Matthew 27:52-53 Where are they?

Heaven, Jesus took them with Him in His own ascension, as the firstfruits unto God.

Isaiah foretold, that the body of Jesus would be resurrected, and along with Him, others at Jerusalem:

Isaiah 26:19 - Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

See also Psalms 40:6; Hebrews 10:5; Galatians 4:4;

Psalms 40:6 - Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

Hebrews 10:5 - Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

Galatians 4:4 - But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

Psalms 68, a Psalms of David, sang about the Son of David, Jesus Christ, and His victory over sin and the grave:

Psalms 68:8 - The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

Psalms 68:17 - The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.

Psalms 68:18 - Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.

Psalms 68:20 - He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.

Psalms 68:21 - But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.

Psalms 68:21 - references Genesis 3:15 KJB, and notice the connection to harvest, firstfruits, wavesheaf and the "seed" that began it all -

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Paul cites Psalms 68:18, in direction connection to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the freeing of the captives from the grave, and thus the specific persons around Jerusalem that had been sleeping the dust of the earth, in the graves are resurrected with Jesus, as Isaiah 26:19 shows:

Ephesians 4:8 - Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

Ephesians 4:9 - (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

Ephesians 4:10 - He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

Paul cites Leviticus, etc., in reference to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the firstfruits of the harvest of souls:

1 Corinthians 15:20 - But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

1 Corinthians 15:21 - For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:22 - For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:23 - But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

Christ Jesus was fulfilling his duty, in the day of His resurrection, which was the 16th day of Abib, the 'first day of the week'; which began the numbering of days unto Pentecost; as it was written, to take of the "firstfruits", and to wave them, as the "wavesheaf", before the Father, and so took those He liberated from death to Heaven, and presented them before the Father in Heaven:

Leviticus 23:15 - And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

Leviticus 23:16 - Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

Leviticus 23:17 - Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

Leviticus 23:18 - And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.

Leviticus 23:19 - Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

Leviticus 23:20 - And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

Leviticus 23:21 - And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

Leviticus 23:22 - And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

Matthew records the historical record:

Jesus dies:

Matthew 27:50 - Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

An earthquake happens, and the rocks are split:

Matthew 27:51 - And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

The graves of specific persons around Jerusalem are thus opened as angels descended to do their task [see connecting Matthew 28:2]:

Matthew 27:52 - And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

These specific persons around Jerusalem, unnamed and unnumbered do not come out of those opened graves until the 'first day of the week' when Jesus arises, and the angel Gabriel comes down clothed in the panopoly of Heaven, calling forth the Son by command of the Father, and the other earthquake happens:

Matthew 27:53 - And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

Notice, the second earthquake in the descent of the covering Cherub and lesser arch-angel Gabriel:

Matthew 28:1 - In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

Matthew 28:2 - And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

Matthew 28:3 - His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

Matthew 28:4 - And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

The reason why history may not overtly record such an event, other than the historical account given by Matthew, and foretold by Moses in Leviticus, etc, by Isaiah, by David in the Psalms, and confirmed by Paul, etc, in scripture [KJB], may be because of the limited location, namely Jerusalem, and that the local persons in that area who were resurrected would only be recognized by loved ones [not necessarily by Romans, Samaritans, Greeks, or even strangers per se], and were not meant in general for non-believers outside of this area, but were as a proof to those in Jerusalem. Secondarily, just as other resurrections had to be covered up by the religious leaders, such as they wanted to even kill the evidence of the resurrection, namely Lazarus [John 12:10], and to spread false reports and to bury the truth [Matthew 28:11-15], just some thoughts.

 

Uh-huh, and this text doesn't say anything about the other 9 disciples/Apostles:

Mat_17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,

That's why the other passages do speak about it plainly.

However, if you read Acts 1, more closely, it does speak about them.

How did Jesus leave? How is Jesus coming back?

Read Psalms 24. Combine Psalms 98:1-3 with Colossians 2:15.

 

The question I asked is directly related to your logical fallacy. Just because you think that a certain text/passage doesn't specifically say what you think it ought, doesn't mean that other passages aren't more clear, more specific on the same subject (as cited). Another case in point, the demoniac/s:

In Mark 5 and in Luke 8 we read of the 'demoniac', specially "a man" (singular) "with an unclean spirit". Nowhere in Mark 5 or Luke 8, does it mention the other 'demoniac'. Should I conclude there was only one person there? Or rather, should I take all Gospel accounts, such as Mark, Luke and Matthew, and combine them, and get the whole picture? for Matthew records:

Mat 8:28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

If I were to use your logic in regards Acts 1 (which you need to read more closely, ('cloud'), and say that because there is no overt mention of the raised persons (as all the other texts I gave refer to), then you will of your ownself make a contradiction in the scripture, where none exist. The two examples that I have now given, show that such logic is error.

Notice Acts 1:

Act 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

Act 1:10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

Act 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Now, as I had asked you to read Acts 1 more closely, and even gave you several more passages, Psalms 24; Psalms 98:1-3; Colossians 2:15 to consider in tandem with all the other texts, I will point you to it, and place your nose in it, for if you study the 'cloud' that 'received him', you will find that they are not vaporous bodies of water of the earthly atmosphere, but persons, both angelic and human.

 

1Co_14:38 But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.

 

I have always wondered about this as well.

 

I'm pretty sure I was sitting next to a couple of dead people at a wedding last night. I should have asked where they were from.

 

I believe they were taken to the Heaven and they stay there.
They might be 24 elders.

Revelation 4:
4 And round the throne twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones twenty-four elders sitting, clothed with white garments; and on their heads golden crowns.

They are the actually living persons, they wouldn't suffer the death again.
Apostle John met them.


Eliyahu