THERE is a story that when the Battle of Waterloo was being fought, all England, waiting in anxiety for the result of that day, was dependent upon the signals flashed from station to station by semaphore. One of those stations was on the tower of Winchester Cathedral. Late in the day, it received the signal, “Wellington defeated.” Just at that moment, one of those sudden English clouds of fog falling upon the land shut out the light. The news of disaster quickly circulated in the city. After a little while it reached London, and the whole land was in gloom, bordering upon despair. Then the fog lifted, and the message was completed: “Wellington defeated the enemy.” Sorrow turned into joy, defeat into victory.
So it was with Jesus, when He died upon the Cross. Hope died out in the hearts of men. After the crucifixion the fog of disappointment settled upon the world, so that it caught only the semaphore signal, “Christ defeated.” But on the third day the fog lifted, and there was flashed to the world the complete signal, not of defeat, but of victory, not of death, but of life. Christ defeated death!
Living Links.