Matthew 27:52-53
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“And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”
Who were these “saints which slept and arose”? Does the resurrection referenced in Mt 27:53 reflect proof that people die, are then resurrected and immediately go to heaven—as Protestants assert?
Though these are called saints in this account, Matthew wrote his gospel from a vantage point of many years later. These people probably, in most or all cases, became saints, in the fullest sense, after Pentecost in Acts 2:47. They likely were among the many followers of Christ who died of natural causes (like Lazarus in John 11:1-57) during His ministry without receiving an opportunity to be in the first resurrection.
Some claim that these saints were Moses, Abraham, Noah, etc. But if these people had tried to claim this at the time, no one would have believed them. So, this is merely unscriptural idle speculation. Also, whoever they were, they would have needed to be familiar with the Jerusalem area (see Jn 11:53).
I Timothy 6:16 shows that Jesus is the only one with immortality, and so this group must have been merely resurrected back to human physical form. Recall that they did “appear” unto many. Consider. Who would have believed strangers claiming that they were Moses or Abraham?
Notice also that I Tim 6:52 says that “the graves were opened”—the earthquake must have caused this! However, I Tim 6:53 states they came out of their graves “after His resurrection…”—which would have been three days later. Also, this timing disproves any idea that they went “straight to heaven with Christ” at His death, the assertion that many make in order to put the patriarchs of the Old Testament into the New Testament “heaven-is-the-reward-of-the-saved” false teaching.
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