Carlton G. McPeak
Contributor
Every country has an Independence Day; the day they became an independent nation. The day they are no longer under the authority or sovereignty of another nation, therefore, becoming their own nation.
Independence Day in our country is a very important day. The day we, as a country, declared our independence from the nations exercising control over us.
From a biblical perspective, the children of Israel marked their independence from Egypt when God told them to make preparations for leaving Egypt (Exodus 12). This event came on the heels of the plagues brought upon Egypt by God and, in effect, destroyed the nation (Exodus 7-11). The descendants of Jacob did not fight to gain their independence. God did all the fighting.
When they left Egypt by crossing the Red Sea they were truly an independent nation with God as their king and Moses being the human representative of God to the nation. God gave them their own law; a law which gave commandments about how to worship God and how to deal with their fellow man.
Nearly 1,000 years later, after being granted permission to return to Jerusalem by the Medo-Persian king, a remnant of the Israelites began rebuilding their nation. Upon returning they rebuilt the temple and the city wall, followed by rebuilding the faith of those who had returned after being in Babylonian captivity.
Several centuries later, the apostle Paul spoke of a person having their own independence day. This was not independence from a government, but rather an independence from living a life of sin. He says that part of the process of dying “to sin” is to be buried in baptism and then to be raised to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Driving his point home, Paul says, “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin” (Romans 6:6, 7).
This new life will be based upon the teachings of Jesus and His apostles and prophets. The message of Jesus, called the gospel, not only instructs those who are a slave to a sinful life on how to become independent of this sinful life, but also how to live once they have become free of this sinful life.
The Christian’s ultimate independent day will be when they are freed from this earthly life and begin living with God in God’s country eternally. This can only be accomplished by being willing to live independently of their own standard of living. This final independence day can only be achieved by living God’s way.
Carlton G. McPeak (carlton_mc@msn.com) is an evangelist working in the Florida Gateway region. Scriptural quotations from the NASB.
