It Is Written Script: 1254 Gettysburg and the Universal Battle Page 1 Gettysburg and the Universal Battle Program No. 1254 SPEAKER: JOHN BRADSHAW This is Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, known the world over for the Battle of Gettysburg and for President Abraham Lincoln s Gettysburg address. In 1863, it was a town with a population of 2,400, and in 1863, the Civil War was two years old. (The American Civil War went from 1861 to 1865.) The Confederacy was made up of 11 different states: Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, the Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee while 25 states, depending on how you count, made up the Union. There were more than 3 million soldiers involved in the Civil War. Two and a half million on the side of the Union, and 1.2 million on the side of the Confederacy. It was a massive, massive war. And what took place right here in Gettysburg was the turning point for the entire American Civil War. Academics and historians have been discussing the Battle of Gettysburg and the Civil War since both of them ended. But what took place here at Gettysburg goes way beyond academics and history. The truth is, there are some very important spiritual lessons that can be learned here lessons that help us understand the great spiritual battle that all of us are involved in. The patch of earth right here is known as Cemetery Ridge. Cemetery Ridge was the site of a very, very significant battle. It was known as Pickett s Charge. Gettysburg was the high watermark for the Confederacy. This was the furthest into Union territory that the Confederacy ever got. If you look at a map, we re well north of Washington, DC. In fact, the Battle of Gettysburg was the only battle that took place north of the Mason-Dixon line. Pickett s Charge occurred on the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg. It was July 3, 1863. Major General George Pickett was one of three Confederate generals who led the assault. General Robert E. Lee ordered the attack against Major General George G. Meade s Union position along this ridge. General Lee was determined to take down the Union army, especially after attacks on both of their flanks had failed in the previous days. But the Union soldiers were ready. Thousands of Union soldiers aimed 122 cannon or cannons into that field
It Is Written Script: 1254 Gettysburg and the Universal Battle Page 2 right there. The Confederacy matched them with 152 cannon of their own. At 1 p.m., the fighting began. Those 274 cannon began firing simultaneously. It is said that the resulting cacophony was so loud that the noise could be heard 84 miles away in Washington, DC. Someone once said that this was most likely the loudest manmade noise ever made in the history of the world up to that time. Pickett s Charge was only the beginning. Once the Confederates, who were out there, thought that the Union lines back here had been softened up, 12,500 of their soldiers began to march across that open space from there to here. It s a stretch of one mile. Yet they were only able to make it threequarters of the way before they had to head back. They walked across this open space right into a blizzard of heavy cannon fire. In fact, in three-quarters of an hour, the Confederacy lost more than 50 percent of their men. Some of the Confederates were able to breach this low stonewall that shielded the Union defenders, but they were not able to maintain their position and they were forced to retreat. Years later, when he was asked why his charge at Gettysburg failed, General Pickett replied by saying, I ve always thought the Yankees had something to do with it. There are many debates as to why this battle here actually even took place at all. Some say the objective was to gain control of the tops of trees over there behind me. Others say the objective was to get to Ziegler s Grove over there on Cemetery Hill. Perhaps we will never know. Other questions are asked as well, questions such as, Why did the Civil War itself even take place? Was it a question of states rights? Was it about federal tariffs? Was it labor laws and slavery? Maybe we ll never know. Even the name Civil War has been questioned and disputed down through the years. I ve got a question for you. Whose side was God on in the Civil War? The Bible does help us understand that and the answer may surprise you. And what about the original Civil War that took place long before Gettysburg was even thought of? We ll talk about that in just a moment. EVERY WORD DEVOTIONAL Have you ever noticed how songs get stuck in your mind? And sometimes you can t get rid of them no matter how hard you try. There are times I ll hear a song I haven t heard in 30 years and I can still remember every word, every key change, every harmony, as though I d been studying the song the day before. God understood this, which is why He said in 1 Chronicles 16:9: Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works!
It Is Written Script: 1254 Gettysburg and the Universal Battle Page 3 Here s something that will help you get God s Word into your mind: if you ll sing hymns or songs of praise, or learn Scripture songs that s Bible verses put to music they ll stay in your mind and you ll never forget them. If you ve filled your mind with the songs of the world, you ll be blessed if you reprogram your mind with the songs of God. Let the power of music work for you. RETURN TO PROGRAM The American Civil War. North against the South. I m in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the site of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. I m in a place that is known as Devil s Den. It saw a lot of action on July 2, 1863. It changed hands a couple of times, but by the end of the day, it was a Confederate stronghold. A lot of people died here. Just over there is an area that is known as the Slaughter Pen. I will leave it to you to figure out why it was called the Slaughter Pen. More than 700,000 soldiers died during the American Civil War. America had more casualties, lost more soldiers, in that one great conflict than in all wars from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War combined. The reason is quite obvious. That s because during the American Civil War, everybody who died was an American. And you know, with so much bloodshed, people have asked from time to time, Whose side was God on? Now don t worry. I m not going to get into any sticky political territory. Instead, I am going to get into the Bible. This reminds me of a Bible story you read about in the book of Joshua. God s people had been brought out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land finally after 40 years of wandering. But now that they have come to the Promised Land, they find that the Promised Land is filled with the enemy. So God commands them to consecrate themselves, and He leads them down to the walls of the city of Jericho. And as they are marching down to the walls surrounding the city of Jericho, something really strange takes place. And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, Are You for us or for our adversaries? (Joshua 5:13) Now think about this. Joshua was very close to God, and just a couple of chapters before this took place, God had said this to Joshua: This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. (Joshua 3:7) Now, Joshua likely knew that the Being on the road was a divine Being. Joshua was well acquainted with God. You know that Joshua was with the Israelites when they
It Is Written Script: 1254 Gettysburg and the Universal Battle Page 4 left Egypt on their way to the Promised Land. Joshua had wandered through the wilderness for four decades with the children of Israel and he had seen God work. Think about what he saw. He was a witness when God sent the 10 plagues in Egypt. He was there when God split the Red Sea wide open so the Israelites could evacuate Egypt. Joshua saw what God had done. While in the wilderness wanderings, Joshua ate the manna that God had sent, the manna that carpeted the ground. Joshua gathered it up with his bare hands and ate it himself, knowing that this blessing had come from God. He saw the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of cloud by day. He was acquainted with God. He says to this Being, Whose side are you on? Are you with us or are you with our enemy? And he got a very surprising answer. I mean, I would expect that a divine Being, a heavenly Being, would say plainly and simply, I m on your side. I m with the children of Israel. You certainly would not expect them to say, I m with your enemies. What did God say? Did God say, Joshua, I m with you. You re my man and I m with you and my people? God didn t say that at all. Here s what God said God said neither. I m with neither of you. So He said, No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped, and said to Him, What does my Lord say to His servant? (Joshua 5:14) Now, this is Joshua we re talking about the one who was chosen by God to lead God s people. If God was going to be on anybody s side at all, you d think that He would be on Joshua s side. So what was going on here? Had Joshua done something wrong? Had God s people slipped into apostasy again? Well no, as a matter of fact, they had recently reconsecrated themselves to God and they built an altar. You ve got to look at the big picture. There s a big picture to view when considering this passage a couple of things to consider, and one of them is this: God is on His own side. God is committed to His mission of saving all men and women redeeming the world and bringing them to Himself through Jesus. That s what God is all about. John 3:16 says: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
It Is Written Script: 1254 Gettysburg and the Universal Battle Page 5 And it says in Ephesians 1:11, 12: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. Abraham Lincoln recognized this, and that s why he included these words in his writings. In Meditation on the Divine Will, he wrote: The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party; and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. And in his second inaugural address, he said: Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh! That isn t to suggest that God was indifferent to the Battle of Gettysburg. Far from it. God is always on the side of truth and justice and liberty. God is on the side of lifting up men and women, of ennobling people, and giving them the opportunity to live whole lives. But whereas we see the small picture Gettysburg, Bull Run, Manassas God sees the big picture. And it s when we look beyond Gettysburg and we see the big picture that we see the war behind all wars. We see the original Civil War. We see the universal battle that all of us are involved in. This is Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It s an almost sacred place, the sight of the Battle of Gettysburg. During the Battle of Gettysburg, both the Union side and the Confederate side suffered about the same amount of casualties. About 23,000 per side. There were 3,000 deaths suffered by the Union a little more than 3,000 and a little less than 5,000 deaths suffered by the Confederacy. The Civil War often even split families, split communities. It was not uncommon to have a brother on one side be it Union or Confederate fighting against his own literal blood brother on the other side. Before he became the president, Abraham Lincoln described the United States as a house divided, using words that came straight from the lips of Jesus words Lincoln borrowed from the Gospels.
It Is Written Script: 1254 Gettysburg and the Universal Battle Page 6 Abraham Lincoln understood this concept from first-hand experience. His own brother-in-law was a Confederate general who lost his life shortly after Gettysburg at the battle of Chickamauga just outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee. What about a conflict that not only divided communities or divided a nation what about a conflict that would divide Heaven? It seems hard to imagine, doesn t it? But doesn t it also seem hard to imagine, thinking back, Americans taking up arms against Americans and fighting to the death? Just seems so unlikely. Even the leaders many of them on the Confederate side, the Union side some of them were friends, and many of them were educated together at the same military schools. Seems hard to fathom now. But just as hard to fathom as that is this concept of a war that divides Heaven, a conflict that divides Heaven. And here is what the Bible says about that in Revelation 12, verse 7. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. (Revelation 12:7, 8) There was a conflict so dramatic that a third of the angels were evicted from Heaven. Why in the world would that take place? Well, to find out that, we look in the book of Isaiah. How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. (Isaiah 14:12-14) For reasons that I don t think we can adequately comprehend, Satan decided that he wanted to sit in God s place. Actually, Lucifer before he was Satan had these ideas that he would sit in God s place. He wanted to receive the honor that only God was due. He wanted to receive the homage that God was getting. Simply put, Satan wanted to receive worship. He wasn t able to get that worship in Heaven until he was cast down here to the earth. But before he was cast down to the earth, Satan went on a campaign in Heaven like a good politician, to win the angels of Heaven, as many as he could, over to his side. Now, there are times that it really makes me wonder why even a single angel would have entertained Lucifer s chicanery. Lucifer had to be campaigning against and complaining about God. Why would even one perfect angel in Heaven listen? It just doesn t even make sense.
It Is Written Script: 1254 Gettysburg and the Universal Battle Page 7 But perhaps there was something mysterious about sin, something that wasn t very well understood that caused the angels to stop and consider and listen and give Lucifer a little more of their time than they otherwise would have. And perhaps think about this perhaps Lucifer was just a good campaigner. Perhaps he knew how to speak and phrase and frame things in such a way that certain angels said, Well, maybe he s got a point. I mean, let s think about this. We think of Nazi Germany. There were multiplied thousands of Germans who listened to Adolf Hitler with rapt attention. They were swept along in the hysteria that he generated. We say, How in the world could that have happened? But many people living today look back and say, I understand only too well how that could have happened. Perhaps it was a little bit like that with Satan. Thousands died here at Gettysburg, and the many cemeteries mark the final resting place of many of them. It was in November of 1863 that President Lincoln came here to Gettysburg and delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery the Gettysburg Address. Now, what s interesting is that many people don t realize that Abraham Lincoln wasn t even the featured speaker that day. The one who gave the keynote speech was a man named Edward Everett. Everett had been the secretary of state for the United States. He had been the governor of the state of Massachusetts. Everett had been the president of Harvard University and he was a renowned orator. When he spoke that day, his speech lasted more than two hours. But today, virtually nobody remembers anything that Edward Everett said. By contrast, the Gettysburg Address lasted just a little over two minutes, and it s made up of 10 sentences. And it was in the Gettysburg Address that Abraham Lincoln said these words: It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. In looking forward to the last great conflict soon to come to this world, perhaps we can look back and think of those who gave everything to advance the cause of Christ, the cause of truth, and the cause of the Bible. Perhaps we can think back to that original rebellion, that original Civil War, the one that took place in Heaven. And we can remember that when the universe was split in two, Jesus did everything He could to bring it back together.
It Is Written Script: 1254 Gettysburg and the Universal Battle Page 8 When Jesus had rebels on his hands, He willingly came to the battlefield called earth and gave his life so that the rebels might have life. Jesus died for you, friend, so that in place of rebellion, you could be in harmony with Him. In place of guilt, you could experience forgiveness. In place of shame, you could have no shame. In place of tyranny, there would be liberty. In place of sin, Jesus would give you salvation. Would you accept that from Jesus today? Jesus, who crossed that vast field between Heaven and earth and came down here and gave His life, dying on the battlefield, so that we need not remain on the battlefield, but that we can enjoy everlasting life in the presence of Jesus. Would you like that? Would you choose that and accept that today from Him? Let me pray for you. PRAYER Our Father in Heaven, we thank you today for Jesus, the Freedom-Giver. We thank you for Jesus, the Liberator. We thank you for Jesus, who when He had a group of rebels on His hands, came to this earth to give life in the place of death. Father, we accept that today. I pray for everyone hearing the sound of my voice and saying: Yes, I will choose freedom in Jesus. I will choose life in Jesus. Thank you for giving life in the place of death and freedom in the place of slavery, and joy in the place of sorrow, and everlasting life. We thank you for that today and we pray in Jesus name, Amen. It Is Written Box O Thousand Oaks, CA 91359 USA Tel: (805) 433-0210 Fax: (805) 433-0218 www.itiswritten.com