We had just walked out of the Officers Club at Marine Corps Base Quantico and were crossing the parking lot when the first notes of the bugle sounded, playing “Retreat.” Both Roger (my brother) and I and our brides immediately stopped and stood at attention with our hands over our hearts. The bugler then played “To the Color” as the flag was lowered across the road at the parade ground.
I seem to be given to sentimentality these days. I can neither confirm nor deny that a tear formed in the corner of my eye as memories of years gone by flashed in my mind — many mornings of raising the flag in places around the world and many evenings of lowering them at the end of the day. Then there is the haunting melody of buglers playing “Taps” at a funeral, which always brings tears to my eyes.
I think what made it such a poignant moment was that we had visited the Fredericksburg Civil War Battlefield earlier that day. There is a Union Soldier cemetery there where over 15,000 soldiers are interred; more than 80% remain unidentified. These were men who knew that they were in a war and that their cause was noble. Christians are also in a war, and I can say with absolute certainty that our cause is noble.
The Apostle Paul tells us, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, ESV). He told his spiritual son Timothy to “Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). As he neared the end of his life, Paul told young Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7–8).
Sadly, too many Christians are clueless to the warfare all around us. Many have fled the field of battle. But for those of us engaged in the battle for the souls of men and women, there is a day when our battle will be done.
There will be a day when the trumpet of heaven will play its own “Retreat,” which is a call not to flee but to come home to our eternal rest. Our fight will be finished, and just as the “Call to Color” signals the end of the day, our Heavenly Father will have an angelic trumpet signal our call to eternal rest. There will be no unidentified soldiers in His army. He knows each of His own by name.
This plaque from the Fredericksburg battlefield is a poignant reminder of the rest that is yet to come. I want to be a valiant warrior until the trumpet sounds for me.
What say ye, Man of Valor?
Semper Fidelis!
