Isn`t this the most amazing example of power you ever heard?

Question

Matthew 27:51-53,the graves opened and bodies of the saints came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into the city and appeared unto many. To me that is wonderful,there was so much power that the saints rose when he did!I wonder why I haven`t ever heard that talked about in church?

to waymar476,I`m not talking about Jesus`s resurrection,I`m talking about the saints in the grave,I`m sorry you didn`t understand the statement I made,read a little more slowly.OK

But it says they came out of the graves,why would they be sleeping in a grave.I perfer to think it a miracle,he brought people back from the dead lots!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

Sure it has, it's been sung! "Oh when the Saints, Go Marching in!......"

Answer 2

The hymn for Easter in the Eastern Orthodox Church goes: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and to those in the tombs bestowing life." This is something that is well understood and well talked about in the Orthodox Church. But that's not the most amazing thing - what is amazing is that it continues to happen to this day, after more than 2,000 years! Those who are sanctified in Christ - Saints of the Church - often appear to people in the body and work miracles even to this day. So how's that for a shock wave from the Resurrection, that reverberates all around the world and is still working 2,000 years later? Now that's pretty awesome!

Answer 3

This is a wonderful passage, but this happened right after Christ died on the cross, not when He rose. Reread the Scripture.
There is much speculation what happened to these Saints. Some believe that they went back to their graves, which doesn't make sense. Some believe that they went to heaven after or at the same time that Christ ascended. I believe that this is true and that those saints fulfilled the Jewish festival of first fruits. Jesus was presenting to the Father the "first fruits" of His Harvest.

Answer 4

The actual wording is below. It says nothing of the Saints rising from the dead and coming out of graves. It states they had fallen asleep.

(Why they fell asleep in tombs is beyond me!!!! LOL)

51 And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split,

52 tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised.

53 And coming forth from their tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

Answer 5

Probably because that's one of those "difficult passages" to explain since it leaves a lot of questions that don't have indisputable answers found in the Bible.

For instance people want to know things like:

Were these Old Testament saints who were being kept in a paradise like compartment of Hell like Jesus describes in the parable about the rich man and Lazarus?

Why didn't they go directly to Heaven when Jesus rose?

Does that mean that there are ghosts?

etc....

Answer 6

As was said, this is not necessary to Salvation and is confusing to us. I Corinthians 13 talks about how we "see through a glass, darkly". This is one of those things we "see" that way. We have a beginning and an end. We are finite beings. God was in the beginning, is the Alpha and Omega, and reigns forever and ever. He is infinite. How can we with finite minds ever hope to understand the infinite? God just is....what He did, just is.....what He said, just is....anything else is a limitation and not a definition.

Answer 7

Yeah that's great.

I loved the bit in Harry Potter too where Harry somehow channeled the spirit of his dead father to defeat the evil that faced him. Really inspirational.

Answer 8

sadly. Many churches,(preachers), are not up enough on it to preach it. They stay out of Revelations.
Your right, It is great. I have something you might enjoy. It will explain what it is your wondering about.........


There is no conflict, it’s probably that you do not understand that there are two “appearings”: two comings of Christ - both with an “R”. The first is the “Rapture”. That's when we hear the words, “come up hither” in Revelation 4:1 and we're caught up in the twinkling of an eye, I Corinthians 15:52. The dead in Christ rise first, then we which are alive and remain are caught up with the dead in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, I Thessalonians 4:16.

And I believe probably the most obvious would be events that happened in the Old Testament that seem like the Rapture. And, we have some in the Old Testament.

Well not actually what takes place at the Rapture, for then we get brand new bodies, to be like the body of Jesus, I John 3:2-3.

However, there were two men in the Old Testament who were snatched up to meet the Lord in the heavenlies. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Now it was a form of the Rapture, but it wasn’t really the Rapture, because he’s on the other side in his old body. It was not changed as he went up. And then in 2 Kings 2:11, Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven, but he’s still there in his body. All the others are there as spirits, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, 2 Corinthians 5:8. And James teaches us that, chapter 2:27, as the body went out, the spirit is dead, because that sprit is with the Lord. So it’s a total heaven, full of spirits, even the angels, except these two bodies, and they come back, and they are the two witnesses of Revelation chapter 11. And in verse 12, after they’ve been killed, because the crowds don’t want to hear their preaching, they are caught up into heaven.

I always remember a child being taught about the " Rapture" in the Catholic schools, but They called it" being caught up into heaven". Why do our churches seldom mention the event?

Catholic school they taught it as “being caught up”. That is I Thessalonians 4:17. You know, someone said you can't find the word “rapture” in the Bible. But you can in the Catholic Bible, the Latin Vulgate by Saint Jerome. When he gets to I Thessalonians 4:17, he uses the word “rapiamore” – it means raptured – where it says, “caught up” in our English versions. Why don't more churches do it? They don't study and they don't know what the Bible says. They don't study the catechism – they don’t study the Word of God. God forgive us for that situation.

He talks about a Pre-tribulation Rapture and the Tribulation is that seven-year period of judgment on earth – Revelation chapters 6 to 18 – because we go up in chapter 4 and it only begins in chapter 6. We call it a pre-tribulation Rapture and the Rapture is I Thessalonians 4 verses 16 to 18, when the dead in Christ rise and the living go up with them to meet the Lord in the air and all in the twinkling of an eye, I Corinthians 15:52.

However, during the seven-year period of Tribulation, the greatest revival in history occurs as 144,000 evangelists swarm the world in Revelation 7 verses 4 to 8, and they are preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom – Matthew 24:14. The King is coming and a multitude like the sands of the sea, Revelation 7:9, is converted and verse 14 says, “They came out of the Great Tribulation and washed their robes, made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Because of it, death comes to those new converts during that seven-year period in Revelation 6:9, 13:50 and Revelation 20 verse 4. Now Christ comes back with His saints, Jude 14, and Daniel 12:2 - the Old Testament Jews are raised and at that point, all those who died during the Tribulation are also raised. I hope that answers your question.

You notice. The 144,00 is Old testament evagelists. This will disappoint the Jehovah Witness'.

All of the Old Testament Believers have to be washed in The Blood of The Lamb. Jesus came to "Fulfill The Law of Moses. Not to change it. Jesus changed nothing, this was prophecied from the very begining.

Those who read the Bible literally, such as Tim LaHaye and Baxter agree that the end is imminent.

everybody is asking, “Is this is so, is this so?” Well, what do you have to say? Let me just go into this first, before you answer that. Paul Maier, he takes a very critical look at the end of the world scenario in the Left Behind series. And “Prophecy feeds fires debate – end-of-world books have an eternal appeal”. And “Different visions on how it all will end.” Well, you know, I just have to say that world “end”, I don't believe the world’s going to end. Neither does Tim Lahaye and all these other men.

I know Dr. Tim Lahaye, Dr. Hal Lindsay, Dr. Dwight Pentecost, Dr. Walvoord, and Dr. Grant Jeffrey. None of us believe that the world will end for at least another thousand years. Christ is coming as the King of kings and Lord of lords, Revelation 19:16, to rule and reign for one thousand years, Revelation 20:4. It is the amillennialist crowd who says there’ll be no millennium who’s preaching that it’s the end and that the end will come. Not these men, you’ve misunderstood them.

Well, doesn't the Bible speak about the end of the world? Yes, Matthew 13:39, 40,49, Matthew 24:3, Matthew 28:20 and Hebrews 9:26, but any Greek Orthodox teacher in their catechism will tell you that is not the end of the world. It is the end of the age of grace before we go into Christ's reign on earth. This world even after a thousand years is never going to end. “The earth abides forever”, Ecclesiastes 1:4. “Yahweh God created the earth, it shall never, never, never be removed”, Psalm 104:5. Jesus said, “The meek shall inherit the earth”, Matthew 5:5. For how long? “the meek inherit the earth forever and forever”, .Psalm 37:29 when Christ sets up his government on earth, “of the increase of his government, there shall be no end”, Isaiah 9:7, and when he sits on David's throne in Luke 1:32, He rules over the house of Jacob, Israel forever and forever and of his kingdom “there shall be no end”.

Hope this helped. Have a good week.

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Answer 9

I agree with you. I have heard it talked about in church before, but not often. I think that we don't hear it much because God lays other topics on the pastors' hearts. It may not be what we need to hear.

Answer 10

Yes that is one of the better ones.. I always like Lazarus being raised .. The Jews loved it so much that they wanted to kill him again.. The world just doesn't get it, but they eventually will.

Answer 11

Yeah, that's pretty awesome!

I suspect it isn't talked about in church because it isn't necessary for salvation, and it is probably a difficult teaching to understand.

Best wishes and God bless.