But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23, N.K.J.V.)

In March of 1799, the Austrian campaign of Napoleon’s French army was in full swing. One army of French forces was led by General Andre Massena, while Austria’s troops were led by General Franz Jellacic. It is from these days and these military maneuvers that an often-cited story comes.

As the story goes, on March 23rd, 1799, which was the eve of Easter that year, Napoleon’s troops, led by General Massena, were poised to take the town of Feldkirch. The town was located on the outskirts of Austria and was home to somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 citizens. Some accounts place the French troops camped atop the heights that surround Feldkirch. Other accounts place them camped six miles outside the town.

With their town seemingly without hope, the citizens of Feldkirch were desperate for a plan, and their town council convened a meeting that night to try to formulate one. Since everyone agreed that it was useless to fight the approximately 18,000 soldiers of Massena’s army, a suggested plan involved a delegate, carrying a flag of truce and the keys to the town, being sent to the French camp. The thinking was that perhaps a voluntary, total surrender might cause General Massena to show some degree of mercy by not killing the women, children, and elderly. If Massena was especially merciful, maybe even the town itself could be spared a complete looting.

That plan, however, was tabled when the town’s revered elderly priest said, “My brothers, this is Easter. Cannot God, who arose from the dead, protect us in our distress? Shall our first act in this calamity be to forsake him? Let us go to church as usual and trust God for the rest.” The members of the council, being devout Christians, chose to put the priest’s plan into action. As for what supposedly happened next, there are two versions of the story. I’ll give you both versions so that you can decide which one you favor. No matter which version you prefer, the story’s purported outcome remains the same.

According to one version, the next morning, Easter Sunday, the citizens flocked to their churches and the church sextons carried out the custom of ringing the church bells loud and long in celebration of Christ’s resurrection. The French army, not realizing the day was Easter Sunday, took the ringing of the bells to mean that the Austrian army had marched into Feldkirch during the night and the bells were being rung in celebration of it. Based upon this assessment, General Massena ordered a retreat and the town was saved.

But according to another version of the story, General Massena knew that it was Easter Sunday and in a ploy to make the citizens of Feldkirch believe he was sparing them in honor of the day, he withdrew his troops. As this version goes, the withdrawal was supposed to be a temporary one done as a way of getting the people of Feldkirch to abandon all their defenses so that a later attack would result in less French soldiers being killed. That plan failed, however, when the dawn of Easter Sunday revealed to the citizens that Massena’s troops had retreated. In celebration of what they believed to be a miracle of deliverance, the citizens then joyously rang the church bells, which in turn caused Massena to make the withdrawal permanent because he believed the bells were being rung to celebrate the arrival of the Austrian army to defend the town.

Now, did any of this actually happen? Well, I’m no expert, but historians do tell us that General Andre Massena was ordered by his superior, Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, to lead the French Army of Helvetia in an attack on the town of Feldkirch in late March of 1799. Furthermore, those historians tell us that after French defeats at the Battles of Ostrach and Stockach in those same days, the French military machine was forced to recoil and regroup. Perhaps, then, somewhere in all of that recoiling and regrouping, the old story of how the ringing of the church bells on Easter Sunday saved the town of Feldkirch really did take place. Admittedly, it’s kind of hard to believe that such a story could have sprung up for no good reason.

One thing is for sure: We Christians should let the bells of our praise ring out in celebration of the fact that Jesus is alive and has delivered us eternally from the forces of sin! Of all people on earth, we should feel the most joy and hope because even though we will surely be forced to live through some difficult times in this life, our everlasting victory is secure because of Christ’s resurrection. Not only will we get to spend eternity in perfect bliss with Him, we will get to spend it in a glorified body that is just like the one He has had since He arose from the dead that first Easter Sunday.

So, Christian, are you having difficulty this Easter season? Is your situation desperate? Then let the bells of your heart ring out loud in praise to Jesus! Remember that He lives and stands ready to help you not only in eternity but in your times of trouble here on earth (Psalm 46:1). Like those church bells of Feldkirch sending those French soldiers into confusion and retreat, your praise of Jesus in times that are dark and foreboding will send Satan’s soldiers into confusion and retreat. Remember, we don’t praise Jesus so that we can become victors; we praise Him from victory that we already have because in all things (even things that are truly awful) we are more than conquerors through Him (Romans 8:31-39). Happy Easter!