Proclaim liberty throughout the land

Leviticus 25:10 says: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”

This is the verse inscribed upon the famous “Liberty Bell” which originally hung at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. It was a command of God given to Israel for the 50th year called the Jubilee or Liberty. It was to give freedom from debt and enslavement. Jesus Christ was, is and always will be the one in whom freedom is found and proclaimed. His Lordship over sin, death, hell, and the grave is the foundation of liberty and freedom in our lives. So, Psalm 33:12 says: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,” because that nation would live in freedom.

The freedom that God gives is the freedom from sin, its judgment, and its awful consequences. For whom the Son has set free, is free indeed. Here is how:

King David, a ruler, and warrior wrote it this way: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord does not impute sin.” Ps 33:1-5.

The only freedom that is lasting is the freedom we receive when we call out to God, repent of sin, and believe that Jesus Christ died for us and rose from the dead. That is often the very great struggle we find in ourselves. We are enslaved by our greed, lust and hate. It causes us to be in bondage to ourselves. Until we submit our lives to Christ, we never know freedom. The great experiment of self-government called the United States is doomed without its people first recognizing our sin and calling out to the Lord to save us from sins.

Or as President Reagan once said,

“If we forget we are one nation under God, we will become a nation gone under.”

Sadly, we have removed God from our politics, lives, from our education, from our arts, from our science, and from our societies. We proudly say we can be free without God. But He is the foundation of our freedoms. Without faith in the Lordship of Christ, freedom becomes only a hope, a dream of once upon a time.

A walk-through of America’s monuments, buildings and statues reveal a people who trusted in God for their freedom, who knew they could choose to be under God and find freedom.

In the great Hall of the Jefferson Building is a Guttenberg Bible and a hand-copied Giant Bible of Mainz. They are displayed because as President Andrew Jackson said, “The Bible is the rock upon which our Republic rests.” There are also many scriptures written on walls and ceilings like: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness comprehends it not.” John 1:5 or “Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom” Proverbs 4:7. In the main reading room are quotes representing a certain field of knowledge. Moses and Paul represent religion with Micah 6:8 and Science is represented by Ps 19:1 “The Heavens declare the glory of God.” The History room says, “One God, one law, one element and one far off divine event, to which the whole creation moans.”

At the Supreme Court building, the 10 Commandments are in the hands of a statue of Moses and the Roman Numerals I through X are engraved on the entrance doors along with a large stone tablet above the Justices’ heads with the same. The Roman numerals representing God’s Ten Commandments.

In the Capitol Rotunda there are eight large paintings. One is the landing of Columbus who said, “The gospel must be preached to so many lands.” Another painting is the baptism of Pocahontas. Another is the Virginia Charter which declares they come to “propagate the Christian faith to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God.” All the paintings reflect the faith of God in Jesus Christ and the knowledge of God’s holy word.

“In God We Trust” is our national motto inscribed on the speaker’s nostrum in the House Chamber. For many years, the house chamber was used as a church and by 1867 it was the largest church in America. There are many plaques declaring faith including above the Senate main door which is written “What God hath Wrought” with many of the statues throughout the building including biblical sayings. There is still a prayer room with an open Bible in front of a stained-glass window showing George Washington in earnest prayer. With Psalm 16:1 “Preserve me oh God, for in thee I put my trust.”

In the National Archives, the Declaration of Independence reveals the biblical principles that man was created in God’s image, our rights came from God, and all men are created equal. Included in the Archives are the 27 crimes of King George and Britain based on the moral teaching of scripture and his refusal to obey and acknowledge them.

The Washington Monument has written on its capstone atop the 555-foot structure “Praise be to God” in Latin. Inside are many carved blocks with messages, like: “search the scriptures”,” “Holiness to the Lord,” “In God we trust,” “Train up a child in the way they should go and when they are old, they will not depart from it,” and many others. God’s words were the source of freedom-both personally and as a nation.

This July 4th, as we celebrate national freedom and national independence, we should remember that without God, the Lord Jesus Christ, there can never be true freedom. It is only by His blood shed for us, that we can be free from sin and judgment. It’s only by His blood we can be righteous before God. When we are free as individuals, that righteousness will cause freedom in a nation as a whole.

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people,” Proverbs 14:34.