“Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.” Psalm 100:1-5 NKJV
In contrast to the ungrateful spirit of the age in which we live, the Mayflower Pilgrims’ gospel mission of destiny at the forefront of their hearts and minds beckons to our hearts today. Their entire lives were a testimony of resolute biblical conviction and therefore thanksgiving for the faithfulness and merciful lovingkindness of their Creator and Redeemer to the praise of His glory.
As spiritual heirs to the Protestant Reformation, they reaped tremendous spiritual fruit from this heritage passed down by their forebears. The sacrifices of previous generations were not wasted on them but championed as these people were religious dissidents who embarked upon a gospel mission of destiny for at least four reasons. First of all, the glory of God was at the forefront of their hearts and minds. In tandem with this supreme focus was the advancement of the gospel just as the historic Mayflower Compact unequivocally spells out. They sought freedom to worship God according to biblical revelation and not merely religious tradition or government coercion. Finally, they also sought freedom to intentionally raise their children in the truth of God’s Word and the biblical worldview in the face of cultural pressure to conform to the spirit of this age.
Despite harrowing conditions throughout their Atlantic passage and enduring severe wintertime tragedy, their stout hearts were resolute in biblical conviction because they understood the generational impact of their lives. Governor William Bradford said years later:
“Last and not least, they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least making some ways toward it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but steppingstones to others in the performance of so great a work.”
We are all heirs to the past and ancestors to the future. As such, we are duty-bound before God to be grateful for His mighty hand and outstretched arm at work in the annals of history. This intervention of God throughout the corridor of time also includes the testimony of our own lives. The further testimony of the Plymouth colony, therefore, captivates the heart:
“Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation. Let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise.”
The lessons of history are manifold as there is so much to be learned from the legacy of the Mayflower Pilgrims gospel mission of destiny. Every one of us must take heed to ourselves before God and do whatever it takes to intentionally pass on the faith to the next generation just as the Mayflower Pilgrims did in their day.
Come what may, let us pray that the hearts of God’s people in this age of grace would be ignited with a zeal to “give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men” and to therefore “sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing” (Ps.107:21-22 NKJV).
