WE THE PEOPLE . . . . As our nation celebrates its 250th birthday, I am reminded of a quest for liberty that began, not in the years immediately preceding that July 4, but soon after the dawn of creation.1
In a peaceful, untainted garden, our first parents were beguiled by a wily foe who—if I may borrow language found in our own Declaration of Independence—“refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.”2 Humanity’s forefathers and mothers subsequently joined the side of the deceiver and subjected themselves to an absolute tyranny masquerading as liberty. Thus began humanity’s suffering of “a long train of abuses”2 under the cruelest of oppressors.
Still, upon that fateful day, the great and only true Liberator declared that all was not lost and made a covenant promise to redeem His people and His land from the occupier (Genesis 3).
Millennia followed. During the ensuing conflict, Humanity’s Liberator would send those under His banner deep into enemy territory, with instructions that, if followed, would provide a way of escape from the enemy’s grasp and a path to reach the Liberator’s kingdom. Nevertheless, even among His own people were those who would neither listen nor muster the courage to flee, remaining blinded by the enemy’s propaganda and psychological warfare.
Mercifully, the tide turned when the most consequential battle was won for us more than 2,000 years ago on a mount called Calvary. More than a battle, it was the deciding victory in the war, bringing ultimate freedom to all who would accept it.
However, like wars fought among flesh and blood, skirmishes still rage despite the victory. The enemy general, though his capture and destruction are sure, is unwilling to admit defeat, cede territory or let go of his prisoners of war around the world. Billions behind the battle lines of enemy-occupied territory remain harassed and tortured and have yet to hear the good news of the victory; they have yet to be liberated.
Yet even now, the great Liberator has men, women and children on His side who bravely enter the fight in His power and name, bearing the armor of God. Traveling to foreign lands, they proclaim the good news found in His own declaration of independence from sin—the Bible—to help deliver the captives from “a tyrant . . . unfit to be the ruler of a free people”2 and to be united with their Liberator forever in His holy city.
1 The battle plan for that liberty commenced in eternity past.
2 The Declaration of Independence.
