vLIBERTY STANDS

July 04, 2023

The Statue of Liberty is one of the most honored symbols in America. It came to the United States after 20 years of dedication and at a cost of more than $4 million. French sculptor Frederic Bartholdi was inspired to build the enormous monument after seeing the colossi in Egypt. After examining different candidates, he chose his mother as the statue’s model.
The statue was built in France, then dismantled and packaged into 200 massive crates for transport to New York. A French warship transported the gift across the Atlantic. On the way, a terrible storm threatened to sink the vessel. The crew begged the captain to dump the heavy crates into the sea to lighten the load, but the captain responded, “This ship will sink before I give up liberty.”
“Liberty” stands at 151 feet tall. From the bottom of the pedestal to the tip of the torch, it rises 305 feet high. Her hand is more than 16 feet long, and her nose is 4-½ feet in length. Over 60,000 pounds of copper and 250,000 pounds of steel were used to create her.
Symbolism is wrapped all around the statue. From the torch that is to light the world with freedom, to the tablet in her hand that is inscribed with the date July 4, 1776, to the broken chains at her feet representing release from bondage, Lady Liberty has welcomed travelers to the land of freedom since 1886.
Job longed for freedom from his sorrow and pain. He wrote, “Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever!” (Job 19:23, 24). Then out of his deep anguish rose faith: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, And he shall stand at last on the earth” (v. 25).
Like Lady Liberty who stands on Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbor, someday Christ will stand above the broken chains of sin and proclaim liberty from the shackles of death. Will you accept Jesus as Lord of your life?
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."

Galatians 5:1