With Liberty and Justice for All

On the evening of November 4th, beneath the watchful red lights of the Washington Monument, two large white tents stood on the south side of the White House.

One sat within the confines of the iron fence surrounding the presidential home. The sides were window-less and closed off from view. Only a hint of light shone reflected from the columns. Presumably, this tent was for a political affair related to the day\’s elections.

The other tent, a football field away on the south quadrant of the Ellipse, or President\’s Park, stood with its sides open. Light poured out onto grass worn bare from fifty days of worshipers. Roughly a hundred people filled the rows, sitting, standing, kneeling, and dancing. Children ran in circles and exuberant lovers of God waved flags in the area around the tent. This is the culmination of a 1200 hour love song to Jesus.

Many would call these worshipers religious fanatics. But if religion is man-made and systematic, if it is rule- and law-driven, if its purpose is to restrict and judge and control, then I challenge that label.

Worship is not religious; but, maybe government is.

God\’s Plan A was a perfect, unhindered relationship with Him. It needed no law or governance. We rejected that plan. Plan B was a divine law with priests and judges to serve as mediators, but only the authority of God as King. Again, we rejected it. We asked for a human king. We asked for the fallible and fickle rule of man. We embraced ourselves as authorities, and our governments only became more controlling and oppressive as empires passed. Even in a nation which once cried, \”No sovereign but God, no king but Jesus\” and waved a flag with the motto \”An Appeal to Heaven,\” we find ourselves under a government of the people, pushing God further and further away.

The truth is we want for ourselves what God wants for us too: liberty and justice. He wants us free to worship Him and be who He created us to be. He wants justice for us from the grip of sin and the accuser. We aspire to the same ideas, but our execution always falls short. We misunderstand true liberty, and we misapply justice until we find ourselves in deeper and deeper holes. We put our faith in ourselves, but none of us has the power to save.

Our capital city is beautiful and friendly. It is a place where our accomplishments as a nation are displayed to the world. At every corner there is a reminder that human achievement is triumphant, that man is the end all, be all of existence. Yet, if that were true, would we struggle against ourselves so much? Would we not transcend the bitter quarrels of politics and power and opinion? Would we not use our \”highly evolved\” intellect to solve the world\’s woes and create Utopia?

For all our philosophizing, there is no solution of man. No system of government or religion or positive thinking can save the souls of men.

Only the justice of the Father, the liberty of the Holy Spirit through the work of Christ can set us free from the system of law, the cycle of sin and death.

He is worthy, and that is the focus of David\’s Tent. Yes, vote, be educated, be a peace maker and a responsible citizen. But recognize it is all secondary to our primary object as a species: to love God and be loved by Him.

\”Of Thee I sing…\”