Sermon by Pastor Dale Wolcott

July 12, 2003

(Scriptures quoted are from the New King James Version unless noted)

I spoke to a friend the other day: "You’re a New Yorker; tell me about the Statue of Liberty."

He said, "New Yorkers really didn’t care much for the Trade Center towers, but they love the lady with the lamp."

About twenty-five years ago, the Statue of Liberty was in danger of collapsing -- not because of terrorists but because she was rusting out! People used to climb clear up inside the arm to the lamp, but the authorities put a stop to that and finally shut the whole thing down for major repairs.

A private foundation raised $30 million to completely renovate the lady with the lamp. On her 100^th birthday she was reopened, and today the Statue of Liberty still stands tall and beautiful, a symbol of all that is great and good about America -- a symbol of freedom – including religious freedom. If you’re like me, you tend to get a lump in your throat when you hear the words inscribed on the plaque at the base of the statue, from the poem by Emma Lazarus:

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning, And her name Mother of Exiles.

From her beacon-hand glows worldwide welcome….

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she with silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

 

Did you know the Bible describes another lady with a light? Revelation 12:1 reads, "Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars:" The Statue of Liberty was not designed after this biblical lady; the French sculptor probably had a rather secular idea of "liberty" in mind. Nevertheless, America plays an important role in this prophecy of chapters 12 and 13.

Let’s quickly review the story of this prophetic woman, and make note of four comparisons between America’s Shining Lady and God’s Shining Lady, this shining lady of scripture.

"She bore a male Child, who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne." Revelation 12:5. The Child, of course, is Jesus.

"Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days." Revelation 12:6. The shining woman (we’ll explore the meaning of the symbol a little later) goes into the wilderness for 1,260 years.

The story picks up again in verse 14, where the same time period is mentioned, pointing to the persecution the God’s people endured during the dark medieval centuries. "But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the presence of the serpent." Revelation 12:14.

In the verse that follows, the dragon tries to drown the woman. "So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood." Revelation 12:15. What does the water represent? Revelation 17:15, "The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues" Does that sound reminiscent of Europe’s "huddled masses, yearning to breathe free"?

Now turn back to chapter 12 and notice what happens in the 16^th verse. "But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth." Revelation 12:16. The earth helped the woman! At the end of the dark ages, a relatively empty continent swallowed up the wretched refuse of the teeming shores – America did indeed help the woman.

America appears again in the last half of chapter 13 where a beast comes up out of the earth. Of all the beasts described in the books of Daniel and Revelation this is the only one to come from the earth. All other beasts described in these prophecies come out of the sea -- the "teeming shores" of the Old World. The earth beast has two horns like a lamb. In Revelation, the "lamb" always refers to Jesus. Only the United States of America fits the description: A comparatively young country built upon Christian principles. As has so often been said, "America is great because America is good."

But notice in verse 11 of chapter 13 that this lamblike earth beast speaks like a dragon. In our lifetime, brothers and sisters, we are seeing the goodness draining out of America. Prophecy tells us that the day is coming when, in reaction to this loss of moral fiber, this sapping of the soul of our country; America will actually enforce a counterfeit religious system. "And he exercises all the power of the first beast" (Revelation 13:12) – a blasphemous, persecuting beast. Someday, the Lady with the Lamp will become an empty shell, a hollow mockery. That day hasn’t come yet and I’m thankful for every day of freedom we still have.

Let’s go back to the description of God’s shining lady in Revelation 12:1. "Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars:"

If you’ll pardon the pun, the lady with the lamp on Liberty Island doesn’t hold a candle to this glowing, dazzlingly beautiful woman John saw in the sky over Patmos. In the Old Testament Solomon describes the same woman: "Who is she that looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?" Song of Solomon. 6:10. Who is this woman in Bible symbolism? This woman with stars in her crown is not a country, nor a replica of a mythical Greek goddess; she is God’s shinning lady – His church.

The end of chapter 12 describes the end time segment of the church (verse 17) as "the rest of her offspring" who "keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus" which is the spirit of prophecy, i.e., the lesser light given to bless the church at the end of time. That’s why we often call our church the "remnant church."

But let’s be a little more personal. According to Jesus in Matthew 5, who is the light of the world? He said, "You are the light of the world." The "church" is each of us!

Using the handout you received [see below], notice the four characteristics being compared between the two shining ladies: purpose, location, beauty and source of light. Note in the right hand column, God’s intent for not only His church collectively, but for you and me personally.

PURPOSE: Do you know what is the official title of Frederic Bartholdi’s sculpture that we usually call "the Statue of Liberty"? It’s "Liberty Enlightening the World." The seven rays of her crown were intended to symbolize the light of liberty shining out to the seven seas and the seven continents.

Bartholdi’s idea was that his statue would actually be a lighthouse. (The Federal Lighthouse Board actually administered the Statue of Liberty for its first 16 years.) The crown was supposed to be alight with kerosene lamps! But when the Americans took it out of its 214 crates and started assembling it, somebody decided the light ought to be in the torch rather than in the crown. Consequently, holes were cut into the torch and electric lights installed. It never did give enough light to function as a lighthouse, and eventually the National Park Service took it over.

So, how about you? Are you lighting the way for anybody? Do you pray for your neighbors? Do they know you are a Seventh-day Adventist Christian? Better yet, do they know that you know Jesus? Have you passed out any literature from the table in the foyer yet this summer?

I think it was Franklin D. Roosevelt who once called America "the last best hope for mankind." America is a wonderful land. We need to pray for our country and for our president -- whether his name is Bush or Clinton or anybody else. But F.D.R. was dead wrong. America is not the last best hope for mankind, and America is not the Promised Land! Jesus is the last best hope for mankind, and He wants to use you and me, His church, to light the way to the heavenly Promised Land.

LOCATION: The Statue of Liberty is situated on Liberty Island just a few hundred yards downstream from Ellis Island. I used to think the poem said, "I lift my lamp beside the golden shore." It actually says, "golden door." For decades Ellis Island was the most important immigration processing location in America. Millions of would-be citizens sailed past the welcoming lady with the lamp on their way to America’s doorway.

Who does the Bible say is the door? "I [JESUS] am the door: if anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out, and find pasture." John 10:9. The role of the church is to light the way to Jesus, lead people to Jesus, for we are the doorkeepers. The scary truth is, there are people around you who will or won’t come to Jesus based on what they see in you or in me. Jesus said we are to be like a city set on a hill, getting our light out where the whole passing world can see it.

BEAUTY: The Statue of Liberty is beautiful, but the beauty is only skin deep. The riveted copper plates that comprise the outer shell are only 3/32 of an inch thick (less than 1/8 inch)! The statue is hollow, as well as the torch, which has a paper-thin, polished gold leaf surface – very shiny, but hollow. The beauty is external. Contrast God’s Shining Lady who doesn’t need to wear gold, because her beauty is internal.

Turn to Psalm 45. This psalm is a wedding song, written by King David, perhaps for his son Solomon’s wedding. It is addressed specifically to the royal bridegroom and his bride, who is also the daughter of a king. The apostle Paul tells us in Hebrews 1, when he quotes Psalm 45, that it is really a song about Jesus and His bride -- His church.

Verses 10-15 describe the bridal procession, as this radiantly beautiful woman goes out to meet the King. How many of you married men remember how your wife looked when she stepped through the back door of the church and began walking down the aisle toward you? Were you looking mainly at the sequined white gown and the long train and the lacy veil? No, you were looking at her face! That is where the inside shone out. She was glowing, wasn’t she?

Verses 13 and 14 describe the wedding dress of wrought gold and needlework. But the first part of verse 13 says something else about this glowing, glorious lady. "The king’s daughter is all glorious" where? "Within." (King James Version)

Are you beautiful on the inside?

The Statue of Liberty is not beautiful on the inside. Sturdy, perhaps, but not beautiful. In fact, the reason $30 million worth of repairs were needed for her 100^th birthday was because of internal problems – primarily skeletal rust.

Jesus’ righteous character, which He offers to us, is not just an outer robe to conceal how we really are on the inside. The Lord intends that His righteousness permeate me through and through, down to the very core of my inner self. The apostle Paul prayed that the Ephesians would be "strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man" Ephesians 3:16. Our self- identity changes when we come to Jesus. When Solomon sings about his beloved in the Song of Solomon 6:10, he describes her as "clear as the sun" – transparent -- what you see is what you get. For God’s shining lady, strength and beauty are one and the same.

"Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,

All His wonderful passion and purity.

O Thou Savior divine, all my nature refine,

Till the beauty of Jesus is seen in me."

Now let’s see where the two ladies we’ve been comparing get their SOURCE OF LIGHT.

As mentioned previously, in 1886 the people erecting the Statue of Liberty decided to put the light inside the torch, which didn’t work very well. A few years later, in 1916, hundreds more windows were cut into the copper skin of the torch and glass panes installed with more powerful electric lamps. That is how the statue remained until the 1980’s when the renovation got underway. Then the old torch was removed and a newly built one put in its place. Today the torch has no lights inside at all. Instead the gold leaf exterior simply reflects light from external sources.

Revelation 12:1 tells us that God’s shining lady is "clothed with the sun." Malachi 4:2 tells us who that is, "The Sun of righteousness." Jesus is "the true Light, which gives light to every man coming into the world" (John 1:9).

Yes, God wants you to glow, but the glow will never be your own. Every morning, you’ve got to spend time soaking up the Light – personal devotional time. That time spent in His presence is what will change you on the inside and make you glow for others, a welcoming beacon beside God’s golden door. You’ve got to take time with Jesus!

A hundred million Americans, over a third of us, trace our roots to parents, grandparents or great-grandparents whose first glimpse of America was the skyline where the Statue of Liberty lifts her lamp in New York harbor. Imagine a boatload of immigrants, perhaps 300 of them, traveling third class or steerage, penniless. They are Italians, Russian Jews, Polish or perhaps Irish, still having nightmares about the persecution in the old country; but they are planning to be Americans. Then just at dawn the word goes out, we’re entering the harbor! Everyone comes on deck as the mist lifts, and that 300-foot Statue of Liberty looms large above the horizon.

One would-be American described the scene in these words: "She was beautiful in the morning light. Everybody was crying. The boat bent over because everybody came out on deck."

Planet Earth is loaded with people looking for freedom. Our commission is to lift our lamp beside the golden door of eternity, so that people seeing us will say, not, "She’s beautiful," but instead: "He [Jesus] is beautiful."

"Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me."

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