Happy Birthday, America! – July 4th, 2025

Today, we are celebrating America’s 249th birthday! To God be the glory!

For me personally, this is a day of quiet reflection. I keep wondering…what was stirring in the hearts and minds of our 56 Founding Fathers, two hundred and forty-nine years ago? How could they possibly comprehend the magnitude of what they were about to do when affixing their names to the Declaration of Independence?

I just came across a well-written account of all the possible emotions they were experiencing on that day, and I would like to share some of them with you.

The following comes from Dutch Sheets - Give Him Fifteen – An Appeal To Heaven – July 4, 2025 – entitled, Independence Forever.

One can only imagine the range of emotions present in Independence Hall when the Declaration of Independence was signed. In the classic book, The Light and the Glory, Peter Marshall and David Manuel offer the following account:

“The magnitude of what they had done began to weigh upon them, and they realized that they and their countrymen were no longer Englishmen, but citizens of a fledgling nation barely a few minutes old. Many stared out the window.

Some wept openly. Some, like Witherspoon, bowed their heads and closed their eyes in prayer. John Hancock broke the silence: ‘Gentlemen, the price on my head has just been doubled!’

“A wry chuckle followed, and then Samuel Adams rose: ‘We have this day restored the Sovereign, to Whom alone men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and …from the rising to the setting sun, may His Kingdom come.’’’

It is ridiculous to suggest that these Founders did not believe God was involved in this endeavor. John Quincy Adams, son of John and Abigail Adams and sixth president of the United States, made the profound statement on the 45th anniversary of the signing, “The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.” William Federer, America’s God and Country.

Adams’ belief in this indissoluble bond and God’s destiny for America – taking the gospel of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth – never waned. On America’s 61st birthday, July 4, 1837, he made the following staggering declaration, connecting the birth of our nation to the birth of Jesus Christ:

“Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day? {July 4th}. Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior?

That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth?” William Federer, America’s God and Country

Adams wasn’t equating America’s birth with Christ’s birth; he was saying that America’s birth was for the purpose of announcing Christ’s birth as the Redeemer of humankind. This patriot knew why God raised up America!

The Price of Freedom…

The signers of the Declaration of Independence understood the potential cost of their actions. This is why they ended the document with the words:

“For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

John Quincy’s dad, John Adams, one of the signers and our second President, spoke of the probable cost to his wife, Abigail: “I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration and support and defend these states.

Yet through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means.” William J. Bennett – Our sacred honor: Words of Advice from the Founders in stories, letters, poems, and speeches.

Most people are unaware that Adams and Jefferson, in an incredible phenomenon that could have only been caused by Providence, both died on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration, July 4, 1826. Incredibly, God honored their love for America by allowing them to live until that landmark day. Their passion to see the survival of this “holy experiment,” as many described America at that time, and God’s divine favor kept them alive until this milestone was reached.

Adams, too weak to attend the national Fourth of July celebration, asked to be seated in a chair by his window in order to watch the festivities. While there, while watching the celebration, he drifted into unconsciousness and died later that night. Two of his last words before he graduated to Heaven were, “Independence forever.” William Federer, America’s God and Country.

Passionate in life; passionate in death.

IN GOD WE TRUST

(America’s National Motto)