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Find the answers to all those questions you were too embarrassed to ask in Sunday School. Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. Hosted by Luke Taylor.
The Zombie Apocalypse in Matthew 27
Matthew 27
Introduction
Night of the Living Dead. World War Z. Resident Evil. The Walking Dead. And… Matthew chapter 27.
What do all of these have in common? They all contain zombies.
Now, if you don’t believe me that the Bible has some zombies in it, then explain this verse to me. Matthew 27 is about the crucifixion. Now, don’t worry, I’m not about to claim that Jesus was a zombie when He rose from the dead.
Jesus had a resurrection body. He was a special situation.
But something else happened when Jesus died on the cross; something you’ve probably read several times before but just never looked at too deeply:
Matthew 27:52-53
52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
What was that again? When Jesus died on the cross, several other random people walked out of their graves and…and then they’re never heard from again?
We’ll read this in-context in just a moment, but the context doesn’t help a whole lot. This is very random, raises some big questions, and is interested in answering none of them. It just moves right along in the passage and never mentions these zombies again.
I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.
Turn to Matthew 27, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]
Setting the Scene
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about the zombie apocalypse in Matthew 27.
I am starting into a series on the podcast that is answering questions submitted by the listeners. I’ve done about 30 podcasts so far talking about the things that I wanted to talk about, and during that time I’ve received lots of emails and messages from people asking me to consider doing episodes on various subjects that THEY want to hear about. And so I am finally ready to do that.
First up today is Joe in Joplin, Missouri, who requested that I do a deep dive into these strange verses that come up in Matthew 27, just as Jesus is dying on the cross. As I said before, I’m going to share more of the whole context, but I’m not sure that doing so actually helps make sense of what’s going on here. But here it is. If you’ve read the account of Jesus’ crucifixion, most of this will sound pretty familiar. We’ll start at verse 50, just as Jesus dies on the cross.
Matthew 27:50-54
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
So a lot of these elements are pretty familiar to us. The earthquake, the veil or curtain being torn in the temple, the centurion who said “truly this was the Son of God.” These elements are in the other gospels as well. But also right in the midst of that, Matthew includes another detail that isn’t in the other three gospels: that the bodies of some saints came back to life and walked out of their tombs. That’s in verses 52 and 53, and if you removed those two verses, you could just read right through the passage and not feel like you missed anything. That’s why I said they seem so random; they’re almost disconnected from everything else going on, and the zombies are never mentioned ever again.
And when I say “The Zombies,” I am not talking about a popular rock group from the 1960s.
I’m not calling them zombies because they tried to eat brains or attack humans or watch CNN all day. I’m calling them zombies because they literally rose from the dead and came out of the grave; this surely freaked a lot of people out. I just watched the episode of The Chosen when Lazarus rises from the dead, and you know what, it was pretty creepy. He came out of the grave all wrapped up in burial cloths like a mummy- which was accurate to the Bible. Now, just imagine a whole horde of people shambling out of graves like that. It would be like the opening scene of a horror movie!
So let’s review all the details here to make sure we understand what’s going on.
The Details
(Matthew 27:52-53)
52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Maybe we’ll break this down the way I learned how to break down a story in journalism school; let’s review the who, what, where, when, why and how.
And I’ll start with The who: (and when I say “The Who,” I am not talking about a popular rock group from the 1960s)…I’m saying who was it that was raised from the dead? Well, it was the saints who had fallen asleep. In the New Testament, when it says a believer falls asleep, it is a euphemism for being dead, but with the future hope of a resurrection from the dead because they’re saved. So these were believers, which is why they were called “saints.” Now, who were the saints at this time? In a New Testament sense, saints are those who have become Christians or joined the church. But this was the moment that Jesus had died on the cross, so Christianity hadn’t officially started yet. So who were the “saints” at this time? Well, it would have been the Old Testament saints, which means people who were saved by placing their faith in God prior to the death and resurrection of Jesus. We don’t know if they had actually met Jesus.
Let’s talk next about where they were: they were in tombs. The typical burial practice for tombs went like this: when someone died, their body was placed in a tomb, which were somewhat like small caves or rooms carved into rocks. A large stone was placed in front to seal it off. The bodies were left in these tombs for about a year, and during this time the bodies decomposed. After about a year, someone would go in and collect the remains, which by then would be down to skeletal form. Those remains would be stored somewhere else or buried, and this would make room in the tomb for a new body.
So these saints who rose from the dead in Matthew 27 were in tombs; that implies that they had been dead less than a year. I’m even assuming that these people had not been dead very long at all and that these were bodies who had barely decomposed before coming back to life. I can’t prove that, it’s just my assumption.
Now the How: They came back to life, and it said the tombs were opened, which means just like when Jesus rose from the dead in the next chapter, their stones were rolled away. I would make a reference here to the Rolling Stones, but I’m not talking about popular rock groups from the 1960s.
Let’s talk about The When. This is slotted in right as Jesus dies on the cross. It tells us about it right as the veil is torn and darkness is falling across the land. So it would sound like this happened during that time period that Jesus was dead for three days. But verse 53 contains this line: “coming out of the tombs after his resurrection.” So maybe the stones rolled away during the earthquake, but it says the people who came back to life didn’t come out until after Jesus’ resurrection. Which makes it even more mysterious, in my opinion, because what in the world happened to those people after that? Did they later die again, or what? We aren’t told.
Here’s the What: They appeared to many people. It’s similar language to I Corinthians 15 where it talks about the resurrected Jesus and says that after He rose from the dead, He also appeared to many people. And it says these zombie saints did the same thing.
And that brings us now to the biggest question of all to me: The Why. And that’s the one element of this thing that isn’t obvious from the two verses it gave us, but I think it’s the question we all most want to know. Why did these saints come out of the grave?
Asking the Experts
There’s a range of opinions on this. I remember about 10 years ago, two well-known apologists had a falling out because they couldn’t agree on how to interpret these two verses. One said he took it as symbolic language or poetic language or apocalyptic literature, but not literal, and the other said that it was outright heretical to just dismiss a bible passage as poetic or apocalyptic because it was too hard to understand.
That’s why I called this the “Zombie Apocalypse” of Matthew 27. There’s a type of writing style from those days called apocalyptic literature, and one example of it is the book of Revelation. It’s a very symbolic writing style. Some people think Matthew 27 dips into apocalyptic literature right here for these two verses, but I disagree with that view.
Now, I’m not breaking fellowship with anyone because of a difference of interpretation over two verses that don’t make-or-break any vital biblical doctrines. How you interpret these two verses is pretty disconnected from any rock-solid theology. But I do want to understand why these two verses are here. So in order to do that, I cracked open every study Bible and commentary I have on Matthew to see what they have to say about them.
Did I find a rock solid answer that just leaves no more questions about what happened here? No. Some gave theories. Some ignored the verses altogether. And some had some pretty interesting ideas. Nothing gave a perfect answer, but after reading all these opinions, I feel like I have a pretty good idea now of what was going on in Matthew 27:52-53.
First of all, this literally happened. I don’t believe it was apocalyptic language. I believe Matthew was being a literal about verse 52 as he was in verse 51 when the veil was torn. Just as I believe the tearing of the veil to the Holy of Holies really happened, I believe this people really rose from the dead along with Christ. So I don’t think this was just symbolism, although it was symbolic.
Again, it was not symbolism, but it was symbolic. It was a real thing that literally happened, but it also symbolized something greater that was happening. To understand that, let’s once again consider the context. Let’s look at all of what’s happening in Matthew 27:50 through 54.
Earlier, I said that reading the context doesn’t help a whole lot. I was wrong. The context actually establishes a pattern of God demonstrating that what He did with Jesus’ death on the cross happened in the physical realm but it carried deeper significance in the spiritual realm. Several things happened physically that also symbolized what happened spiritually.
Let’s start with what happened right before.
Matthew 27:51
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
Now, that literally happened, but let’s ask ourselves: why did this happened? When Jesus died on the cross, Jesus broke down a barrier that had existed between God and man. Ever since Genesis 3 when sin entered the world, man has not been able to enjoy close intimacy with God. In fact, God’s presence could kill sinful man, and for hundreds of years, the only place a person could go freely into God’s presence was in the Temple in a room called the Holy of Holies. But you could not enter into God’s presences there except with many many many restrictions, and the Holy of Holies was separated by a massive, thick veil.
However, with the death of Christ, this barrier was removed. It said that it was torn, from top to bottom. A couple things on that; no human would be strong enough to rip this. Also, it was ripped top to bottom, not bottom to top. These facts mean that it undoubtedly had to be God that ripped it.
Now, did the veil literally get torn? Yes. This was a thing that literally happened. But it carried an even deeper spiritual meaning. It was a physical reality that symbolized an even greater spiritual reality.
Now let’s look at the last thing in that section of verses: a Roman centurion- a man who participated in the murder of Christ- surveys all that has happened when Jesus took His last breath and he says these words.
Matthew 27:54
“Truly this was the Son of God!”
This is sobering. One of the heaviest verses in the Bible. He has just realized- 5 minutes too late- that Jesus actually was who he said he was. That Jesus- this man they just nailed to a cross and hung out to die for several hours- was actually God in human form. And that they had just killed Him even though Jesus did nothing wrong.
So why did he make this comment? Well, there’s someone else who said these words. Peter did back in
Matthew 16 (16 & 17)
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
When Peter said these words, Jesus gave a very positive response to these words, which is not what Peter was used to.
“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
Coming to this realization that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God is not something one just arrives at on their own. We cannot come to God unless God draws us to Him. And recognizing that Jesus is the Son of God is a work of the Holy Spirit. So for Peter to make this acknowledgement, it meant that God the Holy Spirit was at work in Peter’s heart.
And the same is true of this centurion in Matthew 27. He recognizes that Jesus was truly the Son of God. This is a work of the Holy Spirit. God was at work in this man’s heart to open his eyes to a spiritual reality.
So once again, just like with the veil being torn: this was a real thing that really happened. The centurion truly said these words. This was a thing that literally happened. But it carried an even deeper spiritual meaning. It was a physical reality that symbolized an even greater spiritual reality.
Now let’s go back to the event that happens right in between these two events.
52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
This literally did happen. But why did it happen? It happened because it was pointing to a greater spiritual reality.
This was a thing that literally happened. But it carried an even deeper spiritual meaning. It was a physical reality that symbolized an even greater spiritual reality. These Old Testament saints who rose from the dead were doing what we’re all going to do someday: they experienced a resurrection. That’s another one of the things that Jesus accomplished by dying on the cross. We receive new life. Death is not the end. Those who believe in Him will never perish but will have everlasting life. The Old Testament saints knew that we will all rise again in the resurrection at the last day. But the reason for that was now. Jesus is the resurrection and the life.
So these saints who came back to life at the time that Jesus did were just another supernatural act of God whereby He was demonstrating a spiritual truth that will one day be true for everybody. This was a thing that literally happened. But it carried an even deeper spiritual meaning. It was a physical reality that symbolized an even greater spiritual reality.
Next Time
Next time on this podcast, we’ll be doing another listener-submitted question, this one from my brother Ben, who sends me many conspiracy-theory videos, some of which are of biblical importance, some of which are of no importance. But, he did find an interesting video a while back about Jonah, and I thought it was weird enough that I should do a deep-dive about it here. You may think you know all you need to know about Jonah’s story, but I’m willing to bet that some of you will be surprised by the theory I present next time.
Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
What weird stuff in the Bible do you want to know more about? weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com
Shout-out to Dustin, the latest official “Weirdo,” who told me this week that he has listened to all of the episodes of this podcast that have been released. I appreciate you, Dustin! And I hereby dub thee Weirdo.
Closing Thoughts
In closing today, let’s deal with the question of: what happened to these people after they rose from the grave and went into the city of Jerusalem and appeared to many people? That’s what we all want to know when we read this, right? We have no idea. The Bible doesn’t give us the answer to that question. Historical sources don’t give us any information. We can conclude that they lived the rest of their lives, however long that was- died again- and went to heaven.
We aren’t told any further stories about these people because their significance in the narrative of Christ’s death is the fact that they came back to life. Their significance is not something that came later. The significant thing we needed to know about these people came when Jesus rose from the dead and they rose along with Him.
I just want to point out one more thing. You can preach the gospel from this set of verses. Because we sin, we lost our access to God and our knowledge of God and we will die. But because of Jesus and the cross, the veil is torn and we have access to God. And because of the Holy Spirit, our hearts can be changed and we can recognize that truly, this is the son of God. And because of the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus, we can all come back to life someday.
As CS Lewis said, Jesus did not came to make bad men good. He came to make dead men live.
If I can reference a rock solid philosopher from the 1960s.
What these saints did in Matthew 27 is what we’re all going to do someday. So if you think that sounds weird, I hope you’re a little more weird today, too. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time.