Fredrick Dale Burner on Christ Death for all Saints

I have mentioned before but I and the evangelical world is indebted to the Matthew commentary by Frederick Dale Bruner.  This two volume set is on every page a classic example of what superb exegesis looks like.  Bruner comments on the section in chapter 27 when saints come back from the dead when Jesus dies.
“The most helpful doctrinal point in this text is this: Jesus death is as effective BC as it was AD; Jesus death is as retroactive into the past as it is proactive into the future.  A frequently asked question in Sunday school class is: What about all the people before Christ who looked for God’s saving work?” These opened tombs tell us that Jesus’ death has as much power to raise those who looked forward to God’s salvation as it does raise those who look back on it.  Thus Christ’s death is as cosmic in time as it is cosmic in space.  The death of Jesus reaches out as far horizontally into history as it reaches up vertically into eternity.  The two directions of the cross-outward and upward, teach the universality of Christ’s work.”