Matthew 27:51–53 - The Inauguration of the New Creation

Do you enjoy getting something new? Could be a low cost item, like a shirt or a hat. A new phone. New shoes. Maybe a new piece of furniture or a new power tool. A new golf club.

Or it could be something high priced – a new car or a home. We enjoy newness.
Did you know, you can buy spray to give your car that “new car smell?” Boys and girls, don’t you like to get a new toy? I’m sure you do. But eventually, the “new” wears off. Things can’t stay new forever.

God’s grace and mercy towards His people, however, are different. Scripture tells us that these gifts of God are renewed daily. With items we possess – even relationships we have – we wish we could press “reset” to make them new again. But the grace and mercy that result from God’s covenant love are always new.

That’s the nature of His covenant of grace. Like the risen Jesus Christ, with whom God made the covenant, His grace toward us is perpetually and eternally new. Jesus rose from death to immortal life; He is unable to die again.

His new risen life can never fade. And through His death and resurrection, Christ began the renewal of all things. His risen life initiated this renewal, and when He returns, it will be completed. And make no mistake, the renewal has begun.

The fascinating signs provided at His death confirm this. Matthew 27 records what Bible scholar Greg Beale calls “strange phenomena.” Beale points out that these events which we read about just moments ago “are recorded by Matthew to signal to his readers that Christ’s death was the beginning of the end of the old creation and the inauguration of a new creation.”

God demonstrated the start of this new era with supernatural signs. And this morning, we’re going to look closer at these, because these features of the new creation are a source of great strength and comfort for God’s people – especially as we face daily attacks.

The sinful nature within you attempts to restrict your awareness of this renewal.

The troubles and temptations of this world will cloud our visibility of it.

And our great enemy always aims to deceive us and distract us from what is true.

But things are different now because Christ died and rose again. The renewal of all things is underway. Jesus inaugurated a new connection to God, a new created order from God, and a new congregation in God. And the newness of these never fades.

Now notice the first part of verse 51 again. Matthew writes, “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” In the Jewish temple, this curtain represented the barrier between God and mankind.

Mankind is sinful, and God is without sin. According to the law of Moses, only the great high priest could pass through this curtain, and this occurred only on the yearly Day of Atonement. Throughout the generations, God used this temple set up and the ritual sacrifices to teach the people regarding His holy nature and their sinful nature.

They learned that their debt to God incurred by their sins must be settled.

They learned that sinful people were naturally objects of God’s holy wrath.

God tore the curtain in half because through the saving work of Christ, the way to God was opened. God would no longer require a human priest. Rather, Jesus is our great high priest giving us uninterrupted access to God the Father. Those who are in Christ can always speak directly to God.

Do you ever feel disconnected from God? Perhaps you feel that He’s far away? You may find that you try to pray, but you fear that your prayers make no difference. That barrier that seems to exist is a result of sin’s presence in the world. You don’t feel that distance from God simply because you can’t see Him. Two people can sit across from one another and still feel a great chasm between them.

You feel this way toward God because your sinful nature interferes.

You feel this way toward God because Satan and the sinful world also affect you.

And so, God seems far away or perhaps non-existent. On the Last Day, when Christ returns in glory, He will remove sin once and for all. He will renew all things, and His people will interact with God with zero hindrance. But you must understand today that the barrier has been removed now. The new connection to God has begun, for Christ died and rose again.

For that reason, by faith we can interact directly and continually with the living God. Christ inaugurated this aspect of the new creation so that we may come to God. But how can sinners approach God, when God is holy and we are not?

It is because of our unalterable union with Jesus Christ. When you are in Christ, God deems you holy as Christ is holy. When you are in Christ, you are regarded as fit to approach God. And when you are in Christ, every prayer reaches God.

Are you in Christ? By faith have you entered that union with Jesus? Have you admitted your sin to God and trusted in the righteous work of Christ? Christ suffered in your place and rose on your behalf. Believe in Him today, and enjoy this new connection to God.

Now, notice the rest of verse 51. Matthew then writes, “the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” There was a great earthquake at the death of Jesus.

Of course, earthquakes are normal. I’ve never experienced one. Perhaps you have. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures or videos. During massive earthquakes, the ground can literally split. Rock can be torn like paper. Some earthquakes are big, some are small. Normally, they end in a matter of minutes. That was what occurred at the death of Christ.

But what did it mean? Well, earlier in Matthew, Jesus described some events that will occur on the Last Day – at His return, when world history comes to a close. The NT book of Revelation, written by the apostle John, confirms the words of Jesus. At that time, there will be an earthly upheaval like the world has never known. God will destroy the earth before He makes it new.

We understand that after Christ removes His people from the scene, the ungodly who remain will endure the earthquake to end all earthquakes. The earthquake that occurred at the death of Christ is a foretaste or glimpse – not only of what is yet to come but of what has now started. The new created order from God has begun.

The destruction of the entire world has been inaugurated. In 1 John 2, the apostle John writes, “the world is passing away along with its desires.” John then adds, “It is the last hour.” Scripture teaches that the world’s destruction is now in progress.

We were reminded of this repeatedly as we studied Revelation. The natural disasters we see are like bowls pouring out God’s wrath on some, and they are like trumpets warning others to turn from sin and follow Jesus. On the Last Day, the whole universe will be regenerated. But first, it will be destroyed.

Don’t you sometimes feel the weight of sin’s effects on you. It strains your soul, your mind and body. Sin doesn’t only affect humans. In Romans 8, Paul writes, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” Sin has affected the whole created order. Like us, it needs renewal.

The death of Christ began the destruction. So be warned – turn from your sins and follow Him. Trust in Him, and rely on God. We didn’t read verse 54, but it says, “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!” Do you recognize who Jesus is? If you have, renew your commitment to Him today – in every facet of your life. He has the power to destroy and to renew.

Now, look finally at verse 52 and 53. Matthew says, “The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

Along with the earthquake, graves were opened and many people rose from the dead. These were like the resurrection of Lazarus, and the daughter of Jairus, and the son of the widow of Nain – all recorded in the Gospels. Jesus performed many resurrections during His earthly ministry. These, along with His other supernatural works, confirmed His divine authority.

But what’s going on here? Well, like the other events, this is a sign of things to come.

The OT prophet Daniel wrote about the Last Day. And he says that at that time, “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Daniel was describing the resurrection.

Paul confirms this in 1 Thessalonians 4. He writes, “the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”

Those in Christ will rise and be removed from the earth before its destruction. Those in their sins will rise and endure that destruction. What happened here at the death of Jesus is another sign of what God has begun.

Now for sure, these people who were resurrected at the death of Christ died again. They were like those other resurrections that Jesus performed. They were not everlasting resurrections. These people were not raised to immortality as Christ was on the third day.

You see, the resurrection of Christ was different. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul states “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” In other words, the resurrection of Christ is the first of many like His.

At the return of Christ, each person who is in Christ will have a new body like His. These resurrections that God performed at the death of Christ signify that the new congregation in God has begun as well – a congregation of people who have been made alive by God. In Ephesians 2, Paul tells the churches “we were dead in our trespasses, [but God] made us alive together with Christ.”

When a person is born again by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit of God, he or she is raised from spiritual deadness to new life. You don’t necessarily see an outward difference, at least not right away.

At the cross of Christ, God displayed His authority over this life. At the tomb of Christ, He displayed His authority over the life to come. And all who share in the resurrected life in Christ are His true and everlasting people. Through rebirth in Jesus, the new creation has now broken into our sin-saturated reality.

And among the evidence is this: the glorious existence and the joyous fellowship of the gathering of those who have been raised to new life in Christ. This is the beginning of what God will complete upon the renewal of all things. Our salvation – our union with Christ and with each other in Christ – proves that the end of all things has begun. He is making all things new – including us. This is why in 2 Corinthians 4, Paul confidently writes, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”

Therefore it makes sense, does it not, for the apostle Peter to write in 1 Peter 4, “The end of all things is at hand.” The end has begun. The conclusion is progress. We have been raised, as we heard earlier from Romans 6, so that we “might walk in newness of life.”

If you are in Christ, you have entered that newness. You may not always feel it in your body or in your soul, you may not always be able to rest in it in your mind, but it is true and real and certain. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Therefore we can think and live in a new way – God’s way. How might your life look if you renewed your efforts to live in this new way? His grace and mercy are replenished everyday. And so we can work in a new way, parent in a new way, love God in a new way, love others in a new way. This “new way” is a way in which sin does not rule. It’s the way of faith.

You may feel discouraged, thinking you’ve squandered every chance. But Christ Jesus secured the daily renewal of God’s grace and mercy toward you. You can always start again with Him.

Let’s bow together in prayer.