Raise Your Banner

This past week, my daughter asked me what Courage meant. I tried to explain that courage is the strength to do something that you may not want to do or that is hard to do, but you know that you must. Then, she asked me, “how do you get courage?” I told her the best answer I could which was through prayer and then perseverance. Sometimes we have to just ask God to give us strength and then we just do it or go through what ever it is that we don’t want to go through or do because of the hardness or risk.

Pray and Read Exodus 17:8-16

Exodus 17:8–16 NRSV

Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men for us and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the sun set. And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a reminder in a book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua: I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and called it, The Lord is my banner. He said, “A hand upon the banner of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

This passage has a lot of firsts for the people of Israel.

The Amalekites were nomadic people who we first come across in the time of Abraham. Abraham and his nomadic people overcame them as they came across them in the Kadesh dessert. The Amalekites would be a thorn in the side of the people of Israel for decades upon decades. I has also read in a commentary the Esau, the brother of Jacob who was passed over for the birthright became a part of these people. So, there were animosity among the Amalekites against the Hebrews.

Also in this passage is the first time we meet the mighty warrior Joshua. Joshua would go on to successfully battle not only the Amalekites, but any nation or group that stood in the way of God’s people from entering the promised land. There is a whole book dedicated to Joshua, about his story leading the people after the passing of Moses.

But what was not a first was this stance of praise from Moses. As he had raised his arms in power and praise to God with the God-given staff in hand before the Pharoah demanding to let his people go, to when Moses raised his hands with the staff as God parted the Red Sea. It is so amazing the power of the Holy Spirit that is felt when we raise our hands to Heaven and praise God, especially as we praise God in the middle of our heaviest and hardest battles.

So Moses tells Joshua and the other leaders that he was going up to the hill to direct the battle. Moses would raise his arms and the armies of Israel would succeed in battle. As his arms grew tired, his brother Aaron and Hur would help hold his arms up. When we grow weary of battle, not only is God there to help us, but so are our godly friends there to hold us up. That is why, when we praise God together or when we pray together, amazing things happen! Battles are won in the name of God and in the working faith of God’s people.

After this battle, Moses tells them in verse 15 and 16 that it was Moses who said essentially that a standard has been raised against the Amalekites and God people will prevail against them forever and always.

The story of how our faith went from major persecution in it beginning to being the most influential religion of the Roman empire is one of my favorite stories. This story actually reminds me a lot of Paul’s conversion story. Or, it reminds me of the triumphs of King David. This story is most like that of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar later on in the Old Testament who was given visions from God and about God’ people who were taken into exile by him and his people.

Think about this; the Roman Empire saw the rise of Christianity like the Kingdom of Egypt saw the rise of the Hebrew people. Or like Nebuchadnezzar saw the perseverance of the Hebrew people in his land, a land and a culture that was strange to them. The Empire Nero was probably the harshest on the Christians. Judging them as a major threat to the empire, he made laws prohibiting their worship and ministering activities. Most of the Romans thought of those who converted to Christianity as shameful and ignorant. Until around the fourth century AD. The Roman Empire was experiencing a split of its own. Although Constantine’s father was Emperor, therefore Constantine was the next in line for the throne, another one of Roman’s elite, Maxentius, sought the throne. Before Constantine and Maxentius would lead their respective troops in battle for the throne, Constantine recieved a vision from God.

Constantine was not a Christian at this time. Yet God choose to work through him. Right before his battle against Maxentius, in the afternoon, he had a dream. In this dream, he saw a cross and the words, “By this sign, conquer.” He was convinced that he saw Jesus Christ in this vision. He had banners created with the Chi and the Rho, which are the first two letters in the Greek word, Χριστός, which translates to Christ. Many of us has seen this sign before. It is actually in the back of our Sanctuary.

As Constantine and his army carried these banners into battle, they prevailed! Constantine began to develop his own relationship with Christ and a year later, in 313 AD, passed a law for religious freedom in Roman. By the end of his life and reign, he and his mother were baptized in the Jordan River, and the first canonization of what we have as the Bible begun to come together.

It is not in our own strength that we are able to do what is the will of God. God provides us the courage and the resources to prevail in our own personal battles. Our human strength can weaken, and sometimes our battles seem to great to win. But just like Aaron and Hur, God holds up our arms giving us strength. However, we must lift up our arms in praise to God and carry His banner into our battles. We must lift each other up in prayer and praise God together as we fight the forces of evil.

What battles are you facing? Your battles may not be of your own design, maybe you are facing a battle that has come against you? Maybe you are fighting a battle of sin, something that causes you shame, guilt and pain. These battles you cannot fight on your own. We need God to help us fight our battles! We need each other to fight battles. With God, victory is ours!

In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.