Flags

On a recent trip I picked up Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers, by Brian Kilmeade. One of the many things I learned was a distinction between flags in warfare. By flags I don’t mean the insignias used to designate various units serving or the ensigns of the countries represented in the conflict.

The flags I’m talking about are the white flag and the black flag (there could be more, I don’t know – these were the ones in the book). At this time (1836) the white flag signaled surrender, as it still does. This I already knew. But a black flag meant that this force in the battle would give no quarter. They would take no prisoners. All who were defeated by the black flag waving soldiers would be executed.

Theologically, when we were born we faced a black flag. “All have sinned…”Romans 3:23. “the wages of sin is death,” Romans 6:23. No matter how much these verses would move us to wave the white flag of surrender, we are still doomed. Don’t get me wrong, our surrender is part of the process. Indeed, it is essential. But it’s not good enough. We are still faced with a black flag of destruction.

That’s why the lifted cross is the one true flag we need. We see here what God was willing to do to release us from the sentence of death – He took it as His own. By the Holy Spirit’s work, we not only surrender when we see how far from God we’ve fallen, but we trust God’s promise that through our faith we are welcomed back home.

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John 12:32. Keep this lifted symbol ever before your eyes!