The following story was told by Robert Hughes from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.

Dr. Hughes' father was a coal miner in northeastern Pennsylvania. His job was to check the mines for methane gas before the miners went down into the mines. Every morning he would descend alone into the mines, taking with him the safety light, and he would check out each of the tunnels and shafts of the mine to make sure that there was no deadly methane gas present. Of course, if the light of the safety lamp would so much as flicker, he would have to run for his life because it would detect the presence of methane gas. And then after checking the mine, he would rise up to the surface, and there would be all the miners gathered around expectantly waiting for him to announce, "It's OK; it's safe; you can now go down into the mine."

And as Dr. Hughes used the illustration, he said, "That's what Christ has done for us. Coming up out of the depths of death, he has announced to all who are gathered here in this life on earth: 'It's OK; it's safe. You can enter into death, into the darkness and the unknown. It’s safe because I have been there and checked it out. It has not been victorious over me. I have overcome it, and I will be with you in death even as I have been with you in life.'"