What would you think was the event that changed the world? The dropping of the atom bomb by the Americans on Japan in 1945, the outbreak of Second World War in 1939, the execution of Charles Ist in 1649? When you think about it you can come up with numerous answers even if you are a Christian. I wonder just how many of us these days would say that the death of Christ is the most significant fact in history? To the theorist it is merely the death of a martyr for his cause. The theorist, however, here as so often, misses the heart of the matter. The death of Christ was the culminating point in a struggle with evil that had gone on all through His life. We can get glimpses of that struggle in the Wilderness, at the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, in the Upper Room, in the Garden of Gethsemane, just to name a few. Those were epic battle fought in the soul of Jesus against the forces of evil. The supreme conflict came at His trial and was won victoriously at His death. The events leading to His death were the concentrated attacks of evil upon a soul that had never yielded. It was the final phase of a death-struggle between the good and evil of the world fought on the battle-field of the pure soul of Christ. Had He lost He would have been forgotten in a few months. But He conquered. It was a cosmic victory. Its repercussions have swept to the furthest limits of human thought and experience. For the first time in the history of the world evil met its Master. Like every great achievement, His victory became the priceless possession of the race. His victory may be ours. Any life mastered by the forces of evil may find through Christ the way to victory. Where the spirit of Christ enters any life the evil in that life meets its Master.
John.
