Almost everyone you talk to who lived in 1969 remembers the moon landing. Many watched this event on television, as the men landed on the moon and planted the U.S. flag in the ground. There have also been those who have climbed great mountains, such as Mt. Everest and planted their nation’s flag in the ground. People do this when they want to claim a discovery or a victory of some sort. But when we look at the Israelite’s victory over the Amalekites in Exodus 17:8-15, we see that they do not attribute this success to themselves. Rather, as Moses builds an altar he says in verse 15, “The LORD Is My Banner.”

In this remarkable passage, the Lord gives victory to His people as Moses holds the staff of God with his hands raised. This raised hands posture shows us the principle that their trust was in the Lord to give them this victory. As he holds the staff with which the Lord has used in giving His people freedom from the Egyptians, the raised staff represents that the Lord is the One who is triumphant.

Every Christian can look to their hope and confidence and say that the Lord is the one who is triumphant. It is God who has sent Christ into the world to be the Banner of every believer in Christ. The word that is translated “banner” in our passage has reference to the staff–the raised staff is pointed us to the great Savior Jesus Christ who would conquer the greatest enemy of His people, the enemy of sin and ultimately give triumph to His people.

At the same time, as the people of God trust in Him, this does not serve as an excuse for laxity when it comes to obedience. Joshua carefully obeys the command of Moses to gather an army to fight against the unprovoked attack from the Amalekites. Moses carefully obeys by raising his hands, and Aaron and Hur assist him in keeping his hands raised. They put forth effort–so in the Christian life, we are called to fight against sin, to wage war on our sin. We are to pursue holiness, yet with the confidence not in ourselves, but in God to give the victory.

Join us this Lord’s Day evening for worship at The Commons at St. Andrews Church at 5 PM as we consider these things together. For directions, click here, or contact us for more information. You can also watch on FacebookLive@RiverCityARP or on YouTube.