The Saints Rise Out Of the Tombs
The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
Matthew 27:52-53
It is written in the Bible that in the last Days the dead will rise from their graves:
With the archangel's call and with the sound of the trumpet of God ... the dead in Christ will rise first.
2 Thess. 4:16
We can understand the meaning of this prophecy by examining a similar event, when the dead rose from their tombs at the time of Jesus' death.
Matthew 27:52-53 does not mean that the decomposed bodies of the saints literally rose up from their graves. If the physical bodies of the saints of the Old Testament Age had actually risen from their tombs and appeared before many people in Jerusalem, they would certainly have testified to the people about Jesus, since they already knew that he was the Messiah. After hearing such testimony, who among the inhabitants of Jerusalem would not have believed in the crucified Jesus? Additionally, if the saints really had risen from their tombs in the flesh, then surely their deeds would have been recorded in the Bible. However, we find no such records.
What does the Scripture mean when it says that the bodies of the saints rose from their tombs? This record was made by people who could perceive the spirits of the past saints being resurrected spiritually and appearing on the earth. This is much like Moses and Elijah who, as spirits, briefly appeared before Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. (Matt. 17:3)
Exposition of the Divine Principle
Eschatology 3.2.3
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