“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14).
It was Jesus who said, “A city set on a hill cannot be hid.” In the literal sense, Washington, DC, our nation’s capital, is a city set on a hill. When reporting national news from Washington, correspondents often stand with the Capitol building in the background, and upon the conclusion of the story, a reporter will state his name: “—reporting from Capitol Hill.”
In other instances, reporters will shorten it: “Up on the hill today, the Senators met in secret session.” It is common to refer to Capitol Hill as the hill, and when someone says, “on the hill,” we immediately know he is referring to the Capitol building, the seat of our federal government where the House of Congress and Senate meet and legislate. Washington, in many ways, is the highest seat of government on the planet, the emblem of liberty and freedom, and the ideal of human government. Decisions made on the hill have far-reaching powers and influence.
Washington is a city set on a hill, and “a city set on a hill cannot be hid.” When we examine the physical government buildings and monuments in Washington, DC, we quickly see the Christian foundation they were built upon, and their voices still speak today in the city that cannot “be hid.”
The Capitol: Its cornerstone was laid by George Washington, our first president. Later a box containing significant documents about the nation’s founding was inserted into the cornerstone by Daniel Webster, Secretary of State. He said,
“To all here assembled, whether belonging to public life or private life, with happy hearts devoutly thankful to Almighty God for the presence of the liberty and happiness of our country, unite in sincere and fervent prayer that the deposit in the walls and arches, the domes and towers, the columns and entablatures now to be erected over it, may endure forever. God save the United States of America.
On the walls of its rotunda are hung beautiful oil paintings of our founding fathers, some signing documents and in other postures. In nearly all, there is some reference to God: a Bible or someone kneeling in prayer. Throughout the Capitol are many references to Scripture. In the House of Representatives, engraved upon the marble wall above the seat of the Speaker of the House is our national motto, approved by the Senate and Congress: “In God We Trust” (also inscribed on our money).
The White House is another icon of freedom to the world. In one room, above the fireplace, placed there by John Adams, the first president to reside in the White House, are these words: “I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings upon this White House and upon all that shall hereafter inhabit it.” He was praying to the God of the Bible from “the City set on a hill.”
Deuteronomy 32:28; Psalm 11:3, 33:12, 119:126, 144:15; Proverbs 14:34; Isaiah 33:22.
About The Author
