Four Bloody Battles

“Do we not remember that glorious hour when He carried our hearts by storm, when He placed His cross against the wall and scaled our ramparts, planting on our strongholds the blood-red flag of His omnipotent mercy? Yes, we are indeed the conquered captives of His omnipotent love.” – C.H. Spurgeon

On July 3, 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee ordered Lt. Gen. James Longstreet to lead an attack on the center of the Union forces stationed on Cemetery Ridge in Gettysburg PA. The Rebel troops had attacked the left and right flanks of the Union Army the previous two days and so, Lee predicted that Gen. George Meade would reinforce those areas while leaving his army’s center weakened.

Unfortunately for Lee, Meade anticipated his move and actually reinforced his middle. And so, when nine brigades with 12,500 men made the assault across almost a mile of open farmland, the Union soldiers were ready for them.

The Confederate forces under Gen. George Pickett and two others were repelled after reaching – and briefly crossing – the low stone wall at the top of Cemetery Hill. Called “Pickett’s Charge” and the “high water mark of the Confederacy,” Lee’s ill-advised attack resulted in a 50% casualty rate and forced the Rebels to retreat back into Maryland and Virginia… never to penetrate that far north again.

Conversely, almost 35 years later to the day, U.S. soldiers charged up San Juan Hill in Puerto Rico to win the decisive battle of the Spanish-American War. Led by Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, the victorious soldiers planted the American flag at the summit for all to see… just like they did on Iwo Jima in 1945 after a five-week battle that resulted in more than 40,000 casualties (25,000 American and 17,000 Japanese).

Three assaults – two resulting in hard-fought victories and one ending in bitter defeat – all of which remind us of how Jesus and the forces of good overwhelmed Satan and the forces of evil on a hill called Golgotha. There were just three casualties that day, the Lord Jesus Christ and two thieves, but our Savior’s glorious resurrection three days later proclaimed His victory over sin, death, and hell.

Praise God that He fought, bled, and died for us… and then planted His flag in our hearts and on our soul… so that we could share in His ultimate victory!

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 15:55-57 (NIV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President