Johnson's New Chart of National Emblems – Public Domain

“Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah. “- Psalm 60:4

We all march under one banner or another.

In a battle, it takes a courageous soldier to carry the banner, flag, or ensign. To do so, one becomes a target for the enemy always wants to take down the symbol of the opposition.

Why? Because the enemy knows that the banner gives the army its moral strength, determination, and encouragement. The army’s tribal flag is its rallying point. Around it, the company gathers. Beneath its furls, they march.  Under its signal they fight to the death.

The banner waves in the breeze to announce that the people still stand as one with determination and fortitude for a common cause.

A flag has great significance for those who love their country or tribe and the principles by which it is governed. For Americans, it stands as a symbol of freedom, constitutional democracy, and justice under law. It points to our governing documents which declare that government is of, by, and for the people.

It is, for many, a symbol of something greater than the pattern and the cloth that make it recognizable, but it is only a symbol. The realities that are represented by symbols are greater than the symbols themselves.

As significant at the stars and stripes banner is to Americans, there is a more meaningful banner under which the people of God come together. It is the banner of God’s truth, the flag that announces that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.  It is the hope that whatever we face, God is with us.

God’s banner, for those who reverence Him, is a reminder that we are not and never shall be abandoned, that we have a purpose and that we are led by an invincible leader.

The spangled banner of God’s truth waves still over the land of those who have been set free by Jesus Christ, the truly free and the truly brave.

It is the banner of truth.

It is the banner of sacrifice.

It is the banner of love.

It is the banner that reminds us of our ultimate loyalties – that are neither national nor partisan nor tribal. Out loyalties tie us to larger family that we can imagine. It is international, multi-cultural, multi-racial, multi-lingual, broad, and deep.

Let us march on.