INTRO
There are certain moments in the Bible where God wants us to stop and look carefully at what is happening. Matthew 27:51 begins with the words, “And, behold.” In other words, pay attention. Look at this. Something extraordinary is taking place.
Jesus Christ has been hanging on the cross. He has been mocked. He has been rejected. Men have challenged his identity. Earlier they said, “If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.” They looked at Jesus hanging there and thought that his crucifixion disproved who he claimed to be.
But then Jesus died.
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And when Jesus died, things started happening.
Matthew 27:50 — “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.”
Matthew 27:51 — “And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;”
Matthew 27:52 — “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,”
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Matthew 27:53 — “And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”
Matthew 27:54 — “Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”
Matthew 27:55 — “And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:”
Matthew 27:56 — “Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.”
Matthew does not present the death of Jesus as the ordinary death of an ordinary man. The veil tears. The earth shakes. Rocks split. Graves open. Dead saints arise. Hardened soldiers become terrified and confess who Jesus is. Faithful followers remain watching.
So tonight I want us to simply follow the passage and see: What happened when Jesus died?
I. WHEN JESUS DIED, THE WAY INTO THE HOLIEST WAS OPENED
Look again at verse 50.
Matthew 27:50 — “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.”
Jesus really died.
He did not faint. He did not merely lose consciousness. He “yielded up the ghost.”
And this was not an unwilling Savior who lost control of the situation. Jesus had already taught that he came to give his life.
Matthew 20:28 — “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Jesus also said:
John 10:11 — “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”
His life was not simply taken from him. He gave his life.
And what is the very first thing Matthew tells us happened after he died?
Matthew 27:51 — “And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;”
The veil was torn.
That veil had represented separation and restricted access to the most holy place.
Exodus 26:33 — “And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.”
You did not simply walk through that veil whenever you wanted.
But when Jesus died, that veil was torn “from the top to the bottom.”
And later Hebrews explains the significance of access to God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 10:19 — “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,”
Hebrews 10:20 — “By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;”
Hebrews 10:21 — “And having an high priest over the house of God;”
Hebrews 10:22 — “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Do you see the contrast?
Under that Old Testament picture there was a veil saying, in effect, restricted access.
But Jesus shed his blood, Jesus gave his life, and now Hebrews says we have “boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.”
That is what Christ accomplished.
We do not approach God because we are good enough.
We do not approach God because we have earned our way into his presence.
We approach through Jesus Christ.
The veil was not torn because man finally worked his way up to God.
God tore the veil.
Salvation has always been of the Lord, and our access to God rests completely upon what Jesus Christ accomplished for us.
II. WHEN JESUS DIED, EVEN THE EARTH AND THE GRAVES WERE SHAKEN
Matthew does not stop with the veil.
Matthew 27:51 — “And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;”
The earth shook.
The rocks split.
Then verse 52 says:
Matthew 27:52 — “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,”
Think about the scene.
Jesus dies, and the ground beneath them begins to move.
Rocks are breaking.
Graves are opening.
Matthew wants us to understand that something extraordinary has just happened.
The earthquake is not just scenery in the story, because verse 54 specifically tells us that the centurion and those with him saw the earthquake and were deeply affected by it.
And then there is one of the strangest and most fascinating statements in the entire crucifixion account.
“Many bodies of the saints which slept arose.”
Notice exactly what Matthew says.
He says “many.” He does not say everybody.
He says “bodies.” These were not ghosts or apparitions.
He says these were “saints which slept.” They had died.
And their bodies “arose.”
Then Matthew says:
Matthew 27:53 — “And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”
There are some questions here that the Bible simply does not answer for us.
Who were these people?
Matthew does not tell us.
Exactly when did they become alive? The text says they arose and that they came out of the graves after Christ’s resurrection, but it does not settle every detail of the timing.
Did they later die again?
The Bible does not tell us.
Did they receive glorified bodies?
The Bible does not tell us.
Where did they eventually go?
Again, Matthew does not tell us.
And this is where we have to learn something important about studying the Bible: when God does not tell us something, we do not need to invent an answer.
But what he does tell us is incredible enough.
Dead saints arose.
They came out of their graves after Christ’s resurrection.
They went into Jerusalem.
And they “appeared unto many.”
This was not presented as some secret vision experienced by one person.
Many people saw them.
And we should not miss the great truth running through this scene: at the very moment we are reading about the death of Jesus, Matthew is already moving our attention toward resurrection.
Jesus dies, graves open.
Jesus is placed in a tomb, but death is not going to have the final word.
And after his resurrection, saints come walking out of graves.
The Bible later says:
1 Corinthians 15:20 — “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”
The great victory over death is found in Jesus Christ.
The grave is powerful, but it is not more powerful than Christ.
Death is real, but it does not get the final word.
A Christian can look at a grave differently because we know there is a resurrection.
III. WHEN JESUS DIED, PEOPLE HAD TO RECKON WITH WHO HE WAS
Now look at the reaction in verse 54.
Matthew 27:54 — “Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”
I love the way Matthew has built up to that statement.
Earlier, while Jesus was hanging on the cross, people were mocking him.
Matthew 27:40 — “And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
“If.”
If thou be the Son of God.
Then just a few verses later:
“Truly.”
“Truly this was the Son of God.”
They went from “If” to “Truly.”
They thought that if Jesus were really the Son of God, he should come down from the cross.
But Jesus did not have to come down from the cross to prove who he was.
He stayed on the cross and finished what he came to do.
Then he died.
The veil tore.
The earth shook.
The rocks split.
The graves opened.
And the men who were standing there watching him became afraid.
Not a little nervous.
The Bible says, “they feared greatly.”
And they said, “Truly this was the Son of God.”
Now, can we say from this verse that the centurion definitely got saved?
The Bible does not tell us that.
We do not need to add that to the story.
But we can say exactly what Matthew says: these men witnessed what happened, they feared greatly, and they confessed that Jesus was the Son of God.
The same Jesus who had just been mocked with, “If thou be the Son of God,” is now confessed with, “Truly this was the Son of God.”
You can mock Christ.
You can reject Christ.
You can misunderstand Christ.
But none of that changes who he is.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God whether men recognize him or not.
And there is coming a point when every person will have to reckon with who Jesus Christ really is.
But Matthew does not finish the story with the Roman soldiers.
Look at verse 55.
Matthew 27:55 — “And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:”
Matthew 27:56 — “Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.”
While the soldiers are watching, these women are watching too.
But these women had a history with Jesus.
They “followed Jesus from Galilee.”
They had been “ministering unto him.”
They were not random spectators who showed up because something interesting was happening.
They had followed him.
They had served him.
And now, at one of the darkest moments imaginable, they were still there.
The Bible says they were “afar off.” It does not tell us why, so we do not need to guess.
But afar off is not the same thing as gone.
They were still there.
They were still watching.
And these women become important witnesses because Matthew carries them forward into what happens next.
Matthew 27:61 — “And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.”
They saw where he was buried.
Then chapter 28 says:
Matthew 28:1 — “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.”
The women who watched him die were still there around the burial, and they were there when the resurrection story unfolded.
That is faithfulness.
Sometimes following Jesus is exciting.
Sometimes you see miracles.
Sometimes there are crowds.
Sometimes there are victories.
But what about when everybody else thinks it is over?
What about when the situation looks dark?
What about when following Christ means simply staying faithful and continuing to serve?
These women followed him from Galilee.
They ministered unto him.
And when Jesus died, they were still there.
CONCLUSION
What happened when Jesus died?
Jesus yielded up the ghost.
The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
The earth quaked.
The rocks split.
The graves opened.
Many bodies of the saints arose.
After Christ’s resurrection they came out of their graves, entered Jerusalem, and appeared unto many.
The centurion and those with him feared greatly and said, “Truly this was the Son of God.”
And faithful women who had followed Jesus and ministered unto him remained there watching.
Matthew gives us a picture that reaches everywhere.
The temple is affected.
The earth is affected.
The rocks are affected.
The graves are affected.
The soldiers are affected.
The followers of Jesus are standing there watching it all.
Because this was not the death of an ordinary man.
This was the death of the Son of God.
And the men who mocked him said, “If.”
But after what happened when Jesus died, the word from those watching was:
“Truly.”
Matthew 27:54 — “Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”
The question is not whether Jesus really is the Son of God.
The question is whether you recognize him for who he is.
And for those of us who already know him, the challenge from those faithful women is simple: follow him, serve him, and stay faithful even when the circumstances are dark.
Because the cross was not the end.
The grave was not the end.
And for everyone who belongs to Christ, death will not be the end either.
