The Language of the Signs.
I. The earthquake. This was (1) a sign wrought by the direct and unusual interposition of the Creator. (2) It was a sign to alarm men, on account of the capital crime which they had just committed. There is no such alarum as an earthquake. When thunder is travelling under foot, when the ground opens and shuts, when great pits suddenly yawn in the heaving floor, and make massive walls topple on to it, then "the heart meditates terror, and is moved out of its place." To shake the hearts, to shake the conscience, to shake up men from the dull dream of a sense-bound existence did God shake the earth, in the moment when man had just crucified His Son. (3) The earthquake was a sign by which God called attention to the Divine work, which, through the medium of the human work, had just been done. (4) The earthquake was a sign through which God caused the earth to pay royal honour to Jesus, when Jesus died. (5) The earthquake may furnish an illustration of the power that is to work wonders in connection with the cross of Christ.
II. The rent veil. (1) The rending of the veil was, as it was intended to be, the sign which the Jews noticed first. To them, as Jews, the earthquake, in comparison, was a mere nothing; they forgot the earthquake when they thought of the veil. (2) The rending of the veil was a sign that the Jewish dispensation was now, by God's own act, abolished. (3) The rending of the veil was a sign showing that now, by the death of Christ, there was a revelation of the mystery hid from ages. (4) The rent veil was a sign by which God declared that a free right of way into the Holiest was henceforth open to all.
III. The sign next in order was seen in the opening of the graves and the rising of the dead. Who were these that were raised? What was it precisely that happened at the moment of the Lord's death? It is vain to conjecture, but at least the miracle teaches how, by the work of Calvary, Christ has power and authority to reconquer from the grasp of death the life that He once created.
IV. There is another sign to study in connection with the death of Christ, and that is the effect of these foregoing signs on the centurion and his companions. The only man who dared to give Jesus His Divine title was one of the soldiers who were the first sinners for whom He had offered the prayer, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
C. Stanford, Voices from Calvary,p. 233.
References: Matthew 27:55; Matthew 27:56. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. iii., p. 230; Parker, Inner Life of Christ,vol. iii., p. 258. Matthew 27:57-60. S. Leathes, Truth and Life,p. 175.