This is what Hebrews says about the things that are shaken. In other words, the death of Jesus means that the things we regard as so firm and sure and unshakeable - the very earth and the great rocks - even these are not stable. When something shakes and breaks apart, it is on its way to collapsing. Human deaths don’t shake the earth and split rocks. The earth was shaken and rocks split by a sovereign earth-controller and a powerful rock-ruler. And the one who holds boulders between his fingers and can split them. What has just happened on the cross has to do with the one who holds the earth in his hand and can shake it. It produces effects in the natural world, the world of earth and rocks - and as we will see, human bodies. The least we can say is that the death of Jesus has effects on more than spiritual relationships. The split curtain has meaning, and the split rocks have meaning. ἐσχίσθησαν) signals that Matthew is not leaving behind his intention to show us more than meets the eye. The fact that the same verb is used to describe the splitting of the curtain and the splitting of the rocks (ἐσχίσθη. and (καί) the earth shook,Īnd (καί) the rocks were split. The next pair of results which Matthew mentions is the shaking of earth and the splitting of rocks. With the splitting of the temple curtain “from top to bottom” (by God), Matthew shows that events in the material world at this moment are signifying far more than meets the eye. He ransomed his captives (Matthew 20:28), laid down his life for his sheep (John 10:15), gave himself up for his bride (Ephesians 5:25), and obtained the church with his blood (Acts 20:28). God is 100% for us with no more redeeming work needed to support such a relationship. Therefore, God’s curse and our debts are removed. nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). God cancelled “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. In dying for us “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). That curse must be removed as the basis for all other good things that come to redeemed man - including open tombs. Without the death of Jesus, God’s wrath remains on all humans. Perhaps that is why it comes first in the list.
That fundamental achievement of the death of Jesus is the basis for the rest of the six results Matthew mentions. That is what the tearing of the curtain signified. The tearing of Jesus’s flesh secured the reconciliation between God and his sinful people. In other words, the tearing of the curtain that separated the sinful people from the holy presence of God signifies what happened when the flesh of Jesus was torn.
#Death tomb kingdom of the dead full#
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh. He connects the curtain of the temple with the body of Jesus, and writes this: One of the reasons I think so is that the writer to the Hebrews saw profound meaning in one of these seven results of Jesus’s death. And Matthew mentions them so that we will think about their meaning. I doubt that any of these results was random.
Matthew 27:50–53, my translation Entrance by the Curtain of Christ With a loud voice, yielded up his spirit Īnd (καί) behold, the curtain of the temple Including the first main statement that Jesus yielded up his spirit, it seems to me they come in four pairs: Jesus, having cried out again When Jesus let his spirit go (ἀφῆκεν τὸ πνεῦμα) and died (Matthew 27:50), seven results were set in motion which Matthew mentions in seven clauses, introduced with seven “ands” (καί).
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