The guarded and sealed tomb {Mt 27]

The creed says that God, Incarnate died, and descended into hell. It also say she was buried.

Then he rose again.

For these things were not done without witnesses. We have the witness of the women, we have the witness of Joseph who gave his tomb so Christ could be lain in it, and of the Pharisees who had read or heard Jesus predict that he would die and rise and took steps to prevent this.

Sisto_Badalocchio_-_The_Entombment_of_Christ,_1610

Jesus did not only die publicly, he was buried publicly and is tomb was sealed and guarded. There is a parallel with Elijah soaking the sacrifice to the Almighty until the wood was sodden and then praying that fire would fall.

This is written so we have no doubt. Christ suffered the fate of all humanity. For when we were born, our death was inevitable.

There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

(Matthew 27:55-66 ESV)

Christ died on the day before the Sabbath, which is why he was buried in haste: the Pharisees were trying to be ritually clean so that they could celebrate the high holy day of he Passover. (the fact that the passover predates the law regulations and that the command is that all should eat it is beside the point: the appearance of virtue meant more than virtue then as now).

And it was needed that he died. For in doing this he paid our debt to God and to our fellow-men. Those who fall short of the glory of God have erred, and without due recompense they cannot he reconciled, for justice is not done, and the creator of this world must do good.

Christ paid the penalty in his dying. He gives us hope in his resurrection. And this is the only way we can be reconciled with a righteous God.

For all other beings who claim to be God are lying. They are from the pit. Do not follow them. Do not listen to the elite who preach them. Turn to the very God who made you and bled for you.

For he lived you so greatly that he paid the penalty ,s o you could be free to worship and have fellowship with him.

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