196 – Who Were the "Sleeping Saints"?

196. Who Were the "Sleeping Saints"?

The "sleeping saints" (see 1Th_4:14 and Mat_27:52-53) are held to be Old Testament believers who, having served the Lord faithfully according to their lights, and who looked forward to the promise of the Messiah's coming, were quickened at the moment of Jesus' death, although they did not come out of their graves until his resurrection. The opening of the graves was symbolic proclamation that death was "swallowed up in victory"; and the rising of the saints after Jesus' resurrection fittingly showed that the Saviour of the world was to be the "first" that should rise from the dead. (See Act_26:23; Col_1:18; Rev.

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