During the opening ceremony of the Olympics, the participating nations parade behind their country’s flag. Flags is a symbol of identification. The colors and patterns strive to contain a nation, state, or team’s history, goals, and aspirations. Those flags are a source of identity and pride. They say something without speaking a word. The Bible also talks about a flag or banner.
The Song of Solomon is a poetic and somewhat erotic love sonnet. It is tucked between the harsh realities of Ecclesiastes and the soaring prophecies of Isaiah. The Song is a wedding day conversation between two lovers. But Christ-followers often see a prophetic edge that portrays the love between Christ and the church (see Rev 19:7).
At one point in the Song, the bride says, “He has brought me to his banquet hall, And his banner over me is love.” (Song of Solomon 2:4, NASB95) I’d like to focus on the second phrase today. His banner over me is love.
That banner, that flag speaks one simple yet profound message – beloved. Christ’s banner over you is love. You are His beloved. That is your identity, and it is who you are whether you fully feel it or see it. You are beloved.
Identity is a large consideration in our world today. It is at the center of many things, both good and not so good. It provides meaning to our culture, actions, and attitudes. If we identify as something, then thoughts and behaviors seem to naturally follow. We can identify ourselves through our race, gender, sexuality, career, sports team, personality traits, heritage, geography, and even our hobbies. For Christ-followers, all of those are eclipsed by Christ’s banner of love over us.
I know you may look around your life, and that truth seems so far away. Or perhaps not. Your circumstances do not determine Christ’s love for you. Neither do your past harmful life choices change His love for you. In fact, Jesus loves you so much that He died on the cross to forgive those choices and open the way to God.
The Apostle Paul prayed this for some Christ-followers, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17–19, NASB95) Christ’s love for you far exceeds your ability to understand it, and Christ-followers spend a lifetime plumbing its length, height, width, and depth.
And what can separate us from the love of Christ? Paul again provides an answer. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39, NASB95)
You are Christ’s beloved, and nothing can change that. Even if you walk away, His love for you remains.
That is who you are. That is your identity. You are Beloved of Christ. That is the banner, the flag, that flutters over you for all to see. His banner over you is love.
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