The tombs broke openThis phrase signifies a supernatural event occurring at the moment of Jesus' death. The breaking open of tombs is symbolic of the power of Christ's sacrifice, which conquers death and the grave. In Jewish burial customs, tombs were often hewn out of rock, indicating that this was a significant and miraculous event. The opening of the tombs prefigures the resurrection of Jesus and the ultimate resurrection of believers, as described in
1 Corinthians 15:20-22.
and the bodies of many saints
The term "saints" refers to those who were faithful to God under the Old Covenant. These individuals were likely revered figures in Jewish history, possibly including prophets and other righteous people. The mention of "many" suggests a significant number, emphasizing the magnitude of this miraculous event. This occurrence foreshadows the future resurrection of all believers, as promised in passages likeDaniel 12:2 and1 Thessalonians 4:16.
who had fallen asleep
The phrase "fallen asleep" is a euphemism for death, commonly used in both the Old and New Testaments (e.g.,John 11:11-14,1 Thessalonians 4:13-15). This terminology reflects the Christian belief in the temporary nature of physical death, with the hope of resurrection and eternal life. It underscores the idea that death is not the end for those who are in Christ.
were raised
This miraculous raising of the saints' bodies serves as a testament to the power of Jesus' death and resurrection. It is a foretaste of the general resurrection at the end of the age, as described inRevelation 20:12-13. This event also fulfills Old Testament prophecies about the resurrection, such asIsaiah 26:19, and demonstrates Jesus' authority over life and death, affirming His identity as the Messiah.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
TombsThese were burial places, often caves or carved-out rock, where the dead were laid to rest. The opening of these tombs signifies a miraculous event.
2.
SaintsRefers to the holy people of God who had died. In this context, it indicates those who were faithful to God before the resurrection of Christ.
3.
Resurrection EventThis miraculous occurrence happened at the moment of Jesus' death, signifying the power of His sacrifice and the breaking of the power of death.
Teaching Points
The Power of Christ's Death and ResurrectionThe opening of the tombs and the resurrection of the saints illustrate the profound impact of Jesus' death, showing that His sacrifice conquered death and brought new life.
The Hope of Resurrection for BelieversThis event foreshadows the future resurrection of all believers, offering hope and assurance of eternal life through faith in Christ.
The Fulfillment of ProphecyThe resurrection of the saints fulfills Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah's power over death, affirming Jesus as the promised Savior.
The Witness of Miraculous EventsThe resurrection of the saints served as a powerful testimony to the people of Jerusalem, pointing them to the truth of Jesus' identity and mission.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of Matthew 27:52?
2.How does Matthew 27:52 demonstrate God's power over life and death?
3.What Old Testament prophecies connect to the events in Matthew 27:52?
4.How can Matthew 27:52 strengthen our faith in the resurrection promise?
5.In what ways should Matthew 27:52 impact our daily Christian walk?
6.How does Matthew 27:52 reveal the significance of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection?
7.How did the saints rise from the dead in Matthew 27:52?
8.What historical evidence supports the resurrection of saints in Matthew 27:52?
9.Why is the resurrection of saints only mentioned in Matthew 27:52?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from Matthew 27?
11.Why does Matthew mention an earthquake and resurrected saints, yet no other source does?
12.Was there a family tomb for Jesus?
13.What is the Harrowing of Hell?
14.Is there any historical or archaeological evidence that Ezekiel 37:12–14 was fulfilled by actual physical resurrections in Israel’s past?What Does Matthew 27:52 Mean
The tombs• Jerusalem’s hillsides were dotted with rock-hewn graves, real places holding real bodies (John 19:41;John 11:38).
• God often chooses graves as stages for His power—think of Elisha’s tomb reviving a corpse (2 Kings 13:21) or Jesus calling Lazarus out (John 11:43-44).
• In Matthew’s narrative the opened tombs stand beside the torn veil (Matthew 27:51), showing that both death’s separation and the temple’s separation have been breached.
broke open• “The earth quaked and the rocks were split” just moments earlier (Matthew 27:51), so the same divine quake shattered these tombs.
• Earthquakes in Scripture frequently announce God’s direct intervention (Exodus 19:18;Acts 16:26;Revelation 11:19).
• The timing—at the very instant Jesus yields His spirit—proclaims that His death is the force breaking death’s hold.
the bodies of many saints• “Saints” refers to Old Testament believers, people made holy by faith in the coming Messiah (Hebrews 11:39-40;Psalm 16:10).
• Their physical bodies, not mere spirits, were central. God does not abandon matter; He redeems it (Romans 8:23).
• “Many,” not all, rose—a foretaste, not the final harvest (1 Corinthians 15:23).
who had fallen asleep• Scripture calls a believer’s death “sleep” to underline its temporary nature (John 11:11-14;Acts 7:60;1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).
• Sleep anticipates waking; likewise the saints’ state anticipated resurrection life (Daniel 12:2).
were raised• This was a literal, bodily resurrection, witnessed inside history, verifying that Jesus’ own victory over death is factual (1 Corinthians 15:20;Acts 26:23).
•Matthew 27:53 notes they entered Jerusalem “after His resurrection,” underscoring Christ as “the firstfruits” and these saints as early evidence of the coming global resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:23).
• Their appearance to “many” provided unarguable testimony—like Elijah’s fire on Carmel, the event left the city buzzing (Luke 24:38-43;John 20:19-20).
summaryMatthew 27:52 records an actual earthquake-triggered opening of real tombs, the literal raising of genuine Old Testament believers, and their public appearance as living proof that Jesus’ death shatters both sin’s curtain and death’s door. In this single verse God gives a preview of the universal resurrection, assures every believer that death is only sleep, and declares that the cross has already begun reversing the grave’s grip.
(52)
Many bodies of the saints which slept arose.--It is scarcely, perhaps, surprising that a narrative so exceptional in its marvellousness, and standing, as it does, without any collateral testimony in any other part of the New Testament, should have presented to many minds difficulties which have seemed almost insuperable. They have accordingly either viewed it as a mythical addition, or, where they shrank from that extreme conclusion, have explained it as meaning simply that the bodies of the dead were exposed to view by the earthquake mentioned in the preceding verse, or have seen in it only the honest report of an over-excited imagination. On the other hand, the brevity, and in some sense simplicity, of the statement differences it very widely from such legends, more or less analogous in character, as we find,
e.g., in the Apocryphal
Gospel of Nicodemus, and so far excludes the mythical element which, as a rule, delights to show itself in luxuriant expansion. And this being excluded, we can hardly imagine the Evangelist as writing without having received his information from witnesses whom he thought trustworthy; and then the question rises, whether the narrative is of such a character as to be in itself incredible. On that point men, according to the point of view from which they look on the Gospel records, may naturally differ; but those who believe that when our Lord passed into Hades, the unseen world, it was to complete there what had been begun on earth, to proclaim there His victory over death and sin, will hardly think it impossible that there should have been outward tokens and witnesses of such a work. And the fact which St. Matthew records supplies, it is believed, the most natural explanation of language hardly less startling, which meets us in the Epistle, which even the most adverse critics admit to be from the hands of St. Peter. If he, or those whom he knew, had seen the saints that slept and had risen from their sleep, we can understand how deeply it would have impressed on his mind the fact that his Lord when "put to death in the flesh" had been "quickened in the spirit," and had "preached to the spirits in prison" (
1Peter 3:19), so that glad tidings were proclaimed even to the dead (
1Peter 4:6). Who they were that thus appeared, we are not told. Most commentators have followed--somewhat unhappily, I venture to believe--the lead of the Apocryphal Gospel just named, and
have identified them with the Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Testament. It is clear, however, that St. Matthew's statement implies that they were those who came out of the opened graves, who had been buried, that is, in the sepulchres of Jerusalem; and, remembering that the term "saints" was applied almost from the very first to the collective body of disciples (
Acts 9:13;
Acts 9:32;
Acts 9:41), it seems more natural to see in them those who, believing in Jesus, had passed to their rest before His crucifixion. On this supposition, their appearance met the feeling, sure to arise among those who were looking for an immediate manifestation of the kingdom--as it arose afterwards at Thessalonica (
1Thessalonians 4:13)--that such as had so died were shut out from their share in that kingdom; and we have thus an adequate reason for their appearance, so that friends and kindred might not sorrow for them as others who had no hope. The statement that they did not appear till after our Lord's resurrection, is from this point of view significant. The disciples were thus taught to look on that resurrection, not as an isolated phenomenon, but as the "firstfruits" of the victory over death (
1Corinthians 15:20), in which not they themselves only, but those also whom they had loved and lost were to be sharers. . . .
Verse 52. -
The graves (
the sepulchres)
were opened. The earthquake tore away the stones that closed the mouths of many of the adjacent tombs. This and the following fact are mentioned only by St. Matthew.
Many bodies of the saints which slept (
τῶνκεκοιμημένων,
who had fallen asleep)
arose. Matthew anticipates the time of the actual occurrence of the marvel, which took place, not at this moment, but after our Lord's resurrection, who was "the firstfruits of them that slept" (see the next verse). Who are meant by "the saints" here is doubtful. The Jews probably would have understood the term to apply to the worthies of the Old Testament (comp.
2 Peter 3:4). But the opening of the sepulchres in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem would not have liberated the bodies of many of those who were buried far away. The persons signified must be those who in life had looked for the hope of Israel, and had seen in Christ that hope fulfilled; they were such as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea, true believers, who are called saints in the New Testament. How did these bodies arise? or how were they raised up? They were not mere phantoms, unsubstantial visitants from the spirit world, for they were in some sense corporeal. That they were not resuscitated corpses, as Lazarus, Jairus's daughter and the son of the widow, who lived for a time a second life, seems plain from the expression applied to them in the next verse, that "they appeared unto many,"
i.e. to persons who had known them while living. Some have thought that in them was anticipated the general resurrection, that, delivered from Hades and united to their bodies, they died no more, but at the Ascension accompanied Christ into heaven. Scripture says nothing of all this, nor have we any reason to suppose that any human body, save that of our blessed Lord (mediaeval legends add that of the Virgin Mary), has yet entered the highest heaven (see
Hebrews 11:39, 40). Another opinion is that these were not strictly resurrections, but bodily appearances of saints like those of Moses and Elias at the Transfiguration; but it is a straining of language to make the evangelist describe such visitations as bodies arising from open sepulchres. Farrar tries to elude the difficulty by a supposition, as baseless as it is dishonouring to the evangelist's strict and simple veracity. He writes, "An earthquake shook the earth and split the rocks, and as it rolled away from their places the great stones which closed and covered the cavern sepulchres of the Jews, so it seemed to the imaginations of many to have disimprisoned the spirits of the dead, and to have filled the air with ghostly visitants, who, after Christ had risen, appeared to linger in the holy city. Only in some such way," he adds, "can I account for the singular and wholly isolated allusion of Matthew." Because a fact is mentioned by one evangelist only, it is not on this account incredible. St. Matthew was probably an eyewitness of that which he relates, and might have been confuted by his contemporaries, if he had stated what was not true. An early witness to the fact is found in Igmatius, who, in his 'Epistle to the Magnesians,' ch. 9, speaks of Christ when on earth raising the prophets from the dead. The whole matter is mysterious and beyond human ken; but we may well believe that at this great crisis the Lord, who is the Resurrection and the Life, willed to exemplify his victory over death. and to make manifest the resurrection of the body, and this he did by releasing some saintly souls from Hades, and clothing them with the forms in which they had formerly lived, and permitting them to show themselves thus to those who knew and loved them. Of the future life of these resuscitated saints we know nothing, and will not presumptuously venture to inquire. When they have demonstrated that the sting was now taken from death, that the power of the grave was broken, that men shall rise again with their bodies and be known and recognized, they pass out of sight into the unseen world, and we can follow them no further.
Parallel Commentaries ...
Greek
Theτὰ(ta)Article - Nominative Neuter Plural
Strong's 3588:The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.tombsμνημεῖα(mnēmeia)Noun - Nominative Neuter Plural
Strong's 3419:A tomb, sepulcher, monument. From mneme; a remembrance, i.e. Cenotaph.broke open,ἀνεῴχθησαν(aneōchthēsan)Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 455:To open. From ana and oigo; to open up.andκαὶ(kai)Conjunction
Strong's 2532:And, even, also, namely.[the] bodiesσώματα(sōmata)Noun - Nominative Neuter Plural
Strong's 4983:Body, flesh; the body of the Church. From sozo; the body, used in a very wide application, literally or figuratively.of manyπολλὰ(polla)Adjective - Nominative Neuter Plural
Strong's 4183:Much, many; often.saintsἁγίων(hagiōn)Adjective - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 40:Set apart by (or for) God, holy, sacred. From hagos; sacred.who had fallen asleepκεκοιμημένων(kekoimēmenōn)Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 2837:From keimai; to put to sleep, i.e. to slumber; figuratively, to decease.were raised.ἠγέρθησαν(ēgerthēsan)Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 1453:(a) I wake, arouse, (b) I raise up. Probably akin to the base of agora; to waken, i.e. Rouse.
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NT Gospels: Matthew 27:52 The tombs were opened and many bodies (Matt. Mat Mt) 
