Sermon: Dead Men Walking

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If you would, open your Bibles to the Gospel according to Matthew. The Gospel according to Matthew 27.

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If you're new to the Bible, it's the first book in the New Testament canon that we have.

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In all your Bibles, Matthew 27. We're going to be reading from verses 45 through 54.

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45 through 54. Hear now the word of the living and the true

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God. Now from the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

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And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is my

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God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, this man is calling

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Elijah. And one of them at once ran and took a sponge filled with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.

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But the other said, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

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And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

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And the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened.

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And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And then coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

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When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, truly, this was the

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Son of God. Thus far as the reading of God's holy and inspired Word, let's pray together as His people. Lord, we are humbled before Your revelation.

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This is Your own self -disclosure. This is You speaking to us.

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This is a true record of what took place in history, what You accomplished in history.

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And so we come to You as Your people, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, forgiven because of this moment that's before us in Your Word.

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We come to You and ask You to bless us as we hear Your Word. We pray that You would speak by Your Spirit today that,

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Lord, people will forget me and remember You and what they've learned from Your Word.

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We pray that You'd guard my heart and my mind as a pastor of Your people. We pray that You would guide,

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You would teach, You would renew our minds, strengthen us, give us peace and joy because of the testimony in this particular text.

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In Jesus' name, amen. So this is a big one. It's interesting, I mentioned as we started today that I find this particular text in this section exciting.

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I think it's so very exciting because of what took place in this historical moment that is this miraculous vindication of the work of Christ.

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There's so much that takes place in this text. We've been here for a long time, but we've been unpacking how this connects to Old Testament prophecy.

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We've been unpacking how this particular event is an event that took place within human history.

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This is not myth and fable and telling tales. This is historical narrative.

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This is the story of God purchasing His people. This is the story of God keeping

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His promises to His people. This is the story of Jesus accomplishing our redemption.

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It's a powerful scene. And there's so many amazing details you can just unpack. And it's hard to see every aspect of the glory of this moment, of the passion of the

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Messiah. This long -anticipated moment, finally here. We look back on it, but they were looking forward to it.

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And now they were sitting in the midst of it. And I find this particular text exciting and hard.

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I mentioned that a lot of people don't want to even touch this particular text. Some commentators spend very little time on it, essentially ignore it.

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There are people who find it so difficult that they'll say, well, I'll preach to Matthew, but we'll just sort of get right past that point because it leaves so many unanswered questions.

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There's people that deny that it actually took place. There's people that profess the name of Christ.

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They want to call it simple symbolism. And it provokes so many questions.

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I mean, doesn't it? Right? Who in the world is this? Right? Who's just raised from the dead after the resurrection of Jesus and just walking around Jerusalem, appearing to people?

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Who is it? Do you ever read this and wonder, like, huh, that's odd. Right? It's a strange moment.

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It brings questions. We're going to talk about some of those questions today. And I have good news for you.

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It's true. And I have bad news for you. I don't know. And neither do you.

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But it's fun to speculate in terms of who exactly were these people?

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I mean, it's unanswered questions. I mean, were these people who recently died in Jerusalem? Were these examples of resuscitations?

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Resurrections, but really resuscitations like Jairus's daughter and Lazarus, people who literally died, were literally raised from the dead, but then lived their lives again and then died again.

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So there's the possibility that these are resuscitations. People who recently died, family members, friends who died, tombs were opened up.

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And then after Jesus' resurrection, they come parading around in Jerusalem, testifying to the glory of Jesus, his accomplished work and the resurrection that he accomplishes.

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Or, and people speculate about this, were these Old Testament saints and heroes raised from the dead, testifying, walking around Jerusalem?

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So many questions, right? Like, if they were resurrected Old Testament saints, were they given at that moment glorified bodies in preparation for the ultimate resurrection?

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Are there some Old Testament saints in heaven today that have fully glorified bodies like Jesus, who was the first fruits of the resurrection, the first truly raised, raised from the dead?

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There's questions, thought -provoking questions, right? So it's interesting, but we do need to address the big picture.

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Why is this here? Why is it important? And something to announce in terms of what makes this particular passage so difficult is that Matthew is just right in the midst of historical narrative the whole time.

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He's talking about centurions and Pilate and Herod, eyewitnesses. He names the women who were there watching the crucifixion.

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He names them by name. He's talking about real events in history, darkness. He gives you the time.

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He's even telling you the sixth hour, the ninth hour. I mean, this is historical narrative. And then Matthew is the only one out of all four gospels.

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He's the only one who mentions this, and he sort of just throws it in there.

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Oh, yeah, by the way, some dead people came back to life and walked around the city, peering at people. Like, just sort of, and on to the next scene.

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And you're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, Matthew. Wait, wait, wait. I know this is divine inspiration. You're being guided by the Holy Spirit. But what are you talking about?

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He just mentions it like, by the way, dead men walking. It happens. And then he's just on to the next part of the story, right?

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But Matthew's the only one that mentions it. And so it provokes a lot of questions. And again, there are elements, as we've talked about before, in the word of God, where you say, this is the word of God.

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It's God's self -disclosure. This is the Theanostos, breathe out revelation from God.

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This is the objective truth. This is the reference point. And so God said it.

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I believe it. That's history. That's the truth. But it does have other things related to it, where you have to just be honest and be humble.

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Be humble enough to simply say, I don't know. I don't know. It's interesting. Good question.

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Was it Moses walking around? Abraham? Was it David? Was it Nehemiah? Who's walking around?

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Was it Lucy, who just passed away on Wednesday? I don't know. But it happens. So we're going to talk about it.

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So it's exciting and it's hard, because Matthew is the only one that talks about it. So there are some options as you come to this particular text.

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I'll read it to you again, starting in verse 51. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

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

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And coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

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Now, there's some options. Now, I'm sure there's a lot more that can be said about this text, but if you don't want to be in Matthew for 10 more years,

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I'm going to summarize, okay? Options. Number one, first option.

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As you look at this text of dead men walking, people raised, who had fallen asleep, is how the

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Bible refers to the death of God's saints. These are holy ones, saints walking around Jerusalem. Here's an option.

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First option. It never happens. Supernatural isn't possible, okay?

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That's an option. That's how a lot of skeptics of the Bible and atheists will look at a text like this. They'll say,

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A, it never happens. Supernatural things like that are not possible. Second option, as you look at a text like this, is that it's symbolism, all right?

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So you look at a person like Dr. Mike Lycona, Christian apologist. He has talked about this particular text.

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I find his explanation extremely bad. It comes, it's fraught with problems, but he'll say, well, this is symbolism.

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This didn't actually happen. It's more like the old hyperbolic statements people would make, like the sky is falling down, you know?

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And things like that, like the world is crashing and burning, you know? Is it symbolism, hyperbolic stuff?

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It's sort of like, you know, mythology from pagans.

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Well, they'll, you know, they'll take an event that took place with Caesar or Kim Jong -il or Un or whatever, and they'll say, there's all this sort of like myth that follows them and their death.

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Like when the dear leader of North Korea died, they say that like it started snowing.

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Like it was the wrong time of year, it started snowing. You know, there's mythology like that, that raises up with these moments in history.

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And so Dr. Lycona, who is a professing Christian, says that this didn't actually take place.

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It wasn't literally saints raised from the dead appearing to people in the city.

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It's more symbolism and, you know, sort of connected to the kind of, or parallel with the mythology of, you know, pagans.

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I find that a horrifying explanation. That's the second option. Popular, maybe in some circles.

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Here's a third option. I think you'll know where I fall on this. It happens. It happens.

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Period. It happens. So there's three options. One, it never happened. Supernatural is impossible.

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Two, it's symbolism. Didn't really happen. Sort of a Christian tradition that rose up and is more in line with mythology.

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Or third option, the text says it clearly. This is what happens. It's a real historical event.

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It actually happened. Obviously, honestly, comes with questions. It's okay.

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Doesn't change the fact that it's historical narrative and it happened. Period. Here's the refutation of the first one.

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The first one claims that it never happened. Why? The supernatural isn't possible.

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Now we need to think about this for a second. This is Matthew 27. As you move into Matthew 28, there is another story of a supremely powerful resurrection.

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And that's the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And so I'm going to just say, as we start this, this entire revelation from God is filled with the supernatural.

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It's filled with the miraculous. And I want to just say this to challenge you as a Christian. Do not be fearful of the atheist who criticizes the

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Bible because of the miraculous. Because I want to just express to you this, because you accept

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God's revelation, because you believe it and you hold to it and you stand on it, you are the only ones who can appropriately and effectively and justifiably look at a miraculous story and say, that's weird.

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That's not supposed to happen. Let me expand that just a little bit more. The atheist comes to you one day and says, hey,

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I don't believe in the Bible because it's got stories of resurrections and water turning to wine and seas parting and all that stuff.

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I can't believe that. It's crazy stuff. That sort of stuff doesn't happen in this world. Now, you need to, at the moment, ask the unbeliever to stop borrowing capital from your worldview.

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In other words, when the unbeliever, the atheist or the skeptic comes to you and says, miracles are impossible.

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The supernatural doesn't happen. This universe is ordered. It functions like a machine, right?

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It's law -like. It's ordered. We know that tomorrow is going to be like today. What are they doing?

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They're borrowing your worldview. Christians are the only ones that should look at stories like this and say, that's weird.

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Why? Because what do we believe? Think about it. What do you believe about history, origins, and life today?

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What do you believe? You believe that there is a sovereign God. Amen? He's in control of all things.

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He's the creator of all things. He created the world. He set it in motion, and He declares the end from the beginning.

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God has given the universe, according to a Christian worldview, a fixed order.

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It actually says in the book of Hebrews that Jesus carries the universe along. He carries everything along to its intended destination.

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Why do you think that modern science got its massive pop?

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How? Did it get it from the atheistic worldview? Nope. It got it from the

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Christian worldview. Why? Because the Christian worldview believes in certain essential things like this.

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The universe is created, guided, and governed. Get this. It is not simply chaos in motion.

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There is a sovereign God who orders the universe, and He carries it along to its intended destination.

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Don't miss this. You, as a Christian with the word of God, are the ones that have a claim to the scientific method.

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That the universe is ordered. That it's fixed. That the laws of physics actually hold.

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Why? Because you don't hold to the atheist worldview that says, well, there was nothing, and then there was something.

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You don't hold to the atheistic perspective that says, it's just time and chance acting on a material universe.

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You don't hold to the atheist perspective that believes that fish, through a long chain of evolutionary processes, unguided, became philosophers.

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You don't hold to the atheistic perspective that says inorganic matter became, through a magical, crazy configuration, organic.

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Non -living material becomes living, all by its lonesome. You see, when the atheist challenges the

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Christian worldview in the area of miracles, they have to borrow from the

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Christian worldview to do it. You following that? Because Christians believe in a sovereign

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God who orders the universe and carries it along. Christians believe that things are fixed, and so we can believe that tomorrow will be like today, or the next five minutes will be, or the next five minutes will be like the past, because we believe in a sovereign

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God who governs the universe. So, Christians, because of God who carries the universe along, look at a story of a resurrection from the dead, and we go, that's weird.

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That's not supposed to happen. Why? Because we don't believe in time and chance acting on matter.

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The universe is not just chaos in motion. We believe in a fixed order that is law -like, because you have a law -giver.

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So, when the atheist says miracles don't happen, you should say, in the

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Christian worldview, that's strange. You're borrowing from God, because in your worldview, where it's time and chance acting on matter, anything's possible, baby.

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I mean, don't you believe that human beings evolve from bacteria? Don't you believe that information just appeared in human

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DNA? That the story of all of life and information is just there, and it all is ordered, and it makes sense, and it's rational?

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Don't you believe that that just happens all by itself? Don't you look at the design of everything in life down to the smallest human cell and say, it just happened in this universe of time and chance acting on matter?

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You see, the unbeliever has to secretly stand on the Christian worldview in order to actually balk at miracles.

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So, when the unbeliever says, I can't believe that revelation because it has miracles, you should say, stop stealing from my worldview, bro.

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That's mine. Let's talk. You see, I have a justification to look at a story like this and say, that's weird, but I got more for you.

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It isn't just Old Testament or whoever, holy ones, saints, raising from the dead and appearing in Jerusalem.

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It is the supreme example of the Son of God himself being crucified and murdered on a tree, rising again on the third day.

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There's more miracles than just this one. So, the unbeliever has no justification to say the supernatural is impossible because they reject the foundation of the

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Christian worldview the supernatural is absolutely possible in their worldview.

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It's chaos, time and chance acting on matter. So, when the unbeliever looks at a text like this and says,

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I reject it because the supernatural is impossible, he has to essentially borrow from the

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Christian worldview in order to say it. Second thing, it's symbolism.

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It's symbolism. Here's the problem. When you have someone like Dr. Mike Licona saying, well,

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I'm a Christian. I believe in the resurrection of the Son of God, that Jesus actually physically rose from the dead.

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But a story like this, I don't think it really happened. Well, there's no justification in the text to say there's a problem with the text.

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There's no translational issues in the text that would cause you to reject the text itself.

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And so, what is it about the text that makes you think that it's just symbolism? Here's how you know that it's not just symbolism.

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Number one, Matthew is historical narrative. Matthew is historical narrative. Just consider this.

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In the very text itself, really just a few verses prior to the text where it talks about these people appearing after the resurrection of Jesus, it tells you the actual time of day.

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Sixth hour, ninth hour. That's in 27, 45 through 46. Next, in the historical narrative before us in Matthew, Matthew is referring to the witnesses of the events at this time of Jesus' life and ministry.

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He refers to the disciples throughout this narrative in the text of the crucifixion and before.

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He refers to Peter and Peter's betrayal of Jesus as an eyewitness of what's taking place.

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He refers to Herod, a real historic figure in history. He refers to the bystanders who were there before the cross this very day.

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He refers, of course, to who else? He refers to Pilate, a real historical figure, a governor.

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He even names the women in Matthew 27, 55 through 56.

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He names the actual women who were witnessing. Listen to the text. There were also, verse 55, many women there looking on from a distance who had followed

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Jesus from Galilee ministering to him, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

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So Matthew's an historical narrative. He's telling you events that transpired. He's even naming witnesses and bystanders who are present witnessing the events themselves.

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He mentions the Roman soldiers. He mentions after this, starting in verse 57,

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Joseph of Arimathea, Joseph of Arimathea, a specific person in history.

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Now, here's what's really important about the Christian witness here. I want you to look for a moment, because I mentioned that Matthew refers actually a lot to Peter.

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He mentions Peter and the denial of Peter. He mentions Peter essentially hiding in the background during the trials of Jesus.

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I want you to hear what Peter says in terms of the Christian witness of this as real historic narrative.

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If you go to 2 Peter 1, 2 Peter 1, listen to how

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Peter speaks about his testimony as an apostle. 2 Peter 1, verse 16.

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Here's what the apostle says. He says, For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

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That's the Christian faith. This isn't secret hidden knowledge. This is open and in the public square.

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That's where Jesus was crucified, in the public square. And so Matthew's gospel is, of course, connecting the

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Old Testament revelation to the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. But Matthew's gospel is telling you the story as it played out.

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He's giving you real historic events. He's talking about the things that took place that day. He's talking about the people who were present that witnessed it.

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And you can hear one of the witnesses that Matthew refers to, Peter, telling you this wasn't cleverly devised tales and myths.

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We were eyewitnesses to his majesty. So Matthew's historical narrative, he's mentioning all of the events that transpire in this very moment, leading up to this moment.

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Notice also that Matthew refers to a physical darkness that fell over the land. The kind of thing that causes the

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Roman soldiers to say what? Truly, this was the

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Son of God. The events that they saw, and it wasn't actually the resurrection of these holy ones.

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The events that they saw were the events of the darkness, the death of Christ, and the earthquake.

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And they say, truly, this was the Son of God. Matthew refers to the tearing of the veil.

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Question for someone like Mike Licona. If you're going to randomly, hodgepodge, jump in and out of historical narrative to symbolic, never really happened event, my question is, what about the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

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Is that symbol? Why not? If you're going to arbitrarily jump between texts and say, well, this is historic narrative.

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This really took place. But this one over here, that's clearly symbolism. Says who? You? Because you think it's odd or strange?

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Why? Seems totally arbitrary. That's what you have to deal with. The question would be, how about that tearing of the veil?

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Is that symbolism? Did that not really happen? Because brothers and sisters, what do we know about that veil tearing?

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It's in the text. It's right here, right before the resurrection of these holy ones. What about the temple veil?

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Is that significant? Is it significant in heaven and on earth?

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Doesn't it speak to the actual reality of what was accomplished by Jesus Christ in his actual, literal death on the cross?

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What do we say about that? Is that just symbolism? Did the veil not really tear in the temple?

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You see, the danger of going from historic narrative to, well, that didn't actually take place, places you in a position where it becomes totally arbitrary.

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A consistent reading of this text shows us that Matthew is giving you actual history.

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It's divinely inspired, but he's giving you actual history. The time, the place, that location, the events that surrounded it, the veil itself, an earthquake, darkness, the witnesses who were there.

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You hear about the physical phenomenon, that earthquake. Matthew mentions throughout the gospel of Matthew, healings.

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He mentions resurrection. Matthew mentions, of course, that famous scene of the transfiguration.

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Question for someone like Mike Licona. Is the transfiguration also symbolism, myth?

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Did it not actually take place? Because that story is actually really fantastic.

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Have you read it? That story is actually really awe -inspiring, where they actually, for just a moment, a glimpse.

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You see, Jesus, as Pastor James has said before in a number of debates, he isn't walking around Jerusalem hovering.

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He's not glowing as he's walking down the streets of Jerusalem. Jesus is the

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God -man, truly God and truly man. But just for a glimpse, a moment, the apostles themselves on the

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Mount of Transfiguration get to see sort of a tearing of the veil, a moving away of what they're used to with Jesus to where they are essentially blinded by the light, the glory of the one who's truly in front of them.

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Here's my challenge. That's a miraculous event. Did that not really happen?

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Is it just symbolism? And how do you decide arbitrarily between events? Because one of them makes you uncomfortable.

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Here's the challenge. You either believe this revelation or you don't. You either believe this took place or you don't.

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We can't stand between two positions. Is there symbolism in the Bible? Yeah. And how do you spot it?

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You spot it in its context. You spot it in its narrative. Does God use symbolism and hyperbole in his word?

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Yes, actually quite a lot. In ways that make a lot of evangelicals very uncomfortable.

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Like when he talks about Israel, his bride, he talks about her unfaithfulness.

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He does it in a way that hits you in the guts. It cuts you at the jugular. He does it in a way that humans understand best.

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He says his wife is a harlot. She's like a hooker. She's a prostitute.

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She offers herself to everyone on the side of the road and gets paid nothing for what she does.

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Ouch. But that is the kind of language that God uses. God uses all kinds of symbolic language in his word.

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He says that he will cover you in the shadow of his wings. Does he have feathers? He says our

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God is a consuming fire. Really? Like burn you? Glass furnace fire?

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Does God use symbolism? Yeah, but you can always tell in terms of poetic literature, song, symbolism, vision, those sorts of things.

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But that's not what Matthew's doing, is it? Matthew's telling you the story of history.

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Here's what took place at the crucifixion of the son of God. And so Matthew is telling you history surrounding the crucifixion of the

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Lord Jesus. But also Matthew ends his gospel with the resurrection of the son of man and the ascension of Jesus, that promised resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

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It is not myth or legend. It is historic narrative. And one more point as a cherry on top of that, just consider the text itself.

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What's it say takes place? It says the tombs also were opened, verse 52. Many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.

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And coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

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Notice that Matthew makes the point that they're raised from the dead and they appeared to many.

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It's eyewitness. It's appearing. It's eyewitness testimony. And that's what

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Matthew ultimately highlights is that they came to life. They came into Jerusalem and they appeared to many people.

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In other words, there were witnesses to what I'm telling you. It's not a fable. It's not a tale.

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It's not mythology. It's an actual resurrection that many people saw.

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These people actually appeared to people in the holy city. So here's the point.

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It happens. It happens. And here's what makes it amazing. I said, I'm excited about it, right?

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Here's what makes it amazing. It happened because, are you ready? This was and is the expectation of God's people.

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What? Resurrection from the dead. Resurrection from the dead. We like to hide ourselves.

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We've talked about this often. We like to hide ourselves in this generation from death.

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I've mentioned to you so many times that the old way of building churches and Dr. R .C.

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Sproul's church in Florida, St. Andrews is just like this. It's the old school way.

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They built that church. It is amazing in terms of the story it tells when you walk inside. But outside that church building is a field and Dr.

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R .C. Sproul's body is right there in it. And there's a bunch of other graves because the old way of building churches was you actually had a graveyard connected to the church of all the saints who were there and established all of that before you got there.

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You're passing by their dead bodies. We like to hide ourselves from death.

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However, you're going to feel it. You're going to experience it. You're going to taste it.

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You're going to be around it. You're going to grieve over it. Death is your ultimate and my ultimate enemy.

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It's coming for us all. It's coming for us all. So it makes this particular moment exciting is that you have the story of our redemption and ultimately the meaning of the resurrection and how it connects to all of God's people.

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You have it there in the text before you, but you have this little glimpse, this moment where Matthew mentions, oh, by the way, in the middle of this whole scene of the death of Christ and the resurrection, these tombs were split open.

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And then after the resurrection of Jesus, these saints, these holy ones, they come to life and they start walking around the city, appearing to many witnesses.

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What was that? A miraculous vindication of what had just taken place with Jesus.

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And wouldn't that be the case? Think about it. Wouldn't it be the case that God is all about in this moment, giving you this miraculous vindication of what's taking place?

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Is it so strange? Is it so strange to us that God would actually give us a miraculous vindication in terms of resurrection like this?

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I mean, the text itself has what taking place? Humanity's darkest day.

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We hate God so much that if he can come down here and put flesh on him, we'd kill him. And we did.

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And in this moment where God incarnate is being killed, murdered, the truly righteous one, the truly innocent one, the darkest act of the hands of humanity in this very moment.

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And what does God do? He turns the lights out on creation. Doing what?

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Testifying to the horror of this moment. Jesus is the light of the world.

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And when they snuffed out his life, the world went dark.

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There was a physical earthquake phenomenon like that. The veil itself in the temple that separated, that testified to the separation of God's people from the presence of God.

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That's ripped in half. This ginormous curtain is torn from top to bottom. God in this moment is all about these things that are happening in actual physical space, testifying to the miracle of the redemption that's taking place in this moment.

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Why is it so strange to us that God would actually testify to the resurrection of the holy ones, the saints of God that are raised and walking around Jerusalem, testifying to the power of his resurrection.

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So let's talk about this for a moment in terms of why this is so meaningful. Why do you think that Matthew would, first of all, tell the story to begin with, the story of Jesus and his death and resurrection, but the story of these holy ones, these saints rising again from the dead and appearing to people in the holy city?

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Well, we need to talk about this very important in terms of foundations. This story doesn't drop out of the sky with nothing behind it.

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This is God's revelation in history. It's a continuing story. Well, the reason why is because the resurrection of the

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Messiah was prophesied. You remember the scene? It's one of my favorites. It's where Jesus is on the road to Emmaus.

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I've talked about it a lot. Luke 24, road to Emmaus, and you've got the disciples there, and they're all a bunch of sad saps, all upset over the fact that they thought

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Jesus was the Messiah, but now he's dead. And I guess he wasn't the one. They're all sad saps walking on this road.

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They don't even realize Jesus is alive walking next to them. And they're like, you haven't been here. You don't know what's going on in Jerusalem.

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What does Jesus challenge them about in that moment? What does he say to them? He says, slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken.

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What were they supposed to understand? That the Messiah had to die and was going to rise again from the dead.

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The resurrection of Jesus Christ, though they could not comprehend it, it was in the

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Old Testament scriptures. The resurrection of the Messiah was prophesied. It was prophesied in Isaiah 53.

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Isaiah 53, we can't do all these texts today, but Isaiah 53 says that this servant, this righteous servant of God, the

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Messiah himself would justify the many as he would bear their iniquities. He'd be pierced through for our transgressions.

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The Lord Yahweh was pleased to lay on him the iniquity of us all. It said that he'd be cut off out of the land of the living.

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And yet, as you read Isaiah 53, you see that actually he sees his offspring.

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He prolongs his days. You've got a death and a resurrection. Isaiah 53, 700 years before Jesus accomplishes it.

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The resurrection of the Messiah was prophesied. It was part and parcel to the

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Jewish worldview. Song 22 is that famous song in the

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Old Testament hymnal that tells you about the passion of the Messiah, about a thousand years before it takes place.

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They pierce my hands and my feet. They wag their heads at me like dogs.

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They surround me. For my clothing, they cast lots. It says clearly that he's laid in the dust of death in Psalm 22.

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But then it actually says that all the families of the earth will return to worship

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Yahweh. That he would speak of God's name among his brothers.

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It's in Psalm 22. Death and living again. You also have what

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Gabe read before today in the psalm of our service today. In Psalm 16, verse 10, the promise was that God's holy one would not be left to decay.

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This is quoted from in the New Testament, Acts 13, 35, as fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

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He was not left to decay. He was raised again from the dead. So here's the point. Ready? Resurrection from the dead is at the center of God's revelation.

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So in this moment in Matthew's narrative, you've got the resurrection of Jesus, but you have this miraculous vindication of what takes place with Jesus with the resurrection of these holy ones walking around the holy city after the resurrection of Jesus.

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Why? Are you ready? Because resurrection is everything. Isn't it amazing?

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You and I have no fear of death. You're not supposed to.

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You're not supposed to. And why? Because if you trust in Christ now, you have eternal life.

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You've gone from death to life. And whoever lives and believes in Jesus will never die.

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And you know, though you shed this earthly tent, it's only...

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Are you ready? It's in Matthew. Sleeping. That's how Christians get to talk about death.

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Do you notice the Bible does that through and through? They get to talk about death like this. Ah, just sleeping. It's just sleeping.

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That's all it is. Why? And why do you think that? Not just because you're reconciled to God today. You have peace with God today.

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You know God. You've gone from death to life spiritually. You're seated with Christ in the heavenly places. You received all these blessings, but you know there's an ultimate day.

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There's an ultimate day in human history where God will finally and fully decisively deal with death.

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Physical death. There'll be a resurrection of the just and the unjust. There'll be an actual physical resurrection so there's no fear of an ultimate end to you.

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You will live with God for all eternity in a resurrected glorified body. Now the resurrection of the

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Messiah was prophesied not just in the Old Testament revelation. It's not just central to what God said before was going to take place, but the resurrection was prophesied of Jesus by Jesus.

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Look with me real quickly. You're in Matthew 27. Just move over so you see it. In Matthew chapter 20, same gospel writer, different location and time in the ministry of Jesus.

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In Matthew chapter 20 verse 17. And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the 12 disciples aside and on the way he said to them, see, we are going up to Jerusalem and the

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Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the

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Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified and he will be raised on the third day.

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Resurrection of the Messiah was prophesied not just in the Old Testament, but by Jesus himself throughout his earthly ministry.

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Next point. In terms of the story of resurrection that's being highlighted and miraculously vindicated in this moment in the historical narrative of Matthew.

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Resurrection is the expectation and hope of God's people. 1 Corinthians 15.

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Read it. Read it and you'll not only see the hope we have for the future. I think you'll think differently about your role here today and the rule of Christ in the world.

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But 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul gives the gospel. He talks about the eyewitnesses and he says

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Jesus is reigning now. And he says he must reign until all of his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.

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And he says all his enemies are a footstool for his feet and the last enemy will be death.

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So the way the world's working right now is Jesus is reigning. He's on his throne. He is placing all his enemies under his feet.

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And one day there's going to be a final enemy defeated under the feet of Jesus. And that is physical death.

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It's going to be over one day. No more pain. No more funerals.

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No more grieving. None of that. Because it's all going to be done. And that's the expectation and hope of God's people.

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1 Corinthians 15. That's the timeline of human history. But there's another thing that you need to know in terms of what the

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Old Testament Jews, what they, the revelation they had, what they had passed on, the oracles that have been entrusted to them, what they had passed on in terms of resurrection.

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We can't exhaust this, but I'll just show you one example. If you go to Ezekiel 37, Old Testament, Ezekiel 37, you'll see some of what was laid down as an understanding for the people of God before this moment in Matthew's gospel.

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Ezekiel 37. Now we love Ezekiel 36 as reformed folks.

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Amen. Ezekiel 36 is that story of God saying, I'm going to sprinkle clean water on you.

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I'm not doing this for your sake. I'm doing this for the vindication of my holy name, which you've profaned among the nations.

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I'll sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean. I'll cleanse you from all your idols.

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He says, I'll remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of what? Flesh.

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A hard heart now turns into a soft, moldable heart by God. That's the hope of God's people.

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That's the hope of your sanctification and mine. And then God says, I'll put my spirit within you and I will cause you to observe my statutes.

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That's hope for the Christian life and sanctification. That's, by the way, why we hate our sin.

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That's, by the way, why you love the law word of God. That's not your own doing.

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That didn't come out of your own heart and mind. Our hearts and minds are rebellious. So we love Ezekiel 36 because it's this beautiful picture of what

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God does in regeneration. It's the hope we have as Christians for a life that is sanctified and transformed.

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It's all being done by God. It's not for your sake. It's for the sake of his holy name. But that's

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Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 37 is this vision of the valley of the dry bones.

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Now there's some elements to this that are related to the Jewish exile and all the rest. But I want you to see what the text says in 37.

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Watch what it says. Verse 1. We'll read through this. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the spirit of the

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Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley. And it's full of bones. And he led me around them.

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And behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley. And behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, son of man, can these bones live?

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And I answered, O Lord God, you know. Then he said to me, prophesy over these bones and say to them,

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O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones. Behold, I will cause breath to enter you.

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And you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you.

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And you shall live. And you should know that I am Yahweh. So I prophesied as I was commanded.

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And as I prophesied, there was a sound. And behold, a rattling and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

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And I looked and behold, there were sinews on them and flesh had come upon them and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them.

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Then he said to me, prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, thus says the

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Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain that they may live.

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So I prophesied as he commanded me. And the breath came into them. And they lived and stood on their feet.

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An exceedingly great army. Then he said to me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.

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Behold, they say our bones are dried up and our hope is lost. We are indeed cut off.

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Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God, behold,

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I will open your graves and raise you from your graves,

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O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the

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Lord when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people.

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And I will put my spirit within you and you shall live. And I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the

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Lord. I have spoken and I will do it, declares Yahweh. This was in the mind of all those

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Jews in Jerusalem. And when Jesus, the son of God, dies on that cross and rises again from the dead, the graves in Jerusalem, tombs were opened and now people were now alive from the dead, walking around in Jerusalem, testifying to the resurrection itself.

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That long anticipated resurrection of God's people had just a moment, a glimpse, just a foreshadowing, just a little taste, kind of like the transfiguration, right?

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Everything seems normal. Everything's on beat. Everything's clocking away and it's a machine.

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And all of a sudden, we've got like this tear in space and you see the real glory and light of Jesus Christ.

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And then here in this moment of the narrative of the crucifixion and resurrection, you've got all this physical phenomenon taking place, darkness, you've got things tearing, an earthquake, you've got blood spilled.

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And then all of a sudden, Jesus has victory over death. And you have this moment where the graves are opened and these

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Old Testament saints are now wandering around the city, appearing to many. It was supposed to tell them the story is fulfilled.

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Jesus is the resurrection and the life. That's the story.

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Now, just quickly, this is important because actually I think this is one of the coolest things about resurrection and the

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Christian worldview. And it's one of the things if you're reformed in your convictions, it's one of the things that actually, we kind of find the most hope in.

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The most hope in our own experience, but also the most hope in terms of the people we love. If you've got lost people around you, lost loved ones, your hope is in what

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I'm about to talk to you about. You see, there's not just this aspect of the physical resurrection we see in Scripture, Old Testament, New Testament, real raising from the dead.

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There's also the deeper spiritual reality of a spiritual resurrection because you're not just dead physically one day, we're all dead spiritually.

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And there are aspects to resurrection that you need to understand the Bible talks about two ways. Number one, spiritual resurrection.

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And I want you to see this with your own eyes. Go to Ephesians chapter two, Ephesians chapter two. Many of you guys already know this, but Ephesians chapter two is a powerful testimony to this truth of spiritual resurrection.

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And it's essential. Here's what it says in Ephesians two, chapter two, verse one, and you talking to Christians now.

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So this is you, this is me. You were dead in your trespasses and sins in what you once walked following the course of this world, following the

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Prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

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Here it is. But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages, he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

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So Paul here essentially summarizes our redemption, our forgiveness, our union with Christ in this way.

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You were dead. God made you alive. He's already raised you up with Jesus. That whether you feel like it or not, let me just say it, whether you like it or not on days, that's the truth.

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You've been raised up with Christ. So there's this deeply fundamental, foundational spiritual truth of resurrection.

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It's already happened to you. You've already been raised up with Christ. You've been joined together with him in his death and resurrection.

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You will never die again. There's that truth. But then of course, there is the physical aspect of resurrection that Jesus talks about.

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But it's interesting because in some parts, he kind of blends them both together. Physical, he'll mention that, but also spiritual.

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I want you to see this too. If you go to John, gospel according to John, John chapter five, this contains my very favorite verse in the entire

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Bible, John 5, 24. But in John chapter five, let's start in verse 24.

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Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

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He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

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That's resurrection. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear will live.

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For as the father has granted life in himself, so he has granted the son also to have life in himself.

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And he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man. Do not marvel at this for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out.

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Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

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What do you have here in this text? You got sort of both elements being talked about.

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You've got that deeply amazing spiritual truth of our resurrection and going from death to life now, having faith in Jesus, having already experienced that.

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But then you also have Jesus testifying to the fact that there is a time, an hour coming and now is when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out.

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Is it any surprise to us then that you would have this remarkable moment in Matthew where you've got with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus this miraculous moment of vindication where these people come out of their tombs and start appearing to people in the city itself.

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It's not strange. It's not strange if you know God's revelation and His promise of what

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He's going to do in history. It's another one of those that sounds just like something He would do.

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It's a powerful testimony. Now, quickly, this is actually the quick part. That was laying foundations, answering arguments and objections.

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This is the quick part. That's how you know that I'm lying to you.

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No, I'm just joking. Hey, you want to hear something funny? So we're in Denver.

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We're in Denver yesterday for the rally. And we did a rally in South Carolina and somebody forgot to tell the speakers that there needs to be a time limit.

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And apparently everyone was trying to compete against one another to see how long they could go. So you had people in the hot

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South Carolina sun standing around for hours while they were just being bombarded with very passionate preachers saying amazingly true things.

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But it was really long and it was exhausting. You'll see me in one of the videos. I'm there. And once I realize after about 25 minutes we're going to be here a while.

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You see me sort of sneak out of frame to go like lay down or something and wait for my turn.

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But anyway, yesterday in Denver it was only a few speakers. But Conover, Zach Conover spoke before me.

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Now Conover apparently thought that this was like a tent revival service or something.

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He maybe thought that it was, you know, similar to like, you know, how black churches do it where it's like from 11 in the morning till seven at night sort of a thing.

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You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Yeah. Where it's, you know, you got what's that comedian doing? It's like you got like the first Baptist steppers and you got, it's like a talent show.

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It just keeps going and going and going. You have like three offerings happening through the whole service. Anyway, it's just a cultural thing.

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Everyone does their own thing. Apparently Zach thought that's what it was. And so he had like a whole sermon prepared.

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And so he went on for like forever. It was awesome.

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Every word was awesome. But he got to like an hour in and he was like, all right guys, last point.

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And he went on for another 25 minutes with about 10 other points.

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And I thought to myself, it was like a, like a Mr. Miyagi moment, you know, where you look at Daniel and you go, you sort of, you know that you did well.

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You know where he learned it from. Anyway, this is really my last section here. Okay, to the text though.

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27, just quick things to notice about the text. We've already unpacked most of what we need to get from the text. It's just, it's a short section.

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What do you, what do you do with it? Well, what do we notice? Number one, there's an earthquake.

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Something to notice about the section that I think a lot of people get confused with. They think that the earthquake sort of split the veil.

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That's not what the text says. It actually says, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

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It was God who did this tearing of the veil. That's how important it is. I think it's important to, to talk about that, even in terms of the language itself.

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It's God who does the tearing of the veil, and the earth shook. The physical earthquake takes place.

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Now earthquakes, it's important. Earthquakes, in scripture, are a common sign of God's activity.

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In other words, if you're Jewish, you know God's word, you're seeped in the biblical worldview, you hear about a physical earthquake taking place in time and in space, you know that God has a revelation where he's talked quite a bit about earthquakes.

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He refers to them a lot. Earthquake is a common Old Testament sign of God's activity.

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Judges 5 .4, 2 Samuel 22 .8, Psalm 18 .7, Psalm 77 .18,

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Isaiah 2 .19, Joel 3 .16. Next point, the earth shook and the rocks were split.

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It says the tombs also were opened. Here's a thing to note. The tombs were opened first.

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Earthquake, tombs are open first. It says, and many of the bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection.

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Something to note about what's said here, it says that they are saints. Now, there's ways you can use this terminology in scripture.

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You could say saints, you could say holy ones. God uses that language throughout the

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Bible. Saints, holy ones. What's it mean? That's important. What's it mean? These people were people that God had set apart.

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They are people set apart by God as holy. They're set apart by God.

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And that's why you'll see really throughout the New Testament revelation, the letters even addressed to the saints of God at Ephesus or Philippi or whatever.

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Because if you are in Christ, you're trusting in Jesus, you have been set apart by God.

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You've been set apart as holy, as special, as distinct. You've been chosen by God and set apart by God.

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It's a common understanding in the biblical revelation that God's people are saints, sanctified, set apart, holy ones.

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So these people coming out of the tombs are God's chosen people. They are his elect.

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They are his set apart ones. They are his holy ones. These are not just random resurrections.

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They're God's people. But did you notice what it says? It says the tombs also were open and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.

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It is a glorious truth that the way that the Bible talks about death is sleeping.

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Sleeping. You'll see that in Acts 7 .60. You'll see it in 1 Corinthians 15 .6

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and verse 51. You see it in 1 Thessalonians 4 .13. The way that the

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Bible describes death for God's saints is sleeping. You know, this reminds me.

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I saw this random touching video of this old

01:00:02

Christian couple. I mean, they looked like they were, you know, maybe in their 90s.

01:00:09

You know, really slow moving, quiet. I mean, they looked, you know, they were elderly and it was the bedside of the husband who was dying.

01:00:19

He was passing away. But his family's gathered around the bed and the wife, it's his wife.

01:00:25

She's at the edge of his bed and she comes to give him a kiss and what she says to him is, have a good sleep. That's how she referred to it.

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Only Christians can talk like that. I'll see you soon. Have a good rest.

01:00:38

Have a good sleep. It's not final for us. Like for example, today,

01:00:44

I saw a post from atheist Lawrence Krauss. Here's a man who wrote a book,

01:00:51

A Universe from Nothing. He believes that there was something that came from nothing. He believes there's no God, no meaning, no purpose, no ultimate order, no guidance to the universe.

01:01:00

All of us are descendants of bacteria and he was thanking all of his followers for their kind words to him and encouraging words to him related to the death of his mother.

01:01:14

Now think about that in terms of his worldview. I'm gonna say this, this is in no way meant to take down someone's dignity, but think of your worldview.

01:01:23

Who cares? It's a cessation of protoplasm.

01:01:29

It's just stuff. No one gets upset when someone kicks a rock down the street. It's just matter in motion.

01:01:36

What makes her so special and why, according to your worldview, should that hurt at all?

01:01:44

Also, for the atheist, I understand why it's so painful because that, for Krauss, in his own mind, is it for his mom.

01:01:54

It's over. Cessation of existence. It is back to dust and there is nothing else.

01:02:01

There's no sequel. But for the Christian, we get to say things like these people who had fallen asleep, they came back again and they appeared.

01:02:12

And that's how we can refer to our own deaths. Next, important element here of the text.

01:02:19

Notice something very important. They did not have the tombs opened and resurrections before Jesus' resurrection.

01:02:30

What does the Bible talk about in terms of Jesus and his resurrection? That he is the first what?

01:02:36

He is the first fruits. There were, get this, there were resurrections before the resurrection of Jesus.

01:02:43

But those are actually resuscitations. Why? Because they were raised again from the dead only to what?

01:02:50

Die again. Because they weren't raised in a glorified, resurrected body.

01:02:57

Jesus is the first fruit. He's the first raised from the dead. These Old Testament holy ones, or these, sorry, these holy ones are saints.

01:03:06

When they were raised from the dead, they're raised after his resurrection. Many commentators, I think correctly say that you should put a period between 52a and 52b through 53.

01:03:21

So in other words, you've got the tombs also were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

01:03:34

In other words, Jesus was raised from the dead and then these people start coming out of their tombs after the resurrection of Jesus.

01:03:41

It wasn't before the centurion wasn't saying he must be the son of God because he saw people raised from the dead.

01:03:48

It hadn't happened yet. The rocks were split. The earthquake took place. Tombs were opened. And then it was silence until Jesus rose again in victory.

01:03:59

And then they came into the city as a miraculous vindication of what was taking place in their midst.

01:04:06

They were raised after Jesus. He is the first fruits. Now, here's the point.

01:04:12

Ready? Jesus' death, clearly in scripture and clearly for Matthew in his accounting of the events that take place here,

01:04:21

Jesus' death is the ultimate death blow to death, our greatest enemy.

01:04:28

Jesus' death is the ultimate death blow to death, our greatest enemy.

01:04:35

And everything in the text itself is testifying to that essential truth. Now, here's the tantalizing questions.

01:04:45

And let's just be honest. We don't know. We don't know. But here's some possibilities.

01:04:52

Here's the questions that arise. Who were they? Who were they?

01:04:58

Here's some options. One, these were possibly resuscitations like the resuscitation of Lazarus, like the resuscitation of Jairus' daughter.

01:05:13

Those were real resurrections, but they went on to die again, right? So were these resuscitations?

01:05:21

Now, here's where it gets weird. Are you ready? Because part of this, you go, okay, that seems to work. Like, were these resuscitations of Mary and Martha and Joe and Paul, you know, the neighbor guy that had just died last week?

01:05:39

And, you know, maybe your mom or your dad, they just appear, they're like resuscitations. In other words, they're in Jerusalem and they're familiar to everyone in Jerusalem.

01:05:48

Some people hold to that. That's okay. Like, they're familiar to people. They show up. They're like, wait, you died.

01:05:54

I was just at your funeral. I'm like, yeah, right. Is this cool? Can I have something to drink?

01:06:00

I'm thirsty. Like, you know, water. Is it a resuscitation?

01:06:07

Or here's where it gets weird. Was it like a resuscitation of an Old Testament hero? Like, imagine

01:06:13

David coming out of the grave only to die again. Now, I have a problem with that one personally, right?

01:06:19

Because this would mean that essentially you've got Old Testament heroes resuscitated to like live a life again.

01:06:26

So they come back into Jerusalem and they're essentially homeless and penniless, right?

01:06:33

That seems a little weird to me. But you could have the option of resuscitations, right?

01:06:38

It could have been that. Or this is where a lot of people land. These were

01:06:44

Old Testament heroes and saints. And they were raised again from the dead.

01:06:51

And they came into Jerusalem as a miraculous vindication of what was taking place surrounding the work of Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection.

01:07:00

So, I mean, it's possible that after Christ, who is the firstfruits, was raised physically from the dead in that glorified body, it's possible that these

01:07:10

Old Testament saints, God maybe hand -selected some, that he would raise again from the dead to go in to vindicate what was taking place in the mission of the

01:07:19

Messiah. That's also a possibility. Actual resurrections. So what do you think?

01:07:26

Doesn't matter. We don't know. This is one of those things as a Christian where you go, hey, look, here's what

01:07:32

I know. That's what the text says. It's clearly historic narrative. It clearly actually happened.

01:07:39

Matthew is highlighting something important for his readers. But there are certain questions we're just never going to have answers to until we get to heaven and we get to actually ask the

01:07:51

Lord, Lord, who was that? And like, can I see that scene play out?

01:07:57

Do you think, I wonder if God will allow that. He has the power to do it. Like, I'd really like to see this moment in history and like big old screen in the sky is like, watch, right?

01:08:08

I'd like to see that. But there's elements to this story that I think we need to consider as most important and that's this, element to the story.

01:08:16

And that is that the resurrection of the dead, the resurrection of the dead is the supreme part of the story of redemption in history, resurrection.

01:08:30

And what you do see in this text soon, supremely, majestically, is the resurrection of the son of God, the first fruits from the dead, the one not left to decay as was promised.

01:08:43

And what you do see is the resurrection of some holy ones appearing in the holy city because the whole story is summed up in the end around resurrection.

01:08:53

Now, we may not understand the glory of that now and we may not even embrace all the goodness of it like we ought to, but I know this for sure.

01:09:03

I think you'll agree. There's going to be a day in history for all of us where we're going to be rejoicing over the resurrection itself more than we ever thought we would.

01:09:15

When that day comes where Jesus raises the dead, the just and the unjust, when everything is finally completed in victory, then we'll fully understand the glory of this truth.

01:09:25

Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. I pray, Lord, that you'd bless with what was spoken today.

01:09:32

Renew our hearts and our minds, strengthen our peace and our comfort and our joy in the resurrection that we all have already taken place in, but also the one that is to come.

01:09:52

Lord Jesus, thank you that you have the power to speak life into death and we look forward to the day where after every enemy is under your feet in victory, you finally conquer death and destroy it once and for all.