PSALM SIXTY-NINE

He (Jesus) entered into hell, which opened its mouth, but it could not close its mouth on Him and hold Him. But the way out was entirely open to Him. The mouth of death received Him (Jesus) by the same death, but it could not shut Him up. So also the saints go into death, into the mouth of the deep, but they will not be shut up in it, because they will rise from the dead, and the pit of hell cannot swallow them up and shut them up like the ungodly, whom the tempest has overwhelmed a second time. For when the ungodly and the reprobate die, they die in both ways, with the body and the soul. Therefore the doubling describes them. But when the righteous die, they die only according to the flesh, according to which they will also finally walk out. Therefore they are stuck so that they might not be stuck, like Christ, their head. –Martin Luther