Victory at Christmas

On Christmas morning 1776, General George Washington and Colonel John Glover dealt a stunning defeat to the enemy Hessian troops in Trenton New Jersey.  One could hardly have conceived a better Christmas gift for the fledgling United States of America.

The troops camped on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River that morning had very little to celebrate.  They had been through several months of a grueling series of defeats in the American Revolution.  There was no Christmas cheer in Washington’s camp; only gloom and despair.

Washington devised a plan for attacking the town of Trenton, across the Delaware, where the mercenary Hessian troops were situated under the command of Colonel John Rall.  On Christmas Eve, Dr. Benjamin Rush, a Continental “surgeon” saw Washington writing short notes on several scraps of paper. He might have concluded that the General was sending Christmas notes to members of his military “family”.  This may have seemed even more likely when he called a messenger to deliver the slips to his staff. Dr. Rush noticed one of the slips of paper fall to the floor. When he picked it up and read it, there was no Christmas cheer. Instead it was a stark statement appropriate to the starkness of their situation.  “Victory or Death!”  This was the password for the day as Washington’s plan was to unfold.

Washington and his staff had planned this assault very carefully. They had very good intelligence from a small network of spies (they even knew that Col. Rall usually slept until 9am). It was to be a three pronged attack involving the crossing of the Delaware by three separate contingents of men, totaling 5000 in all, in three different places over a 12 mile stretch of the river.

It had been very cold and ice had already begun to form on the river. Yet, in the previous few days, a premature thaw had loosened great chunks of ice and sent them hurtling downstream. This was a disaster on a night when timing was so critical to the plan’s success. The worst blow was that the ice was so bad in two of the three locations that crossing was impossible.  It was a Christmas nightmare. They were hours behind but Col. John Glover’s Marblehead mariners showed their character and skill by bringing Washington’s contingent across the river under the extreme circumstances, without any loss of life.  The rest of the grueling march in a mixture of snow sleet and rain finally ended with an all out assault of the Hessian positions in Trenton. Even without two thirds of the attacking force, these Continental Soldiers gave a priceless Christmas gift to their Commander and the rest of the new nation.  The “Spirit of 76”, indeed its very life was rescued in the Battle of Trenton that began on Christmas Day in 1776.

1776 years previous to that, another crossing was made as a Divine plan began to unfold.  The password for that plan was also reflective of the direness of the situation: “Victory by Death!”  The human race had very little in which to rejoice.  Darkness, defeat and despair overshadowed them and the whole world lay in the power of the evil one.  Some hoped for the promised Messiah but for so many years their hopes had been unfulfilled and they lived in fear under the cruel repression of Rome. 

Oh come, Oh come, Emmanuel,  To free your captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice, rejoice, Oh Israel. To you shall come Emmanuel

Oh come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free; Thine own from Satan’s tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save, And give them victory o’er the grave
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, Shall come to thee, Oh Israel

Oh come, Thou Day-Spring, Come and cheer Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night And death’s dark shadows put to flight
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, Shall come to thee, Oh Israel

Oh come, Thou Key of David, come, And open wide our heavenly home
Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, Shall come to thee, Oh Israel

But there in the dark stillness of Bethlehem, Jesus laid aside His glory in heaven and crossed over into the form of a human child.  From that beachhead, He assaulted the forces of Hell and all their fury, winning the decisive victory by his death on Calvary’s Cross … Victory by Death!  God’s gift of Christ on that first Christmas, and Christ’s resulting victory on the cross of Calvary was a priceless gift to the world … to you and me.  Our lives … our eternal souls … were rescued by the battle that began at Bethlehem at Christmas and ended at Calvary 33 years later.

A grateful nation expressed their confidence in and gratitude toward George Washington by electing him to have the honor of being the first President of this nation.  Accordingly, a grateful people will express their confidence in and gratitude toward Jesus Christ by trusting him as their personal Savior!