Mortuus, et Sepultus

The Garden Tomb, Jerusalem

In this part of The Apostles' Creed we confess that Jesus died and was buried. In other words, Jesus really died. He did not merely swoon on the cross and later wake up in a cold tomb and roll a humongous stone aside and come out pretending to his disciples that he had risen from the dead. No, Jesus really died. This was certified by Roman authority, by a spear thrust through Jesus' side, after which blood and water came out, something which any doctor would confirm as a signification of expiration. Jesus' disciples wrapped his body in a hundred pounds of embalming ointment and they buried him in a tomb, in the side of a hill. This article of the Creed affirms Jesus' full humanity. You cannot bury an angel or an idea.

However, what is the significance of this for us? I believe it is simply this: because Jesus faced and (as we shall soon examine) conquered death, we too can face and conquer it, as we trust in him. We can have the same confidence as Puritan John Preston who, when facing death, said, "I will change my place but not my company." That is what death is for the Christian--simply a change of place. If we have kept company with the Lord Jesus Christ in this life, then we will not change our company in the life to come.

The first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism puts it this way:

What is your only comfort, in life and in death? That I belong--body and soul, in life and in death--not to myself but to my faithful Saviour, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.