Truth Archive

There are two battles that have been in my mind and I would like to speak about them this afternoon. I very often feel that I don’t think nearly enough of the great victory that Christ gained in Gethsemane, in the judgement hall and then out on Calvary’s hillside, and I have purposed in this convention to think more and more of this. There is ample evidence that the victory at Calvary is best understood by our own experiences. We do learn a great deal from the world around us. Eighteen months ago, Kathleen and I were in Belgium and were taken to the battlefield of Waterloo, just a few miles away from the convention ground. There, Napoleon in his great desire for world power, was defeated. Ever since that day I find Christ’s battle and Napoleon’s battle making a comparison in my mind; one a battle because of a love for power and the other a battle because of the power of love, and fought in entirely different ways.

We saw a scene of waxwork figures in a little farmhouse the night before Waterloo, setting the battle in array in their minds. The first error Napoleon made was that he was going out to fight on an entirely unknown battlefield. His first General had failed to let him know that those fields were crossed with many brooks, so the next day many were bogged down in the mud of the field. When Jesus knew that the time of the battle had come, He went to the most familiar spot in all the world to Him. He crossed Kedron and went into the garden, that place of prayer where all through His lifetime He had fought the battles out, and there He set the battle in array in His own heart. He went a little further, always going a little further in His life, and made Himself a stone’s cast away from the other disciples. I think that stone’s cast away brought Him out of earshot of their voices. He would remember the day when He first mentioned Calvary to them and Peter said, “Be it far from thee, Lord,” or “Pity thyself.” And the day when James and John suggested that fire would come down from heaven (Luke 9:54). He felt that it wasn’t going to be like that. Our battles must be fought alone, in the presence of God. No human voice is needed there.
Napoleon had planned that the reinforcements would arrive at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, when he would make the last assault against the enemy, but something happened and the reinforcements never arrived in time and when they came the battle was in wild disarray. Jesus never asked for reinforcements but the Father knew when He needed it most in Gethsemane. Just one angel was sent and then Christ settled it in His heart that the battle was going to be set as His Father would have it. Battles go in stages, and the next stage was when that wild rabble of soldiers came in with swords. Peter was quickly on the defensive and struck the first blow. Christ said so clearly and definitely, “Put up thy sword into its place, for they that take the sword must perish with the sword.” They knew from that moment that it would be a different battle. He knew that all Heaven was on His side and had He wished, those angels could have arrived, but He knew it wouldn’t have gained the victory for poor mankind.

The next stage of the battle of Christ was in the judgement hall. He always appears to me here as such a lonely figure. Peter and the other disciples were gone from Him and He stood alone before the rulers. Death by crucifixion was reserved for the lowest criminal, and the terrible indignities of the crown of thorns, the spitting and so on were completely illegal. They were the work of the Roman soldiers and should never have taken place at all. A spirit of resentment is stirred up when anything is illegal. Here, I feel Christ could easily have lost His spirit, but He held it. He had promised His disciples that one thing He had to leave for them was His peace, and He knew if He lost His spirit He would lose His peace and then have nothing to leave the disciples. It is often such a little thing, such a stinging little thing that causes us to lose our spirit. I remember learning this verse at school just to teach us how a very little carelessness or a little mistake can cause us to lose a battle.

For the want of a nail a horseshoe was lost, for the want of a horseshoe a horse was lost; For the want of a horse a rider was lost, for the want of a rider a leader was lost;
For the want of a leader a battle was lost, and all through the loss of a horseshoe nail.

Christ stood firm and did not allow anything to arouse His spirit so that He would lose His peace. The control of a lifetime came out. After we had seen that room where Napoleon had drawn up his plan of action, we were taken into a large room. All around the walls was the scene of the Battle of Waterloo, with just a little space between us and the scene, like one of those brooks. We could see the whole panorama of the battle. We looked for the leader first and could not see him at all but finally someone found him. He was right at the back of the battle, giving directions with his bodyguards around him. Earthly battles, of course, have to go like that. You don’t put the leader at the front, but oh, how different is the story of Christ! They led Him away to Caiaphas, to Pilate, to Calvary. They thought they had to lead Him and guard Him in that way but He was being led by the hand of God. He took all the battle on Himself.

Napoleon came out of the battle unscathed, with lost ambitions and broken pride, but how sorely wounded in the battle was Christ! Even after death a Roman sword pierced His side. Those marks of wounding in the battle became later the sure impressions of wonderful victory. Christ went on alone to Calvary and I seem to see more than ever what strength He had there. From Calvary’s tree His eyes were not dim with pain and He did not close them, for He looked down and saw His mother standing there. He was still clear in His mind, and gave those two simple sentences for the direction of the rest of her days. “Behold thy mother,” and “Woman, behold thy son.” Just two simple sentences which made an assurance for the rest of Mary’s life. When I make my own plans they take such a lot of arranging and so much thought and if it isn’t of God they just fall to pieces, but this arrangement was made according to the will of God with two simple sentences. The will of God is very quickly and easily explained to us.

One other thing Jesus was able to do on Calvary, and He must by now have been terribly weak but He had the strength to gather one more lost sheep into His fold. That was all a part of His victory. That poor thief was gathered into Christ’s fold. “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.” The last sheep was gathered home before that final end came. The hymn “Through Good Report” always appeals to me with the thought that it belongs to that forgiven thief. Had he known it in his day he would have enjoyed it so much. “With enemies on every side, we lean on Thee, the crucified.” That is exactly what he did that day. He saw in the crucified One, who was suffering as he was, the One he could lean on. Another line says, “Thou hast passed on before our face, thy footsteps on the way we trace.” Christ was the first to leave Calvary. The thief followed, into paradise.
As we looked at that scene of Waterloo and saw all those men and horses writhing in pain on the battlefield I couldn’t help but think what terrible, lingering deaths must have occurred there. I used to think of Christ’s death like that with those hours of darkness, but once He had taken the place of the sinbearer, once the full work was done I don’t think He lingered there a second longer. God immediately, hearing those words at the finish, took Him to Himself and the victory was gained.

At the closing of the Battle of Waterloo it was amazing how quickly the news of the victory of the other side was carried. But more than that, the beacons were lit on the hillside and the news of the victory was just the news of the defeat of the great man who had this love for power. Isn’t it amazing to think that after Christ had died and was laid in the tomb no banners flew over Jerusalem and no beacons were lit, in fact His victory wasn’t published until three days had passed. It was all in God’s plan that He should be in the grave those three days and as the sun rose on the first day of the week the great victory was proclaimed by one angel to two of the most humble of Christ’s followers. As they took the road home again, going hastily that they might tell His disciples that He was risen, the glorious conqueror Himself met them. To those with broken spirits He greeted them, “All hail.” It was a different battle. In battles of olden days it was the liberated people who proclaimed the conquering hero with the words, “All hail” and here was the conquering One greeting those two humble followers with the words of that victory. On the mountainside that day just eleven men gathered together and were told the great extent of the victory. Only eleven were there to hear it, one already gone, but Christ came and said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth.” It was a victory for all time by Christ, the Man of Sorrows.

He went on to tell them, “Go ye into all the world and teach all nations.” We all have a part in spreading the victory of Christ. Great security: “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” I felt that this is the end of the story, but I thought of Napoleon being defeated at Waterloo and just a few months ago we heard that the workers in Belgium have obeyed God’s commands in going out to preach and a mission is being preached at Waterloo, the scene of that battle. A letter from one of the friends told of the interest that still holds there.
Another thing happened. That great emperor was banished to St Helena, a rocky little island off Africa, and there he sadly finished his days. About three years ago the Gospel message was taken to that little island. It is far out in the sea, no plane can land there and very few boats go there. But Tess shared with us some letters she had received from the little company of friends there. Every year as the lists come out they look in hope that workers will still come to St Helena. They have it in their hearts that others may still be gathered in there. I wonder if that makes an appeal? Have we not the feeling in our hearts that the harvest is great and the labourers are few? Isaiah 6: God is still asking, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then said I, “Here am I, send me.”