Matthew 27:52-53

And the graves were opened, &c.— The ancient sepulchres were hewn out of rocks, which being rent by the earthquake, discovered the cells wherein the bodies of the dead were deposited; but though these sepulchres were opened by the earthquake at our Lord's death, yet the dead in them did not come to life till his resurrection: for Jesus himself was the first-born from the dead. Colossians 1:18 and the first-fruits of them that slept, 1 Corinthians 15:20. It seems probable that those saints were not some of the most eminent ones mentioned in the Old Testament, but disciples who had died lately; for when they went into the city, they were known by the persons who saw them, which could not well have happened, had they not been their cotemporaries; and as the rending of the veil of the temple intimated that the entrance into the holy place, the type of heaven, was now laid open to all nations, so the resurrection of a number of saints from the dead, demonstrated that the power of death and the grave was broken, the sting was taken from death, and the victory wrested from the grave. In short, our Lord's conquests over the enemies of mankind were shewn to be complete, and an earnest was given of a general resurrection from the dead. There is an ancient Greek manuscript, which reads in Matthew 27:53 after their resurrection; and this reading is followed by the Arabic and Ethiopic versions. Perhaps it may be as natural to read the passage with Grotius, when he yielded up the ghost, the graves were opened; and after his resurrection, many bodies of saints arose, and came out of their graves.