Lessons from Gettysburg

This week I had the privilege of returning to Gettysburg National Military Park, the site of the famous Battle of Gettysburg that took place on July 1-3, 1863. There is something solemn and sacred about being on the very grounds where 51,000 Americans were killed and wounded in just three days, by far the bloodiest spot on U.S. soil. It is hard to believe this took place just 148 years ago.

As I walked the grounds, toured the museum, stood silent in the cemetery, reflected on the war itself, read inscriptions on monuments, and just contemplated what took place on this small piece of land, my mind was filled with a variety of thoughts and emotions.

It is difficult for us in the 21st century to imagine our nation so divided that we would war with one another. Though the Civil War was a dark time in America, through it came the unity we now enjoy as the UNITED STATES of AMERICA! As a native southerner, I must say I am glad the south “lost the war,” for in God’s sovereign work, this resulted in the end to that terrible blight called slavery.

At one point in my day, I walked the slope up “Little Round Top,” where Chamberlain’s soldiers held their ground against a bastion of soldiers from Alabama. I caught the smell of sweat honeysuckle in the air that was once filled with the stench of death. My afternoon included a mixture of rain and sun, almost representative of how a storm is often needed to bring the sunlight of hope.

It seems that often it takes the negative to produce the positive, death to give life, and pain to yield gain. By far the greatest lesson in this war, as is true of all wars, is that it usually takes the sacrifice of death to win victory. Blood must be shed to bring lasting freedom. The few must sacrifice for the benefit of the many.

Our tour guide mentioned that the Georgia monument had the best quote of all: “When duty called, we came; when country called, we died.”

Just before I left, I visited the cemetery: row after row of buried soldiers, many just listed by a number. I couldn’t help but notice the many crosses on the graves. How fitting—Jesus gave His life, shed His blood, and sacrificed Himself so that we might be free from sin, death, and Satan. When Jesus breathed His last on that cruel and vicious cross, He said, “It is finished.” Paid in full—the sacrifice of the One for the many; the pouring out of His blood in battle, that we might be free.

But there still rages a Civil War within us—that battle with the flesh, the world, and the Devil. We fight this battle every day. However, the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but divinely powerful for the destruction of strongholds. We take every thought captive and make it obey Christ. Following Christ sometimes takes the same courage those soldiers displayed at Gettysburg.

As we die to self, we live for Christ. As we say “no” to temptations, we say “yes” to the One who gave His all for us.

So once again, God has powerful lessons for us from history. After all, history is really His Story! The physical, natural and humanly is designed to point us to the spiritual, supernatural, and divine.


Lyrics to Battle Hymn of the Republic by Julia Ward Howe
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.
(Chorus)
I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on."
(Chorus)

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
(Chorus)

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
(Chorus)

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Our God is marching on.