The Great War

During the First Battle of Bull Run in the American Civil War, citizens from Washington, D.C., were so confident that the Northern army would win effortlessly that they brought picnic baskets and watched the fighting from a nearby hill. It was the first major battle in the American Civil War. The Confederate Army had 9,000 troops camped in Manassas, Virginia, just 26 miles outside the nation’s capital. With 30,000 Union troops at his disposal, General Irvin McDowell devised a plan to push the Confederate Army back. An easy victory was anticipated by all.

So Washingtonians, confident of the Union Army’s superior strength, flocked by the hundreds to a hill outside the capital to watch the presumed victory. Many brought picnic baskets with bread and wine and peered through opera glasses to get a closer look at the battlefield. One woman was overheard saying, “That is splendid! Oh, my! Is not that first-rate? I guess we will be in Richmond this time tomorrow.”

By 4:30 in the afternoon, the telegrapher in Washington spread the news that the Union Army had achieved a glorious victory. All were relieved.

But it was premature. In a sudden turn of events, the tide mysteriously changed and the Confederate Army pushed back. By late afternoon, galvanized by the determination of General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (who received his nickname as a result of the battle), the Confederates overtook the exhausted Union Army and completely turned them back. It was the bloodiest battle in United States history to that point, and it alerted both sides to the reality that the Civil War would not be a short affair.

Jesus wisely proclaimed that “if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:25). Yet the universe has been at war for thousands of years—ever since Lucifer rebelled in heaven. The battle has been long. There have been many casualties. But we are not simply bystanders, watching from a distant hill. We are key players, invited by God to lovingly “fight” on His behalf.

Key Bible Texts

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12 KJV)