THE TRIUMPHANT CAPTIVES

Mike Cunningham

FEBRUARY 4, 2007

A few weeks ago in my message I shared how as a young preteen-age boy growing up during the Second World War, I had a nagging fear that America might loose. I worried that I and the rest of my family would fall into enemy hands destined to suffer unimaginable horrors. Then I went on to explain how back in eternity past, our Sovereign Lord had ordained that at a specific moment in human history; I actually would be taken captive, not once, but a couple of times.

I also explained that my first period of captivity was to the devil. Furthermore, that experience wasn’t unique to me, but rather it is the pitiful state which every human being who is born into the world finds them selves in. The Good News however, is that one by one, at a precise moment in time, which He alone has determined, our loving Savior sets each of His own people free from the clutches of the Devil and from their powerful unceasing inclination to rebel and continually sin against God.

In an attempt to impart these and other kinds of spiritual truth to the early Christian’s, the Apostle Paul frequently drew upon his own personal experiences. He also often used his God given gift of imagination in an attempt to drive such truths home to all those folks who would either hear him preach or listen to them as his letters were read in an assembly of believers.

Although it may not be as obvious to you and me today more than two thousand years later, those first followers of the Risen Savior were able to clearly identify with and understand Paul’s analogies. A perfect case in point can be found in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 2:12-17 (AMP) ¹² Now when I arrived at Troas [to preach] the good news (the Gospel) of Christ, a door of opportunity was opened for me in the Lord, ¹³ Yet my spirit could not rest (relax, get relief) because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave from them and departed for Macedonia.

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ’s victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere, ¹⁵ For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: ¹⁶ To the latter it is an aroma [wafted] from death to death [a fatal odor, the smell of doom]; to the former it is an aroma from life to life [a vital fragrance, living and fresh]. And who is qualified (fit and sufficient) for these things? [Who is able for such a ministry? We?]

¹⁷ For we are not, like so many, [like hucksters making a trade of] peddling God’s Word [shortchanging and adulterating the divine message]; but like [men] of sincerity and the purest motive, as [commissioned and sent] by God, we speak [His message] in Christ (the Messiah), in the [very] sight and presence of God.

Today’s Twenty First century Christians who either read or hear verse fourteen spoken for the very first time, wouldn’t have a clue as to what Paul was speaking about when he described our spiritual forefather’s  as being triumphantly led by Christ as “trophy’s” of His victory. But those Christians of two thousand years ago would immediately know that Paul was alluding to a disgusting spectacle which was called “A Roman Triumph.” Those first followers of Christ would be able to visualize and contrast a very sad fact of their life with the wonderful present state of affairs of normal Christians which Paul was describing in verse fourteen.

Leading the victorious procession into the city would be a proud Roman general all decked out in his finest military garb. He would be standing in his chariot which was being pulled by beautiful white horses. Chained to the chariot and dragged behind its wheels were the conquered soldiers whose fate each man knew was about to be determined according to the whim of the general.

The captives were followed by the victorious Roman soldiers. Around the neck of each of them was a wreath of aromatic laurel leaves which had been conferred upon each man as a mark of high honor.

Those soldiers made up the rear of the procession known as “A Roman Triumph.” Multitudes of shouting spectators lined either side of the procession, eager to take everything in. The crowd cheered and went ecstatic over the appalling spectacle. They also screamed insults and derogatory epithets at the captives to add to their humiliation.

Paul was able to empathize with those once proud and zealous and perhaps even cocky, but now helpless pitiful men. The great apostle knew what it was like to be knocked off his high horse and have the wind taken out of his sails, so to speak. Paul knew what if felt like to become powerless and at the mercy of Someone infinitely superior to himself. One day he seized the opportunity to share his own personal experience with a group of people.

Acts 22:1-5 (AMP) ¹ BRETHREN AND fathers, listen to the defense which I now make in your presence. ² And when they heard that he addressed them in the Hebrew tongue, they were all the more quiet. And he continued, ³ I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but reared in this city. At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated according to the strictest care in the Law of our fathers, being ardent [even a zealot] for God, as all of you are today.

⁴ [Yes] I harassed (troubled, molested, and persecuted) this Way [of the Lord] to the death, putting in chains and committing to prison both men and women, ⁵ As the high priest and whole council of elders (Sanhedrin) can testify; for from them indeed I received letters with which I was on my way to the brethren in Damascus in order to take also those [believers] who were there, and bring them in chains to Jerusalem that they might be punished.

But Paul’s diabolically crazed plans were interrupted by the Sovereign Lord who works out everything in conformity with His perfect eternal plan.

Acts 22:6-11 (AMP) ⁶ But as I was on my journey and approached Damascus, about noon a great blaze of light flashed suddenly from heaven and shone about me. ⁷ And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me [harass and trouble and molest Me]? ⁸ And I replied, Who are You, Lord? And He said to me, I am Jesus the Nazarene, Whom you are persecuting.

⁹ Now the men who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear [the sound of the uttered words of] the voice of the One Who was speaking to me [so that they could understand it]. ¹⁰ And I asked, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord answered me, Get up and go into Damascus, and there it will be told you all that it is destined and appointed for you to do. ¹¹ And since I could not see because [of the dazzlingly glorious intensity] of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and [thus] I arrived in Damascus.

Although he didn’t fully realize it at the moment, Paul had just been taken captive by the Lord and became “a prisoner of Love.” And he explains how this played out in his life in that fourteenth verse in second Corinthians where he contrasts his former life of living in captivity and enslavement to the devil and sin which we just read about, to his present life of living in captivity as a slave to his Lord and Savior; a life dedicated, not only to Paul’s, but also the other early Christians sincere pursuit of holiness.

As I said earlier, the great apostle repeatedly spoke and wrote about his personal experiences, some of which as we just read, he was deeply ashamed of. He taught in this manner in order to help those Christians to clearly understand those spiritual truths the Lord wanted them to learn and then apply in their own lives. And he never hesitated to use his God given gift of imagination to drive those truths home as we are seeing this morning.

In so many words, Paul is acknowledging the fact that he once was a fierce enemy combatant of Jesus and His people. He knew he had once been satanically deceived into believing he was serving God. So much so, that his conscience never even bothered him anymore than it does today’s Islamic terrorists and suicide bombers. According to his perverted understanding of the divine law, Paul saw himself as being perfectly righteous and blameless in being such a zealous persecutor of the Christians (Philippians 3:6-7).

Paul once believed in his heart of hearts that he was a good person, but the Lord taught him and he learned that he had once been an enemy of the Prince of Peace and the Lord of Lords, just as every single non-Christian you and I know today is. All those good people in our lives; friends, neighbors, classmates, coworkers, nurses, auto mechanics, plumbers, and what have you, each in his or her own way, and to a greater or lesser degree, are satanically deceived unyielding enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In that fourteenth verse in Corinthians, Paul contrasted his and his fellow co-laborers attitude with that of the vanquished captives in a typical Roman Triumph. Those men hated being in that procession. They passionately hated the general and his solders. They wouldn’t hesitate to slit the throat of any of their captors if they believed they could get away with it. Needless to say, they despised their captors and would do anything to break free.

But Paul and the other Christians saw themselves as being “prisoners of Love.” In time they  each became eager to follow their divine Conqueror and to willingly participate in His triumphal procession. Those Christians did not see themselves as being objects of pity, but rather as men upon whom had been bestowed the utmost honor. Instead of cursing their Captor under their breath, they joined in joyful shouts of acclamation to Him.

Paul visualized all Christians as being chained to the chariot of the One who had overcome them; men and women, girls and boys, joyfully following in the Conqueror’s triumphal procession. Make no mistake about it; when Paul spoke to the people in Acts 22, he confessed to once being a brutal enemy of Jesus Christ; even to the point of being a zealous accomplice to the murder of some of Christ’s followers.

How about each of you folks? Were you once a fierce opponent of Christ and His people? Were you a proud self-centered know-it all such as me, a man who had to be overcome and humbled into submission to the King of all Kings? Perhaps not all of you, but I can assure you, and your own experience testifies to the truth of the fact that you also had to be overcome and strongly persuaded and constantly reminded to surrender your whole heart and will to Him to the point where you finally say” “Have your own way Lord, have Your own way. You are the Potter and I am the clay.”

In time, “prisoners of Love” become “conquering allies.” “To be triumphed over by Christ is to triumph with Christ.”[1] “This “submission and captivity is just another name for liberty. The man who is absolutely dependent upon Jesus Christ is absolutely independent of everything and everybody else including himself. That is to say, to be His slave is to be everybody else’s master, and when we bow ourselves to Him, and take upon ourselves the chain of glad obedience, and a life which is as deep as well as being a life of ongoing consecration to Him, then He breaks off all the other chains from our hands, and we won’t allow anyone else to share with Him in His possession of us because we will have finally become His servant.”

“If you are His servants then you are free from everything else, if you give yourself up to Jesus Christ. In the measure in which you give yourselves up to Him, you will be set at liberty from the worse of all slaveries, which is the slavery to your own will and your own weakness, and your own preferences and desires. You will be set at liberty from dependence upon men, and from being overly concerned about their opinion.”

“You will be set at liberty from dependence upon externals, from feeling that you can’t live unless you had this or that or another person or thing. You will be emancipated from fears and hopes which torture men who strike their roots no deeper than this visible film of time which floats upon the surface of the great, invisible abyss of Eternity. If you have Christ for your master, you will be the masters of the world and of time and sense and men and all besides; and so, being triumphed over by Him, you will share in His triumph.”[2]

Surrendering and submitting to the will of Christ is the gateway to true freedom. The extent of which you surrender your heart to His care and humbly submit your will to His Perfect will always produces a corresponding degree of freedom from every fear, anxiety and worry.

All human beings are marching towards Eternity at Christ’s chariot wheels whether they realize it or not. Included are those decent people, who for the most part, are productive members of society. They volunteer their time in hospitals and in soup kitchens. They serve their community in fine organizations such as Rotary and on the board’s of non-profits. They try to live by the Golden Rule; treating others the way they would want to be treated. However, of their own free will, they will not submit their heart’s and wills to the Lord Jesus Christ anymore than those suicide bombers will throughout eternity.

I urge each of you to make the time and seriously find out which group of captives you are in and traveling with as you approach eternity’s door. Are you accompanying all the whiners and bitterly angry people and the worry-warts, and what have you, each of whom hate the way the King of Kings is ruling His world, and who, unless they surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ, will be allowed to continue in that miserable state for all eternity? Or are you sincerely trying to follow Christ to the best of your ability as a trophy of His victory, and when you enter into eternity, are you certain it will be as one of The Triumphant Captives?

[2] Ibid; p. 302.