What do you picture in your mind when you hear the word, banner? A high school gymnasium with flags hanging from the ceiling depicting past state championships? A business name on some fabric blowing in the wind to attract customers? A billboard with an advertisement lifted high above the nearby traffic? These days banners come in all sizes and shapes. But they are all used to draw attention to some past success or present concern.
In olden days when armies met on the battlefield, each side had a soldier who carried a flag atop a pole as a rallying point for the troops. If soldiers saw that their banner was still flying, they knew they were still in the fight and it would encourage them to continue. Even as someone sings the Star-Spangled Banner, you can hear the encouragement that Francis Scott Key was trying to capture as soldiers became aware that the “Stars n’ Stripes” had survived the night.
Did you know that God is called a Banner? In Exodus 17:15 Moses calls God Yahweh Nissi, “the Lord is my Banner.” Why did Moses attach this name to God? What victory was so clearly due to God’s intervention that Moses gives God a new nickname? The victory for which Moses ascribed this name to God is recorded in Exodus 17:8-16. While Joshua led the army into battle, Moses went up a hill to pray. An interesting feature is mentioned in verse 11 – “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.” Interesting!
The outcome of the battle was determined more by Moses’ prayers than by the condition of the soldiers. When others began to recognize this pattern, two men sat Moses down and each man held up one of Moses’ hands for him. We could all use friends like this who will “hold up our arms” when the battle is intense and our arms get heavy.
Regardless of the intensity of the battles we face, our Banner, the Lord Jesus, will never be defeated. It doesn’t matter how many salvos are shot at Him, or how many lies are told about Him, or what innuendoes are garnered against Him, He will remain victorious. No matter how bright the rocket’s red glare. No matter the number of bombs bursting in air, the resurrection is proof positive that the greatest enemy, death itself, was defeated that first Sunday morning after His crucifixion.
There’s a second lesson here. Like Joshua, we face a very serious situation. We need people who will climb the hill and uphold us in prayer. It might be your children or your spouse, your pastor or ministry leader, or a friend or relative who needs you to pray for them. The battle they face may go one way or the other, depending on whether your arms are lifted or fallen.
Even the Lord Jesus wanted His three closest companions to pray with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Then He said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.’” (Matthew 26:38)
Neither was the Apostle Paul above asking others to pray for him. He asked the Colossian church to pray for his outreach. “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.” (Colossians 4:2–3)
Throughout the New Testament we are called to keep our eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus. Once a person asks Him into their life, He becomes their Banner, their sure sign of victory through life and into Heaven!
No Comments
Leave a comment Cancel