July 14th, 2025
THE STAND
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
UNALIENABLE RIGHTS: LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
So say the Founding Fathers of this great country in 1776. The Creator of all and all things endowed every human being so born with unalienable rights. Those rights, God-given, could not be changed or eliminated in any way by mankind. They were part of the DNA, the genetic inheritance of every man and woman at birth and through all of life. Those unalienable rights were the cornerstone of the new nation, that which made America the shining light on the hill, an example to all mankind and all nations, making America both different and better, a model of hope and understanding for all.
LIFE
The Declaration of Independence prioritized life, that all should live life to the fullest. The Great Creator, God the Father, fully agreed. The Son of that Father was the epitome of that life. Even as the Founding Fathers were concerned with life here, and the natural laws which protected that life, then came a higher law, the highest moral law, in the person of Jesus Christ. He told us that whoever finds Him, finds life—real life—a life which no natural law can give. He told us that He was the Bread of Life, that partaking of the Bread and Blood would transform any human life and bring it to the next level.
The Founding Fathers took their inspiration for life, at least to some extent, from Him. But the life promised by Jesus Christ was not only for here and now, but for eternity: ETERNAL LIFE.
To be sure, life here should be an abundant life. So He said, “And the Christ of Glory, Jesus of Nazareth, was concerned that our joy might be full, again, here and hereafter.” The resurrection promised us that new life, a saving proposition which formed the belief of many of the Founding Fathers. There was, said to Christ, the Book of Life in which the name of all who believe would be written. That was the written indication of the guarantee of life eternal. Natural law and all that was envisioned by the Founding Fathers was taken to the next level—the highest possible moral level—by Jesus Christ. What a blessing to have a life abundant here, but much more importantly, to firmly and confidently expect life eternal there, and with Him.
LIBERTY / FREEDOM
The great revolutionary Patrick Henry said:
“GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH.”
For him, not to live free was worse than death. To live forever under British rule and yoke was intolerable, as bad or even worse than death. No matter the cost, all colonists, all Americans, had to live free no matter what. But there was a higher freedom. Then came the Son, the only one who can really set anyone free. No human being could live to the fullest without absolute freedom of:
- CHOICE
- THOUGHT
- ACTION
- BELIEF
They, all of them, were part of the unalienable rights of the Declaration of Independence. No man or woman could live without the Truth. But, with the higher law, the Christ of Glory promised all that HE was the way, and the truth, and the life. He not only brought joy through salvation, here and now, but freedom—here and eternally—from all transgressions and sin. His spirit, the Holy Spirit, came to strengthen, admonish, and encourage us as we lived and walked with Him. Real freedom, the only liberty which was total and complete, was only found in the:
SAVING GRACE OF JESUS CHRIST.
HAPPINESS
There was the necessity for full life, there was the necessity for liberty, and there was the necessity for every human being to engage for his or her life in the:
PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
Happiness as that individual defined it. That was the unalienable right of every human being. But then came the higher law, through the Holy Person. Then came the One who brought real joy, real happiness, and showed the way to life abundant here, and with the promise of even more hereafter. This man, our Lord, was so determined to teach us the meaning of happiness and life abundant that He gave His life for that purpose. He admonished us to be cheerful, happy—we were to have fun and joy, the very best of this life—knowing that the ultimate joy, the higher law, that which was above the natural law, was yet to be fulfilled, but would be so for all eternity. Ultimate joy and happiness would only be accomplished as we live with Him eternally. Some, perhaps many of the Founding Fathers, believed this.
We who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and His higher laws of life, liberty, and happiness can well sing the song “Happy Am I, Jesus Loves Me.” We can also sing “I Am Happy in the Service of the King” because we are in that service and it does provide ultimate fulfillment and happiness.
We then should be extremely grateful, thankful, to those revolutionaries, those Founding Fathers, who gave us the great Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of 1787—our Founding Documents—and the freedoms, the unalienable rights, which they granted to colonists then, and to all of us Americans here and now. Thank you, all 56 of those great men who gave us the Declaration of Independence.
We, their heirs and successors, have received and lived the fruits of those blessings and we owe them the highest debt of human gratitude. But there is more, and we have that. There are laws and rights higher than the natural laws of 1776. There is life, there is liberty, and there is happiness and joy, all from HIM. And we who believe in Him can partake of the very best here and now, in this life, but with far greater expectation of what is to come in the next life:
WITH HIM!
