The Price of Freedom©

 

The Price of Freedom©

A Limerick A Day to Keep You On Your Way©

There once was a document written,

Against the tyrant king of Britain.

The price to be free,

Blood for liberty.

America, forever smitten.

 

Have you ever been smitten?

To be smitten is to be affected by something overwhelming. We usually equate it with the feeling one gets with love at first sight. The word smitten is mentioned 231 times in the Bible.  It is used in the context of injury or death. In the Bible story of Moses and the Ten Plagues, God smote the firstborn of the Egyptians because of Pharoah’s hardened heart. When God called on men to smite HIS enemies in the Old Testament it meant death. They were conquering evil doers who would not honor God and His Holy Laws.

Would you be shocked to know God would smite His own Son?

 It’s true. It’s found in Isaiah 53.  Verse 4 says this,  “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”   I know it seems unbelievable, cruel, and underserving. Why God? Why would you smite Your own Son?

Jesus became an enemy of God.

WHAT! Hersey. No, my friends.

Let’s look at what was going on. Verse 5 in Isaiah 53 goes on. “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

The inequity of all of humankind was laid upon Jesus like an overwhelming weight as He hung the Cross. We are the real enemies against a Holy God. He took all the blows and all the pain. Verse 7 continues, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.”

The sin of the world being laid upon Jesus was so horrific God could not bear to look at Jesus until the finished work of the Cross brought him death. His soul was the offering for sin. The rest of Isaiah tells us this: 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Jesus smitten so you and I could be free. He freely gave His life and blood so all men could live without fear of eternal damnation. We have it recorded in the documents of the Bible.  The Bible is the writings of how we are to live, no matter where we live.

This living document first traveled to America in 1607 by the Jamestown settlers. America has based its laws on the Bible. Our nation’s capital buildings and state houses have inscribed words taken directly from scripture. Our Declaration of Independence was formed with Biblical values of freedom and justice. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights are founded on the principles of scripture as well.

America is called the Land of the Free.

This title that all the world knows came at a costly price of blood too. America had been ruled by Great Britain for 167 years.  The American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) finally ended the control of Britain’s King George III. He was a tyrant and a globalist. The blood spilled for that freedom cannot be compared to the power of Jesus’ blood.  But it certainly was fueled by the teachings of the Bible that men ought to be free, everywhere. I dare to say that America was smitten with the overwhelming truth that God has called us all to live as free men and women. And we may be called on again to defend that truth with our blood.

Galatians 5:1 KJV

5 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Pray this prayer with me.

Dear God,

Forgive us for so often forgetting the blood sacrifice of Your Son that has cleansed us from our sin. Forgive us for forgetting America has lived free because of the men and women who gave their blood sacrifice.  We are painfully aware of the evil and perversion in our present world. Please come and intervene in the battles that daily take place trying to ruin America and bring us back under rulers who are not tyrants and globalists.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

Written by Paula Ann Kochanek

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