Frisked at a Funeral
“He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.”—Colossians 2:15
I have been to quite a few funerals, but one particular funeral stands out. It was the funeral of a 16-year-old girl who took her own life one October. She had had a hard life, from a broken home, in a tough neighborhood, with many friends from gangbanging backgrounds. Her funeral was in a rough area of town. I parked my car in the parking lot and made my way into the funeral home to be greeted by something that I had never met before at a funeral—security guards. Because this girl had friends who were gangbangers, the funeral home made every effort to ensure that there would be no outbreak at the funeral. All the teenagers who made their way through the door had to undergo a pat-down before they could pass through—a bizarre experience for me, but one that I will never forget, because long ago, there was another death, and because of His death, all of Satan’s gangbanging army was disarmed.
When Jesus died on the cross, it was the beginning of the end for Satan. One wonders whether Satan thought that Jesus’ death on the cross would be his greatest victory, because what happened instead was his greatest defeat. When Jesus died on the cross, Satan was defeated and the entire army of hell was defeated along with him. They were disarmed. Satan’s gangbanging buddies could no longer inflict terror by their main weapons of sin and death, because Jesus defeated them. He took away the sting of death and sin by becoming sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and dying the death that we deserved (Romans 5:8). By Jesus’ death, we have victory! Or as the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:54b-57,
"’Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?’
‘The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’”
Jesus died so that we might not fear sin, death, or any other terror this world can throw at us. Satan has been defeated, and while the full reality of the defeat has yet to be realized and he will continue to attempt to threaten and intimidate us, we know that through Jesus Christ, we will not be defeated. We will have victory! And we can take great courage from the fact that whatever we go through in this life, we have victory and a resurrection that awaits, because through our faith and trust in Him, we are and will be partakers of His resurrection from the dead (Romans 6:5). For as He was resurrected, so shall we be. We look forward to that day, knowing that there will be no more sorrow, no more death, and every tear will be wiped away (Revelation 21:4). We will spend eternity joyously proclaiming the glories of our great God and experiencing the delight of knowing and being known by Him. Hallelujah!
Or as C.S. Lewis wrote at the conclusion of The Chronicles of Narnia,
“And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
May God be praised both now and forevermore! Amen.
I have been to quite a few funerals, but one particular funeral stands out. It was the funeral of a 16-year-old girl who took her own life one October. She had had a hard life, from a broken home, in a tough neighborhood, with many friends from gangbanging backgrounds. Her funeral was in a rough area of town. I parked my car in the parking lot and made my way into the funeral home to be greeted by something that I had never met before at a funeral—security guards. Because this girl had friends who were gangbangers, the funeral home made every effort to ensure that there would be no outbreak at the funeral. All the teenagers who made their way through the door had to undergo a pat-down before they could pass through—a bizarre experience for me, but one that I will never forget, because long ago, there was another death, and because of His death, all of Satan’s gangbanging army was disarmed.
When Jesus died on the cross, it was the beginning of the end for Satan. One wonders whether Satan thought that Jesus’ death on the cross would be his greatest victory, because what happened instead was his greatest defeat. When Jesus died on the cross, Satan was defeated and the entire army of hell was defeated along with him. They were disarmed. Satan’s gangbanging buddies could no longer inflict terror by their main weapons of sin and death, because Jesus defeated them. He took away the sting of death and sin by becoming sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and dying the death that we deserved (Romans 5:8). By Jesus’ death, we have victory! Or as the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:54b-57,
"’Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?’
‘The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’”
Jesus died so that we might not fear sin, death, or any other terror this world can throw at us. Satan has been defeated, and while the full reality of the defeat has yet to be realized and he will continue to attempt to threaten and intimidate us, we know that through Jesus Christ, we will not be defeated. We will have victory! And we can take great courage from the fact that whatever we go through in this life, we have victory and a resurrection that awaits, because through our faith and trust in Him, we are and will be partakers of His resurrection from the dead (Romans 6:5). For as He was resurrected, so shall we be. We look forward to that day, knowing that there will be no more sorrow, no more death, and every tear will be wiped away (Revelation 21:4). We will spend eternity joyously proclaiming the glories of our great God and experiencing the delight of knowing and being known by Him. Hallelujah!
Or as C.S. Lewis wrote at the conclusion of The Chronicles of Narnia,
“And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
May God be praised both now and forevermore! Amen.
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