Let Freedom Ring! - Pastor Stacey Shiflett
- Pastor Shiflett
- Jul 5
- 9 min read
Let Freedom Ring!
Leviticus 25:10 "And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof..."
Intro: In 1831, Samuel Francis Smith wrote “My Country, 'Tis of Thee,”
Verse 1My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrims' pride, From every mountainside Let freedom ring!
Verse 3Let music swell the breeze, And ring from all the trees Sweet freedom's song; Let mortal tongues awake; Let all that breathe partake; Let rocks their silence break, The sound prolong.
Verse 4Our fathers' God, to thee, Author of liberty, To thee we sing; Long may our land be bright With freedom's holy light; Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King
There are a few words for me that are more packed with emotion than the words LIBERTY and FREEDOM.
There are few things I despise more than tyrants, bullies and dictators.
Yesterday, we celebrated our nation’s 250th Birthday.
Today, I want to focus on the significance of liberty and freedom.
I. The PROCLAIMING of Liberty
· Leviticus 25:10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
This verse established the Year of Jubilee that God gave exclusively to the nation of Israel.
Some of the commandments of God pertaining to this Jubilee was:
A. The Observance of the Jubilee
It was to be observed every fifty years.
After seven cycles of seven years (49 years), the fiftieth year was the Year of Jubilee.
It was announced by the blowing of the ram's horn on the Day of Atonement, signifying that God Himself was proclaiming liberty throughout the land.
B. The Obligations of the Jubilee
· A releasing of all slaves
All Israelite slaves were set free.
No Israelite family was to remain permanently enslaved.
· A reuniting of the families
Those separated from their family through debt or servitude returned home.
This restored both their inheritance and their family identity.
· A returning of the land
God declared that the land ultimately belonged to Him (Leviticus 25:23).
Families could lease or sell the use of their land because of hardship, but permanent ownership could never be transferred.
During the Jubilee, every parcel of inherited land returned to the family to whom God originally assigned it.
This kept wealthy men from permanently accumulating all the land and it protected future generations from losing their inheritance.
· A resting of the fields
The fiftieth year was also a Sabbath year.
Israel was not to sow or reap their fields but were commanded to trust God to provide from previous harvests.
This required tremendous faith in God's promise of provision.
INTERESTING BIBLE FACT: The irony of this was that because they failed to observe this sabbath year, God let them fall into captivity for 70 years to give the land the rest it deserved.
· 2 Chronicles 36:20–21 "And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon... To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years."
The truths that we can gather from this proclamation is this: God is a God of liberation.
The Creator of the Universe made provision for men to be free.
In Exodus 2 and 3, God looked down and saw the 400 years of abuse and slavery and it moved Him!
Exodus 2
· 23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
· 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
· 25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.
Exodus 3
· 7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
· 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
· 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
· 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
God sent a deliverer to save the people of Israel from their taskmasters and their affliction.
The Ten Plagues of Egypt were God’s way of convincing Pharaoh to -LET MY PEOPLE GO!!
In Acts 7, Stephen referred to Moses as “the deliverer.”
· 34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
· 35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
That word “deliverer” is the word for LIBERATOR.
I say again – God is a liberating God; a God that provides and promotes freedom and liberty.
II. The PURSUING of Liberty
The Pilgrims came to America on the Mayflower in 1620 in search of religious liberty.
They wanted to worship God without imprisonment, fines and persecution.
The desire to be free of England’s unfair taxes began in 1763.
The phrase: “No taxation without representation” originated in 1765 with the Stamp Act.
The Boston Massacre increased hostilities in 1770.
In 1773, the Boston Tea Party occurred over unfair taxes.
In 1774 was the First Continental Congress delegates from the colonies met to petition King George III.
In April 1775, the first shots of the war were fired at Lexington and Concord.
In January 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense.
It became one of the most influential publications in American history.
Paine argued that:
Monarchy was contrary to reason.
America should become an independent nation.
Delaying independence would only worsen matters.
(This book was read aloud to the soldiers to boost morale in Valley Forge three years after the war started.)
On July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence announced that the colonies were:
"Free and Independent States."
This was no longer a protest against taxes; it was a complete break with Great Britain.
America's founders recognized liberty as a gift from God.
Jefferson argued that liberty is not bestowed by government but by God.
· Thomas Jefferson "The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time."
This line from the United States Declaration of Independence reveals this philosophy:
· “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.”
That sentence is without a doubt the clearest declaration of our belief that liberty is a gift from God; not a grant from government.
QUOTES:
Perhaps the most famous statement on liberty in American history was by Patrick Henry at the Second Virginia Convention, March 23, 1775. "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
Samuel Adams gave a stirring reminder that freedom requires sacrifice. "The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending against all hazards."
George Washington famously said: "Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth."
Benjamin Franklin proclaimed: "Where liberty dwells, there is my country."
John Adams reminded us: "Liberty must at all hazards be supported."
Noah Webster believed moral and biblical education were essential to preserving freedom.
Noah Webster "Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people."
(The dumbing down of American youth in our public schools is to blame for this current trend of electing communists and Democratic Socialists.)
John Witherspoon "There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire."
This powerful observation came from the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence.
America was founded on one major common issue. Liberty. Freedom.
Many people do not realize that our text verse, Leviticus 25:10 is inscribed on the Liberty Bell.
In 1751, the colonial assembly of Province of Pennsylvania decided to commission a large bell for the tower of the Pennsylvania State House (today known as Independence Hall).
The bell was intended to commemorate the 50th anniversary of William Penn's Charter of Privileges, which granted religious liberty and representative government to the colony.
Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly Isaac Norris was the one that selected the inscription.
The colony wanted a biblical text that emphasized liberty under God.
Leviticus 25:10 was perfect because of the releasing of slaves and return of property to its rightful owners.
The bell was cast in London by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1752.
For many years it was simply known as the State House Bell.
It rang for:
meetings of the Assembly,
public announcements,
court sessions,
days of prayer and fasting,
important civic events.
There is no real evidence that it rang on United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, although it may have rung later when the Declaration was publicly read.
During the 1830s and 1840s, the growing abolitionist movement saw tremendous significance in its inscription.
The abolitionists adopted it as a powerful symbol against slavery because of the inscription: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."
An antislavery publication was the first to refer to it as the "Liberty Bell," and the name stuck.
It cracked the very first time it was rung (1752)
The bell was cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London and shipped to Philadelphia in 1752.
When it was tested after arriving, it cracked almost immediately.
Rather than sending it back to England, two Philadelphia founders, John Pass and John Stow melted it down and recast it; not once, but twice.
The second recasting produced the bell that still exists today and their names appear on the bell: "Pass and Stow."
The bell was scheduled to ring for George Washington's birthday celebration on February 22, 1846.
While ringing that day (or possibly during preparations shortly beforehand,) the existing hairline fracture suddenly spread.
In 1846, the Liberty Bell was retired and became a national symbol.
It traveled throughout the United States during the late 1800s for expositions and patriotic celebrations, inspiring millions of Americans before eventually returning permanently to Philadelphia across the street from Independence Hall.
Though the Liberty Bell has remained silent since 1846, patriotic Americans have continued to “Let Freedom Ring” all around the world.
People from every corner of the globe come here for the opportunities that our liberties and freedoms provide.
III. The PERFECTING of Liberty
Despite our celebration today of liberty as Americans, there is no liberty like that found in Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ offers the ultimate freedom from the bondage of sin.
In spite of the flyovers, the tall ships in the harbors, the fireworks displays, the parades and the cookouts, millions of patriotic Americans are still in bondage.
They are still enslaved by sin and under the rule of that cruel taskmaster, Satan.
Jesus came to free sinful man from the bondage of sin and from the power of Satan.
Messianic prophecy:
· Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Jesus fulfilled that prophecy:
· Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Liberty can only be perfected through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
· John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Our Declaration of Independence and winning the Revolutionary War made us free from the unjust laws of the Parliament of Great Britain and the unreasonable King of England.
But the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and of death.
· Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Even a person that has been taken against their will and forced into slavery is free if they are saved by the grace of God.
· 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
· Romans 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Conclusion: As much as I love America and will spend the rest of my life promoting freedom, there is liberty and freedom far greater than being a citizen of a free country.
That is becoming a citizen of Heaven!
And that is only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
