The first Adam, upon his failure to live up to His purpose, died in that failure, according to what it was that had been promised to him by God. The second Adam, completely fulfilling His purpose, faithfully carrying out God’s intention for His people Israel, was resurrected to a new life, also according to God’s promise. This is why the Apostle Paul can write, “For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22), and will be raised up with a new body, for a new creation, in the exact same way in which Jesus was raised, according to God’s promise. The torn veil demonstrated that God had fulfilled His promise, and that new life in a new and changed world was coming. Pointing to this, Matthew follows up his report about the torn veil, writing that “the tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had died were raised” (27:52). Jesus’ death, as we would expect, seems to have had the effect of reversing the curse of death, and for all time, this raising of saints will be associated with the tearing of the veil. Matthew does not leave it at that, but goes on to write, “They came out of the tombs after His Resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people” (27:53). Though they were raised at His death, when the curse was clearly broken, which we know from the tearing of the veil, they did not come out of the tombs until after His Resurrection.
Until Jesus’ Resurrection took place, and the power of the Resurrection---that would begin to renew and restore a corrupted creation---was unleashed into the world, those that were raised were not allowed to enter into the world in which Christ was King and the creation was being renewed. This has a number of implications. Those of us that have been crucified with Christ, going down into the curse of death with Him as our representative, just as we were born into a world in which death reigned because of our first representative Adam, have been raised with Him. Believing in Him, by a faith that is gifted to us by our Father and made operable by His Holy Spirit, we are made alive, but waiting in our tombs, ready to enter into His new creation when the final Resurrection takes place, in conjunction with the consummation of Christ’s kingdom on earth.
Now, one might wonder why it was that only “many saints who had died were raised.” If the power of Christ’s death truly had the effect of shredding the veil of separation, and moving the cherubim aside, signifying that the curse was broken and Eden was once again accessible to man as part of God’s plan, why only “many”? Why not all? This probably has to do with then-current burial practice, in which the dead were laid in a tomb until the flesh decomposed from the body. Once that had occurred, the bones of the deceased were then placed in an ossuary. Those that were raised at the death of Jesus and the rending of the veil, were most likely those that had recently died, but had not decomposed. They were not given a new body, as Jesus received. They were not given a Resurrection body, but had been raised in much the same way that Lazarus had been raised, with a body still subject to death and corruption, in the midst of a creation that was still subject to death and corruption.
So it is for us at this day. In another implication, we can understand that even though we are raised with Christ, and we take part in the kingdom of heaven as we call Jesus Lord and King, believing in His Gospel, we are very much subject to death and corruption, still living in a world that is subject to the same, though it is constantly being re-shaped by the power of God as He works through us to accomplish His good. We await our new bodies, our glorified bodies, which we will receive when Jesus returns, when death is given its final defeat, and when the curse of death is finally completely removed from this world, which is that for which the entire creation groans. We experience new life, fellowship with God through union with Christ, with the curse broken. If we believe in Jesus as Lord and King, then we can know that God chose us for Himself from before the foundation of the world. Figuratively, we have been made alive in our tombs. When the power of the God’s Spirit breaks in and causes us to submit to the claim of the Gospel, and His choosing is made manifest for all the world to see and know, we are then sent forth into the world, to appear to many and to preach that Gospel. We are dead men walking, while at the same time, sharing in the gift of eternal life. We have a hope!
The torn veil is why Paul can write to the Romans and say, “Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory” (5:1-2). That faith by which we have been made righteous, or justified, or brought into God’s covenant as part of His covenant people, or rendered legally “not guilty,” or put right before Him and now aligned with His purpose for us, is accomplished by God’s faith (not our faith), but His faithfulness to His promises. We are given access to Him, cherubim with flaming swords taken out of the way, because of His faithfulness. We rejoice in a hope that will not disappoint us, because we are empowered by the Spirit, because of His choosing, to trust that God will consummate His plans, complete our salvation, which is our exodus, our redemption, and end of our exile and being subject to cursing, and raise us up in the same way that He raised up Christ.
In Christ the Messiah, God put Himself on display. It is said that Jesus led God out from behind the veil. Truly, this was so, because the veil was torn and man was reconciled to God, with God doing all of the reconciling through belief in Jesus, because God is faithful to His promises.
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