By Micah Messer
Several summers ago I visited Washington, D.C. The landscape consists of magnificent buildings, historic memorials, sacred halls, and impressive monuments. There are endless lines of tourists, too. Instead of waiting hours in line to view the offices of politicians, we decided to visit the gravesides of heroes.
Overlooking Capital Hill, Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place for nearly 250,000 servicemen and women from the Revolutionary War to the present. Arlington’s gentle slopes of 620 acres is a beautiful memorial to the fallen soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice. They preserved liberty not only for America but also the world. Thousands of white crosses stand on rolling hills as silent testimonies to the sacrificial price of freedom.
Freedom is never free. Our liberty was bought with their lives.
On another hillside stood an old rugged cross. God became flesh to dwell among us. God became man to die for us. (Col 1:15-23) Paul wrote, You were bought with a price. (1 Cor 6:20) Bought with His blood. Saved by His sacrifice. We have been purchased with His purity. We have liberty through His love.
When we sinned, we became slaves to sin. (Jn 8:34) Wickedness will not release those who practice it. (Eccl 8:8) We lived in our sin with a continual lust for more. (Eph 4:19) What wretched people! Who could rescue us?
Thanks be to the Lord Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life! (Rom 7:24, 25; Jn 14:6) We wholeheartedly obeyed the truth, and the truth freed us! (Rom 6:17; Jn 8:32) And if the Son has set you free, then you are free indeed! (Jn 8:36) We are not our own. We were bought with a price. No longer slaves to sin, we are slaves to righteousness. (Rom 6:18-22) No longer living for ourselves, we live for our Savior. (Gal 2:20) The wages of our sin was death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ. (Rom 6:23)
And on the rolling hills of heaven, thousands of white robes will stand as living testimonies to the Sacrificial Lamb. Saints from all of time from every tribe and tongue will declare, You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power… (Rev 4:11) We will never forget. We will always remember. He gave the ultimate sacrifice. He paid the highest price.
He gave His life for our freedom.
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