The Bloodiest Day
How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? ––Hebrews 9:14 ESV
Every century and civilization has seen the blood of men and women spilled in wars and conquests. According to most military historians, the Battle of Stalingrad is the bloodiest battle in the history of the world. Military author Michael Clodfelter notes that between August 23, 1942 and February 2, 1943, Stalingrad led to 633,000 battle deaths. However, this does not include deaths sustained by Italian, Romanian, and Hungarian troops on the flanks of the battlefront. (And civilian deaths are counted separately—if added in, the Siege of Stalingrad led to more than 1.2 million dead and wounded.)
In the Bible, two battles stand out as particularly bloody. During Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem, 185,000 Assyrian soldiers died (see 2 Kings 18-19). But the bloodiest biblical battle is described in 2 Chronicles 13, when the usurper Jeroboam led Israel against Judah at the Battle of Mount Zemaraim. Jeroboam was routed and 500,000 Israelites died that day.
Those days—and all the other bloody days of deadly war from the beginning of time until today—don’t compare, however, to one particular day of bloodshed. On that day, billions of men bled, and billions died. That day was the day the Romans crucified Jesus. On that day, the blood on your hands from all the sins you’d ever committed, and all the sins you’d ever commit, was taken on by one Man. Your death by the hand of your sin was, itself, put to death.
Jesus fought the devil Himself and prevailed—the most cunning and deadly enemy the world has ever seen. Christ’s victory is not of a battle, either, but of a war. The war is already won, though the adversary has not yet seen his assured end. That’s the best news any of us could hope for.
Meanwhile, though we know we fight for the winning side, we still fight. Until that day when He returns, we put on our spiritual armor every day (Ephesians 6). But our position—as with any army that knows that it’s only a matter of time before the enemy is completely defeated—is that of victors. So be encouraged today.
Father, thank you that you’ve spilled all the blood that ever needs to be spilled to win the Great War against Satan. I’m forever grateful.
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“The 10 Deadliest Battles in History” by Greg Allwood, Forces News, July 13, 2022.