March 24, 2008 by craig.

“The tombs also were opened and many bodies of the saints who had gone to their rest were raised. And they came out of the tombs after His resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.” - Matt 27:52-53 (HCSB)

Many are confused by this event that also happened when Jesus died on the cross. But, we should actually be surprised if something like this was not recorded in the Bible! Think about it … Everything in the past pointed toward this. So many had longed to see the Messiah, the promised one of God. God had spoken of Him to Eve, Abram, Jacob, Moses, David, and of course, the prophets. All past events pointed in some way to this one!

When the Lord Jesus accomplished His work on the cross, there was a supernatural cosmic paradigm shift. There was deliverance and salvation now available! These were the first moments of the new age. This was the first peek at the cleared ledger. The holy expectation of the faithful was now realized. And it rocked the order of the way things had been. Something in heaven and earth got jarred loose in this detonation of justice and mercy. In this holy collision of sin and grace.

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March 13, 2008 by craig.

“the earth quaked and the rocks were split.” - Matt 27:51b (HCSB)

This event also occurred the moment Jesus died. Again, this is the action of none other than the Father Himself. As His heart was wrenching in pain, all creation was joining in the violent stirring. The supernatural was bleeding over into the natural. The very cosmos was shaken!

Why? Because one so innocent had taken on Himself the weight of the guilt of the entire human race. But could it also be that what Jesus had predicted only days before (Luke 19:40) was coming true? It reminds me of the song my church choir used to sing when I was a boy:

If we keep our voices silent,
All creation will rise and shout;
If we keep our voices silent,
Then will the very rocks cry out!

I want to get in on that kind of worship!

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March 11, 2008 by craig.

“Jesus shouted again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom.”
- Matt 27:50-51a (HCSB)

This curtain was the great physical division between the Holy Place in the Jerusalem Temple and the Most Holy Place. Literally in the original biblical language, the curtain was torn “from above, all the way to the lowest bottom.”

What was happening here? An act of God, fulfilling the requirement He Himself had set up. Honoring His holiness and at the same time breaking through with His love. God Himself was fulfilling what He had promised through the prophet Ezekiel: “My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be My people (Ezek 37:27, HCSB).”

Only God could make that right; only God could do away with the great gulf that sin had caused. And in a beautiful living picture of His mighty action, He separated the separation by tearing the curtain of division … from above, all the way to the very lowest bottom.

I believe that makes room for you & me.

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