Defeat or Victory ?

Defeat OR Victory

Have you ever heard how Wellington’s victory over Napoleon was announced in England?

In those days there was no television, radio, telephone, or even telegraph.
News of the history-making battle came by sailing ship to the south coast of England,
and then by semaphore – a system of flag signals – all the way to London.

From the top of Winchester Cathedral in southern England,
the semaphore began slowly spelling out the message, letter by letter:

“WELLINGTON DEFEATED …”

Suddenly, a dense fog settled over the city,
and the flags could no longer be seen.
The heart-sickening, incomplete message spread gloom and despair all the way to London:

“Wellington defeated.”

But when the fog finally lifted, the cathedral semaphore became visible again,
and everybody could read the full message:

“WELLINGTON DEFEATED THE ENEMY.”

The good news spread like wildfire all over England,
lifting the people from gloom to gladness.

This story closely parallels that of another great battle,
which took place on Good Friday – the day Jesus Christ died on Calvary’s cross.

In three hours of suffering followed by death,
God punished Him for your sins and mine!

To His followers on that dark day,
it seemed that Jesus Christ had been utterly defeated,
and that all their brightest hopes were gone.

They had thought He would deliver them from their great enemy, Death;
but now, apparently, He, too, was defeated.

The despairing words of two of His followers seemed to express the feelings of all:

“We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21).

Humanly speaking, it appeared that:

JESUS WAS DEFEATED!

But another great event occurred two days later on Easter Sunday.
After Christ was crucified and buried, that which seemed like utter defeat
became the greatest spiritual victory in the history of the world.

Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!

When the awful darkness and gloom lifted,
to those who trusted in Jesus, there came a glorious message of victory: