His Banner over me is LOVE

Song of Solomon 6:4

You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, As lovely as Jerusalem. As awesome as an army with banners.

Well, I suppose if you are a guy, this is a compliment. You are as pretty as cities dazzling in the sunlight. You look like an army with banners. If we refer back to 2:4, there was the banner over her that was Love. The banner identified the tribes of Israel when they gathered to follow Moses. It probably did a similar thing for the armies, which often were also identified with those tribal families. You belonged to Judah or Asher or Gad, and you were proud of it. God blessed whole tribes and their armies, and often they fought each other when they betrayed each other or their God. But there were banners.

They had to have been a spectacle to behold. Thousands of soldiers with their glimmering swords and shields, with colorful flags flapping in the wind. I don't know if their flags were the colors of the stones that represented them on the priestly ephod or that will on the gates that bear their names in heaven, but this is one area where God puts color on display.

The flag is a beautiful thing to any countryman. When they fly the flags at the Olympics or other world-wide sporting events, each nation chokes up with pride. That flag represents them and defines who they are as a people. Most flags have color and shape that also defines their country. Red, white, and blue make Americans, Englishmen, and French glow with pride, while red and white define some, and add green and the Italians will glow. There is something about the national colors that instill in us a pride, a longing, an emotion that we cannot quite understand. And that must have been part of what Solomon was expressing here...he sees his darling one and he is overwhelmed with love, pride, awe, and the overwhelming power of her smiling eyes. He stands in awe of what the mere sight of her can do to him to arouse such love and emotion.

The only word she can put to the banner that flies over her is His Love. It is greater than country or sentiment. It is more powerful than an army. It is more inviting than a city full of riches and art and spices and opportunities for adventure and shopping. The Love of Christ for us is our banner, and He delights in seeing us more than all of the majesty the world has to offer.

The next banner you see, a flag, the I-O-W-A carriers at a football or basketball game, a streamer floating from a car dealership...all that attract our attention to the things of this world that we take pride in, remember the banner that He has placed over you, drawing attention to nothing more than how much He loves you, which is more than all the teams, all the countries, and all of the pageantry of the world. Use it as a reminder...from now on, every one of them says from Jesus to You...LOVE! I LOVE YOU! I mark you as my own. I draw attention to you, I claim you, and I am overwhelmed at the thought of you being mine! LOVE!