We have been discussing the power of the Resurrection for a couple of weeks. It is even more incredible when we read the next line of the Creed.

in accordance with the Scriptures.
(secúndum Scriptúras,)

The Resurrection did not come out of nowhere. The scriptures foretold everything about the life of Christ and the salvation of humanity. In the very beginning of the Bible, just after the fall of humanity through the sin of Adam and Eve, God tells the serpent:

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
They will strike at your head,
while you strike at their heel.
Genesis 3:15

We see in the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53 and the book of Jonah types (literary figures that symbolize a future figure) of Christ. Often, the Jewish people understood these prophecies as referring to the nation of Israel. The Christians recognized that Jesus, as the Messiah embodied the fate of Israel. “He was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity. He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) A similar fate is found in Jonah. He refuses the call to prophecy to Nineveh. He suffers in the belly of a whale, dead (he cried from Sheol–hell–for help in Jonah 2:3), until he repents and is thrown back onto the shore and given back his life to bring the news of salvation to the pagans of Nineveh. In both of these figures, we see great suffering that results in salvation, which was embodied most perfectly in Christ.

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus speaks to the disciples and “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures.” (Luke 24:27) In the Second Century, St. Irenaeus of Lyons tells us that this passage is surely speaking of Christ and his victory over evil. (See Against Heresies, 5.21.1)

Perhaps one of the most beautiful references in the scriptures to the life of Christ can be found in Psalm 23. For example, in verse 4 we see that in though :

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff comfort me.

While it requires some reflection, we can see that this is what happened as Jesus carried his Cross and died for us. As he walked through the darkness, he did not fear. Even as he cried out on the Cross to his Father, he cried the words of Psalm 22, which professes trust in the Father, even though “trouble is near, and there is no one to help.” (Psalm 22:12) Psalm 23, ends with these words:

I will dwell in the house of the LORD
for endless days.

After his Resurrection and Ascension, our Lord sits for all ages at the right hand of his Father.

I’ve only scratched the surface of how Jesus fulfilled the scriptures of Israel. There are images of him throughout scripture. Sometimes we have to pray and meditate on the scripture for a while to see him, but he is always there. St. Jerome wrote that “ignorance of scriptures is ignorance of Christ” in his Commentary on Isaiah (xviii, prologue). This line of the Creed reminds us that God has acted throughout history to prepare us and save us, and it also encourages us to meet Christ through the scriptures by reading and praying with them.