Trophies of Messiah’s Might

You may be familiar with the record of the moment Yeshua died.  To say the earth moved is an understatement.  What can we expect when the designer of the ages ( αιων or the òlam eternity) is taking his last breath? What happened at the cross is  neither mediocre nor unimpressive.  The centurion’s confession, the mocking of Christ’s saving career, the cry of being forsaken, the  rending of the temple’s veil, pale in comparison with the happenings in the cemeteries.  The monumental dimension of Christ’s conclusion of his work calls for significant practical benefits and symbolic developments.  The events of the passion become affirmations of  the end of the oppressive levitical kingdom and they remain in our consciousness as trophies of Messiah’s might.

Free those who died in faith



And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,

Hebrews 11:32

The saying that the dead shall live may have had its first showing in the event in Matthew’s gospel (27:52).  Even before his own rising from the King of love deals an illustrative blow to the powers of death.  He orders the release of many of the saints.  The term “saints” has to refer those who died in faith (Hebrew 11:13) and their number is not insignificant because the writer of Hebrews confesses that time would fail him if he kept telling the story of those who died in faith.  It is a huge crowd.

The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;

Mat. 27:52

It was not a secret occurrence.

and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

Matthew 27:53

Holy ones who could not be held

For thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol; neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.

Psalms 16:10

No sick and diseased healed

Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;

Psalms 103:4

We must remember that healing of diseases was promised to those who keep all of the statutes and judgments in the Mosaic Law.  Most of us have no idea how many there are and where to find them.  This kind of healing is a pipe dream.  Yeshua has a more relevant method of bringing health to his people.  It is called grace, by which he simply speaks the word.  Otherwise people should simply take better care of their bodies, because the human body is capable of fighting off debility.

While we do not argue from silence we must recognize that the evidence of what happened the moment Christ died was exclusively the release from the grave.  It makes us ask why the news that many tombs had been giving up their residents had not reached the disciples.  Yeshua had told the disciples that he would rise from the dead and that his resurrection was the only sign his generation would receive.   By his death he made his authority known, not in bestowing health or prosperity.  His shed blood was for sins, and the finishing of his work really needed a standout headline to that effect.  The connection between sin, death, and the law was out in the open; captivity and corruption rendered into trophies of his grace.  The uncontrovertible evidence and benefit of Yeshua’s death was not healthy people, but life from the dead.  The association of physical healing with  his stripes – like the healing from partaking of bread and wine in memorial – is nothing more than a downgrade of the eternal truth.

Healing sick folk is not a big deal at all compared to opening graves and giving the Holy Spirit to believers.