In biblical times, a banner was a flag or ensign attached to a pole that indicated the authority, allegiance, and identity of a nation. People who were under a banner together belonged together.
They shared the identity and the values that the banner represented. In a sense, they belonged to the banner.
For armies, a banner served as both a rallying point and a rallying cry. The banner over soldiers marked and distinguished them. It told onlookers who the troops represented, what they stood for, and who they were fighting for.
The banner called all like-minded warriors to gather together (literally beneath it). And then it called them to march together and to battle together in pursuit of the banner’s glory and ideals.
Tribes and families had banners too. As the two to three million Israelites traveled from Egypt through the desert to the Promised Land, one could see banners there among the masses.
These markers helped distinguish the various groups. In short, a banner was an outward and visible sign of a physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bond between people.
By claiming the Lord as their banner, Moses was telling the people of Israel, “Yahweh is our identity. We belong to Him. We believe what He believes.
We are under his authority. His priorities are our priorities. We will follow Him. We will fight for Him. And we will love all others who are under His banner.”
Likewise, when we invoke the LORD as our banner, we pledge our allegiance to Him. We are saying we belong to Him alone and that His purposes are our purposes.
We restrict ourselves to the ownership and the leadership of God the Father. We do this because one cannot be under more than one banner.
We are either faithful to God or we are not faithful. There is no partial allegiance.
If someone who understood this ancient practice of banners watched your life closely for a month, what banner would they put over your life and why?
