would also be raised into newness of life.

This morning, we are going to look at how the graves were opened after Jesus’s death and resurrection. We will also have the Word of God confirmed in our hearts of how the power of the resurrection can raise us from our “spiritual grave” into newness of life, if we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. I want to invite you to stand at this time in honor of God’s Word, as I read from Matthew 27:50-54:

50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Jesus Cried and Yielded His Spirit (v. 50)

We read here that Just before Jesus yielded up His Spirit, He “cried out again with a loud voice” (v. 50). John Gill says that He cried aloud using actual words – His final words: “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46) and “It is finished” (John 19:30).(2) Jesus then “sent back His spirit” (aphiemi), according to the original Greek; and He “gave up His spirit” (parodidomi), according to the Greek in John 19:30. Jesus “gave up His life because He willed it, when He willed it, and as He willed it.”(3) Matthew Henry says that “just before He expired, [Jesus] spoke like a man in His full strength, to show that His life was not forced from Him, but was freely delivered by Him into His Father’s hands, as His own act” and “one mighty to save.”(4)

According to Matthew 27:45, Jesus yielded up His spirit sometime after the ninth hour, which is between three and four o’clock in the afternoon. This was the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, when the paschal lamb was killed; and thus, Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, and offered Himself a sacrifice unto God as a sweet-smelling aroma.(5)

The Veil of the Temple Was Torn (v. 51a)

In verse 51a, we read about the veil of the temple being torn in two from top to bottom. Its height was around forty cubits.(6) A cubit is roughly 1.5 feet, so the veil would have been up to 60 feet tall. This sudden tearing could not have been done by a person, as it would have taken time to install scaffolding to reach the top. But let us also consider its thickness. The veil was made of fine linen, and “it is a rule with the Jews, that wherever mention is made in the Law of fine linen, or fine-twined linen, it means a thread six times doubled”(7) Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel said “the thickness of the veil is a hand’s breadth, and it is woven of seventy-two threads, and every thread has twenty-four [smaller] threads in it.”(8) This super thick material could not have been torn by a person.

When we consider its height and thickness, we must conclude that the tearing of the veil was something that only God could do. It was a miraculous sign, urging us to look deeper at its meaning. The veil, which was made of blue, purple, and scarlet linen, separated the holy place where the priests ministered, from the holy of holies into which the high priest entered only once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people. This rending of the veil was emblematic, signifying how the separation between God and people had been abolished, that all might have access to the throne of grace, through the one great atonement and mediator, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:14-16).(9)