The Chronology of the Holy People of Matthew 27:51-53

Nisan 14 Wednesday

Passover Preparation Day

Leviticus 23:5 The Lord’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.

1 Corinthians 5:7 For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 

3 pm

Luke 23:44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Psalm 31:5 When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Jesus' soul and spirit is sent to His Father until His body is buried


Matthew 27:50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

Resurrection of the Holy People

51 At that moment:

• the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 
• The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and 
• the tombs broke open. 
• The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.

From 3 pm to 6 pm (sunset) the "holy people" would wait in their tombs until Jesus' resurrection.

Matthew 12:38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 

Nisan 14
3 pm to 6 pm

The Burial of Jesus

Luke 23:50 Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. 52 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. 

Nisan 15 Thursday, first night

Passover

After 6 pm (sunset)

Special Sabbath day:

Leviticus 23: 6 On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord’s Festival of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. 7 On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.

Luke 23:55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

Jesus' Resurrection

53 They (the holy people) came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection

After Jesus' body is buried in Joseph from Arimathea's tomb and the stone is rolled across the entrance...the Jesus' Father send His soul and Spirit back to His body, accompanied with the Spirit, and He descends to the comfort side of Sheol Hades Luke 16:19-31...body, soul and Spirit.  

Ephesians 4:9...he also descended to the lower, earthly regions...

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago 

Romans 6:4  Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father...

Romans 8:11  Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead...

The Witness of the Holy People of Jesus' resurrection 

Matthew 27:52 The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

During Jesus' three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, the holy people go from their tombs to Jerusalem to bear witness of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. 

Imaging the wonder, the panic, the fear of the Jews during Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread when a loved one or friend knocks on the door and say "Jesus of Nazareth, that was crucified, has raised as He said He would and has, like Jonah, gone to our ancestors in Abraham's bosom." 

But the scribes and Pharisee could not believe this report from the holy people. Their unbelief and fear would try to prevent Jesus' resurrection by securing His tomb with the Roman seal and with Roman guards. 

Matthew 27:62 The next day (Thursday Nisan 15), the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

65 “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

What they did not know was that Jesus' tomb was empty, He was giving them the sign of Jonah as they had demanded from Jesus, 

Fast forward to Saturday, Nisan 17, the regular weekly Sabbath Day before Sunday, Nisan 18, after sunset, that would begin the fourth night since Jesus' burial.

The Sabbath

Leviticus 23:3 “‘There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord.

Nisan 18, Sunday
Fourth day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread
Beginning of the Feast of First Fruits.

Offering the Firstfruits 

Leviticus 23:9 The Lord said to Moses,

10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. 11 He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.

1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn:

• Christ, 
• the firstfruits; (the holy ones in Matthew 27:51-53)
• then, when He comes, those who belong to him.  (the rapture 1 Corinthians 15:50-54 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For he “has put everything under his feet.” 

Please look at the chart I created at the top to illustrate 1 Corinthians 15:22-27

On Nisan 18, after Sunset this is what happened to the holy ones. 

Jesus' ascension from Sheol/Hades with the soul/spirits of the Old Testament saints

Jesus descended to Sheol/Hades as Savior, Jesus now ascends as High Priest. 

1 Peter 3:19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago

After the soul/spirit of the Old Testament saints are gathered to be taken into heaven, because Jesus' blood had atoned their sin and opened heaven for them to enter, Jesus ascends with a loud proclamation like "It is finished!" that is heard into the torment side of Sheol/Hades "to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water. 

Ephesians 4:8 This is why it says:

“When he ascended on high,

    he took many captives

    and gave gifts to his people.” Psalm 68:18

9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)

As Jesus ascended the holy people (body, soul and spirit) in Jerusalem are gathered to be Jesus' Firstfruit Offering at the Temple in Heaven. There they offer praise and worship before Jesus' throne in heaven as their King.