History records many military feats in which an army initiated a charge in a desperate attempt to defeat its enemy. Well-known is Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” written in 1854 after the United Kingdom had suffered great casualties in the Battle of Balaclava. He recalled an article published in The Times … “The British soldier will do his duty, even to certain death, and is not paralyzed by the feeling that he is the victim of some hideous blunder,” the last three words of which provided the inspiration for his phrase “Someone had blunder’d.” 

The Scriptures graphically records Satan’s desperate efforts to thwart Christ from going to the Cross and bearing the sins of every individual.  If the Cross were to occur, Satan would lose his hold on the human race through sin and man would gain relationship with God through faith in the Person and Work of Christ on the Cross. 

Paul described man’s spiritual condition … “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned for before the law was given, sin was in the world” (Rom 5:12 NIV).

“But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man [Adam], how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many” (Rom 5:15-16 NIV)!

Satan, knowing that … “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning” (John 1:1 NIV) and that … “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14a NIV) for the purpose of bearing the sin debt of mankind to a righteous God, initiated one final assault against the humanity of Christ in hopes of preventing the Cross from becoming a reality.  Having failed in repeated attempts to have this Person called Jesus killed during his earthly ministry, the Adversary had one last week to eliminate the One who said … “when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32 NIV). 

Thus, began the “Charge of the Satanic Brigade.” Demonic influence found fertile ground in Israel’s religious leadership. Their hold on the people through perfunctory rituals, devoid of any teaching concerning their spiritual meaning, was being threatened by One who claimed … “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him” (John 14:6-7 NIV). 

His betrayal by Judas Iscariot, a pretender of the faith, and false accusations by the religious hierarchy resulted in six court trials in one night, all in violation of Jewish and Roman law. Though knowing that he was innocent of all charges but … “wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him.  And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him” (Mark 15:15-20 NIV).  Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, had survived Satan’s brutal injuries of that night. Surely, his crucifixion would end it all. But did it? Jesus said … “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19 NIV).

Harry Martinez, a resident of Albany, is a retired minister who served a nondenominational congregation in Florida. His weekly column appears in several South Georgia newspapers.