“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.” (Matthew 27:50-53). Here in the twenty-seventh chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, we see an amazing miracle which adds wonder to the incredible and world changing event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For according to Matthew’s Gospel, it would not be just Jesus that arose from the dead early in the morning on the fist day of the week 2,000 years ago, but many saints from the Old Testament would also rise.
In Colossians 1:18, the Apostle Paul writes that Christ is the firstborn from the dead. This verse would support Matthew’s Gospel, which states that the Old Testament saints came out of their graves after Christ’s resurrection. Now we know from scripture that after His resurrection, Jesus now has a glorified body which is eternal and not subject to decay. However, scripture does not forthright explain if the Old Testament saints who rose from the dead were also given glorified bodies, not does it say if they died again later, or if they stayed alive and walk among us today. Though the verses in Matthew don’t reveal everything, a clue as to the nature of the risen saints’ bodies is found in the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of St. John, where Jesus raises His friend Lazarus from the dead.
When Jesus went to Bethany, in order to raise Lazarus from the dead, He found that Lazarus had been in the grave four days already. Jesus then told them to remove the stone from Lazarus’ tomb, but Martha protested saying that her brother’s body must have a stench since he had been dead four days. However, the decay of Lazarus’ body did not deter Christ from raising him from the dead. Also, according to the tradition of the Orthodox Church, Lazarus did die again many years after Jesus brought him back to life. So it is very likely that sometime after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Old Testament saints indeed died again and are in the tomb waiting for the Universal Resurrection. Thus we see that God has the power to raise a decayed corps without giving it a glorified body, as the redeemed will have at the close of this age.
Now the Bible does state that the saints arose after Jesus rose, but scripture does not single them out or identify them by name. The Orthodox Church on the other hand, has identified at least three saints who came out of their graves after the death of Christ on the cross. The names of these three saints are: Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego also known as the Three Holy Children. Just as the fiery furnace of the king of Babylon could not burn them, so too death itself could not keep these three holy men from the captivity of Hades. But, just as Lazarus died again and was placed in a tomb once more, so also would these three Old Testament saints go back into the grave awaiting the Resurrection of the Dead.
Finally I would like to argue that God raised the saints of the Old Testament in order to bear witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament saint’s own resurrection being proof of God’s almighty power and to seal the validity of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. The Bible says that the risen saints went into Jerusalem and appeared unto many. I believe God performed this miracle in order for many to be saved. Just as Thomas did not believe Jesus rose from the dead until he touched Him in person, so God sent forth resurrected saints to confirm the resurrection of the Son of God. Unfortunately, miracles such as these are still not enough to make believers out of all people. As it is written in Luke 16:31 – “…If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”
References:
Saint Nikolai Velimirovic. The Prologue of Ohrid Vol. II. (Alhambra, California: Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America, 2002).
Zondervan. The Holy Bible, King James Version. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009).