In the anglo-saxon world much ado has been made about freedom. Probably the United States has been the most prominent in this regard, celebrating the cause in its anthem as being “the land of the free.” We are all familiar with the historical provenance of that nation. It came into existence in opposition to the perceived tyranny of the state—in this case the Crown of Great Britain.
The assertion of freedom from the tyranny of an unjust government is enshrined, of course, in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed . . .” We notice that life and liberty are declared to be co-fundamental. If one is to be truly alive, one must be truly free. But life and liberty are also declared to be co-fundamental with the pursuit of happiness. One is only truly alive and free, if one is allowed to pursue one's own happiness.
The hagiography of the Founders and the idolising of their Declaration has now become bizarre, to say the least. A massive transformation of meaning of the Declaration has taken place in little over two hundred years. It is now understood to mean the precise opposite of what the revered Founders meant. Yet the same formulaic words are applied. For the Founders, freedom meant at least two things: it meant freedom from the government, in order to be and do as one saw fit in the pursuit of happiness. Now the very same formula is glossed to mean the reverse. Now it is understood to mean freedom from having to pursue happiness; to which end it is the duty of the government to be and do all it can to provide happiness for its citizens. Of course, it can only pursue this course and deliver freedom from want and need for its citizens if it has already arrogated to itself powers and tyrannies unimagined by the King of England or the American revolutionaries at the time.
Today, the sentiments of the Declaration of Independence stand as one of the greatest cynical historical jokes of all time. It has produced an all regulating, all controlling government with pre-emptive powers claiming omni-competence over every aspect of its citizens' lives and property. But it also stands, like Ozymandius, as a sober warning to all who will heed. The Founders appealed to the Laws of Nature and to Reason as the ground and authority of their Declaration. Really, they were appealing and testifying to themselves and their own autonomy. They were seeking to revolt and establish a new nation on the grounds of beliefs and principles and the world as they saw and understood it to be, not as it truly was.
They were rationalists, closet rationalists to be sure, but rationalists none the less. When fallen men seek to build kingdoms on the shifting sands of man and his reason, their kingdoms will not stand. When reason is autonomous, one generation's lie becomes another generation's truth. One man's view or belief is as good as another's. Autonomous reason is a prostitute: it will go with whomever has the money at the time. And so it has proved to be.
Jerusalem, that great City of God upon earth, also believes in freedom, but not as in Athens. In Jerusalem, freedom is a function of truth, and truth is a function of God and not the creature. It is the truth which sets free. But God's Word, which represents the constitutional documents of the City, is the truth. Anything contrary to His Word is a lie. As each individual man submits to God's Word and embraces it in his heart, he is set free. The freedom of Jerusalem also has two aspects. It also is a freedom from, and a freedom to be and to do.
Firstly, freedom in Jerusalem means freedom from sin and its guilt, which enslaves every human heart in Athens. But it also means freedom to be and to pursue something. It means freedom to be a steward or servant of the King. It means freedom to pursue the duties and responsibilities of servanthood. This is why within Jerusalem every citizen is respected and honoured. They are respected because they are cleansed of sin and forgiven by the Lord Himself. None dare question the prerogatives of the King in this regard. Secondly, every citizen (man, woman and child) is respected as being the servant or steward of the King, who has both responsibilities and duties to perform at each and every stage of their lives. None must interfere with the Lord's servants, doing the Lord's business, carrying out the tasks He has assigned.
The prohibition against interfering with the lives of the servants of the Lord fundamentally establishes the principles of civil liberty within Jerusalem. Whilst every individual must respect the due roles of Family, Church and State, by exactly the same token those institutions are bound to respect each family member, each church member, and each citizen respectively as the servant and steward of God, Himself.
This basic principle of liberty is highlighted most sharply and clearly in the encounter between Peter and John and the Lord after the Resurrection. The Lord had been restoring and recommissioning His servant, Peter after the latter's denial of the Christ. Peter turned around and saw John standing near, and asked, “Lord, and what about this man?”Jesus said, in effect, mind your own business! “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.” (John 21: 21,22)
This stinging rebuke is the charter of liberty for every steward and servant of God in the Kingdom. People are to be left to fulfill the roles and responsibilities of a steward of God as it falls to them. Paul echoes the words of the Lord when he is reasoning through the liberty that is to apply within the Church of the Lord.
Now, accept the one who is weak in faith, but for for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One man has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. Let not him who eats regard with contempt him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” (Romans 14: 1—4)Notice that the Scripture does not say that everything which a particular servant of the King does it thereby right or as good as it could be. Some people are weak; their opinions are immature. All our lives are mixtures of truth and error but the Lord will make us stand at the end of the day. For our part, it is not given to us to be the judge the servants of the Lord. He will deal with His servants in His way, in His time, as it seems good to Him. He is the Lord.
Our fathers, when writing the Westminster Confession put it this way: "God alone is the Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are in anything contrary to His Word; or beside it, if matters of faith and worship.” (Westminster Confession 20:2)
The Kingdom of God reflects the totalitarian government of the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is Lord of the conscience of each individual soul. Therefore, no other entity or institution of the Kingdom can enslave or lord it over an individual's heart and mind. Always the higher lordship of the King must be respected and feared. Every human soul is to be respected and honoured as a servant of the Lord.
But this does not mean that each individual is without law. Far from it. For everyone is commanded to love the Lord His God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind; and to love his neighbour as himself. This is the true law of liberty that sets the redeemed and forgiven sinner free. This is the true freedom of God's Kingdom, and it comes about and is protected by the Spirit of God Himself at work within the City.
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