October 15, 2025 • 18 mins
A single name can steady a shaken heart. In this session, we journey through Exodus 17 to explore Jehovah Nisi—“The Lord is my banner”—and discover why that ancient name still reshapes how we face exhaustion, conflict, and the long work of becoming a people set apart. The story begins with thirst and quarreling, moves through water flowing from the rock, and climaxes on a hillside where Moses prays, Joshua fights, and Aaron and Hur hold up weary hands. Out of that moment of dependence and unity, God reveals a lasting truth: victory grows where intercession, action, and shared strength meet.
We unpack what a banner represented for Israel—identity, allegiance, and a rallying point—and how the Lord Himself becomes that covering for His people. In the wilderness, each tribe gathered beneath its banner; today, believers rally under the cross of Christ, marked not by symbols of war but by sacrificial love. Under God’s flag, we don’t just survive—we unite, serve, and stand together. The battle with Amalek also points us forward to a greater hill, where Jesus stretched out His arms and turned the tide against sin and death. That cross-shaped banner remains our signal of hope, calling us to pray as if outcomes depend on God, to work as if our obedience matters, and to lean on one another when our strength falters.
Throughout the teaching, we look closely at what it means to live “under the banner.” We examine the balance between prayer and action—how to lead with intercession without neglecting responsibility, how to fight faithfully without pride, and how to be the friend who quietly supports others when their arms are tired. We see how the Lord forms His people through shared battles, transforming individual weakness into communal strength.
The session closes by widening the lens to Isaiah 11, where the nations rally to a righteous King and lasting peace remakes the world. From Moses’s hillside to Calvary’s hill to the coming Kingdom, the story of Jehovah Nisi reminds us that God’s presence is our banner, His love our covering, and His victory our inheritance.
If you’re in a season of uncertainty, weary from battle, or longing to remember who you are and whose you are, this teaching is a call to lift your eyes to the Lord who leads you. Stand under His banner, find strength in His people, and take heart—He has not only claimed the battlefield but secured the victory.
We are Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Subscribe to our Podcast & YouTube channel to find past sermons, classes, interviews, and more!
Find us on Facebook & Instagram
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Hannah Silverberg (00:04):
Today we're gonna be learning about
Jehovahese.
And when my dad asks me, Do youwant to talk about Jehovanese?
I said, I don't even know whatthat means.
But I'm kind of hoping y'alldon't know really what that
means either, because then it'san easier place for me to start.
So we're gonna be looking inExodus 17 for our story today.
This is the only time in theBible that the name Jehovanese
(00:28):
is used.
So we're gonna be in here alot.
Um, and just to give y'all somequick context of where we're
at.
So the Israelites are in thedesert.
They are in the beginning oftheir wandering.
So they are being led by thepillar of cloud and the pillar
of fire.
And manna has just come fromheaven.
(00:49):
And but what they do not havein the desert is water, which is
a significant problem,obviously, but it's also
specifically for the Israelitesbecause they are also shepherds
and they don't have anything fortheir flocks, which is their
livelihood as well.
And so the people start to getrestless and afraid.
(01:10):
And the first thing that theydo out of that is they start
quarreling.
They start quarreling withMoses, saying, Give us water to
drink.
And Moses says, Why are you somad at me?
Ask God about it.
And what am I supposed to do?
He says, Why do you test theLord?
Moses like, Have you not seenall the things that the Lord has
done?
How are we not more on the samepage in real in relying on the
(01:32):
Lord at this point?
But the people thirsted therefor the water, and the people
grumbled again against Moses andsaid, Why did you bring us out
of Egypt to kill us and ourchildren and our livestock with
thirst?
And so Moses cries out to theLord.
Which this is one of the thingsthat Moses does the best in
scripture is Moses takes all ofhis problems, he takes it from
(01:53):
the people, and he goes straightto the Lord with them.
So he takes this problem to theLord, the Lord tells him
exactly what to do, to go outand to strike a rock with his
rod, and that the Lord wouldprovide the water.
And so the Moses goes all aboutthis, and they name the place
of the rock Masa and Meribah,which means fighting and
(02:18):
quarreling, because they testedthe Lord by ask by saying, Is
the Lord among us or not?
I think we've all been there,right?
We've all had a moment in ourlives where we've said, Is the
Lord really among me?
Is the Lord really for me ornot?
And so, right out of thatquestion, that's the big
question that the Israelites areasking in this time frame.
(02:41):
And so then we go in, theIsraelites are there, and what
happens is Amalek comes andattacks the Israelites.
And we see in Deuteronomy, whenhe talks about it, um, Amalek
comes from behind without beingprovoked and attacks them from
behind with while they are faintand weary.
Now the Israelites have notfought together because God took
(03:04):
care of the Egyptian army.
And so this people has been incaptivity and in slavery for 400
years, and then the Lord hasfought every battle for them,
and then they are attacked frombehind.
And the Lord does not takekindly to that.
So, verse 8 says, Then Amalekcame and fought with Israel at
Rephidim, and Moses said toJoshua, Choose for us men and go
(03:26):
out and fight with Amalek.
Tomorrow I will stand on thetop of the hill with the staff
of God in my hand.
So Joshua did as Moses told himand fought with Amalek, while
Moses, Aaron, and her went up tothe top of the hill.
Whenever Moses held up hishand, Israel prevailed, and
whenever he lowered his hand,Amalek prevailed.
But Moses' hands grew weary.
(03:47):
So they took a stone and put itunder him, and he sat on it,
while Aaron and Hur held up hishands, one on one side and the
other on the other side.
So his hands were steady untilthe going down of the sun.
And Joshua overwhelmed Amalekand his people with the sword.
Then the Lord said to Moses,Write this as a memorial and a
book, and recite it in the earsof Joshua, that I will utterly
(04:10):
blot out the memory of Amalekfrom under heaven.
And Moses built an altar andcalled the name of it, The Lord
is my banner, Jehovah Nisi,saying, A hand upon the throne
of the Lord, the Lord will havewar with Amalek from generation
to generation.
So we looking back in thestory, we see Moses deciding to
(04:35):
send Joshua.
He's not the one who's saying,I'm gonna lead this charge.
Right?
He picks Joshua, he sends himout, and he goes up onto this
hill really to intercede.
And as he holds up his hands,holding up his hand is the
Israelite posture of prayer.
So he's holding up his hands,and Moses is learning how to
lead with prayer and how to letsomeone else lead in the thick
(04:57):
of battle.
That's hard.
I think it's a lot easier forus to go and want to be the ones
in the thick of it.
And instead, sometimes it'sbest to say, you know what, I'm
gonna stand back and I'm gonnado what I am called to and I'm
going to intercede and trustthat the Lord will be the one to
tip the scale in my favor.
And on the other hand, Joshuaand the other men, they don't
(05:20):
have this bird's eye view ofwhat's happening.
They don't know that there'sthis magical rod that's being
held up that is making them winthe battle.
They're a little busy rightnow.
And so sometimes when we're inthe thick of it, we can't see
the Lord turning this, tippingthe scale in our favor.
You know, we have to befaithful with what's before us.
Joshua still had to fight, eventhough prayer turned the tide
(05:41):
of the battle.
So Moses and the Israelites asa whole are learning how they
need one another.
Each of them has a part to playin this story.
We are not called to bear thefull weight of intercession or
of battle alone.
And so, in this picture ofMoses holding up his hands, we
can see a picture of Jesus.
(06:03):
Because Jesus also was a man ona hillside with his arms
stretched wide, with a man onhis right and a man on his left.
And as he as he took the painof sin and he won the battle for
us.
Amalek in this story is apicture of true evil, a lack of
(06:25):
fearing the Lord, and of sneakyunrighteousness.
Eventually, the failure to roothim out completely is what
costs King Saul his throne.
But the Lord is faithful to hispromises, and one day he will
utterly blot out the memory ofthe evil one from under heaven.
Verse 15 says, Moses built analtar and called the name of it
(06:46):
the Lord is my banner, saying ahand upon the throne of the
Lord.
The Lord will have war withAmalek from generation to
generation.
A banner is not something thatis given out freely.
A banner is something that isvictorious.
Banners are for winners.
And so this is something, abanner is a flag.
(07:08):
We think about a banner, we canthink about a flag.
It is something you fightunder, it is something that
identifies who you are in apeople group.
A banner is our identity.
So the Lord banners ouridentity.
Throughout the Israelites' timein the wilderness, family
banners were used to keep order.
We see this in Numbers 2.
When the Israelites set upcamp, each tribe will be
(07:29):
assigned to its own area.
The tribal divisions will campbeneath their family banners on
all four sides of thetabernacle, but at some distance
from it.
The Lord is proving himself tobe the thing and the person that
connects this group of people.
He is teaching them who theyare.
They haven't had an identity asa people outside of being
(07:50):
slaves for a long time.
And so they need to figure outwhat does it mean?
Is the Lord really among us?
Is the Lord really for us?
Is he going to be who he sayshe is?
And who is this God?
Like you said, these names ofGod, these are the first few
things.
These are the things that theLord is choosing to reveal to
this people.
And that matters to us today.
Because the Lord is the sameyesterday, today, and forever.
(08:13):
So our banner is an identifyingpiece.
When I know whose banner I'munder, I know who I am.
Because I know who I'm servingand I know what that banner
stands for, what that standardof righteousness is.
In the Song of Songs, it saysthat his banner over us is love.
And in the same way, as weoperate under the Lord our
(08:34):
banner, believers are to beknown by our love for one
another.
Our banner is who we are, it'sour identity.
The Lord, our banner, is ourcovering.
Not only does it give usallegiance, it gave the
Israelites allegiance and buy-inindividually.
In Psalm 60, David refers to abanner as a rallying point in
the face of attack.
(08:55):
It's a place for people to cometogether, to serve together.
So it gives them, it unifiedthem as a people.
I think about the openingceremonies at the Olympics.
You know, when they walk in,they all have their outfits and
they have their flag, and it'slike, this is who I am, this is
who I'm fighting for, this iswho I'm serving under, this is
who I'm here to be proud of andto represent.
(09:16):
And that's what these peopleare learning is okay, we are
together.
We're not gonna, we're learningnot to grumble against each
other, we're learning not toquarrel with Moses, but to truly
walk under the identity and thesafety of the Lord.
The Lord, our banner, is ourcovering.
To be covered by the Lord is tobe protected.
Hidden in the shadow of hiswing, he is answering their
(09:38):
question.
He is among them.
He's not just beating thebattle for them and letting them
sit aside.
There is something importantthat we learn when we work
shoulder to shoulder, not justsee face to face.
He's inviting them to partnerwith him.
He's saying, We're gonna fighttogether, but I'm I'm gonna hold
up.
I'm gonna hold you up, I'mgonna fly over you.
(09:58):
I'm going to be the one thattips the scale.
The Lord is also showing themthat they don't need to trust in
Moses.
He isn't on the battlefield.
They trust in the Lord.
Perhaps we've all had a timewhen we've come out from the
Lord's covering and tried totake the world on on our own.
It's not how we're meant tolive because we're not safe
(10:19):
alone.
When we lose, we come out fromthe covering of the Lord, we
lose who we are, and we lose ourcovering, and we are vulnerable
for attack.
A banner isn't for anindividual, it's for a people.
And we see that in Moses' storyand how Joshua, Aaron, and her
all needed the Lord and oneanother.
(10:40):
The Lord, our banner, is ourvictory.
So, like I said before, bannersare for winners.
My husband works at the hockeyteam in town, and um, they
here's the thing in hockey (10:53):
you either win or you don't.
And in the Coliseum, there arebanners hung, and the banners
are not participation banners,they are for the regular seasons
and the championships that theteam has won.
And they stay there.
There are banners that are upthere from 20 years ago.
Because once you've won it,you've won it, and it's
(11:13):
something that proclaims topeople that we've done it before
and we can do it again.
And so we can trust that theLord has defeated evil before
and that he's going to do itagain.
When I was a child, um, myolder brother and I used to play
(11:34):
together a lot, and he alwayswanted to play Playmobil, which
are these like little figurineguys.
I'm sure there's a tougher,manlier name for them, but they
had little outfits that youcould click on.
You can Google it later.
But I really wanted to be in myroom reading alone.
But Jordan really wanted toplay together, and so he would
call me into his room and hewould say, Hannah, here's what
(11:56):
we're gonna do.
This is my army, and this isyour army, and our armies are
going to fight.
And my army is going to win.
And I would say, I don't wantto play.
It's and you're looking at it,okay.
His army, he's got the castlewith all the red lion, you know,
figurines, all the flags, allthe banners, all the things.
(12:19):
And he's got all his littleguys lined up perfectly, and
they all got their shields andthey got their spears, and and
my army is everyone who didn'tfit into the regime, you know
what I mean?
So it's this tiny little pile,they're all broken and laying
down.
And I would say, Well, I wantto play the prince and the
princess.
And he would say, No, I'mgonna, that's so boring.
And I'm like, Well, I don'twant to fight.
(12:41):
So the conclusion we alwayscame to was our armies are going
to fight, and your army isgoing to win.
But it's because they're comingto rescue the princess.
And at the end of the story,they're going to get married and
live happily ever after.
And then we will play that fora while too.
And so I thought about thiswhen I was reading this story,
(13:02):
because, like I said, Amalekreally represents evil in this
world.
Okay.
And it's he comes from behindand strikes out, just like we
see in the curse in Genesis 3,of the serpent striking the
heel.
Okay.
This is an image of evil andthe Lord fighting evil.
He says, that's why the Lordsays he will have war with
(13:24):
Amalek from generation togeneration.
And the Lord is still ourbanner because the battle isn't
done.
Maybe, like the Israelites, wedon't know if he's really among
us.
Or maybe, like Moses, yourservice to the Lord is weary
hands held high.
Maybe like Aaron and her,you're called to uplift your
(13:45):
brother who is struggling.
And maybe like Joshua, you'redeep in the fight.
Maybe like Amalek, you're stillan enemy to God.
But because there was anotherman like Moses on a hill with
his arms stretched wide across apiece of wood, with a man on
his right and on his left, thebattle was won.
The Lord is our banner, ourflag to fly, our family symbol,
(14:09):
our rallying cry.
Ephesians 6, 12 through 13says, For we do not wrestle
against flesh and blood, butagainst the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmicpowers over this present
darkness, against the spiritualforces of evil in the heavenly
places.
Therefore take up the wholearmor of God that you may be
able to withstand in the evilday, and having done all to
(14:31):
stand firm.
Brothers and sisters, we cansay to the Prince of Darkness
that our armies are going tofight, and our army is going to
win.
And then the bride and herChrist, Jehovah Nisi, will marry
and they will live happily everafter.
I'm just going to read thispassage of prophecy regarding
(14:52):
Jesus from Isaiah 11 over us,and then we'll pray.
A shoot will come up from thestump of Jesse, from his roots,
a branch will bear fruit.
The spirit of the Lord willrest on him, the spirit of
wisdom and of understanding, thespirit of counsel and of might,
(15:13):
the spirit of the knowledge andthe fear of the Lord, and he
will delight in the fear of theLord.
He will not judge by what hesees with his eyes, or decide by
what he hears with his ears,but with righteousness he will
judge the needy, with justice hewill give decisions for the
poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth withthe rod of his mouth, with the
(15:35):
breath of his lips he will slaythe wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt,and faithfulness the sash
around his waist.
The wolf will live with thelamb, the leopard will lie down
with the goat, the calf and thelion and the yearling together,
and a little child will feedthem.
The cow will feed with thebear, their young will lie down
(15:56):
together, and the lion will eatstraw like the ox.
The infant will play near thecobra's den, and the young child
will put its hand into theviper's nest.
They will neither harm nordestroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filledwith the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
In that day, the root of Jessewill stand as a banner for the
(16:18):
peoples.
The nations will rally to him,and his resting place will be
glorious.
So, Lord Jesus, we just thankyou that in the times that we
have quarreled against you inthe face of your provision, that
you have instead proven thatyou are with us, that you are
(16:40):
for us, and that you are overus.
That we would walk with theconfidence that you have done it
(17:01):
before and you will do itagain.
That you are not a God thatstands idly by, but one who is
actively tipping the scales inour favor.
Lord, we thank you that you arewith us and for us and
victorious.
We ask that you would give us anew understanding of that, that
you would give us boldness tostep out and to fight when we
(17:23):
need to, and also the courage tobe the one that steps aside and
lifts up holy hands to you.
Lord, I just I thank you thatyou that you have won the
battle, that your battle withAmalek, that your battle with
evil will not be over until theday when you return, when you
defeat all evil and you restoreeverything to exactly the way
(17:47):
you want it to be, when you makeall the wrong things right
again and all the bad thingsuntrue.
We just ask that you would helpus to live in the light of that
reality, to hold your banner uphigh, that we would be proud of
your name, that we would notshy away from sharing it or
being outward with our faith,but that you would encourage us
(18:08):
with boldness.
We thank you that you haveunified us as a people, and we
just ask that you would keepthat unity, that we would not
turn against one another oragainst authority or against
you, Lord, but that you wouldunify us as the body of Christ.
We thank you, Lord, for beingour banner.
(18:29):
Forever and always thevictorious king.
Amen.
Today we're gonna be learning about
Jehovahese.
And when my dad asks me, Do youwant to talk about Jehovanese?
I said, I don't even know whatthat means.
But I'm kind of hoping y'alldon't know really what that
means either, because then it'san easier place for me to start.
So we're gonna be looking inExodus 17 for our story today.
This is the only time in theBible that the name Jehovanese
(00:28):
is used.
So we're gonna be in here alot.
Um, and just to give y'all somequick context of where we're
at.
So the Israelites are in thedesert.
They are in the beginning oftheir wandering.
So they are being led by thepillar of cloud and the pillar
of fire.
And manna has just come fromheaven.
(00:49):
And but what they do not havein the desert is water, which is
a significant problem,obviously, but it's also
specifically for the Israelitesbecause they are also shepherds
and they don't have anything fortheir flocks, which is their
livelihood as well.
And so the people start to getrestless and afraid.
(01:10):
And the first thing that theydo out of that is they start
quarreling.
They start quarreling withMoses, saying, Give us water to
drink.
And Moses says, Why are you somad at me?
Ask God about it.
And what am I supposed to do?
He says, Why do you test theLord?
Moses like, Have you not seenall the things that the Lord has
done?
How are we not more on the samepage in real in relying on the
(01:32):
Lord at this point?
But the people thirsted therefor the water, and the people
grumbled again against Moses andsaid, Why did you bring us out
of Egypt to kill us and ourchildren and our livestock with
thirst?
And so Moses cries out to theLord.
Which this is one of the thingsthat Moses does the best in
scripture is Moses takes all ofhis problems, he takes it from
(01:53):
the people, and he goes straightto the Lord with them.
So he takes this problem to theLord, the Lord tells him
exactly what to do, to go outand to strike a rock with his
rod, and that the Lord wouldprovide the water.
And so the Moses goes all aboutthis, and they name the place
of the rock Masa and Meribah,which means fighting and
(02:18):
quarreling, because they testedthe Lord by ask by saying, Is
the Lord among us or not?
I think we've all been there,right?
We've all had a moment in ourlives where we've said, Is the
Lord really among me?
Is the Lord really for me ornot?
And so, right out of thatquestion, that's the big
question that the Israelites areasking in this time frame.
(02:41):
And so then we go in, theIsraelites are there, and what
happens is Amalek comes andattacks the Israelites.
And we see in Deuteronomy, whenhe talks about it, um, Amalek
comes from behind without beingprovoked and attacks them from
behind with while they are faintand weary.
Now the Israelites have notfought together because God took
(03:04):
care of the Egyptian army.
And so this people has been incaptivity and in slavery for 400
years, and then the Lord hasfought every battle for them,
and then they are attacked frombehind.
And the Lord does not takekindly to that.
So, verse 8 says, Then Amalekcame and fought with Israel at
Rephidim, and Moses said toJoshua, Choose for us men and go
(03:26):
out and fight with Amalek.
Tomorrow I will stand on thetop of the hill with the staff
of God in my hand.
So Joshua did as Moses told himand fought with Amalek, while
Moses, Aaron, and her went up tothe top of the hill.
Whenever Moses held up hishand, Israel prevailed, and
whenever he lowered his hand,Amalek prevailed.
But Moses' hands grew weary.
(03:47):
So they took a stone and put itunder him, and he sat on it,
while Aaron and Hur held up hishands, one on one side and the
other on the other side.
So his hands were steady untilthe going down of the sun.
And Joshua overwhelmed Amalekand his people with the sword.
Then the Lord said to Moses,Write this as a memorial and a
book, and recite it in the earsof Joshua, that I will utterly
(04:10):
blot out the memory of Amalekfrom under heaven.
And Moses built an altar andcalled the name of it, The Lord
is my banner, Jehovah Nisi,saying, A hand upon the throne
of the Lord, the Lord will havewar with Amalek from generation
to generation.
So we looking back in thestory, we see Moses deciding to
(04:35):
send Joshua.
He's not the one who's saying,I'm gonna lead this charge.
Right?
He picks Joshua, he sends himout, and he goes up onto this
hill really to intercede.
And as he holds up his hands,holding up his hand is the
Israelite posture of prayer.
So he's holding up his hands,and Moses is learning how to
lead with prayer and how to letsomeone else lead in the thick
(04:57):
of battle.
That's hard.
I think it's a lot easier forus to go and want to be the ones
in the thick of it.
And instead, sometimes it'sbest to say, you know what, I'm
gonna stand back and I'm gonnado what I am called to and I'm
going to intercede and trustthat the Lord will be the one to
tip the scale in my favor.
And on the other hand, Joshuaand the other men, they don't
(05:20):
have this bird's eye view ofwhat's happening.
They don't know that there'sthis magical rod that's being
held up that is making them winthe battle.
They're a little busy rightnow.
And so sometimes when we're inthe thick of it, we can't see
the Lord turning this, tippingthe scale in our favor.
You know, we have to befaithful with what's before us.
Joshua still had to fight, eventhough prayer turned the tide
(05:41):
of the battle.
So Moses and the Israelites asa whole are learning how they
need one another.
Each of them has a part to playin this story.
We are not called to bear thefull weight of intercession or
of battle alone.
And so, in this picture ofMoses holding up his hands, we
can see a picture of Jesus.
(06:03):
Because Jesus also was a man ona hillside with his arms
stretched wide, with a man onhis right and a man on his left.
And as he as he took the painof sin and he won the battle for
us.
Amalek in this story is apicture of true evil, a lack of
(06:25):
fearing the Lord, and of sneakyunrighteousness.
Eventually, the failure to roothim out completely is what
costs King Saul his throne.
But the Lord is faithful to hispromises, and one day he will
utterly blot out the memory ofthe evil one from under heaven.
Verse 15 says, Moses built analtar and called the name of it
(06:46):
the Lord is my banner, saying ahand upon the throne of the
Lord.
The Lord will have war withAmalek from generation to
generation.
A banner is not something thatis given out freely.
A banner is something that isvictorious.
Banners are for winners.
And so this is something, abanner is a flag.
(07:08):
We think about a banner, we canthink about a flag.
It is something you fightunder, it is something that
identifies who you are in apeople group.
A banner is our identity.
So the Lord banners ouridentity.
Throughout the Israelites' timein the wilderness, family
banners were used to keep order.
We see this in Numbers 2.
When the Israelites set upcamp, each tribe will be
(07:29):
assigned to its own area.
The tribal divisions will campbeneath their family banners on
all four sides of thetabernacle, but at some distance
from it.
The Lord is proving himself tobe the thing and the person that
connects this group of people.
He is teaching them who theyare.
They haven't had an identity asa people outside of being
(07:50):
slaves for a long time.
And so they need to figure outwhat does it mean?
Is the Lord really among us?
Is the Lord really for us?
Is he going to be who he sayshe is?
And who is this God?
Like you said, these names ofGod, these are the first few
things.
These are the things that theLord is choosing to reveal to
this people.
And that matters to us today.
Because the Lord is the sameyesterday, today, and forever.
(08:13):
So our banner is an identifyingpiece.
When I know whose banner I'munder, I know who I am.
Because I know who I'm servingand I know what that banner
stands for, what that standardof righteousness is.
In the Song of Songs, it saysthat his banner over us is love.
And in the same way, as weoperate under the Lord our
(08:34):
banner, believers are to beknown by our love for one
another.
Our banner is who we are, it'sour identity.
The Lord, our banner, is ourcovering.
Not only does it give usallegiance, it gave the
Israelites allegiance and buy-inindividually.
In Psalm 60, David refers to abanner as a rallying point in
the face of attack.
(08:55):
It's a place for people to cometogether, to serve together.
So it gives them, it unifiedthem as a people.
I think about the openingceremonies at the Olympics.
You know, when they walk in,they all have their outfits and
they have their flag, and it'slike, this is who I am, this is
who I'm fighting for, this iswho I'm serving under, this is
who I'm here to be proud of andto represent.
(09:16):
And that's what these peopleare learning is okay, we are
together.
We're not gonna, we're learningnot to grumble against each
other, we're learning not toquarrel with Moses, but to truly
walk under the identity and thesafety of the Lord.
The Lord, our banner, is ourcovering.
To be covered by the Lord is tobe protected.
Hidden in the shadow of hiswing, he is answering their
(09:38):
question.
He is among them.
He's not just beating thebattle for them and letting them
sit aside.
There is something importantthat we learn when we work
shoulder to shoulder, not justsee face to face.
He's inviting them to partnerwith him.
He's saying, We're gonna fighttogether, but I'm I'm gonna hold
up.
I'm gonna hold you up, I'mgonna fly over you.
(09:58):
I'm going to be the one thattips the scale.
The Lord is also showing themthat they don't need to trust in
Moses.
He isn't on the battlefield.
They trust in the Lord.
Perhaps we've all had a timewhen we've come out from the
Lord's covering and tried totake the world on on our own.
It's not how we're meant tolive because we're not safe
(10:19):
alone.
When we lose, we come out fromthe covering of the Lord, we
lose who we are, and we lose ourcovering, and we are vulnerable
for attack.
A banner isn't for anindividual, it's for a people.
And we see that in Moses' storyand how Joshua, Aaron, and her
all needed the Lord and oneanother.
(10:40):
The Lord, our banner, is ourvictory.
So, like I said before, bannersare for winners.
My husband works at the hockeyteam in town, and um, they
here's the thing in hockey (10:53):
you either win or you don't.
And in the Coliseum, there arebanners hung, and the banners
are not participation banners,they are for the regular seasons
and the championships that theteam has won.
And they stay there.
There are banners that are upthere from 20 years ago.
Because once you've won it,you've won it, and it's
(11:13):
something that proclaims topeople that we've done it before
and we can do it again.
And so we can trust that theLord has defeated evil before
and that he's going to do itagain.
When I was a child, um, myolder brother and I used to play
(11:34):
together a lot, and he alwayswanted to play Playmobil, which
are these like little figurineguys.
I'm sure there's a tougher,manlier name for them, but they
had little outfits that youcould click on.
You can Google it later.
But I really wanted to be in myroom reading alone.
But Jordan really wanted toplay together, and so he would
call me into his room and hewould say, Hannah, here's what
(11:56):
we're gonna do.
This is my army, and this isyour army, and our armies are
going to fight.
And my army is going to win.
And I would say, I don't wantto play.
It's and you're looking at it,okay.
His army, he's got the castlewith all the red lion, you know,
figurines, all the flags, allthe banners, all the things.
(12:19):
And he's got all his littleguys lined up perfectly, and
they all got their shields andthey got their spears, and and
my army is everyone who didn'tfit into the regime, you know
what I mean?
So it's this tiny little pile,they're all broken and laying
down.
And I would say, Well, I wantto play the prince and the
princess.
And he would say, No, I'mgonna, that's so boring.
And I'm like, Well, I don'twant to fight.
(12:41):
So the conclusion we alwayscame to was our armies are going
to fight, and your army isgoing to win.
But it's because they're comingto rescue the princess.
And at the end of the story,they're going to get married and
live happily ever after.
And then we will play that fora while too.
And so I thought about thiswhen I was reading this story,
(13:02):
because, like I said, Amalekreally represents evil in this
world.
Okay.
And it's he comes from behindand strikes out, just like we
see in the curse in Genesis 3,of the serpent striking the
heel.
Okay.
This is an image of evil andthe Lord fighting evil.
He says, that's why the Lordsays he will have war with
(13:24):
Amalek from generation togeneration.
And the Lord is still ourbanner because the battle isn't
done.
Maybe, like the Israelites, wedon't know if he's really among
us.
Or maybe, like Moses, yourservice to the Lord is weary
hands held high.
Maybe like Aaron and her,you're called to uplift your
(13:45):
brother who is struggling.
And maybe like Joshua, you'redeep in the fight.
Maybe like Amalek, you're stillan enemy to God.
But because there was anotherman like Moses on a hill with
his arms stretched wide across apiece of wood, with a man on
his right and on his left, thebattle was won.
The Lord is our banner, ourflag to fly, our family symbol,
(14:09):
our rallying cry.
Ephesians 6, 12 through 13says, For we do not wrestle
against flesh and blood, butagainst the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmicpowers over this present
darkness, against the spiritualforces of evil in the heavenly
places.
Therefore take up the wholearmor of God that you may be
able to withstand in the evilday, and having done all to
(14:31):
stand firm.
Brothers and sisters, we cansay to the Prince of Darkness
that our armies are going tofight, and our army is going to
win.
And then the bride and herChrist, Jehovah Nisi, will marry
and they will live happily everafter.
I'm just going to read thispassage of prophecy regarding
(14:52):
Jesus from Isaiah 11 over us,and then we'll pray.
A shoot will come up from thestump of Jesse, from his roots,
a branch will bear fruit.
The spirit of the Lord willrest on him, the spirit of
wisdom and of understanding, thespirit of counsel and of might,
(15:13):
the spirit of the knowledge andthe fear of the Lord, and he
will delight in the fear of theLord.
He will not judge by what hesees with his eyes, or decide by
what he hears with his ears,but with righteousness he will
judge the needy, with justice hewill give decisions for the
poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth withthe rod of his mouth, with the
(15:35):
breath of his lips he will slaythe wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt,and faithfulness the sash
around his waist.
The wolf will live with thelamb, the leopard will lie down
with the goat, the calf and thelion and the yearling together,
and a little child will feedthem.
The cow will feed with thebear, their young will lie down
(15:56):
together, and the lion will eatstraw like the ox.
The infant will play near thecobra's den, and the young child
will put its hand into theviper's nest.
They will neither harm nordestroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filledwith the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
In that day, the root of Jessewill stand as a banner for the
(16:18):
peoples.
The nations will rally to him,and his resting place will be
glorious.
So, Lord Jesus, we just thankyou that in the times that we
have quarreled against you inthe face of your provision, that
you have instead proven thatyou are with us, that you are
(16:40):
for us, and that you are overus.
That we would walk with theconfidence that you have done it
(17:01):
before and you will do itagain.
That you are not a God thatstands idly by, but one who is
actively tipping the scales inour favor.
Lord, we thank you that you arewith us and for us and
victorious.
We ask that you would give us anew understanding of that, that
you would give us boldness tostep out and to fight when we
(17:23):
need to, and also the courage tobe the one that steps aside and
lifts up holy hands to you.
Lord, I just I thank you thatyou that you have won the
battle, that your battle withAmalek, that your battle with
evil will not be over until theday when you return, when you
defeat all evil and you restoreeverything to exactly the way
(17:47):
you want it to be, when you makeall the wrong things right
again and all the bad thingsuntrue.
We just ask that you would helpus to live in the light of that
reality, to hold your banner uphigh, that we would be proud of
your name, that we would notshy away from sharing it or
being outward with our faith,but that you would encourage us
(18:08):
with boldness.
We thank you that you haveunified us as a people, and we
just ask that you would keepthat unity, that we would not
turn against one another oragainst authority or against
you, Lord, but that you wouldunify us as the body of Christ.
We thank you, Lord, for beingour banner.
(18:29):
Forever and always thevictorious king.
Amen.
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.