An Amazing Fact: In 1862, following a Civil War battle near Harrison’s Landing, Virginia, during the night, Union Captain Robert Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the field. Not knowing if the man was a Union or Confederate soldier, Captain Ellicombe decided to risk his life to bring the stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach below the gunfire, the captain reached the wounded soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment.


When the captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was a Confederate soldier. But the soldier was dead. The captain lit a lantern. He went numb with shock. In the dim light, he recognized the young soldier as his own son. The boy had been studying music in the south when war broke out. Without telling his father, the boy had enlisted in the Confederate Army.

The following morning, the heartbroken father asked his superiors for permission to give his son a military burial. His request for a group of Army band members was only partially granted since his son was a Confederate. Out of respect, they offered one musician. The captain chose a bugler, whom he asked to play a series of musical notes he had found on some paper stuffed in the pocket of his dead son’s uniform. Later, bugler Oliver Wilcox Norton played the melody, now known as “Taps.” It is now used at all military funerals. Some words written for the tune go like this: “Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lakes, From the hills, From the sky. All is well; safely rest. God is nigh.”

God the Father lost His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, in a battle between good and evil. Our Lord chose to die “on the other side.” Jesus willingly took sin upon Himself. He became, as it were, the enemy, in order that we might be set free. Our heavenly Father was heartbroken, yet God was willing to suffer this grief that we might receive the gift of eternal life. Have you received this costly gift?

KEY BIBLE TEXTS
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. John 3:16