Our Present Fight and Future Glory…
A special faith in our Lord Jesus Christ’s person, work and office, is the life, heart and mainspring of the Christian soldier’s character. He sees by faith an unseen Saviour, who loved him, gave Himself for him, paid his debts for him, bore his sins, carried his transgressions, rose again for him, and appears in heaven for him as his Advocate at the right hand of God. He sees Jesus and clings to Him. Seeing this Saviour and trusting in Him, he feels peace and hope and willingly does battle against the foes of his soul.
He sees his own many sins, his weak heart, a tempting world, a busy devil, and if he looked only at them he might well despair. But he sees also a mighty Saviour, an interceding Saviour, a sympathizing Saviour-His blood, His righteousness, His everlasting priesthood-and he believes that all this is his own. He sees Jesus and casts his whole weight on Him. Seeing Him, he cheerfully fights on, with a full confidence that he will prove more that conqueror through Him that loved him (Rom. 8:37).
Finally, let us remember that the time is short and the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. A few more battles and the last trumpet shall sound, and the Prince of Peace shall come to reign on a renewed earth. A few more struggles and conflicts, and then we shall bid and eternal goodbye to warfare and to sin, to sorrow and to death. Then let us fight on to the end and never surrender. Thus saith the Captain of our salvation: “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (Rev. 21:7).
Let me conclude all with the words of John Bunyan, in one of the most beautiful parts of Pilgrim’s Progress. He is describing the end of one of his best and holiest pilgrims: “After this it was noised abroad that Mr. Valiant-for-Truth was sent for by a summons, by the same party as the others. And he had this word for a token that the summons was true: “The pitcher was broken at the fountain” (Eccles. 12:6). When he understood it, he called for his friends, and told them of it. Then said he, “I am going to my Father’s house; and though with great difficulty I have got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the troubles I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles, who will now be my Rewarder.” When the day that he must go home was come, many accompanied him to the riverside, into which, as he went down, he said, “O death, where is thy sting?” And as he went down deeper, he cried, “O grave, where is thy victory?” So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.”
May our end be like this! May we never forget that without fighting there can be no holiness while we live, and no crown of glory when we die!
JC Ryle 1879
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