Constantine's labarum. ChRistos Chi Rho (wikimedia)
The border to the Kingdom of God is baptism. Constantine did not get baptism before he was on his death bed. There may have been a calculated reason to this: to be sure, that all the many sins he had done during his lifetime would truly be forgiven by God. I am not sure if this explanation is true as it is quite silly and shows no understanding of the real meaning of baptism.
Jesus Christ was knocking the door of Constantine's heart but this was not enough in this cold world. The Ruler of this world, Satan, had a strong grip on the rulers of the Roman Empire as we see in the cases of, for example, Gestus, Valerian, Maximian and especially Diocletian the Persecutor. And this was not just spiritual war but physical destruction of the body of Christ, those who through faith were citizens in Civitate Dei.
But how on earth could the resurrected Jesus join such a battle of armies? Is He not seated on the Throne on the right side of Father from where He will be coming (future) to judge the world?
Yes, He is sitting on the Throne of Glory. It is not located somewhere over the rainbow but in the heart of our existence. Secret and much closer to us than we imagine.
Sol invictus
In the following majestic way Jesus the Warrior led His invisible Kingdom to one of its greatest victories over the hostile Empire of Rome. (Let us not forget those Roman soldiers who were put in charge of executing this rebel with common criminals or the fifth prefect of Judea, Pontius Pilate (26-36), who gave them the order to do their grim job. It took only 300 years for the Empire to kneel in front of the Crucified.)
Late Roman emperors had a new favorite god, Sol invictus, the Invincible Sun.
It is remarkable that we can read Emperor Julian's Oration to the sovereign Sun. This is a rare authentic document about Sun worship written by a true Roman, a handsome macho soldier who was sworn enemy of Christ the Galilean and His meek followers to whom his mother believed ad nauseam. For Julian, Sol invictus represented deep wisdom and truth, light from the sun in the darkness of human existence. For us, his Oration is rather incomprehensible mumbling with no head or tail.
The cult is important because Sun was the favorite God of Helena's son, Constantine. During his rule we are still in pagan Rome and he also minted coins to the glory of Sol invictus.
With a master stroke, Jesus the Warrior hit Constantine at the heart of his heart. Through the sun, his favorite god!
The setting for the battle
Ponto Milvian today (ref)
The crucial battle of Milvian Bridge October 28, 312 was at hand. Constantine was facing the fearsome army of Maxentius. Wikipedia has a vivid description of the situation:
"Constantine reached Rome at the end of October 312 approaching along the Via Flaminia. He camped at the location of Malborghetto near Prima Porta, where remains of a Constantinian monument in honour of the occasion are still extant. It was expected that Maxentius would remain within Rome and endure a siege, as he already had successfully employed this strategy during the invasions of Severus and Galerius. He had already brought large amounts of food to the city in preparation. Surprisingly, he decided otherwise and met Constantine in open battle. Ancient sources about the event attribute this decision either to divine intervention (e.g., Lactantius, Eusebius) or superstition (e.g., Zosimus). They also note that the day of the battle was the same as the day of his accession (28 October), which was generally thought to be a good omen. Lactantius also reports that the populace supported Constantine with acclamations during circus games, although the reliability of his account is not clear."
"Maxentius chose to make his stand in front of the Milvian Bridge, a stone bridge that carries the Via Flaminia road across the Tiber River into Rome (the bridge stands today at the same site, somewhat remodelled, named in Italian Ponte Milvio or sometimes Ponte Molle, soft bridge). Holding it was crucial if Maxentius was to keep his rival out of Rome, where the Senate would surely favour whoever held the city. As Maxentius had probably partially destroyed the bridge during his preparations for a siege, he had a wooden or pontoon bridge constructed to get his army across the river. The sources vary as to the nature of the bridge central to the events of the battle. Zosimus mentions it, vaguely, as being a wooden construction while others specify that it was a pontoon bridge; sources are also unclear as to whether the bridge was deliberately constructed as a collapsible trap for Constantine's forces or not."
(Wikipedia)
Maxentius had clear superiority in the size of his army and in choosing the positions and deciding on the attack.
The vision in Sun - Sol invictus
Wikipedia has detailed discussion on what happened on 27th of October, the evening before the crucial battle:
"In his later Life of Constantine, Eusebius gives a detailed account of a vision and stresses that he had heard the story from the emperor himself. According to this version, Constantine with his army was marching (Eusebius does not specify the actual location of the event, but it clearly is not in the camp at Rome), when he looked up to the sun and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words "Εν Τούτῳ Νίκα", En toutō níka, usually translated into Latin as "in hoc signo vinces," both phrases have the literal meaning "In this sign,[you shall] conquer;" a more free translation would be "Through this sign [you shall] conquer". At first he was unsure of the meaning of the apparition, but in the following night he had a dream in which Christ explained to him that he should use the sign against his enemies. Eusebius then continues to describe the labarum, the military standard used by Constantine in his later wars against Licinius, showing the Chi-Rho sign."
(Wikipedia)
The Son of God gave Constantine a sign exactly there where the man was looking - in the sun he worshiped despite of his mother's prayers.
Constantine's coin with labarum (wikimedia)
After the battle of Milvian Bridge we start to see the labarum in Constantine's coins!
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