A poem called “The Patriot’s Pass-word” tells the story of an important battle between the Swiss and the Austrians in 1386. The Austrian army was trained, well-armed, and powerful; the Swiss army was composed of untrained farmers and peasants using whatever they could get their hands on as weapons.
A Swiss man named Arnold Winkelried charged the Austrian “wall” of spears, grabbing several; he died, but the breach he made allowed his comrades to attack and defeat the Austrians.
The poem ends with the line, “Thus death made way for liberty.”
I was thinking about that and realized that, really, death does often bring about liberty. I wrote this little poem that hopefully gets my thoughts across to you. š
Death makes way for liberty;
Dying doth set us all free.
If it weren’t for Jesus’ death,
We would still be slaves to sin.
If we did not die to self,
We could not live unto God.
If we do not leave this earth,
We could not know true freedom.
Dying gives us liberty;
Death makes a way to be free.
Death also brings life. When a kernel of corn is planted, the kernel must die before the corn can start growing. Jesus had to die to give us life. We have to die to self in order to truly live, and when we literally die we’ll experience everlasting life.
