The Banner was the symbol of the cause for which an army fought, or the
cognizance of the king or commander whom it followed. So Moses, by that
name given to the altar, would impress upon the minds of the cowardly
mob that he had brought out of Egypt--and who now had looked into an
enemy's eyes for the first time--the elevating and bracing thought that
they were God's soldiers, and that the warfare which they waged was not
for themselves, nor for the conquest of the country for their own sake,
nor for mere outward liberty, but that they were fighting that the will
of God might prevail, and that He might be the King now of one land--a
mere corner of the earth--and thereby might come to be King of all the
earth. That rude altar said to Israel: 'Remember, when you go into the
battle, that the battle is the Lord's; and that the standard under
which you war is the God for whose cause you contend--none else and
none less than Jehovah Himself. You are consecrated soldiers, set apart
to fight for God.'
Such is the destination of all Christians. They have a battle to fight,
of which they do not think loftily enough, unless they clearly and
constantly recognise that they are fighting on God's side.
I need not dwell upon the particulars of this conflict, or run into
details of the way in which it is to be waged. Only let us remember
that the first field upon which we have to fight for God we carry about
within ourselves; and that there will be no victories for us over other
enemies until we have, first of all, subdued the foes that are within.
And then let us remember that the absorbing importance of inward
conflict absolves no Christian man from the duty of strenuously
contending for all things that are 'lovely and of good report,' and
from waging war against every form of sorrow and sin which his
influence can touch. There is no surer way of securing victory in the
warfare within and conquering self than to throw myself into the
service of others, and lose myself in their sorrows and needs. There is
no possibility of my taking my share in the merciful warfare against
sin and sorrow, the tyrants that oppress my fellows, unless I conquer
myself. These two fields of the Christian warfare are not two in the
sense of being separable from one another, but they are two in the
sense of being the inside and the outside of the same fabric. The
warfare is one, though the fields are two.
Let us remember, on the other hand, that whilst it is our simple
bounden duty, as Christian men and women, to reckon ourselves as
anointed and called for the purpose of warring against sin and sorrow,
wherever we can assail them, there is nothing more dangerous, and few
things more common, than the hasty identification of fighting for some
whim, or prejudice, or narrow view, or partial conception of our own,
with contending for the establishment of the will of God. How many
wicked things have been done in this world for God's glory! How many
obstinate men, who were really only forcing their own opinions down
people's throats because they were theirs, have fancied themselves to
be pure-minded warriors for God! How easy it has been, in all
generations, to make the sign of the Cross over what had none of the
spirit of the Cross in it; and to say, 'The cause is God's, and
therefore I war for it'; when the reality was, 'The cause is mine, and
therefore I take it for granted that it is God's.'
Let us beware of the 'wolf in sheep's clothing,' the pretence of
sanctity which is only selfishness with a mask on. And, above all, let
us beware of the uncharitableness and narrowness of view, the vehemence
of temper, the fighting for our own hands, the enforcing of our own
notions and whims and peculiarities, which have often done duty as
being true Christian service for the Master's sake. We are God's host,
but we are not to suppose that every notion that we take into our
heads, and for which we may contend, is part of the cause of God.
And then remember what sort of men the soldiers in such an army ought
to be. 'Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.' These bearers
may either be regarded as a solemn procession of priests carrying the
sacrificial vessels; or, as is more probable from the context of the
original, as the armour-bearers of the great King. They must be pure
who bear His weapons, for these are His righteous love, His loving
purity. If our camp is the camp of the Lord, no violence should be
there. What sanctity, what purity, what patience, what long-suffering,
what self-denial, and what enthusiastic confidence of victory there
should be in those who can say, 'We are the Lord's host, Jehovah is our
Banner!' He always wins who sides with God. And he only worthily takes
his place in the ranks of the sacramental host of the Most High who
goes into the warfare knowing that, because He is God's soldier, he
will come out of it, bringing his victorious shield with him, and ready
for the laurels to be twined round his undinted helmet. That is the
first of the thoughts, then, that are here.
II. The second of the exhortations which come from the altar and its
name is, Remember whose commands you follow.
The banner in ancient warfare, even more than in modern, moved in front
of the host, and determined the movements of the army. And so, by the
stones that he piled and the name which he gave them, Moses taught
Israel and us that they and we are under the command of God, and that
it is the movements of His staff that are to be followed. Absolute
obedience is the first duty of the Christian soldier, and absolute
obedience means the entire suppression of my own will, the holding of
it in equilibrium until He puts His finger on the side that He desires
to dip and lets the other rise. They only understand their place as
Christ's servants and soldiers who have learned to hush their own will
until they know their Captain's. In order to be blessed, to be strong,
to be victorious, the indispensable condition is that our inmost desire
shall be, 'Not my will, but Thine be done.'
Sometimes, and often, there will be perplexities in our daily lives,
and conflicts very hard to unravel. We shall often be brought to a
point where we cannot see which way the Banner is leading us. What
then? 'It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait' for the
salvation and for the guidance of his God. And we shall generally find
that it is when we are looking too far ahead that we do not get
guidance. You will not get guidance to-day for this day next week. When
this day next week comes, it will bring its own enlightenment with it.
'Lead, kindly Light, ...
... One step enough for me.'
Let us take short views both of duty and of hope, and we shall not so
often have to complain that we are left without knowing what the
Commander's orders are. Sometimes we are so left, and that is a lesson
in patience, and is generally God's way of telling us that it is not
His will that we should do anything at all just yet. Sometimes we are
so left in order that we may put our hand out through the darkness, and
hold on by Him, and say, 'I know not what to do, but mine eyes are
towards Thee.'
And be sure of this, brethren, that He will not desert His own promise,
and that they who in their inmost hearts can say, 'The Lord is my
Banner,' will never have to complain that He led them into a 'pathless
wilderness where there was no way.' It is sometimes a very narrow
track, it is often a very rough one, it is sometimes a dreadfully
solitary one; but He always goes before us, and they who hold His hand
will not hold it in vain. 'The Lord is my Banner'; obey His orders and
do not take anybody else's; nor, above all, the suggestions of that
impatient, talkative heart of yours, instead of His commandments.
III. Lastly, the third lesson that these grey stones preach to us is,
Recognise by whose power you conquer.
The banner, I suppose, to us English people, suggests a false idea. It
suggests the notion of a flag, or some bit of flexible drapery which
fluttered and flapped in the wind; but the banner of old-world armies
was a rigid pole, with some solid ornament of bright metal on the top,
so as to catch the light. The banner-staff spoken of in the text links
itself with the preceding incident. I said that Moses stood on the
mountain-top with the rod in his hand. Now that rod was exactly a
miniature banner, and when he lifted it, victory came to Israel; and
when it fell, victory deserted their arms. So by the altar's name he
would say, Do not suppose that it was Moses that won the battle, nor
that it was the rod that Moses carried in his hand that brought you
strength. The true Victor was Jehovah, and it was He who was Moses'
Banner. It was by Him that the lifted rod brought victory; as for
Moses, he had nothing to do with it; and the people had to look higher
than the hill-top where he sat.
This thought puts stress on the first word of the phrase instead of on
the last, as in my previous remarks. 'The Lord is my Banner,'--no
Moses, no outward symbol, no man or thing, but only He Himself.
Therefore, in all our duties, and in all our difficulties, and in all
our conflicts, and for all our conquests, we are to look away from
creatures, self, externals, and to look only to God. We are all too apt
to trust in rods instead of in Him, in Moses instead of in Moses' Lord.
We are all too apt to trust in externals, in organisations, sacraments,
services, committees, outside aids of all sorts, as our means for doing
God's work, and bringing power to us and blessing to the world. Let us
get away from them all, dig deeper down than any of these, be sure that
these are but surface reservoirs, but that the fountain which fills
them with any refreshing liquid which they may bear lies in God
Himself. Why should we trouble ourselves about reservoirs when we can
go to the Fountain? Why should we put such reliance on churches and
services and preaching and sermons and schemes and institutions and
organisations when we have the divine Lord Himself for our strength?
'Jehovah is my Banner,' and Moses' rod is only a symbol. At most it is
like a lightning-conductor, but it is not the lightning. The lightning
will come without the rod, if our eyes are to the heaven, for the true
power that brings God down to men is that forsaking of externals and
waiting upon Him which He never refuses to answer.
In like manner we are too apt to put far too much confidence in human
teachers and human helpers of various kinds. And when God takes them
away we say to ourselves that there is a gap that can never be filled.
Ay! but the great sea can come in and fill any gap, and make the
deepest and the driest of the excavations in the desert to abound in
sweet water.
So let us turn away from everything external, gather in our souls and
fix our hopes on Him; let us recognise the imperative duty of the
Christian warfare which is laid upon us; let us docilely submit
ourselves to His sweet commands, and trust in His sufficient and
punctual guidance, and not expect from any outward sources that which
no outward sources can ever give, but which He Himself will
give--strength to our fingers to fight, and weapons for the warfare,
and covering for our heads in the day of battle.
And then, when our lives are done, may the only inscription on the
stone that covers us be 'Jehovah Nissi: the Lord is my banner'! The
trophy that commemorates the Christian's victory should bear no name
but His by whose grace we are more than conquerors. 'Thanks be to God
who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.'