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July 13, 2015One of my favorite scenes from Peter Jackson’s production of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King occurs when Theoden, King of Rohan, has gathered the armies of men in an attempt to subdue the evil forces of orcs, trolls, and Uruk-hai in order to save the besieged city and the human race. In his speech to his men before the charge, he has some very ominous words:“Arise! Arise, Riders of Theoden!Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered!A sword day... a red day... ere the sun rises!Ride now!... Ride now!... Ride!Ride to ruin and the world's ending!”
Then comes this battle cry: "Death! Death! Death!”What a terrible disheartening battle cry this seems to be! Who would possibly want to ride into battle with such an unclear claim to victory.These men, however, would rather die than to allow evil to have a foothold in their world. They would rather die than to allow evil to plague every human person. Though overwhelmingly outnumbered, the men triumph! With great fortitude and courage, they entered the battle on behalf of humankind everywhere. Led by their king, the watched as the armies of evil fled before them, terrified.We ought to be the same as these men, for our King shouts the same battle cry: "Death!" Jesus chose to take on our humanity and die a human death in order to destroy the power of evil. Because our King has already led the charge and won the victory, we, too, should rather die to sin and evil in ourselves, than to allow it any foothold in our lives. We ought to show our allegiance to our King and our brothers and sisters desiring to die to our own selfish desires and even lay down our lives in the face of evil in order that we all might be free.
Death! to sin, living as Christ commands us.
Death! to selfish desires, living for our brothers and sisters.
Death! to evil, living as examples of truth and goodness.
In this way, whenever death comes for us, we will have the promise of sharing in the eternal rewards already guaranteed by our King. ; for, although his battle cry is "Death!", His victory chant is "Arise! Arise! ARISE!" As God, Jesus has power over the grave. As He rose on the third day, so has He promised to raise us up "on the Last Day" and make our mortal bodies like His immortal body, so that we might be with Him forever.