We want to talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a victory, which is a good theme just now in this moment of American history because most Americans are tuned in to the idea of victory because of the victory of our military forces in the Persian Gulf. People who think about that victory, however, are concerned that it not turn out to be a Pyrrhic victory, which is what we sometimes refer to as “winning a battle but losing the war.” Or sometimes we talk about winning the war but losing the peace, which is the difficulty we face now.
Do you remember where that expression “Pyrrhic victory” comes from? It comes from a battle that took place between the Greek armies directed by General Pyrrhus and the Roman armies in the year 279 B.C. The Greek armies were in southern Italy, and they were engaged in a massive conflict with the Roman forces. The armies under Pyrrhus lost thousands of men, even though they won the battle, and Pyrrhus lost some of his most able commanders. And he lost all of his supplies and baggage. After the battle, one of the Greeks came up to him and congratulated him on his victory. Pyrrhus replied, “Another such victory and we are ruined.” And so a Pyrrhic victory came to refer to a victory which is a genuine victory, according to some standards, but which is won at a devastating and destructive price.
Now that’s what we’re talking about when we’re talking about the death of Jesus Christ. The death of Jesus Christ was a victory for death. Death triumphed even over the Savior, and yet it was a Pyrrhic victory in Jesus’ case because in defeating the Lord Jesus Christ, death itself was actually defeated.
But you have to understand that this defeat of Jesus by death was only an apparent defeat, and the victory over Jesus was only an apparent victory. The real victory was actually on the other side. The apparent victory was not only a victory for death over life; it was an apparent victory for other entities as well—for the enemies of Jesus, for example. These religious leaders of the people had been plotting to get rid of Him for some time, and for a good reason from their point of view. Before Jesus came on the scene, they were regarded as very holy and righteous men.
But yet they weren’t. And when Jesus, who really was holy and righteous, appeared, well, it was evident to everyone that there was a vast disparity in their characters. Jesus was holy; they were not—they were actually wicked men, which they proved eventually by trying to get rid of Him.
And besides that, their position was threatened. Jesus was immensely popular. People were following Him in huge crowds. They weren’t following the religious leaders in huge crowds. So they said to themselves, “Look, the whole world has gone after Him and if this keeps up, we’re going to lose our privileged position and our power.” And so they tried to get rid of Jesus. Sometimes they tried to discredit Him by trick questions, but they didn’t reckon with the wisdom and character of Christ. He disposed of those questions without any difficulty at all. Then they tried to arrest Him.
On one occasion, they sent their soldiers, and the soldiers came back without Him. And when they said to the soldiers, “Where is He? Why haven’t you arrested Him?” the soldiers replied, “No man ever spoke like this man”–an astonishing thing for soldiers to say. Jesus actually withstood them by His words. Eventually, of course, they did succeed in arresting Him. They did it by night in the garden. Jesus was waiting for them, and He was actually giving Himself into their hands. But from their point of view, they had finally succeeded. And when they had Him, they hauled Him off to the Sanhedrin. They conducted a trial by night, illegally, and, not surprisingly, they condemned Him.
They condemned Him for the sin of blasphemy, for making Himself out to be God. They did it without even investigating the evidence whether He really was the Son of God or not. And then when they had secured their verdict for a capital crime, they took Him off to Pilate, the Roman governor, who alone was able to pronounce the death sentence at that period of history.
Of course the accusation of blasphemy wouldn’t have contained any weight in a Roman court, so they changed it when they came before Pilate. They said, “Well, He is guilty of sedition. He’s trying to raise up an army to throw off the Romans. He’s making Himself out to be a king.” Pilate then asked Him, “Are you a king?” Jesus answered that He is a king, but it is not of an earthly kingdom, and He has come to bear witness to the truth.
Pilate concluded at that point that he was dealing with a religious fanatic. This wasn’t a rabble rouser. Pilate said, “I don’t find any fault in Him.” But in the end, the people prevailed upon Pilate, crying out, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” And Pilate condemned the innocent Son of God.
I can imagine what was going through the minds and hearts of those enemies of Jesus as they stood there before Golgotha looking at the bleeding, suffering form of the Savior. They would have been saying, “We’ve won at last. He thought He could get rid of us. He thought He was better than we are, and we won. We won. We got rid of Him.” And it was with satisfaction that they watched as His dead body was taken down from the cross and laid in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb.