Flags Of Our Fathers

Flags Of Our Fathers

Just recently Clint Eastwood released a move in which the title caught my attention. He used on of the greatest photos ever captured to catch the eyes of millions who would relate to the photo of the soldiers razing the flag.

I love this country and our flag and for what it stands for.

Our Text: Isaiah 13:2 Say’s, “Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.”

For some background information please Turn to Numbers 2:2 “Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father’s house: far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch.”

Here we find God’s orders for Israel’s. It was an orderly encampment where they rested and a orderly march when they moved.

1. First, we see that they all dwell in tents.

Also note that when they marched carried all their tents along with them, for they found no city to dwelt in,

In Psalm 107:4 It says, “They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.”

This passage represents not only the state of Israel but our own state as believers in this present world.

Do you remember the song, “This world is not my home, I’m just passing through...”

Hebrews 11:13 Say’s “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

It is a movable state that we live in (we are here to-day and gone to-morrow); and yet it is a military state: is not our life a warfare?

We do but pitch our tents in this world, and have in it no permanent city.

So while we are pitching our tents in this world, let us be pressing on through it.

2. Secondly we see, Those of a tribe were to pitch together, every man by his own standard.

Note, It is the will of God that mutual love and affection, converse and communion, should be kept up among those that are related.

People that are of kin to each other should be acquainted with each other.

I know what you are thinking, “But Preacher, You don’t know who is in my family.”

You know I have them in mine too, you know, those you would like to disown.

God is a “family God,” and the bible is a family-oriented book.

Even the casual reader will discern that God, through His inspired Word, stresses the importance of the family and emphasizes its preservation from one generation to the next.

As goes the family,

so goes the church;

and as goes the church,

so goes the nation.

No church is more spiritual, stable or solidified than the families that make up its membership.

Just like the bonds of nature can give us strength as a family so can be the bonds of Christian communion.

3. Thirdly, Every one must know his place and stay in it.

They, were not allowed to go and set down roots where they pleased, nor where they to move when they got the notion in their minds that they wanted to be somewhere else.

God was in charge of moving them. He put them there and they were to stay until he said otherwise.

Note, It is God that appoints the bounds of our habitation. and to him we must refer ourselves.

4. Fourthly, Every tribe had its standard, flag or banner, and ensign.

Turn with me in scripture and look at these.

a. Standard, Isaiah 62:10 Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highways; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.

b. Banner, Isaiah 13:2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

c. Ensign, Isaiah 11:12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

After studying the scripture it would seem that every family had some particular ensign of their father’s house, which was carried as with us the colors of each troop or company in a regiment are.

It is uncertain how these standards were distinguished but we know that these were used for the distinction of tribes and families, and the gathering and keeping of them together.

Note, God is the God of order, and not of confusion. These standards made this mighty army seem more beautiful to its friends and more formidable to its enemies.