Matthew 27:51-66, Jesus is the Son of God

Reading Assignment: Matthew 27:51-66

Truth: Jesus is the Son of God.

Key verse: Matthew 27:54

Overview:

1.        Testimony: supernatural testimony of God

2.        Preclusion: of a false resurrection

Prayer:

1.        Confess that you believe Jesus as the Son of God.

2.        Give thanks for His resurrection and ours also in Him.

Transcript

Let's pray and we'll begin.

Lord, thank You for Jesus, Your Son. He is so precious to us, and immensely even more precious to You. He is Your only begotten Son. We thank You for Him, because He is our hope. It is because of Jesus we can call upon You now and have assurance in our hearts that You, the Holy God, welcome us. Because Jesus’ death has paid for all of our sins, thus we have the right to approach You, the Holy God. Thank You so much for this stupendous blessing we have in Christ. We thank You we that we also have hope for the future for eternal life because of Christ. Thank You for all the blessings that come from heaven through Your Son. We pray that You would teach us more about Him, and that You would enable us to trust in Him all the more: more strongly and more immovably than ever before as we learn Your word. Bless our time together now. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The next passage to be read is Matthew 27:51-66. This is the remainder of Chapter 27, and the central truth I want to highlight here is from the first part of this text, which is this: Jesus is the Son of God. The key verse is found in verse 54, where the centurion exclaims, “Truly, this was the Son of God." In terms of the larger passage, Matthew initially gives us the testimony that comes from heaven regarding Jesus' death. This is the supernatural testimony of God. And then after that, Matthew prepares to tell the resurrection story. He is going to tell it in chapter 28, and in preparation for that, he starts to give us the assurance that a false resurrection was impossible. He precludes a false resurrection. And so that's the way we'll go over the passage today. First, there's the testimony from God, and then there's the preclusion of a false resurrection.

The first, the testimony of God. Matthew writes in verse 51, “And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.” This is what happened immediately when Jesus died. The veil of the temple, which was what separated people from drawing near to the Holy God, was torn in half. When Jesus died, the veil was symbolically torn to show that the way to God was now opened through Jesus' sacrifice for sinners. No man orchestrated this. This was entirely the supernatural work of God. And this testified that the atoning sacrifice of Jesus was accepted by God. Payment for sin was truly made, and if you would, God gave the receipt by way of tearing the veil. Second, Matthew tells us there was an earthquake, a noticeable one. The third detail is what leads to the next part, which is that the rocks were split. Now, when Matthew says that rocks were split, he doesn't just mean any ordinary rocks on the ground. He means rocks out of which tombs had been cut out. You can see that in verse 60 that the tomb in which Jesus was laid was hewn out of a rock. And so verse 52 follows this third aspect of the supernatural testimony of God. Verse 52 says, “The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.” This is yet another facet of God's testimony, that Jesus' death was redemptive. The rocks were split where the tombs were, and by the way, this was normal practice among the Jews, to dig into the rocks to make a cavern for their burial places. But after Jesus' resurrection, you can see that timing in verse 53, not before but after, the rocks were split. But it's only after Jesus rose from the dead that these bodies of the Old Testament saints came back to life. That sequence is very important, biblically speaking, because the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:20 and 23 that Jesus' resurrection was the first fruits from the dead. The first fruits, as in Jesus was the very first to ever rise in glory. It is only after He rose in glory that believers would also rise in glory, having also defeated death through Christ. So, here's what we're seeing here: because reconciliation with God has truly been made through Jesus' death, all those believers in the Old Testament rose from the dead and entered into God's presence bodily in glory. Now, that is my view on the matter, that this is describing the general resurrection of the Old Testament believers unto glorification. This would mean that when Matthew says that “many of the bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised,” he doesn't mean “many, not all,” but rather “many, not few.” The mention of many is not a limiter but a descriptor. This also assumes that these raised believers did not linger in Jerusalem for a prolonged period of time then died a natural death. I believe the best explanation for what happened to them after their resurrection is that they went to glory, i.e., ascended into heaven. The reason for this is that there is no further reference to these resurrected Old Testament saints in the rest of the New Testament, or for that matter, in any ancient Jewish literature. But if in fact these lived on, that information would be conspicuously missing from all of written material from the first century and beyond. Of course, for the apostles, that would be very handy to just appeal to Abraham or Isaiah and asked them to validate that Jesus is the Messiah and how it is that they were raised from the dead. But none of those things are recorded anywhere, and I think the simple reason is that they immediately went into heaven afterwards, after appearing to the Jerusalemites for a brief time. And so that is my viewpoint. There are others who have different viewpoints, but I think that makes the most sense. But the key thing here is that Jesus' resurrection was the key that unlocked resurrection for all of God's people, and that we can see this with the Old Testament saints’ resurrection. One final note here: MacArthur Study Bible takes the same viewpoint. And I do think that is the most sensible understanding. Then at this point, in verse 54, there was an onlooker, the centurion, who testifies of the significance of these supernatural signs. Verse 54 says, “now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus.” These are the soldiers who were crucifying Him. “when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” The Roman centurion recognized that these signs that surrounded Jesus's death were supernatural. They were extraordinary. And he made this remark, “Truly this was the Son of God!” Now, I don’t believe he said this because these signs in and of themselves communicated this revelation. I believe it was because there was so much talk about Jesus' claim to being the Son of God at the crucifixion scene. As you’d remember, the bystanders and the Jewish leaders were mocking Jesus for claiming that He was the Son of God. They even challenged it and said, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” And so the Roman centurion and the soldiers, they heard this over and over again. That's the reason why when these supernatural signs took place, he perceived that these signs were meant to signify what the Jews were denying all along. What Jesus claimed to be was really true. Jesus was truly the Son of God. I mentioned this last time that the centurion must have been scared out of his mind. Verse 54 says it, that they were frightened. I would imagine that they were frightened not only at the supernatural occurrences, but I think it’s very possible that they were terrified by the fact that they had murdered the Son of God. And so this outcry from the centurion is very remarkable. And of course, from our standpoint, we know that Jesus is the Son of God, even before we get to this passage. But this is just another confirmation that this is the truth. Jesus is the Son of God. The tearing of the veil shows us this.

Now, from here on out, Matthew begins to build a case for Jesus' resurrection. And as the first order of business, he ensures the preclusion of a false resurrection. And he does this by pointing out two evidences. First, the confirmed burial and second, the secured tomb. First, the confirmed burial. Verse 55, “Many women were there looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ministering to Him. Among them was Mary Magdalene, and the Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.” As you can tell in verse 56, two of the three women are named. These are witnesses of Jesus' death at the cross. They were looking from a distance because Jesus was stripped naked and so they weren't going to be right beside Him. But from a distance, they looked on and saw Him die. These two Marys will also be the witnesses of His burial in verse 61. Then verse 57 tells us how the body was handled after Jesus's death: “When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.” Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin and seemed to have believed in Jesus. But he was fearful of the Jews, and so he did not stand up for Jesus previously. John 19:38 tells us that he feared the Jews. But with Jesus' death, he now became emboldened. He could no longer remain silent and do nothing. And so at this point, he did the best next thing; he gave Jesus an honorable burial. So the man boldly went to Pilate to obtain Jesus's body to prepare and bury it. Verse 58 tells us, “This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.” This was just a standard process of burial for the Jewish people. They prepared the body, wrapped it in cloth and also treated it with a mixture of aloes and perfume. And then they laid the body in a cave, a tomb. These tombs are not like the graves that we dig into the ground. These are tombs that are dug as a cave in a large rock. And Joseph laid Jesus's body in his own tomb, a new tomb where no one else had been laid. And afterwards, he rolled a large stone against the mouth of the tomb. That too was a standard practice. It was necessary to keep animals (scavengers) out, as well as to keep the smell of the rotting flesh from escaping. John also tells us in John 19 that Nicodemus also accompanied Joseph. This means the two men who handled Jesus' body for burial are identified and they are named. What this also shows us is that the burial of Jesus was a verifiable fact. There were men whose names were given as those who could attest to having done this. Then comes verse 61, that seals this even further. “And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the grave.” These two of the three women who were at the crucifixion were also witnesses of Jesus' burial. Matthew tells us this to show that Jesus really did die, and that His body was really buried, and that the woman knew where the tomb was. This is a critical detail for the veracity of the resurrection of Jesus. There were witnesses. I point that out because Matthew tells us later in Chapter 28 that Jesus' resurrection had become a controversial issue, that the religious leaders spread a lie that the body had been stolen by the disciples. Matthew gives us the facts with names to back them up so that we would know the certainty of all the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. He also shows us that it was impossible for the tomb to have been robbed, and this brings us to the next part, which is a secure tomb. Verse 62, “Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, and said, ‘Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, “After three days I am to rise again.”’” When I read verse 63, there's a part that takes offense. They called Jesus, “That deceiver.” How dare they? The fact of the matter is that the religious leaders were the liars. And I think this is just rather typical of liars. Liars are very aware of lying because they are lying all the time. And as a result, they project their problem of lying to other people. It’s called psychological projection. This is to say they're always on guard against other people lying to them because they themselves lie all the time. And this seems to be what they're doing. They're just projecting their own deceptive nature on Jesus and calling Him the liar, when in reality they were the liars. Verse 64 gives us the main thing they wanted to say to Pilate, “Therefore give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” Verse 65, Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.” What Pilate is referring to with the guard is the Roman guard of soldiers. He gave them a Roman guard to watch over the tomb, and entrusted the guard to the Jews to secure the tomb as they wished. They set a seal on this stone in addition to putting the guards by the tomb. Verse 66 tells us that: “And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.” The seal probably here refers to a cord that was stretched across the stone and then they were sealed with wax at each end, so that if the stone had been moved, the seal would be broken and there would be evidence that the tomb had been invaded by intruders. We find an example similar to this in Daniel 6:17 with the story of the lion’s den. So, here's what happened with Jesus' burial place. There was a guard of Roman soldiers to make sure that the tomb was not invaded, and the place was sealed off so that they would know they would have guarantee that no one had entered the tomb. All of these details Matthew gives us, to build a case for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead before he gives its details in the next chapter. Matthew is a very shrewd defendant, and what this does to us is to boost our assurance that Jesus is alive.

So what might we pray about in light of these things? First, Jesus is truly the Son of God. God's supernatural testimony at Jesus' death through the veil, through the earthquake, through the rocks that were split open, and through the resurrection of the Old Testament saints. All these things show us that Jesus is truly who He claimed to be, and that He is truly the Savior who saves His people from their sins (1:21). The resurrection of the saints also shows us something very important, that when Jesus rose from the dead, He rose as a victor for His people. He shares His resurrection with all those who trust in the Lord. This brings us to the second thing we can pray about, which is to believe in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. There were eyewitnesses of His death and burial. The woman were named, and so were the men who buried Him, at least one in Matthew and another in John. They are all named. Jesus truly rose from the dead. What that means, then, is that just as the Old Testament saints were raised with the resurrection of Jesus, so we too will arise and be with the Lord forever and ever. This means we have a really great hope for the future! This also means we should never be afraid of dying, because upon death, our souls would be the presence of the Lord, and one day He will raise our bodies. For then, in soul and body, we will be in the presence of the Lord forever. And all of these blessings come to us because Jesus truly rose from the dead.

Well, let's pray and we'll wrap it up. God, we thank You that Jesus is truly Your Son, and He has truly risen from the dead. He is alive at Your right hand now. Now there is even a host of Old Testament saints there in Your presence with Jesus, because His resurrection means the resurrection of believers. And thank You for this hope. This is indeed our hope also that Christ is coming again, at which point He will raise all those who have died in Him and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Thank You for this beautiful and glorious promise for us. Keep us living in this reality daily, that Jesus is alive, that He walks in the midst of the lampstands of the churches. He sees us. He knows us. He sees our deeds. And He loves us. He shepherds us. Thank You, our Father, for Your wonderful work of redemption in Christ. We pray in His name. Amen.

Alright. And that is it for today, Lord bless you.