The Declaration of Independence

Have you ever seen the Declaration of Independence? While we remember it's importance today, after the War for Independence it was largely forgotten because it had served its purpose to separate us from the Crown of England.

A month ago, my family stopped in Washington, D.C., and we visited the National Archives. It's an amazing building with key exhbits. While there, we were surprised to see that we, Americans, have in our possession one of the best-preserved copies of the Magna Carta that helped to inspire our own freedom. But what everyone wants to see are the crown jewels of our nation, our founding documents: that Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

As you enter this hallowed hall, you're ushered behind a protective gate and a dimly lit, climate-controlled room that protects these documents from destructive enemies. The glass over these documents is bulletproof, and, there is a vault system that protects these priceless parchments (animal skins, not paper) even in the event of a nuclear blast.

249 years after the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, we must recall that the battle for independence had only just begun. The first shots for at the Battles of Lexington and Concord started a war in April 1775, one month after the Continental Army was formed under General Washington, but it would not conclude until peace was arbitrated with Britain on September 3, 1783.

It is nothing short of a miracle in God's grace and plan that a group of colonialist farmers, traders, printers, and statesmen were able to organize around a righteous cause and become the grand experiment called the United States of America to defeat the, then, greatest military power in the world.

What that early group envisioned was a land that would put herself in the throws of God's grace and judgment as we built a country on the principles of His Word and the Gospel of Christ. They experimented by attempting great things. Even before the Constitution, they tried the loose Articles of Confederation, which miserably failed to carry out their ideals legally, which provided a foundation for the Constitution and Bill of Rights to become the glue that would govern and guide us since March 4, 1789.

Since that time, as a nation, we have attempted many things--some have flopped, and others have flown...all the way to the moon and beyond! We have had investors, inventors, educators, and leaders build on the that foundation. Righteous leaders, like our current Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, understand this foundation better than most, and we find confidence in their work, bringing the U.S. back to our moorings.

Today, as we celebrate our nation's independence, let's appreciate the vision of patriots, and let's become them in our contemporary time. Fight for future generations to be able to choose the true foundation of Christ and His Word for their own lives.

The battle for freedom has been won nearly two and a half centuries ago, but that is merely the beginning of a battle we are blest to continue. The enemies are not less but more numerous, powerful, and emboldened (Ephesians 6:12). While our military and local police protect us with arms (and we are given the right to bear arms for defense), our best weapons are not physical but spiritual. Like our forefathers, we trust in the power of our Savior over physical might (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Before the first shot was ever fired in the Revolutionary War, the hearts of Americans had already been forged--predominantly with Christian character and faith in the Bible. Christ's character enabled and ennobled our countrymen and women to fight a war and win.

Our battle is fought, first, in Christian character, and this grace has been secured for us on Christ's cross. He gives us and all who would like to know true freedom from sin, death, and their slavery the liberty to walk in rigtheousness. "Righteousness exalteth a nation; But sin is a reproach to any people" (Psalm 14:34).

Second, we fight by sharing our Savior and His Word with others in the public sphere. Seeking life for all, speaking truth and love to all, according to the Bible is the truest way to build build a country--one heart and home at a time. Discipleship is true education.

Let's celebrate our nation's birth today! Let's also revive our own character in Christ for Christ. Without it, our nation will be lost, and the Declaration of Independence will become nothing more than a document forgotten in time.

Proclaiming liberty throughout the land,
Dennis Schaffer, Pastor