On Monday Jan. 20, Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. Two Bibles, both held by Melania Trump, were used in the ceremony.
One Bible was owned by Abraham Lincoln, and the other was given to the president by his late mother. This Bible has an amazing story of spiritual awakening behind it. With his right hand raised, Trump repeated these words after Chief Justice John Roberts:
“I, Donald J. Trump, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God.”
It is obvious that the Founding Fathers saw the Constitution as a sacred document. That is why George Washington took the first oath of office with his hand on a Bible, solemnly swearing to protect and defend the Constitution. Although not in the Constitution, Washington is said to have added the words, “So help me God.”
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Indeed, many of those who were part of the Constitutional Convention saw the hand of God in the formulation of the Constitution. James Madison, the Constitution’s chief architect, declared,
“It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in critical stages of the Revolution” (Hyatt, “1726: The Year that Defined America,” 127).
Benjamin Rush, a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, was even more blunt, declaring that the Constitution was a work from heaven. A physician from Philadelphia, he declared,
“I am as perfectly satisfied that the Union of the United States in its form and adoption is as much the work of a Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament” (Hyatt, “1726” 155).
This sacred view of the Constitution was obviously inherited from those earliest immigrants, beginning with the Pilgrims, who considered their founding documents to be sacred oaths between their communities and God. This covenantal attitude became a part of the psyche of colonial America and was clearly present in the attitude of the founders toward America’s founding documents. Historian Benjamin Hart says,
The U.S. Constitution has worked because there has been a sacred aura surrounding the document; it has been something more than a legal contract; it was a covenant, an oath before God, very much related to the covenant the Pilgrims signed. Indeed, when the president takes his oath of office, he places his hand on a Bible and swears before Almighty God to uphold the Constitution of the United States. He makes a sacred promise, and the same holds true for Supreme Court justices who take an oath to follow the letter of the written Constitution. The moment America’s leaders begin treating the Constitution as though it were a mere sheet of paper is the moment the American Republic—or American Covenant—ends (Hyatt, “1726” 133).
During the inauguration ceremonies on Monday, several ministers, including Franklin Graham, prayed for Trump and America “in the name of Jesus.” Members of Trump’s Cabinet, such as Marco Rubio, Pam Bondi and Pete Hegseth, are not hesitant to proclaim their faith in Jesus. Rubio, who is the new secretary of state, immediately ordered all LGBTQ and BLM flags be removed from America’s embassies abroad.
Trump has vowed to protect religious liberty and freedom of speech, the first two freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, indicating that America’s founders saw them as having priority. This gives American Christians a renewed political freedom to proclaim the gospel and teach God’s word without government interference.
Could this be the time the American covenant with God is renewed? Are we on the verge of a Fifth Great Awakening? (see Hyatt, “America’s Revival Heritage,” 101-108). Much depends on how we, the people of God, respond to this wonderful window of opportunity that has been opened to us. We must seize the moment!
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This article was derived from the books “1726: The Year that Defined America” and “America’s Revival Heritage” by Dr. Eddie L. Hyatt and are available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.
