June means Flag Day. Huh?! That’s right. Flag Day. On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress approved the flag design of its Marine Committee. Though it was probably only approved as the naval ensign, the standard that would fly from the masts of our ships—two years later the Secretary of the Board of War lamented that we still had no national flag—there already were several flags being used by our Revolutionary troops and the Congress appears to have chosen one of those designs, or perhaps several of them. The design they approved, though it specifies no particular arrangement of the parts, most closely resembles the one we recognize as the “Betsy Ross” flag. (Historians are divided as to whether or not Betsy Ross really sewed it.)
That design became the banner of what became these United States. And every year, whether most Americans are aware of it or not, we celebrate the anniversary of that date—yep, that’s right, we celebrate Flag Day. On that day, and through that week, Americans are supposed to fly the US flag to commemorate the adoption our national banner – the Stars and Stripes.
And that reminds me that we as believers also have a “banner.” The hymn comes to mind in which we sing of being “’neath the banner of the cross.” Perhaps one might think of the Song of Solomon, where it says the “his banner over me is love.” But the most informing passage is Isaiah 11.10: “In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to Him, and His place of rest will be glorious.”
The Root of Jesse in that passage is Jesus. He is our banner. Although the passage has to do with the end of the ages, that is, with Christ’s second coming, He really is our banner now. But that begs the question: What does it mean that He is our banner?
In the passage in Isaiah it says that “nations will rally to Him.” The picture is one of war, a battle in which someone takes the flag to remind the troops of that for which they fight, to call them to courage, to call them together, to call them to charge to victory. It “rallies” them for battle. Jesus is the one for Whom we fight, around Whom we gather, the One Who encourages us, Who calls us to fight against His enemy.
But this flag denotes victory. Once the battle is fought and won, the only flag still flying, or raised over the battlefield, is the victor’s. That Jesus is our banner, our flag, says that the battle for us has been fought and won, we are His and He is ours, the victory, won at the cross, is certain.
That flag flying over that battlefield denotes ownership. Having won the battle, the place over which it flies is now under the jurisdiction of the victor whose flag flies. To say that Jesus is our banner is to say that we belong to Jesus and that we are under His sovereignty—He rules over us… and we rest in Him.
So this June 14th, and every day for that matter, remember this: Jesus Christ is our banner: He won the victory at the cross, He calls us to continue to fight with Him in the continuing battles, and He now rules over those of us who are His. What a Banner! What a Lord! What a Savior!