I’d like to ask you to step back in time with me for a moment. Step back to April 19, 1775. The place is the colony of Massachusetts. During the early hours of the morning, the warning has gone out that the British regulars have left Boston and are headed to Concord. Their orders are to confiscate anything that they consider to be of use militarily. The colonists of the surrounding area understand what this means. They understand the consequences of such disarmament. They also understand what it means to oppose it.
This is a time they had hoped would not come, yet they had made preparations for such an eventuality.What sort of people were these colonists? Most were either first or second generation refugees from England, Scotland, Ireland, or the European continent, having come to these shores in order to flee the notorious religious persecutions occurring in those lands. They were predominantly a Christian people. Many, if not most, could trace the heritage of the faith they practiced back to John Knox and John Calvin. The events of the preceding years had put them in a position of having to decide not only if they would respond to the increasing abuses of the English government, but how.
Consider these men for a moment. What were they to think as the British made their approach to Concord? These were men not entirely unlike us in many respects. They were family men, business men, farmers, craftsmen, churchmen, and the like. There was much at stake for them as they pondered if this was the moment they had dreaded, yet planned for. To resist the British would mark them as enemies of the crown. They would not be able, from that point on, to resume life as normal. They, their families, their properties, would all be placed at risk. Everything they had, everything they possessed was at stake. For many, their families would likely be killed, their homes burned, and their properties confiscated. For these men, this was a wager of enormous proportions. There was not even the assurance that all of the others inhabiting the colonies would sympathize with or support them. There was no guarantee of the success of their cause and enterprise. One act of resistance could get them hanged. Can we understand their quandary, or empathize with the consternation of the decisions of the moment? Their lives could, and would, be changed irrevocably in a matter of hours. Some would not be returning home at the end of that day.
We all know the rest of the story, and the outcome. But, we must ask the question as to whether we have become dull in hearing the retelling of it. We have seen innumerable accounts of it produced on film, and heard and read of it all of our lives. Somehow, perhaps, we have gotten the impression that most of these men didn’t have much else to do, except to fight the British. But this is simply not true. Who was going to till, plant and harvest. Who was going to man the mill? Who would take care of the shops and the various fledgling industries? This all assumes that they would actually have the opportunity to carry on these enterprises. No, their circumstance was not so entirely different from ours when we consider the practical obstacles.But perhaps our dullness of hearing has caused us to not fully appreciate the dimension of their sacrifices.
We seem to somehow forget that many of those who made these sacrifices and became “fathers” of this nation were indeed “fathers” in the faith that they had received from those who had preceded them.Why does the thought of defending our faith and liberty seem so foreign to us today? It is a long and somewhat tortured path from the roads to Concord, Lexington, and the other towns to where we are today. It has been noted that the tyranny of King George III was relatively impotent compared to the vastly obese and insatiable tyranny of the current George. If we were called upon to answer our predecessors as to why we tolerate such an affair, what would we say in response? Would we claim that because we have begun a new career, are building a new house or farm, or that we need to work to get money for our daughter’s braces somehow dismisses us from having to deal with it? Perhaps we might come up with a sophisticated theological argument to show our predecessors their ignorance? Perhaps we would simply punch the remote control to find a program more to our liking.
The great Calvinist statesman, Patrick Henry had this to say:“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.”
What are we to make of this statement considering Henry’s Calvinism? Maybe he spoke it in a moment of lapsing faith? I think not. Perhaps he had become influenced by Enlightenment thinking? I don’t believe so. Maybe he was just a rebel at heart. Please, spare me. These words were spoken at the Virginia Convention on the ratification of the Constitution on June 5, 1788. Patrick Henry had more than enough time to ponder what he was saying, and what he meant. Is there really anything fundamentally different between his words and the words of King David who acknowledged that the Lord had taught him how to war and that by the power of the Lord he had run through the midst of his enemies, eventually receiving the victory? Both men had seen the rigors of war. Both had openly acknowledged the hand of God in the events they lived through. Both undoubtedly understood that the liberty to worship the God of the Bible and to enjoy His gracious blessings must at some point be defended.
Unless some make a mistake at this point, let me emphasize that this is not a call to revolution. This is a call for honest assessment. How are we to answer those of the past? If they were to visit us today, what would they think? Do we care what they would think? Would they still believe their sacrifices were worth it? Or would they be profoundly disappointed? No, this is not an urge to revolution. I submit to you that we are called to repent. We are called to return to the God of the Bible, the God of our fathers, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are called to repent of our cozy idolatries with the Baals of our age, and the complacency associated with our peaceful coexistence with them. The true and substantive faith described in Hebrews 11 is a faith that is recognized and authenticated by action. History may look back at this time and this generation and remark at our colossal failures. And they will be justified in doing so. But maybe, just maybe, they will be able to look back and see that we began to repent and turn the corner. And perhaps we should look back on the faithful, courageous men before us who were willing to lay everything on the line for the notion that a people should defend the freedom to worship and serve the God of their fathers in all of the details.
There are no shortages of heroes to be found there.
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