“Freedom Is Not Free”
TEXT: 1 Chronicles 11:15-19 (NKJV)
By Almon Bartholomew
Theme: “Freedom Is Not Free”
“The story of Jonathan and his armor bearer is a must read. It is narrated in 1 Samuel chapter14, verses1-15, in the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible.
Now it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who [a]bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side.” But he did not tell his father. 2 And Saul was sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron. The people who were with him were about six hundred men. 3 Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone. 4 Between the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on one side and a sharp rock on the other side. And the name of one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. 5 The front of one faced northward opposite Michmash, and the other southward opposite Gibeah. THhenJonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.” So his armor bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart.” 8 Then Jonathan said, “Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them. 9 If they say thus to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. 10 But if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us.” 11 So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden.” 12 Then the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armor bearer, and said, “Come up to us, and we will [b]show you something.” Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come up after me, for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel.” 13 And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armor bearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armor bearer killed them. 14 That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bearer made was about twenty men within about half an acre of land. 15 And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was a very great trembling.
“Now three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the army of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim. And David said with longing, “Oh, that someone would give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” So the three broken through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless David would not drink it but poured it out to the Lord. And he said, “Far be it from me, O my God, that I should do this! Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy? For at the risk of their lives they brought it”. Therefore he would not drink it. These things were done by the three mighty men.”
In every age, in every crisis, in every bonded community, there are those who have stepped up to the forefront, at the risk of their own lives, to gain and pay the price for freedom. This was true way back in the days when David was king of Israel. In this chapter the names of more than fifty men are defined as David’s “mighty men”. They formed a protective cadre for the king. Their fetes of daring, risk taking and defying the odds are recorded here. In defending their king they were defending a nation. If, indeed their leader fell, Israel would be in chaos and defeat. They were the special “Ops” and “Delta forces” of their time. Their deeds of valor and heroism are well documented in Scripture.
In the passage we read, three of these special “ops” were charged with the safe keeping of King David who was in a fortress outside the city of Bethlehem which at the time was occupied by their enemy, a garrison of Philistines. These three men were close enough to the king to overhear his desire for a cool drink of water taken from a well within the perimeter of the enemy’s encampment. At the risk of their own lives these three broke through the front lines, drew water from Bethlehem’s well, and returned to refresh David with that cool drink. The king was so moved by the devotion and risk taking of these three that he would not drink from the canister. He rather poured it out on the ground as a drink offering to the Lord. He felt unworthy to consume this himself because of the price paid to bring that well water to him.
We would do well today to remember those who have made the supreme sacrifice purchasing the wellspring of freedom from which we may now all drink. The price paid reaches back to Valley Forge where one third of the continental army under George Washington died in the bitter cold of winter. Three thousand brave soldiers died. Fifteen hundred horses perished. George Washington earnestly prayed.
From Concord, to Lexington, to Bunker Hill, to Saratoga, to Ticonderoga, to Trenton, to Monmouth and to Yorktown, VA; the battle raged and the price for our freedom was being paid. At the close of hostilities the liberty bell rang in Philadelphia until the bell cracked. That bell has now found its resting place in Philadelphia convention center and the crack remains in it ‘til this day to remind us that freedom is fragile and must be guarded carefully. Freedom is not free!
Heavy installments have since been paid in the years which followed. We met the challenge of an attack by a vast armada of British navy ships and legions of red coat soldiers in the war of 1812. The Red Coats were on the verge of torching Washington when a fierce tornado storm drove them back. They fled to their ships anchored in the Potomac. When they headed down river to go out to sea, a French armada met them there. The British invasion collapsed in defeat. By the intervention of Almighty God and stalwart men we obtained victory and freedom was preserved.
The very existence of the union and the freedom of all peoples of all colors hung in the balance in the great Civil War. More than 750,000 lives were laid down in that conflict. Freedom emerged bloodied and bruised but went on to live in these United States for 152 more years.
In 1914 the First World War broke out and the freedom of untold millions was at stake. In 1917, what great price to us all, the USA sent armed forces, for the first time, onto European soil, bent on regaining freedom for millions seeking deliverance from the oppression of a brutal enemy. That victory was won by the tens of thousands of American doughboys spilling their blood in the trenches of France. Three of my uncles were there. I knew many of those veterans in my boyhood years. Some were terribly victimized by the enemy who unleashed poison mustard gas on the combined forces fighting to regain freedom for the victims of war. Among them was Leonard Yarter; a man who was neighbor to my wife’s family. His scarred lungs weakened him for the rest of his life.
It was at the end of this conflict that an armistice was signed causing fighting to cease. It occurred at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. For years after we celebrated Armistice Day in America on November 11th. At 11:00 AM everything stopped for a moment of reverent silence giving pause to remember that freedom was not free. Many men and women and sorrowing families paid the price.
Then in the memory of most of us here, the unthinkable happened. A sneak attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor took the lives of nearly 3,000 men and our naval fleet was decimated. Peace was shattered. Freedom was threatened by the evil of the Axis powers. In the words of President Roosevelt it was “a day that would live in infamy”. It must never be forgotten!
High schools were emptied as their 17 and 18 year olds ran to sign up. Millions flooded the enlistment centers. Among them was my oldest brother Raymond, who turned 17 less than a month before, when he joined the Marine Corps. As a freshman in the Glens Falls, NY high school I went with the whole student body to the railroad station to see Company K national Guard board the train leaving for war. Homes were darkened in blackouts. Rationing began for food, appliances, tires and gasoline. Coach Tom Allen, a tough navy veteran of World War One, put our high school boys through very rigorous physical training knowing they would be going into the military.
From factories and farms, from cities and hamlets, the ranks of the military grew. We went from building cars to building machines of war, from passenger ocean liners to troop ships and battleships. Airplanes were made in record numbers. Members of what we now call the “Greatest Generation” swelled and the battle was pressed. American GI’S laid down their lives in the Pacific theatre, the Atlantic crossings, in North Africa and across the battlefield of Western Europe. Freedom must be won! Ten thousand American soldiers died on the Normandy beaches on D-Day June 6,1944, Count 90,000 more during the Battle of The Bulge. They paid the price. Freedom was not free!
I remember seeing more than 100 names from our small town appearing on an honor roll posted on the village green. Then the gold stars began to appear beside the names of many. Those gold stars began also to show on the windows of those homes whose families bore the loss of those who gave their last full measure of devotion.
Now, past World War II, we celebrate Armed forces Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, and now Veteran’s Day in place of Armistice Day. Joining these ranks of heroes are those men and women who in the Korean War, the Viet Nam War, the First Gulf War and more recently the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars have given their lives to win freedom for oppressed peoples. We must continue to pray for those yet in harm’s way and to support those wounded and scarred veterans returning home.
Not long ago an elderly, frail American gentleman arrived in Paris, France having flown in from America. An impatient French custom official asked for his passport. The gentleman searched his pockets and could not find it. With some apology he said to the customs officer “I must have placed it in my luggage”. The angry officer said “you must always carry your passport with you at all times. Have you ever come to France before”? The gentleman replied, “Yes”. Upon hearing this the irate official said” Then you should have known better and carried your passport on your person”. The gentleman said, “Yes, I came to France once. When I landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day but no French Customs officer could be found anywhere around to show him my passport”. …. You could have heard a pin drop. “Story source unknown to writer)
It should be noted that no marching armies with the most heroic soldiers can purchase our freedom from the greatest enslavement of all, the slavery of sin. Sin is a human condition. It made its appearance in Eden’s garden. It is a present universal malady to this day. What, or who, could deliver and set free all who are affected?
The answer is the Lord Jesus Christ. At great price to Himself He opened freedom’s door for all of us find this spiritual freedom. He said “I am the good shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep”. He bore the burden of our sin when he died in our stead on an old rugged cross. God our Father gave us Heaven’s greatest treasure when He sent His Only Begotten Son to become our Lord and Savior. Jesus promised to give us life, and life more abundantly. This gift is given freely to us. While the gift is free to us, it came at great price.
Jesus said “No man has greater love than this that he lay down his life for his friends”. Jesus did this, and more. He not only laid down his life for his friends, He laid down His life for His enemies. From the cross Jesus prayed for those who nailed him there, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”. Did the world ever witness such a display of eternal love? The innocent died for the guilty; the just for the unjust!
This freedom was not free. Someone paid the price. As the good gospel chorus says, “He paid a price he did not owe; I owed a debt I could not pay. I needed someone to wash my sin away. Now I sing a brand new song, amazing grace. He paid a debt that I could never pay”.
John 8:36 spells it out clearly, “He whom the Son of God sets free is free indeed”. The good news is we can be free. On this fourth of July, Independence day, we celebrated the birth of beloved United States of America, let us honor our heroes who paid, and are still paying, the price for our freedoms; and let us also honor the Son of God who came to set us free from the worst of all human malignancies. Freedom is not free. But, to us, the gift of life from heaven is freely bestowed!
Allow God’s grace to embrace your heart and life! Let us open our hearts and let him come in. This is the best way we can honor the Lord today. King David asked and answered a vital question in Psalm 116:12-13; “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord”. Let us, each one of us, today drink from that cup. He will satisfy our soul with the living waters of eternal salvation.
Almon & Joyce Bartholomew