300

Gerard Butler. Know him? He was the actor who portrayed, Hollywood style, the ancient king of Sparta, Leonidas, during the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. I just saw this movie, titled ‘300’, for the second time and a few thoughts came to mind I would like to share.

Gerard Butler could just as well be me, or one of you guys reading this. Names history will probably not remember. However, history does recall Leonidas and his famous battle against the Persian king, Xerxes I, so many years ago. If you have not seen this somewhat gory movie, 300, I would recommend it for its messages about unity, strength and leadership. Although probably much fantasized to sell on the big screen, the story behind the production is true. Leonidas took 300 Spartan men, men who had children to carry on their name who were left behind in Sparta, to fight a battle to the death against the advancing horde of Persians. Other Greeks joined him until he had a force of about 7000 to face hundreds of thousands of Xerxes’ ‘soldiers’. History (and Hollywood) records the fateful mission as Leonidas and his small band killed over 20,000 of the enemy, but died in the battle. Supposedly, according to history and the movie, Leonidas was purported to have uttered words which have been used several times after him in history, when one of Xerxes’ Generals said “Spartans, lay down your weapons.” Leonidas said “Come and get them.”

Another similar mission comes to mind. The book of Judges, chapter 7, also records a great battle with 300 men. This time, however, a man named Gideon was their leader. A great battle was fought, this time not by 300 Greeks, but by 300 Israelites. Now would be a good time for you to pause and read this chapter…then return to this lesson.

God devised a plan so clever that 300 were able to easily defeat a force so large that it covered the valley in which they were preparing for battle “thick as locusts” (v12). To show that God is in control, He weeded out the large number of men in Gideon’s force to only 300 to face ‘hundreds of thousands’. The battle was not long, because God ran the show. Gideon lived to fight several more battles, unlike Leonidas. Although the Spartan king was brave, and had excellently trained warriors, he was no match for the overwhelming force against him.

I want to liken us, each one of us, as a Gideon or a Leonidas. We need to come up with 300 ‘qualities’ with which we can fight our battles against satan. Qualities such as: knowledge of God’s Word, stamina, will power, humbleness, love, patience, hope, trust, perseverance, righteousness, and so forth. Can you add to this list to come up with 300? Another might be just being part of a group, practicing unity. We need to gather our spears and shields and put on this ‘full armor of God’ if we are to face this massive enemy of ours. And once we have done this, we need to pray to God so that HE is leading our fight. Gideon talked with God and succeeded. Leonidas consulted ‘gods’, as well, which he ignored. The oracle had foretold his failure, saying that prophesy had been make that said a Spartan king must die for the salvation of Sparta. OUR King has also died for the salvation of the world. We need not ignore our God, but rather obey His commands as we attempt to upfit our armor with 300 qualities for fighting our enemy.

Selios, one of Leonidas’ men was quoted (for the movie anyway) as saying “Then we will fight in the shade”, when a Persian told him that their arrows would blot out the sun. We too, can ‘fight in the shade’, that is, the shade provided over us by Jesus. 300 ain’t much, men or qualities, but when coupled with the force of God, it is all that is needed. Although our names, like Gerard Butler, will probably never be recorded in history books for winning huge battles, they ARE written in God’s book each time we win battles with Him against satan.