The Declaration of Independence Proclaims Our Christian Roots

The Declaration of Independence is America’s first founding document. In my book, Giants Will Fall, I point out the fact that God is referenced four times in that document. He is mentioned as our Lawgiver, Creater, Judge and Protector. 

The first way He is mentioned is as our Lawgiver. So much for the separation of God and state. God wants to be involved in our government. That doesn’t mean that our government will tell everybody how they have to live. It means we will operate as a nation based on His truth. If we do that, the hearts of men and women will respond to His truth and people will be impacted and morality will be produced. 

The Declaration also speaks of Him as our Creator. So much for evolution. So much for some denying Him as our Creator. 

The signers of the document, calling themselves the “Representatives of the United States of America”, then appealed “to the Supreme Judge of the world” to judge the “rectitude” of their intentions. “Rectitude” means “morally correct thinking or behavior, or righteousness.” They wanted to be sure that what they were doing in drawing away from England and forming a new country was what He wanted them to do. So, they humbly submitted themselves to God’s sovereignty and asked Him to judge their words and actions.

The Declaration concludes with these words, speaking of God as our Protector, “For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.”

When we read our founding documents, it becomes impossible to say that our founders were not Christian and did not intend this nation to honor God, the Bible, and the Christian faith.

After the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it was recorded that some of the signers wept. Others, like John Witherspoon, bowed their heads in prayer. This was a sacred event to them. This was spiritual. It wasn’t just a national thing. Samuel Adams rose and stated, “We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom alone men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting sun, may His Kingdom come.” 

When the document was released publicly on July 4th, the ringing of the Liberty Bell sounded. The verse on the Liberty Bell is from Leviticus 25, verse 10, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof.” Did you know there is a verse of scripture on the Liberty Bell? Did you know that in God’s sovereign providence it is a verse that has to do with jubilee? I wrote about this in Giants Will Fall: “This verse is taken from the description of the year of jubilee, which was a prophetic picture of Christ. Our Jubilee forgave our debts and freed us from spiritual slavery.” That’s what jubilee was all about in the Old Testament—the forgiving of debts, a release from spiritual slavery, and the restoring of what once belonged to someone—land and inheritance is given back. Christ came and fulfilled all of that and He became our Jubilee. 

I go on, “Just to make sure you get the connection, our nation’s birth was announced under the biblical decree that Christ is our Liberator and Savior.”

“Set aside and consecrate the fiftieth year to declare liberty throughout the land for all of its inhabitants. It is to be a jubilee for you. Every person is to return to his own land that he has inherited.” (Leviticus 25:10; ISV)

Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:

• Thank the Lord that those who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence made it clear that this nation was to be reliant on God as Lawgiver, Creator, Judge, and Protector.
• Contemplate for a moment the holy moment they experienced immediately following the signing. That was a holy moment we can honor today.
• Declare Leviticus 25:10 today, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof.” Christ is our Jubilee!
• The ringing of the Liberty Bell was the declaration of the birth of this nation. It rang out that this nation would be joined to Christ, our Liberator, according to the verse written on it—Leviticus 25:10. SHOUT, because that ring resounded in the heavens at the birth of this nation!

A prayer you can pray:

Lord, what a powerful reminder today of Your Divine and Sovereign guidance in the founding of this nation, the United States of America. I feel Your Presence on that moment as if I were there in that room, watching “the Representatives” sign it with a holy and reverential fear of the Lord upon them. I can imagine their emotion as they wept, prayed, and proclaimed their honor of You and their desperate need of You to get them through the next season of warring for the inheritance You had promised. The document they had just signed, the Declaration of Independence, made clear that this nation was to be reliant on God as Lawgiver, Creator, Judge, and Protector. They meant every word they had written and pledged everything they had for it.

Thank You that they sealed this holy moment with the ringing of the Liberty Bell, upon which was written Jeremiah 25:10. As they struck that bell, the sound of Your promise rang out, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof.” Christ was to be honored throughout the existence of our nation. Jesus was the promise foretold in that scripture. Without Jesus, there is no liberty, and those standing there on that historic day knew that well. I will shout my praises to You, renewing that covenant in my generation, My Lord Jesus, my Savior and my King! We are wholly reliant upon You. Amen.

Today’s decree:

Our founders were clearly Christian and intended this nation to honor God, the Bible, and the Christian faith!