Christ as a Conqueror

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 17, 1863

Christ as a Conqueror.

OH! the dire conflicts through which Jesus passed. The wilderness tells of the conflict there, how Satan, three times discomfited, fled from the field of battle, and the angels of God came and ministered unto Christ, and placed upon his brow a crown of victory. Gethsemane holds, in its memory, the scenes of strife enacted there, how that, in the first attack, the soul of the Son of man, as he bore the load of our sins, felt such power pressing down upon him, as to cause him to cry out, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me"—how, again strengthened, the conflict again renewed, the multitude of sin, the sin of the whole world thrust upon him, again brought forth from the lips of the anointed, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.". Oh! the intense suffering of the Son of God in the garden, where, wrestling for our sins, he sweat, as it were, drops of blood. Yet, blessed be his name, He drank the cup, even to the bitter dregs; he conquered sin; and the angels again came and ministered to him, placing upon his brow another victor's crown. Calvary, too, can tell how the hosts of hell seemingly triumphed there, and rejoiced when it had bruised his heel, so that he was taken from the battle-field and laid among the dead. The garden near by, the garden of Joseph of Arimathea, can exultingly relate how, on the morn of the third day, though his enemies watched around his grave, he arose in power, conquered death and the grave, and how again the angelic host circling around him, cried to the vanquished, "O grave! where is thy victory? O death! where is thy sting?" And the mount of ascension can tell how he who left the courts of heaven as a warrior, returned thither as a conqueror, leading captivity captive, laden with the richest spoils, gifts for men even for the rebellious; and how the myriad of angels who conducted him to his scene of conflict, heralding his approach to earth in the noble strains, "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good-will to men," again led the mighty victor home, shouting, as they passed through the skies, the conqueror's praises, and crying, as they neared the Eternal City, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and the

King of Glory shall come in. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in." And then, as he passed up through the shining streets into the Father's presence, and there had placed on his head many crowns, tokens of many victories, and was seated upon the right hand of the Majesty on High, upon the throne of his power, heaven's arches rang as the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God once again shouted for joy.—"H." in Evangelical Messenger.