According to the Greek legend, Helen of Troy was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was the wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. Paris, son of King Prian of Troy, persuaded Helen to flee with him to Troy. This, of course, infuriated Menelaus, and he commissioned his brother, Agamemnon, to lead an expedition to rescue Helen. This, according to the romantic legend, resulted in a protracted Trojan war by the Greeks. However, historically, there was probably a more pragmatic purpose. Troy was located on the strategic waterway between the Mediterranean and Black seas known as the Dardanelles, which the Greeks wanted to control.
The Greeks prepared for the siege of Troy for two years; they assembled over 1000 ships and 100,000 soldiers and sailed for Troy. But the Trojans were expecting them, and they had laid in vast quantities of provisions for a long siege; and a long siege it was. After nine years the Greeks were unable to scale the impenetrable walls. They appeared to give up, loaded their 100,000 troops onto their 1000 ships and sailed for home. However, before they left, a wily Greek named Odysseus constructed a huge wooden horse that would contain a hundred men and left it outside the gate. The Trojans thought that this was a gift, and despite the warning of a priest, Laocoon, not to trust Greeks bearing gifts, they towed the horse into the city. As the Trojans slept, the 100 men emerged from the horse, signaled the waiting ships to return, opened the gates, and soon thousands of Greeks streamed into the city, killed most of the inhabitants including Paris, and razed the city to a heap of ruins. Helen, whose pretty face had launched a thousand ships, returned to her husband in Sparta.
A modern counterpart is the story of the rescue of Jessica Lynch. Jessica was a member of a supply convoy for our troops in Iraq. The convoy was ambushed in the desert, and Jessica and the others in her outfit were captured by the enemy. Army intelligence heard that Jessica had been injured and was in a hospital behind enemy lines. A special mission was organized, and an extraction squad was dispatched to rescue her. At great personal risk they brought her out, and Jessica has subsequently become a national heroine.
Beautiful Helen may have launched a thousand ships for her rescue, and pretty little Jessica launched a daring rescue effort, but this pales in comparison with the glory of Jesus, whose divine face and teachings changed the world. He is the Desire of Ages, and millions have given their lives to Him in sacrificial service. God's faithful servants today labor for the privilege of someday seeing Jesus their Redeemer "face to face."
