250 Years of Freedom | Rev. Jeremy F. Simons

Good morning and welcome to our service today, where we will discuss the our celebration of our country's 250th anniversary and the story of the white horse from Revelation 19.

Hear the word of the Lord.

Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns.

He had a name written that no one knew except himself.

He was clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.

And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses.

Now, out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations, and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron, and he himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather together for the supper of the great God.

And I saw the beast.

And the beast was captured.

And with him the false prophet that worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and who worshipped his image.

And these two were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone.

And then we read from true Christianity number 815 about free nations.

When it comes to the spiritual or theological teachings of the church, the nations that have freedom are like eagles that can soar aloft to any height.

The nations that have no freedom are like swans swimming on the surface of a river.

Nations that have freedom are like majestic deer with great racks of antlers running wherever they wish through fields, woods, and forests.

Nations that have no freedom are like deer kept in a game reserve for the pleasure of the royal family.

People who have freedom are like the flying horses, known to the ancients as pegasuses, which fly over oceans, not only over oceans, but also over hills that are called Parnassion, and even over the muses themselves below.

Whereas people who have not been set free intellectually are like well-bred horses in beautifully studded halters standing in the royal stables.

These similes represent different degrees of judgment in regard to theological mysteries.

Amen.

Here are the lessons.

Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

Amen.

So this 4th of July weekend, we have been celebrated, celebrating the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, and especially 250 years of the freedom that we enjoy in this country.

And today, the story that I read has to do with the white horse.

And today I want to talk about what the connection is between the white horse and the rider on the white horse, who is the Lord, and the freedoms that we celebrate.

And it's interesting that this is a story that comes near the end of the book of Revelation, and we celebrate it typically each year around this time of year on the 19th of June, celebrating what happened 256 years ago, and then six years later, we have the Declaration of Independence.

Is there any connection?

You have to wonder.

So this horse specifically, and especially the rider on it, the rider is the Lord, and what happens in the story is the Lord's final victory over evil, setting everyone free.

I mean, that's what's represented here.

But the horse in particular stands for something.

And because of that, it's been a very important symbol in the new church.

Because a horse stands for our understanding, and a white horse stands for a true understanding of the word.

And the idea here is that a true understanding of the word is what helps set us free.

And if the whole world could have a true understanding of what's really true and what's really good, true understanding of the word, it would set the whole world free.

And this is important in our church.

And so it's represented in various places in this building.

You might notice over here on the lectern, if you're close enough, you can see that in the center panel there, there is a horse.

And the reason that there's a horse is because the things that people read from this lectern are supposed to promote a true understanding.

Some of you here, especially on this side, might be able to see the white horse that it's in the window in the front on that side, and it's there for the same reason.

And all of you, if you want to turn around, you can see the white horse underneath the woman clothed of the sun in the center panel of the back window.

And he is the very white horse we're talking about here, with uh its rider and a sword coming out of his mouth.

And below that, in the door, there is a white horse on top of the doorway.

And it's depicted in numerous other places in this building.

In the Michael Tower, where you come in there, there are two depictions of it there.

So you so you know it's important.

And if only, if only there was a way of getting that true understanding spread around the whole world, would it change the world?

The idea here is there would change the world.

It would make people better.

So the sword that comes out of the mouth of the speaker is not a sword.

It says that with it he will strike the nations.

But it's not an offensive sword.

He doesn't go and attack the nations.

What happens in the story is the man on the white horse comes, the Lord, with his armies, the beast and the false prophet, they come, they attack him, and the sword defends.

The sword of truth is what defends.

So the sword of truth is not to attack people, it's to defend.

And that's what it's for.

And so, what does that have to do with freedom?

Well, this is a very amazing thing.

Very amazing thing.

If you look in your little uh booklets, if you have one, you might see that there's a passage quoted in it.

And uh the thing I read from the pulpit here, I said that free nations are like eagles, they're like flying horses, they're like deer, roaming free, because deer love freedom.

But in here, um, it's a curious thing that when you read the Declaration of Independence, it talks about the British, and especially the king, and the usurpations that he committed and the way he is a tyrant and is binding the freedom of the United States, and we're going to be independent.

Well, six years before that was written, this was written, which says, as for the British, so it says nice things about them, as for the British, the better people among them are at the center of all Christians.

And here's the key.

Why are they at the center of all Christians?

This is in the other world.

It's because they have a profound intellectual light.

Profound intellectual light.

Why do they have a profound intellectual light?

They say, it says, um, they owe this light to their freedom of speech and freedom of the press and their consequent freedom of thought.

So why do they have a profound intellectual light?

It's because they are free.

And in a couple of passages later, it says, but by contrast, let's look at Germany.

Germany does not have freedom of the press.

It did not have freedom of speech.

It was made up of lots of little kingdoms, and they were not free.

And it said, they don't have that same kind of insight because they're not free.

So the implication is that once the Germans became free, which they're free now, they would have the same intellectual light that the British do.

And of course, America is founded on that idea of freedom.

Do we have a profound intellectual light?

We might or might not, it depends.

But it's a good thing.

And the idea here is that as freedom spreads around the world, people will develop that light because they're free to speak as they wish.

And as they have that freedom, more and more clearly will they see what is true.

And seeing what is true is what the white horse is all about.

So the nature of the Lord's victory on the white horse is simply imparting understanding.

People who didn't understand, people don't understand, because of what's represented by the white horse, they will understand and be free.

Now, the United States, we love the flag.

We have a flag up here, and there are lots of ways of explaining what is in this flag, but there's one aspect of it which you can see right here in the church.

So in the flag, we have the 13 stripes standing for the 13 colonies, love and wisdom joined together.

And then we have this blue field with lots of stars.

Now notice the stripes are all joined together.

On the flag over here, they're sewn together.

They're unit, you they're unified.

It's a unity of stripes.

The colonies are unified.

And we like to think of ourselves as a unified country.

But at the same time, the stars are all individual.

And the stars aren't even touching each other.

The stars are all free and independent in a certain sense.

They stand for each state.

Well, if you look at the front of the church here, you'll see the Lord's face in the window, and on that side, you see seven stars.

The other side you see a seven-branch candlestick, seven-branch lampstand.

And the stars stand for the different societies of heaven, the angels of the seven churches.

They're all free, they're all individual, they're all independent, but they're all joined together.

And it's the same idea there in that window is represented in the stars on our flag.

And so it just underlines the importance of freedom, the importance of independence, the importance of using that freedom and independence to learn what the word teaches and have a true understanding of the word that is represented by the white horse.

Is it spreading around the world?

Is freedom spreading around the world?

The truth is that many more nations are democratic and free than ever were 250 years ago.

There's a definite progress going on.

Whether it will continue, we don't know, but we can imagine that it will.

And we can also imagine that that uh person by person, kind of soul by soul, the kingdom represented by that freedom is going to grow and uh bring peace to the world to the Lord's victory.