Freedom's Never Free
“It was for freedom that
Christ has set us free.”
Galatians 5:1 (NIV)
This week our country is celebrating our nation’s 249th birthday. For many July 4th is a day for family, food, and fireworks. It is also a day of remembering our forefathers’ vision, courage, and sacrifice as they signed their names to the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. When the 56 men signed the Declaration, they knew full well that they were committing treason against England and they knew the penalty was death. It was Benjamin Franklin who, after putting his quill pen down quipped, “We must indeed, all hang together, or assuredly, we will all hang separately.”
Historians agree that the United States’ legal separation from Great Britain actually occurred on July 2 when the Second Continental Congress voted unanimously to approve Richard Henry Lee’s resolution of independence. John Adams was convinced that July 2 would be the day that history would remember as the beginning of our new nation. Writing to his wife Abigail, Adams said:
“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. “
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. Congress debated and revised the document over the next two days before finally approving its passage on July 4, 1776. The opening words of the Declaration have been called “one of the best-known sentences in the English language” containing what could be argued are “the most powerful and significant words in American history.”
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.
Tradition asserts that a chime changed the world on July 8, 1776, with the Liberty Bell ringing out from the tower of Independence Hall summoning the citizens of Philadelphia to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. The Liberty Bell's inscription comes from Leviticus 25:10 (KJV) "Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof.” Initially the Liberty Bell served as an audible signal for calling people together. Over time, the Liberty Bell became an iconic symbol to let freedom ring as our nation dealt with the issues of slavery and civil rights.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used the phrase “let freedom ring” twice in the last paragraph of his famous “I have a Dream” civil rights speech. Samuel Francis Smith, the author of My Country Tis of Thee penned the words:
Land where my fathers died.
Land of the pilgrims’ pride
From ev’ry mountainside
Let freedom ring!
Seven hundred years before Christ was born, the prophet Isaiah spoke of the One who would come and proclaim freedom for the captives of sin (Isaiah 61:1). During his earthly ministry Jesus taught his disciples, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32) Later Jesus declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) On the other side of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the New Testament writers spoke frequently about a Christian’s freedom from the law of sin and death. (Romans 6:18, 22; 8:2, 21)
Christ’s atoning death on the cross always gives us at least three things:
Freedom from the law of sin and death
Forgiveness for our sins,
Fulfillment of Scripture
As we celebrate our nation’s birth, may we always remember that freedom is never free. It always costs. Americans have fought and died on battlefields both here and abroad to protect the very freedoms on which our nation was built. May we never take for granted the freedom that was purchased for us, both by those who came before us to birth, build, and protect our nation, and the One who willingly bought our freedom with the blood of his redemption
Freedom is never free!