The Greatest Victory

DateLine (4/12/06 – Ponce, Puerto Rico)

On November 9, 1989 one of the greatest world powers of the 20th century was defeated. Not a single shot was fired. Thousands of East Berliners pressed the border crossing at Bornholmer Strasse at 10.30 pm and demanded that the border be opened; and it was. Of course this was just the visible culmination of a series of events in 1989 that is recognized as a great military victory. Funny thing is no actual battles were ever fought, but the threat of war dominated world politics and the security of an entire generation.

As a child I played in fallout shelters that had been built in back yards to enable their owners to survive the expected nuclear fallout from the war. Civil Defense authorities stockpiled supplies in the basement of our church. Of course this was not a conventional war; it was the “Cold War.” The Cold War led to one of the largest buildups of unutilized war machines that had ever occurred and led to the development of unimaginable weapons of mass destruction. Ronald Reagan is normally given credit for the victory. Reagan’s ultimate weapon was not a nuclear bomb but a dollar. He bullied the Russians into a war of spending. The Russians became so focused on matching the “West” in the buildup that it ignored everyday needs of its people and communism imploded.

Sunday we celebrate the death burial and resurrection of the incarnate Christ. It was not a military victory; it was bigger. It was not the threat of war, it was real. No weapons of mass destruction were utilized; the greatest weapon was the Word. The foot soldiers in the battle were ordinary people with no specialized training. The war had raged for centuries and ravaged untold millions. The enemy had lured many to his side. Lives had been ruined, families destroyed. A Paradise had been wrecked. As it turned out a trap had been set. As the enemy lounged, the Supreme Commander sent his son to rally the cause. At the exact moment of victory, the earth trembled, rocks broke apart, graves opened up and fallen soldiers broke free from the sleep of death and presented themselves to the survivors. Once again there was evidence of hope. The first Easter was a great victory, but we’ve yet to see the Greatest Victory. We do know what it will be like.

And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him; and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. . . And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth . . . And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come: who shall be able to stand? (Rev. 6)