i pledge allegiance to the flag
here are two perspectives on the flag.
1. the perspective of looking back on the battle
2. the perspective of being in the battle
in the midst of the battle of the revolutionary war, the soldiers needed a flag to run to for safety, and that flag was the declaration of independence, the words of thomas jefferson saying that all men are created equal, and men ran to that flag to fight for their freedom, but the flag they rallied to at valley forge could not give them safety on the plantation, and so it was a false flag, political words of a man, empty.
what battle can you look back on, or are you in the middle of it - two very different perspectives, on looking back we see what God has brought us through, but in the middle of the battle it appears that God is our enemy. we also need a flag to run to, but what flag will prove true when so many of us have run to false flags that have disappointed us? Why would we risk running to another flag?
David also had a battle in 2 Samuel 8 and 10. It is a perspective of looking back at what God brought David through. But there is another perspective in Scripture of David's battles of 2 Samuel 8 and 10, and that is Psalm 60. Go ahead and read it.
the first few verses show how David felt God to be the enemy.
then David speaks of a flag, a banner, that God has set up for people to run to
what flag is that?
what flag could David run to in the middle of the battle?
"God has spoken in his holiness"
the word of God was David's flag. in the middle of the battle when David felt God to be the enemy, David ran to the word God had spoken.
"all these places you are fighting battles in David" God says, "those are mine."
David can flee to God's flag wherever he is.
But why should David risk running to God's flag? David rallied to Saul's flag and was burnt for it, hunted for it.
Are you burnt as David was? He ran to God's flag anyway.
David was not the only one in a battle.
Jesus was in a great battle, our battle.
The perspective of facing the cross is a perspective we will never know, but what a horror Jesus must have faced. What flag could he run to?
As Moses lifted the snake up on a flag in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up as a flag.
Jesus was the flag.
Will we run to him today?
How can we run to him?
