Banner for the People

Today’s reading:  Isaiah 11

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious (Isaiah 11:10).

When I was growing up in children’s church, we used to sing a song called “His Banner Over Me is Love”.  The first verse went like this –

The Lord is mine and I am His,
His banner over me is love.
The Lord is mine and I am His,
His banner over me is love.
The Lord is mine and I am His,
His banner over me is love.
His banner over me is love!

Like many worship songs, this one had a thousand verses where the first line changed but the second line (His banner over me is love) stayed the same.  The song went on and on as we used to sing through many verses like – He brought me to his banqueting table (His banner over me is love), He lifted me up in heavenly places (His banner over me is love), He is the vine and we are the branches (His banner over me is love).

I must admit, when we used to sing this song in children’s church, I had no idea what the song meant.  I hadn’t thought about this song in years until I was preparing for today’s post about the attribute of God – A Banner for his people.  Honestly, I still had no idea what this really meant until I went digging into the scripture this week.

The first time this attribute of God shows up is in Exodus 17.  Moses had just led God’s people out of Egypt.  They were free, but in the desert they were grumbling because they didn’t have enough to eat.  God solved their problem by providing manna and quail for them to eat every day.  Then – they grumbled about being thirsty.  God solved their problem again by providing water from a rock for them to drink.  Then – the Amalekites came to fight against the Israelites.  God solved their problem again – as long as Moses held up the staff of God in his hand, God’s people had the advantage.  Whenever he lowered his hands, however, the Amalekites took over.  Remember the story?  Moses’ arms eventually got so tired that Aaron and Hur held up his arms for him until the battle was eventually won.

When the battle was over, Moses built an alter to God and called it “The Lord is My Banner”.

In Biblical times, armies and/or tribes had flags or banners that identified who they were.  They often had images of idols on them.  In Exodus 17, Moses’ altar declared that God was the identifying symbol for the Israelite army.  His presence and protection were the source of their power.

In our scripture for today, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah was describing Jesus, the promised Messiah.  Verses 10-12 describe him as a banner of salvation for all the world, a flag among the nations for Israel to rally around when he comes again to triumph over sin and death at the end of the world.

Ok, so now I had a better idea about what the word “banner” meant in the Bible.  I understood that Jesus was, and is, a banner of salvation for God’s people.  But I still didn’t really understand the song “His Banner Over Me is Love”.  So I kept digging until I connected the dots.

Consider Jesus words –

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

The Banner, or identifying symbol, of Christfollowers is love.  God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to save us from our sins.  Because God loves us, we then can love others.  In most circumstances today, we don’t carry around flags or banners to identify who we are.  But showing love to others is not common in this world.  If we consistently love and serve others, people will recognize we are different.  Because we have Jesus in our hearts, our banner is love.

My question for you today is this – do you consistently show love to others?  Would those you come into contact with every day describe you as loving?  Is it your banner?

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love (1 John 4:7-8).