[This day] will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction…(John Adams in a letter to Abigail Adams on the passing of the Declaration of Independence).
That Transaction, the Declaration of Independence signed July 4, 1776, was more than a statement of grievances. It was the founding document that firmly set the course of this nation – our life and liberty come from God alone, and it is the sole purpose of government to uphold the rights within the context of a creed and an identity endowed to us by our Creator!
Much of the present generation of Americans like much of the present generation of Christians do not know their own history. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, it will greatly influence where you are going. If you don’t know how you arrived where you are, it will greatly impact how you chart your course forward. America’s foundation is recorded in the testimony of historical fact and innumerable documents authored by men and women of faith who participated with the Holy Spirit in the conception, birth and progress of our nation.
Beginning in the late 19th Century demonic influences have slowly subverted America’s true progress. From the Pilgrims to the Founders, from the Revolutionary war to this day there is a conflict between spiritual kingdoms wrestling for the destiny of our nation. If we don’t know our history, then we are cut off from the root that was planted by God. This is where we find our identity. More than any other nation, America’s history is marked by a lineage of Christian men and women committed to Christ who acted with an awareness of the call of God concerning this nation and His purpose for America among the nations in the earth.
Three primary characteristics stand out in the formation of this nation. First, it was originally settled and colonized by people seeking a haven for the exercise and advance of Christianity. Secondly, our original covenants were made between those persons and God regarding the governing of the land in accordance with reverence and faith in Scripture. Thirdly, as America cut covenant with God, He steered her toward alliance with His purposes for Israel.
Presently we may see desolation – economically, socially, politically, culturally. The sentiment of our nation’s current administration has turned our policy away from supporting Israel and aligned us with her enemies. Many of the foundations of our nation and culture seem to be crumbling under the constant deluge of secular humanism and relativism that have sought to invalidate our Judeo Christian roots and identity. You may feel that we have passed the point of no return as a nation and a culture. But there is hope. Time and time again, God shows through history that He uses desolation as His set-up for restoration. The prophet Joel describes the complete destruction of the land, by a mighty army, a famine and pestilence. The place of disaster became the hinge for the nation to return to God. His mercy turned desolation into repentance, return and an outpouring of His Spirit for total restoration and recovery.
Ezekiel stood in the midst of a mass graveyard, filled with dried, disjointed bones.
Imagine for a moment what Ezekiel must have thought when God asked him, “Can these bones yet live?” What looked like total destruction was God’s opportunity to fill the broken down place with His Spirit for revival.
We can learn a lesson from Ezekiel. When God asked him a question, he did not answer by what he saw. He wisely responded, “Lord God, You know.” And when God told him to prophesy, Ezekiel prophesied according to what he heard, not the devastation that he saw all around him. Desolation is always the opportunity for restoration! The historical and biblical records attest that God uses desolation to set up His people for restoration. Can these bones live? You may be looking at a dry valley of destruction and thinking, “We’re done for!” But all that is a sign – Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord.
The key to restoration is a Person – the Holy Spirit. God’s purpose for restoration is for a people unto Himself. There are two “peoples” that God is restoring: the people of Israel to their land and their God; the Church to their spiritual inheritance in Christ. America’s exceptionalism, liberty, blessing and destiny is uniquely connected to the restoration of Israel because its founding and progress from the Pilgrims to the vote for Israel’s nationhood in 1948 is the work of the Holy Spirit. In our generation Christians stand as a divinely appointed intersection of these two divine purposes.
“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…My great army which I sent among you…And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2:25,28).
In America our national destiny and spiritual inheritance have been intertwined beginning the day the pilgrim fathers cut a covenant in fasting and prayer on the decks of the Mayflower. The revivalist, George Whitfield, in fulfillment of Joel’s restoration was one of the greatest influencers of the generation of America’s founding Fathers. History records that many of them attended Whitfield’s revivals, Some befriending him such as Ben Franklin who published all of his sermons so the American public would be influenced and changed by Whitfield’s preaching.
As we are pray and prepare for the next great awakening in America, there needs to be an awakening to the spiritual history of this great nation. Before it became politically incorrect to place Christ and the Bible at the moral and rational center of social and national life, Christianity was the foundation for the nation and America was a friend of Jesus. It’s time for Americans to befriend the God who formed them once again.
The desolation of our coastland and dark clouds of debt over our children and grandchildren, chaos and confusion in our nation’s government, the subverting of common sense and basic human morality in our laws all advance against our future like a great army. But there is another army that is coming together in the midst of desolation. It’s a people God has formed for Himself, and their awakening means a return to Him.
“Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory.” As John Adams penned these words, trembling at the magnitude and course of action that must follow the document he and congress had just passed, we celebrate this Fourth of July with thanksgiving and prayers to God in full hope and expectation in the One who restores. Repentance in the hearts of the people God has formed for Himself brings times of refreshing from His presence (Acts 3:19). Fresh visitation of the Spirit returns blessing and brings restoration. The celebration of America’s birthday calls us to return to our true identity, to find again the old foundations, to repair the breaches in the walls of our well-being and to restore faithful cities to dwell in.
"Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof…It shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family." Lev. 25:10
These words were cast in the side of the Liberty Bell. A symbol of Freedom and the Christian heritage of those who forged the 13 disparate colonies into a unified nation, the bell rang across the land, proclaiming liberty, summoning courage of patriots, announcing the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, calling for Americans of all generations to remember our heritage and the foundations on which we stand. Receive these words prophetically again for the destiny of this nation. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty. This Fourth of July, let us prepare for Jubilee and a time of restoration for our nation. God Bless America.
