The Hidden Benefits of Freedom | Rev. Jeremy F. Simons

Good morning and welcome to our service today, which is on the topic of the hidden the hidden benefits of freedom.

And uh we begin with a reading from the book of Revelation, chapter 19.

Revelation 19 · chapter mention

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, on his head were many crowns, and 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 the rod of iron.

He himself treads the wine press and fierceness and 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 then 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, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men.

And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth and their armies, gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army.

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

These two were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone, and the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

And so we have a partial explanation of this from Apocalypse Revealed, number 820.

This signifies the spiritual sense of the word revealed by the Lord, and the interior understanding of the word disclosed by it, which is the coming of the Lord.

The reason that this is the coming of the Lord is because it manifestly appears from that sense that the Lord is the word, and that the word treats of him alone, and that he is the God of heaven and earth, and that from him alone a new church exists.

And then our final reading is True Christian Religion or True Christianity number 815 about freedom.

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 preserve for the royal family's amusement.

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

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

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

Amen.

Here end the lessons.

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

Amen.

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.

He who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

As we celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this weekend, we begin today by looking at the story of the white horse in Revelation.

The one on the white horse is the Lord Himself, as he's seen in the Word.

A white horse stands for a true understanding of the Word.

And his appearance near the end of the book here marks the final defeat of the forces of evil, removing their power to cause harm.

Now, the possibility that a true understanding of the Lord's word might someday be the dominant thing worldwide might seem remote to us now, but if it were to happen, if it were to come about, it might not be hard to believe that this would go a long way towards removing the power of evil to cause harm in this world.

Now, the New Church teaches that this scene is part of a process described in the book of Revelation, which, according to New Church teachings, is currently changing the whole world.

It was completed on June 19th, 1770, with the announcement that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns and that his kingdom will endure forever.

And that spiritual event, unseen in this world, has been having its effect on us ever since.

Now, this was 256 years ago.

And while enormous changes have taken place around the world since then, none of them really would appear to justify that claim.

But if we look closely at what has happened in the world, we might be able to catch a glimpse of how it is that the Lord works continually to make this world a better place.

So yesterday we celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Declaration.

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.

The Declaration briefly states the founding philosophy of this nation: liberty, individual rights, government by consent.

Now, the teachings of the new church, the heavenly doctrine, does not advocate any particular form of government.

At that time, kingdoms were the most common, and the writings say many good things about kings, about queens, about emperors, even describing some as governing their people in the next life.

They do, however, say things like this: that a king with absolute power who believes his subjects are so far his slaves, that he has right over their possessions and lives, if he exercises this power, is no king.

He's a tyrant.

And also it says that a just ruler is therefore under the law, under the law, and governs according to it.

And lots of other things are also said about the qualities that a good leader, a good ruler should have.

But little is said about political systems.

Forms like democracy, communism, and other things we talk about today are never mentioned.

What is discussed, though, and this is interesting, what is discussed is the concept of political freedom.

Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the way that this is discussed, even talking about particular countries and describing specifics about what these freedoms do, is remarkable because apparently freedom has hidden benefits.

Freedom has benefits that aren't necessarily obvious to us.

So true Christianity, published just five years before the Declaration of Independence was written, portrays the British very differently than the way the Declaration of Independence portrays the British government, anyway.

In True Christianity number 807, it says this.

As for the British, the better people among them are at the center of all Christians in the spiritual world because they have a profound intellectual light.

This does not appear to anyone in the physical world, but it is blatantly obvious in the spiritual world.

And they owe this light to their freedom of speech and freedom of the press and their consequent freedom of thought.

Among other peoples who do not have the same freedoms, that light is stifled because it does not have an outlet.

So, according to this, the effect of political freedom on a people is to promote a profound intellectual sight or light.

So is that really true?

Is there any way we could uh corroborate that?

Does freedom actually make people smarter?

So naturally we ask Google, and Google AI says this freedom of speech does not inherently make people smarter on a biological level, but it serves as a powerful catalyst for cognitive growth.

By fostering environments where ideas can be freely shared, challenged, and tested, free speech expands knowledge, promotes critical thinking, and builds intellectual resilience.

Sounds pretty persuasive, I think.

And I imagine that if we were to do studies, we would find that freedom has benefits like that.

And true Christianity also provides counterexamples to explain the idea further.

For example, it talks about 18th century Germany, which was not a unified country at the time, but lots of little kingdoms, none of which had those freedoms.

We read in number 814 in True Christianity that since in each of its states Germans are under a strong individual leader, they do not have the free speech and freedom of the press that the Dutch and the British enjoy.

And when free speech and freedom of the press are curtailed, freedom of thought, that is, of examining matters in a full and complete way, suffers as well.

What flows in adapts itself to fit what flows out.

Our higher understanding, then, adapts itself to fit the amount of freedom there is to say and do what we are considering.

And for this reason, the members of this noble nation devote themselves more to memorization than to forming their own opinions.

So the point is that the lack of freedom stifles that profound intellectual light that they would have had if they were free, leaving them to focus on citing authorities rather than forming their own opinions, at least according to this account.

Now, happily, Germans today are just as free as the British.

And so this situation has presumably changed.

And the implication is that as freedom spreads, the world will get smarter.

And so we want to ask at this point, is freedom spreading?

And you can see examples from year to year of things that are impinging on freedom and taking it away, and other things that are making it grow.

But if you look at the long term, we know that in the past 250 years, democracy has spread from being the form of government of about 5% of the countries worldwide to being the majority, the form of government in the majority of countries.

And of course, that depends on what you count as real democracy.

These things are very difficult to say.

But similarly, the number of people who live in countries where there is freedom of the press and freedom of speech has definitely increased dramatically in the last 250 years.

And of course, while democracy and freedom of speech are not the same thing, still the two are intertwined.

Freedom of speech is a fundamental requirement for a functioning democracy.

And while freedom of speech can exist in other forms of government besides democracies, freedom of speech is a key aspect of the concept of the consent of the governed, which is key in the Declaration of Independence.

Now, still, it's important to realize that freedom does not necessarily make people good.

The freedom that true Christianity praises so highly among the British did not prevent Christianity from declining in that country as it has in so many others, just as it has throughout the Christian world.

Freedom is merely a means for allowing future improvement.

As we in the United States celebrate this anniversary of our independence, we need to be conscious of our shortcomings as well as our strengths.

Freedom and democracy may be good things that lead to a better future, but they do not cancel out the negative effects of immorality, materialism, and the many other spiritual ills that characterize post-Christian civilization, according to the heavenly doctrine.

Now, a very interesting and relevant aspect of the effect of freedom in England, in the England described in true Christianity, concerns the nature of the profound intellectual light that's attributed to them.

Here's what it says.

That light, though, is not automatically activated in them.

Rather, it is stimulated by others, particularly by people who are famous and powerful.

As soon as they hear the latter make some statement, this light dawns in them.

And for this reason, they are assigned governors in the spiritual world and are given preachers of great reputation and skill.

And because of the native character they have, the British go along with the judgments of their governors and preachers who are like this.

That is, their insight is dependent on the nature of their leadership, political leadership, cultural leadership, so that when a respected person speaks, they recognize wisdom when it's there.

And elsewhere, this is given as the reason why they avidly seek out credible commentaries and reviews and recommendations about everything from books to politics to other things.

And they are even, the British are even criticized because they become so obsessed with politics that their minds are drawn away from more worthwhile spiritual matters.

And so this may be why people are so highly interested in political and cultural leaders, so ready to critique or praise their words and actions.

And unfortunately, in this culture of the fallen church, there's no lack of things to criticize.

But this does not mean that conditions worldwide are not always moving in a positive direction.

We are told, and you've heard this teaching before, that for those who trust in the Lord, all things are moving towards an everlasting state of happiness, and that no matter what happens at any time to them, it contributes to that state.

For divine providence is over all.

That is, it is present in the smallest details of all, and that people in the stream of providence are being carried along constantly towards happier things, whatever appearance the means might present.

And so this is where the one on the white horse comes into the narrative.

If the Lord is the one that we look to and listen to, that is, if he is the one that activates that profound intellectual light in us as free people, then we'll have a perspective on the things going on in our world, and we will be less prone to the anxieties that life so often promotes.

As we said before, the one on the white horse is the Lord Himself, as he is seen in the Word, and the white horse stands for a true understanding of the Word.

And what's interesting is that a similar white horse appears near the beginning of the book, which stands for those who love the word and who see it clearly.

But at that point in the book, it is not the dominant view.

There are other horses with other views.

And it isn't until the end of the book, after the long process of change and wars and revelations that are described, it's not until the end that we see that the growing understanding of the word, to the point that the Lord Himself has seen there, is what defeats the power of evil.

And if we think about it, we can see the progress towards that point happening all over the world.

Because even though evils exist, and even though evils may even seem to rule, there has been a constant increase in positive things, a constant increase in education, a constant increase in knowledge.

We see freedom and democracy steadily increasing, creating conditions all over the world for that profound intellectual light so highly praised in the British people.

And so it's this that we especially celebrate in America's 250th anniversary.

The freedom that this country stands for and that is spreading worldwide.

Now, one thing about freedom is though is that although we tend to think of it in binary terms, like we're either free or not free, the truth is that we are more free or less free.

Freedom is always limited.

Our speech and our actions are necessarily constrained.

Making freedom in its presence, the desire for freedom, a subject of discussion in even the freest of nations.

People disagree about what kind of rules might impinge on our freedom.

For example, there are two passages here from the Heavenly Doctrine that tell us, one, in divine providence.

It says, in countries where justice and judgment are preserved, everyone is compelled not to speak in opposition to religion or to behave in opposition to it.

But still, no one can be compelled to think and will in favor of it.

And then in another place in Heavenly Doctrine, 325, it says a king must be obeyed in accordance with the kingdom's laws, and he must not be harmed in any way by word or deed, for on this the safety of the state depends.

So we might see these statements as debatable, but the freedom to debate these things is itself something that contributes to that profound intellectual light where we can think, is this true?

Is this right, or is it wrong?

And we can speak about it.

Another interesting thing is that the progress of freedom brings peace to the world, and this is partly because nations where there is democracy and freedom of speech necessarily struggle to engage in warfare of any kind.

Because unless the nation faces an existential threat that is clear to anyone, to everyone, any kind of military action will be subject to criticism and opposition, eventually making it impossible to continue a war.

And this would seem to give autocracies a significant advantage, except for the fact that once a free population is convinced that military action really is necessary, they will fight with a will that is often irresistible.

And this is what makes freedom so powerful.

And this is why, when the one on the white horse appears at the end of Revelation 19, the forces of evil submit to him almost at once, despite the fact that he never attacks them.

He only defends against their attack, and yet he easily captures them.

Because at that point the truth is clear.

For most of us, the truth is not yet clear, but freedom has in but freedom has hidden benefits.

What we celebrate on the 19th of June in the new church and in this 250th anniversary year for our country is the spread of freedom, and therefore the spread of the truth, and therefore the spread of that spiritual kingdom, which is described in the song in our next hymn, as most dear to those who love her, most great to them that know.

We may not count her armies, we may not see her king, but soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase, and her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.

Amen.