A Triumphant Death by H. A. St. John

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 9, 1915

A Triumphant Death

By H. A. St. John

Seven Great Triumphs — No. 2

A Triumphant Death

H. A. ST. JOHN

In the previous article we considered the first of seven great triumphs, and found it to be the triumph of a godly life. It is the life of the one who has overcome as Christ overcame. It is the life of the one who can say at the end of his earthly pilgrimage, as did the apostle Paul, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith,” and am now ready to be offered, ready for death. He was beheaded. But the death of such a one, regardless of how that death may come, will be a triumphant death.

The blessed Jesus, at the end of a gloriously triumphant life in mortal flesh, was called to die a most cruel and ignominious death. Nevertheless that death, to him and to all men, for he died for all, was a grandly triumphant death. Satan well knew, when Jesus died triumphant over all his temptations, that the first earth dominion, which by temptation and usurpation had been wrested from the first man, would be restored to man through the death of Christ. Then let us think of the eternal glory that the death of Christ will eventually bring to all the redeemed saints. It was this joy to himself and to the saved that made his death on the cross a glorious triumph. When Jesus cried, “It is finished,” and bowed his head and died, his followers, because of their blindness, could see no triumph in it, but rather a complete and heart-rending defeat. They fled from the scene, hid themselves, and behind bolted doors gave themselves up to uncontrollable and hopeless grief. But O, how all heaven rejoiced at that triumphant death of the One they loved so well!

Dear reader, you are well aware that it is appointed unto men once to die. All overcomers who die in the Lord are blessed by the Lord. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” In the triumph of living faith, they die a triumphant death very soon to be followed by a triumphant resurrection.