Satan's LAST victory over the believer

My grandmother died last night and again, I’m faced with tragedy.  I am not generally good at sorrow / grief, and I typically respond in somewhat cold, logical manner.  Though my grandmother was a Christian and I fully rejoice that she is in the presence of our Savior (Come quickly Jesus!), part of identifying with grief is really seeing death for what it is.  Very similar to what I said in my last post,  death really is a stark reminder of the consequences of sin.  It is a victory for the devil in a lot of ways.  I am reminded of the scene in the Passion of the Christ where the Devil figure is walking through the crowd as Jesus is being killed.  There is a certain level of triumph in his face, yet he is apprehensive.  The death of Christ was the devil’s greatest victory and at the same time was his greatest and most final defeat.

In this light, the death of the Christian is re-enactment of Christ’s death.  There is sorrow and it is a victory in a way for the devil.  But in this minor victory, the devil has to face the fact that it his last victory that he will ever have in that believer’s life.  They are home and will never suffer under temptation, sorrow or the whisperings of the evil one ever again.

With these two realities in mind, I am going to try to weep for sorrow at the victory of sin in my grandmother’s physical death and weep for joy at the victory of Christ in her eternal life.

I hope this makes sense.  Today’s been a cocktail of emotion.