Revelation 1:7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so. Amen.
Life: John 10:10 I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. -Jesus
Liberty: 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Happiness: Psalm 144:15:Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.
This country is a gift. Let us not forget our founding fathers and our inheritance.
The following was released from the White House earlier this week. It is The Founders Museum. Enclosed are 27 short biographies of our founders. They are approximately 1 to 2 minutes in length.
Step into history like never before. Watch America’s Founding Fathers, Ladies of the Revolution and Events that paved the way for Independence come to life.
The Declaration of Independence is our country’s statement of freedom from the tyranny of Great Britain’s King George III.
There are many who debate whether or not the Declaration is a Christian document. That is not the intent of this post.
The point is the founding fathers of the United States of America all recognized God. The concepts are apparent and documented in the Declaration of Independence.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…
Jeremiah 31:35 This is what the LORD says, He who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar, The LORD of armies is His name:
Psalm 74:17 You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.
~
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Creator… Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Life… Genesis 1:30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
Liberty…Leviticus 25:10a And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.
Pursuit of Happiness…Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom/liberty, brothers. Only do not use your freedom/liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
~
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions…
Acts 17:31 For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.
~
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Isaiah 46:10 …declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose…
Psalm 103:19 “The Lord has established His throne in heaven, And His kingdom rules over all.”
Isaiah 14:24 The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand.”
“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God… What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.” -John Adams
~
I think it is time we get back to the basics of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I think it would be even better if we get back to the basics of the Bible.
We can start with…
John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
That “Word” is Jesus Christ.
Genesis 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Leviticus 25:10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.
Our foundation as a country in the United States draws its concept of freedom and liberty from Leviticus 25:10. The verse is written on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. Abolitionists during the Civil War turned to the Liberty Bell and the verse from Leviticus 25 as a reason to end slavery. Cultures and societies can change when people take God’s word to heart and decide to follow His statutes.
The State House bell became a herald of liberty in the 19th century. “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof,” the bell’s inscription, provided a rallying cry for abolitionists wishing to end slavery. The Anti-Slavery Record, an abolitionist publication, first referred to the bell as the Liberty Bell in 1835, but that name was not widely adopted until years later. Millions of Americans became familiar with the bell in popular culture through George Lippard’s 1847 fictional story “Ring, Grandfather, Ring”, when the bell came to symbolize pride in a new nation. Beginning in the late 1800s, the Liberty Bell traveled across the country for display at expositions and fairs, stopping in towns small and large along the way. For a nation recovering from wounds of the Civil War, the bell served to remind Americans of a time when they fought together for independence. Movements from Women’s Suffrage to Civil Rights embraced the Liberty Bell for both protest and celebration. Pennsylvania suffragists commissioned a replica of the Liberty Bell. Their “Justice Bell” traveled across Pennsylvania in 1915 to encourage support for women’s voting rights legislation. It then sat chained in silence until the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Now a worldwide symbol, the bell’s message of liberty remains just as relevant and powerful today: “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof”
Can you believe it? The ideas of freedom and liberty come from the Old Testament Mosaic Law!
~
This passage and context in Leviticus 25 are loaded with prophetic implications regarding Christ’s first and second coming. Click on the link below if interested in the prophecy related to the concept of Jubilee.
Isaiah 61:1-2 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor; He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn…
The concepts of freedom and liberty are captured by the prophet Isaiah as it is reflected in the Mosaic Law and the Jubilee. All three persons of the Trinity are involved in this communication. The “Me” is the Son. The Spirit is upon Him (the Son). The Father is represented by the title Lord GOD or Adonai Yahweh in the original Hebrew.
Jesus read and spoke these words in the synagogue of His home town Nazareth (Luke 4:16). Jesus is reading from Isaiah 61:1-2a. He reads verse 1 completely.
Jesus then stops reading in the middle of Isaiah 61:2. By reading these words, He was claiming to be the Messiah. In other words, “Here I am!!” Jesus is also arguably proclaiming a Jubilee year. This has significant prophetic implications in regards to the timing of His second coming.
Take a look at Isaiah 61:2. To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD (Jesus stops here.) and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn…
The stoppage of reading in the verse has lasted close to 2,000 years. At His first coming, Jesus was a suffering servant who died for our sins. His sacrificial death on the cross freed humanity from the bondage of sin.
Christ did not come in vengeance and judgment the first time, hence the pause. And we wait for the remainder of Isaiah 61:2b-11. It describes the future conditions of the nation Israel under the leadership of the Messiah, Jesus.
Jesus returns the second time in wrath and judgment to set the stage for an everlasting peace…
