Earth Shaking Easter - a wake up call

In 1981, I was living the California as the Easter season was approaching. Then, I was awaken early in the morning by a large BANG. It was an earthquake. And it was loud enough to wake the dead.

My thoughts took me to the first Easter. Back then, there were earthquakes that actually did wake the dead. The Gospel of Matthew - and only the Gospel of Matthew - records such an account when Jesus died on the cross:

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
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;
And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

Matthew 27:50-54
(King James Version)

I always wanted to hear more about this earthquake that woke the dead. Please! Matthew, tell us more! But he doesn't. And neither do the other Gospel writers.

As it says in the Law of Moses:

The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 29:28
(King James Version)

And this is one of those times.

Twenty-one centuries later, we still experience earthquakes. Yet, the hope of Easter is that it looks to the future, as we wait, too, for the dead to awake:

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice.

John 5:28
(King James Version)

Death is only temporary. The New Testament calls it sleep. And we will all wake up.


photo from everystockphoto.com: It's Friday, But Sunday's Comin