Julia Howe coined the words to "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as a warning to the entire nation of God’s Judgment for Slavery. The Lord seemed to be telling me the warnings in this hymn are equally applicable to today.

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When Julia Ward Howe [1819-1910] penned the words of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", the Civil War had just begun. Most people do not realize that an anti-Slavery movement had arisen in the decades prior to the election of their candidate, Abraham Lincoln, as President. The intensity of this anti-Slavery movement equaled the current fight over Abortion today, and was based upon the same Biblical principles of the inherent, God-given worth of each person.

As the long-awaited conflict between the South and the North began, fervent anti-Slavery advocates, like Julia Ward Howe, felt that God’s Judgment was about to fall. Indeed, President Lincoln shared this sentiment, from the same Biblical sources used by all the Protestant opponents of Slavery. Listen to his immortal words, now partly enshrined on the Lincoln Memorial. Lincoln spoke these words during his Second Inaugural Address in 1865, just days before his assassination.

"All knew that this [Slavery] interest was, somehow, the cause of the war ... Yet, if God will that it [Civil War] continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so shall it must be said, 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether'." ["A Heart That Yearned For God: Abraham Lincoln, His Life and Faith", by Dr. G. Frederick Owen, Historian, Third Century Publishers, Washington, D.C., 1976, p. 192-193]

As you can see, President Lincoln correctly viewed the Civil War as a war of God's Judgments delivered to a nation who had oppressively enslaved an entire people for almost 300 years!

Lincoln was merely echoing the sentiments of the vast majority of anti-Slavery Christians. Foremost among these Christians opposed to Slavery was Julia Ward Howe. Her story behind her immortal song, The Battle Hymn of the Republic is both profound and precious.

The first part of the Civil War went badly against the Union Forces, and the Southern newspapers were joyfully pronouncing victory. But, God’s people resorted to prayer. "One night, during the darkest days of the war, when for a long time, all news from the front had been most disturbing, the gracious Julia Ward Howe had a dream or vision of victory. Under the inspiration of that dream-vision, she arose and wrote her famous ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic' – which stirred President Lincoln ‘like a trumpet blast’, and became his best loved marching song." [Ibid., p. 143]

Indeed, this song became the rallying crying and the marching song of the entire Union cause during the course of the Civil War. Let us examine Howe's wonderful hymn so as to see how it captured the entire anti-Slavery cause of the Civil War, and then to see how it applies equally to America today.

BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC

1. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord, He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; he hath loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword -- His truth is marching on.
2. I have seen Him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps, They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps -- His day is marching on.
3. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never sound retreat, He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat; O be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet -- Our God is marching on.
4. In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on.

REFRAIN: Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

I have never read a detailed expose' on the Biblical references and vivid images contained within this wonderful hymn, so please bear with me as I add my poor analysis. We shall examine this hymn by verse.

Verse 1 -- This verse is entirely full of God's Judgment.

• Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord

1. God consistently sees Glory in His righteous Judgments upon sinful men. In Ezekiel 28:22-23, we see this most clearly. Yet, we see it even more clearly in Revelation, where God continually sees His Judgments giving Him glory.
2. In Rev 14:7, we read, " Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come:"
3. Revelation 19:1-2, " And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments:"

• He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored -

1. Once again, Julia Howe sees the Biblical picture where Messiah is trampling the grapes of wrath prior to most terrible judgments in Revelation.
2. In 14:18-20, we see that when God tramples the grapes of sin, blood flows from the massed armies gathered for the Battle of Armageddon for 180 miles long!
3. In Revelation 19:13-19, we see that Jesus Christ is trampling the grapes of sin, with a garment dipped in the blood of Calvary.
4. In Joel 3:12-14, we see another incredible picture of God trampling out the grapes of sin, in vats that are FULL.
5. Isaiah 34:6-10 and 63:1-4 also deliver this picture fully.

• He hath loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword -

1. Once again, Howe has utilized typical Biblical language to describe the type of Judgment she envisions coming from God. We see Judgment verses in Revelation speaking of the sword of the Lord as follows:
2. Rev 1:16 - "... out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength."
3. Rev 2:12, "And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges"
4. Rev 2:16, "Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth."
5. Rev 19:15, "And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations"
6. Rev 19:21, "And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth"
7. In every instance in these verses, the Lord Jesus Christ was the One wielding the sharp sword of Judgment. Howe chose very powerful language to describe the type of Judgment she saw coming on America because of Slavery. Indeed, she saw this Judgment as being synonymous with the Judgment to fall upon Antichrist.

• His truth is marching on --

Verse 2 -- Howe sees the marching army of the Lord Jesus Christ

• I have seen Him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps -- We can readily understand how Howe envisioned this phrase. All she had to do was to watch the night campfires of the Union soldiers encamped as they marched toward the battlefield. If Howe saw the camp fires of 60,000 men, for example, she could not have failed to be impressed with the nighttime sight of all these campfires. She might have sensed the mighty national powers that the Civil War had unleashed, and might have been overwhelmed by God's Omnipotent power working through it all.

• They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps -- Once again, Howe was hearkening back to the Old Testament practice of worshipping God through the building of an outside altar wherever the Israeli army might have been marching. We see just such an instance in 1 Samuel 13:5-14, we saw that King Saul foolishly and sinfully sacrificed a burnt offering to the Lord rather than wait for Samuel to come to perform the sacrifice. Saul was anxious to complete the burnt offering so he could prevail in the upcoming battle with the Philistines.

• I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps -- Howe was probably referring to God's Judgment of the Babylonian King Belshazzar, as recorded in Daniel 5:5. In the midst of the drunken revelry, God caused the fingers of a man's hand to begin writing on the wall God's Judgment against the King and his nation. This Judgment was lighted by the flickering of the candlestick in the room. Howe regards God's Judgment against Slavery to be righteous and true altogether, and one which could be read by anyone who knew their Bible.

1. Once again, Howe refers to the proper timing of God's Judgments. Even though God is very patient and gives a lot of time for a person or a nation to repent of their sins, He will move to Judgment in His own timing.
2. Ecclesiastes 8:5-6, "A wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment. Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, "
3. Daniel 7:22, " Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom."

Verse 3 -- Howe declares God's Judgment Trumpet in the Past Tense, thus signifying inevitable Judgment to be carried to its conclusion. Now, the only question is man's response.

• He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never sound retreat -- Once the Trumpet sounds for each Judgment in the Book of Revelation, Jesus' Judgment marches to its inevitable, unstoppable conclusion. Howe sees the beginning of the Civil War in this same inevitable, unstoppable manner.
• He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat -- One by one, Jesus will bring the souls of men before His White Throne Judgment Seat in Revelation 20:11. In similar manner, she saw the souls of the pro-Slavery people coming one by one before God's Judgment, probably as they fall in battle or are killed in cities under siege.
• O be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet -- As any good preacher would do, Howe is urging those who are not in right standing before Jesus Christ to respond quickly, even running, to ask forgiveness before they perish in Judgment.
• Our God is marching on. -- Once again, Howe sees God's inevitable triumph.

Verse 4 -- Howe seems to sense the glorious side of God's Judgment. Those people who are Born Again rejoice in God's Judgment, even His destruction, because God is finally moving to set things right. Conversely, those people who are not in right standing with God will weep, howl, and moan during God's Judgment, because they will suffer total loss, both soul and all material possessions.

• In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea --

1. Christians are to sense God's beauty and His Glory, even in the midst of His Judgment.
2. Revelation 12:10-12 -- An Angelic being tells all God's people to "... rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them" because God's final victory is assured and Satan is cast down to earth finally.
3. Revelation 18:20 -- God commands all His Christians to rejoice over the total destruction of the Economic Babylon whom He has just annihilated. We believe this Economic Babylon is the United States of America [See CE1038 for full details].

• With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me -- Howe alludes to the process of total transfiguration that occurs in the hearts of men and women who accept Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and become Born Again.

• As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free -- Howe appeals to the men in the Union Army to be willing to die to make the slaves free, because Jesus Christ was more than willing to die to make them holy in the sight of God the Father. As this personal holiness will enable every Born Again believer to attain eternal Heaven, so the deaths of the Union soldiers in the war will result in a Heaven type existence for each slave, i.e., their freedom.

Thus, we can easily see how completely Howe depended upon Biblical doctrine, imagery, and End Time events to write this most powerful song. In her mind, Slavery was as evil as the final evil of the Kingdom of Antichrist! Her song was made all the more powerful by her use of these End Times images. What was the response to this song? President Abraham Lincoln loved this song dearly. The "Battle Hymn of the Republic stirred President Lincoln 'like a trumpet blast' and became his best loved marching song." [Ibid., page 143] Thus, tens of thousands of Union soldiers marched to the refrain and the music of this Judgment song.

Since contemporary historians have completely rewritten history to delete the forceful impact the Christian passionate opposition to Slavery, we want to reiterate what Lincoln said during his Second Inaugural Speech in 1865. ""All knew that this [Slavery] interest was, somehow, the cause of the war ... Yet, if God will that it [Civil War] continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so shall it must be said, 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether'." [Ibid. Page 192-3]

Do not be deceived about the reasons the Civil War was fought: the primary reason was Slavery. The North was driven by visions of freeing the slaves, and Lincoln was able to seize the moral high ground with the other nations of the world and with his own people. The South was anxious to preserve their way of life, which had largely been built upon the backs of its slaves. While many other factors, like pure economics, played a part in the Civil War, the number one factor was Slavery.

Now that we have seen how Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic was so applicable to the Christian view of God's End Time Judgment, let us revisit this hymn to see how applicable it is to the countries and peoples of today. Since the images of this song were taken almost exclusively from End of the Age prophecies, we should be able to see a strong relationship of its images to the peoples and nations of today, since we are truly living in the End of the Age.

Verse 1 -- This verse is entirely full of God's Judgment.

• Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord -- Truly, we Christians can see the coming of the glory of the Lord in His final Judgments. As we see the fulfillment of Biblical prophecies in so many instances, and the stage being set for fulfillment of many others, we can see the coming of the Lord in His glory. Why is God glorified when He finally executes Judgment on sinful men? He is glorified because He is finally executing Justice upon all sin. He is further glorified because He is cleansing His creation so the "meek of the earth", His saved people, can finally "inherit the earth" and finally live in peace and prosperity.

• He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored -- We have spent much time and effort cataloging the fact that, just as the Bible foretold, people and institutions are uniquely sinful in this generation. Indeed, people today are selfish and "without natural affection" in ways unique in history. Governments have also been historically corrupt, violent, and murderous in the 20^th Century. Certainly, more grapes of wrath are stored in the vats than ever before. Never before have sinful grapes filled the vats so full.

• He hath loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword -- When the events foretold in the Book of Revelation, they will proceed so rapidly that mankind will simply not be able to fathom what is happening to them. Jesus stated, " Surely I come quickly." In Revelation 22:7, 12, 20, He literally means, when these events begin to occur, I will be coming rapidly [Strong's #5035]. In Nahum 1:6, we read, " Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him." In Zephaniah 1:18, we see how quickly God's Judgment will fall once it begins.

• His truth is marching on -- Once again, Jesus, Who is the embodiment of Truth, will march on inevitably and with Omnipotent power, to ultimate Judgment.

Verse 2 -- Howe sees the marching army of the Lord Jesus Christ

• I have seen Him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps -- This part of the song seems unique to the Civil War era. Except for the Russian-led invasion of Israel [in fulfillment of Ezekiel 38-39, the armed forces of Antichrist will have their way with their enemies. However, once the Holy Spirit gathers all Antichrist's forces into the Plain of Megiddo for the Battle of Armageddon, Jesus' victory over the massed human forces will be instantaneous [Revelation 19:11-21].
• They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps -- Once again, this part of the song is unique to the Civil War times. During the Book or Revelation, the only altar we see is the one in Heaven. However, many of God's Judgments are preceded by worship carried out on this Heavenly altar.
• I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps -- The entire world can read the litany of God's Judgments against them by simply reading the Book or Revelation.
• His day is marching on. -- God has set a specific day and time for His final Judgments to fall. While He has seen fit not to reveal this final timetable to us, before the Antichrist arises and deceives all mankind, all people who know their Bible will be able to know the precise day of Jesus' final return once Antichrist "confirms the covenant" of Israel [Daniel 9:27]. Once Antichrist confirms Israel's National Covenant -- which is now in place -- the world will have precisely 7 Jewish years, or 2,520 days, before Jesus comes back as foretold in Revelation 19:11-12.

Verse 3 -- Howe declares God's Judgment Trumpet in the Past Tense, thus signifying inevitable Judgment to be carried to its conclusion. Now, the only question is man's response.

• He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never sound retreat -- Soon, the Last Trumpet of God shall sound forth the Rapture of the Church [1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 1 Corinthians 15:52] thus setting the stage for the Angelic Trumpets which call forth the Judgments of Revelation. The Angelic Trumpets of Revelation will be backed by God's Omnipotent Power and will never be defeated, delayed, or sent into "retreat".
• He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat -- All the Judgments of Revelation have the effect of sifting out the hearts of men. Once the Church is taken out in the Rapture, God will begin to deliver His Judgments just as they are listed in the Book of Revelation, in Daniel, and in the Major and Minor Prophets.
• O be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet, Our God is marching on -- Again and again, Jesus calls people to repent during the Great Tribulation. Even as Judgments are falling, Jesus calls people to repent. In Revelation 9:20-21, and 16:9-11, Jesus laments because people were still refusing to repent of their sins, even after much Judgment had befallen them. People need to remember God's warning in Hebrews 3:13, "But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." As always, man's only response to God's Judgment is swift repentance, before God's Judgment is passed over and the time for repentance is over.

Verse 4 -- Those people who are Born Again rejoice in God's Judgment, even His destruction, because God is finally moving to set things right. Conversely, those people who are not in right standing with God will weep, howl, and moan during God's Judgment, because they will suffer total loss, both soul and all material possessions.

• In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea --
• With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me --
• As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free --
• While God is marching on.

Thus, you can see that the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" has even more relevance to our situation of today as it did when Julia Ward Howe penned it in 1862. Indeed, we are witnessing almost daily events which are setting the stage for fulfillment of prophecy. The "Blessed Hope" of which the Apostle Paul spoke is nearly upon us.

Thus, we can sing now with Julia Ward Howe, "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord"!!

 Are you spiritually ready? Is your family? Are you adequately protecting your loved ones? This is the reason for this ministry, to enable you to first understand the peril facing you, and then help you develop strategies to warn and protect your loved ones. Once you have been thoroughly trained, you can also use your knowledge as a means to open the door of discussion with an unsaved person. I have been able to use it many times, and have seen people come to Jesus Christ as a result. These perilous times are also a time when we can reach many souls for Jesus Christ, making an eternal difference.

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, but have been very lukewarm in your spiritual walk with Him, you need to immediately ask Him for forgiveness and for renewal. He will instantly forgive you, and fill your heart with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Then, you need to begin a daily walk of prayer and personal Bible Study.

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, but have come to realize His reality and the approaching End of the Age, and want to accept His FREE Gift of Eternal Life, you can also do so now, in the privacy of your home. Once you accept Him as Savior, you are spiritually Born Again, and are as assured of Heaven as if you were already there. Then, you can rest assured that the Kingdom of Antichrist will not touch you spiritually. If you would like to become Born Again, turn to our Salvation Page now.

We hope you have been blessed by this ministry, which seeks to educate and warn people, so that they can see the coming New World Order -- Kingdom of Antichrist -- in their daily news.

Finally, we would love to hear from you.

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