Ex 17:15, And Moses built an altar, and named it The Lord is My Banner… We are looking at the name of God recorded in scripture at the victorious conclusion of the Israelite’s battle with Amalek. Moses wanted the people to know that they had not gotten the victory by their own prowess in battle or by their superiority of skill or their endurance or their abilities in any measure. The only reason that they had not been defeated was that God was their Banner. He was their Victory. He was their King and He was their Savior. No other reason and no other explanation. It was because they were under His Banner of Sovereignty and Omnipotence and Protection. He was and is for all of eternity, Jehovah-nissi – The Lord Our Banner.
As I spent time in study with this marvelous name given to God, I could not help but decide to share a number of verses as well as several quotations from those commentators that truly blessed me and hopefully will bless you. We will do so this week and bring it to a conclusion with a rather lengthy extract next week. 
The point and purpose behind this is that we never want to just by pass a name of God as described in His Word. Each one declares some more of His Nature and His Character and His Being that should cause us to revel in the fact of Who God is and what He has done. We should be ever desirous to more and more see the expanding reality of just how great and awesome and glorious God is so that we can more and more perfectly offer Him all praise and adoration and thanksgiving in our individual and corporate worship.
Let us see what the Prophet Isaiah has to tell us about Our Standard, Jehovah-nissi, which includes His covering and gathering of us and our raising up the standard of God for others to see. Isa 11:12. Isa 11:12, And He will lift up a standard for the nations, And will assemble the banished ones of Israel, And will gather the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth. 
Under the Banner of God, He will gather together His people, bringing them from every region of the earth. We see this being accomplished through even the inclusion of the Gentiles into the People of God, by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There will be representatives of every tribe and nation and tongue gathered together in Him for the sake of the glory of God.
These gathered people will lift high the Banner of God, making known the magnificence of God, Almighty, as He is our covering and our keeping. Again listen to the prophet proclaim what will be in place as the Lord is exalted above all else in the lives of those He has drawn unto Himself. His inherent Omnipotence will accomplish all that is necessary to manifest His Supreme Glory and Honor and Power throughout the entirety of His creation. 
Isa 13:2-5. Isa 13:2-5, Lift up a standard on the bare hill, Raise your voice to them, Wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles. I have commanded My consecrated ones, I have even called My mighty warriors, My proudly exulting ones, To execute My anger. A sound of tumult on the mountains, Like that of many people! A sound of the uproar of kingdoms, Of nations gathered together! The Lord of hosts is mustering the army for battle. They are coming from a far country From the farthest horizons, The Lord and His instruments of indignation, To destroy the whole land. 
	All of creation will see the Lord as the Banner of His People, of those who are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God. There will be none of His who will be outside the protective covering of Himself as He brings forth the majestic and glorious revelation of all the He has done through the monumental and eternal victory of the salvation freely offered in Jesus Christ. 
The trumpets will blow and the Banner of God will be raised for all creation to see. Isa 18:3+4. Isa 18:3+4, All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth, As soon as a standard is raised on the mountains, you will see it, And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it. For thus the Lord has told me, "I will look from My dwelling place quietly Like dazzling heat in the sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest." All will see the Banner of Jehovah as He is lifted high by the army of His saints – you and me and all who are covered by the Love of God in Jesus Christ.
This morning’s substantial quote is from W. M. Taylor, in The Biblical Illustrator, in which he expounds and expands upon the tremendous reality of what the truth of Jehovah-nissi represents in our day-to-day walk with the Lord. In this light, we need to cherish the banner under which we have our life and our protection. It is the banner which we need to lift high in our lives as we proclaim the glorious victory of the Most High Ruler of heaven and earth. 
Quote, Jehovah-nissi: -- A flag is in itself a simple thing enough. A piece of bunting, or of silk, having on it an emblematic device -- that is all and, when so regarded, it is "nothing in the world." But when we view it as a symbol, it forthwith acquires transcendent importance. It becomes then the mark of nationality, and all the sentiments of patriotism are stirred in us by the sight of it. We think of the struggles of our fathers, when for the first time it fluttered over them in the breeze, as they resisted injustice and oppression. We recall the many bloody fields over which, amidst the smoke of battle, its streaming colours waved their proud defiance. The memories of centuries have woven themselves into its texture; and as it floats serenely over us, we see in it at once the aggregated result of our history in the past, and the bright prophecy of our greatness in the future. Now, it is quite similar with the banner which God has given us, that it may be displayed because of the truth, and which, as this inscription declares, He is Himself.
I. JEHOVAH IS OUR TOKEN OF DECISION. In the opening days of the first French Revolution, it is said that a timid trimmer fixed a cockade beneath the lappel of his coat on one breast, and a tricolour in the corresponding portion on the other; and that when he met a royalist he exposed the cockade, and shouted, "Long live the king!" but when he met a republican he showed the tricolour, and cried, "Long live the Republic!" That, however, sufficed only for a short time: for as the strife increased, every man was forced to make a decision between the two. So sometimes, in times of indifference, it has been possible for men to seem to combine the services of God and mammon; but happily, as I think, for us, we have fallen on an earnest age, in which it is becoming impossible even to seem to be neutral. Everywhere the cry is raised, "Who is on the Lord's side?" and it becomes us all to hoist our flag, and display to the world in its expanding folds this old inscription, "Jehovah-nissi -- the Lord is my banner." When Hedley Vicars, the Christian soldier, was converted, he knew that he should be made the butt of much ridicule, and the victim of much petty persecution by his comrades; so he resolved to be beforehand with them, and in the morning on which he made his decision he took his Bible and laid it down open on his table. Very soon a fellow-officer came in, and, looking at the book, exclaimed, "Hallo, Vicars! turned Methodist?" To which he made reply, "That is my flag; and, by the grace of God, I hope to be true to it as long as I live." That was his Rephidim, and there he, too, conquered Amalek by raising the banner of the Lord. So let it be with you.
II. JEHOVAH IS OUR MARK OF DISTINCTION. When, in travelling through England, one comes on the stately residence of some duke or earl, and sees the flag floating in quiet dignity from its turret, he knows from that indication that the proprietor is himself within the walls. Now, the distinguishing peculiarity of the Christian is that God, to whom he belongs, is, by His Spirit, dwelling within him, and that shows itself in many ways. It is apparent in the love by which he is animated for all who are in suffering, sorrow, or want. It is seen in the purity of speech and conduct which he maintains; in the earnestness of his devotion to the will of Christ; and in the eager efforts which he makes to attain to that perfection of character which he sees in his Lord.
III. JEHOVAH IS OUR JOY. When we make demonstration of our enthusiasm, we raise a whole forest of flagstaffs, and fix on each an appropriate banner. Let it be the commemoration of some victory, or the welcome to some foreign prince visiting our shores, and the whole city is gay with flags, while the emblems of many nationalities are seen fluttering in friendly fellowship from the mastheads of the ships in harbour. So we are reminded, by the inscription on this altar, that "the joy of the Lord" is "the strength" of the Christian. His life is one of constant gladness; his characteristic is what I may call a calm enthusiasm, or, to use the phrase of Jonathan Edwards, a "quiet rapture."
IV. GOD IS THE PROTECTOR OF HIS PEOPLE. There is nothing of which a nation is so jealous as the honour of its flag, and he who is in reality a citizen has a right to the protection of the government. Great Britain has few prouder chapters in her recent history than that which tells of the expedition to Abyssinia some years ago. A great force was landed on the Red Sea shore; a large, troublesome, and dangerous march of many days was made into an enemy's country; a fierce assault was successfully attempted on a hitherto impregnable fortress; many lives were lost, and fifty millions of dollars were spent -- and all for what? Because a brutal tyrant was keeping in horrid imprisonment two or three men who had a right to the protection of the British flag; and you can hardly conceive what an outburst of joy broke forth from the nation when the news came that they had been set free, and that the insulting monarch had been made to bite the dust. But what is the power of the British Empire, in comparison with Omnipotence? Yet he who sincerely raises this banner has God's pledge that He will protect.… End Quote. (from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006 Ages Software, Inc. and Biblesoft, Inc.) 
	 What a joy is ours under the reality that God is Our Banner. Again listen to the prophet Isaiah in his declaration of just how much safety and security is ours in the truth of Jehovah-nissi. Isa 41:10+11. Isa 41:10+11, 'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.' "Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored; Those who contend with you will be as nothing, and will perish. 
	Along with this reality of no more fear or anxiety in God as our Banner, The Lord gives us safety from all the devices and wiles of this age. Isa 54:17. Isa 54:17, "No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their vindication is from Me," declares the Lord. This reality should stir up all praise and adoration and joy in those under this Omnipotent Standard. 
	We also have this very promise declared to us by Our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, as we read in John 10:27-29. John 10:27-29, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 
	There is so very much promise of the Lord’s power and the Lord’s strength and the Lord’s provision and the Lord’s gracious dealing with those who are under His standard. We have eternal security and rest as those for whom He is the very Banner of Victory and Life and Peace and Salvation. Again hear the joyous words of Isaiah. Isa 49:22+23. Isa 49:22+23, Thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, And set up My standard to the peoples; And they will bring your sons in their bosom, And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders. "And kings will be your guardians, And their princesses your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, And lick the dust of your feet; And you will know that I am the Lord; Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame. 
	And finally this morning, as God, Himself, declares so victoriously for us as we can read together in Isa 62:8-12. Isa 62:8-12, The Lord has sworn by His right hand and by His strong arm, "I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies; Nor will foreigners drink your new wine, for which you have labored." But those who garner it will eat it, and praise the Lord; And those who gather it will drink it in the courts of My sanctuary. Go through, go through the gates; Clear the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway; Remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples. Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth, Say to the daughter of Zion, "Lo, your salvation comes; Behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him." And they will call them, "The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord"; And you will be called, "Sought out, a city not forsaken." So be it!
And Moses built an altar, and named it The Lord is My Banner… Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is Deut 32:1-3. "Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak; And let the earth hear the words of my mouth. "Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As the droplets on the fresh grass And as the showers on the herb. "For I proclaim the name of the Lord; Ascribe greatness to our God! Amen.