Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God . . .
The nation of Israel stood, half on mount Gerizim, half on mount Ebal, and shouted to each other in a grand display: We stand under the banner of God.
This month, we witness God leading his unruly and belligerent people out of the wilderness to the banks of the Jordan, and marking them unequivocally as His, under His banner for their imminent, promised conquest.
So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
In umbers we have this sign and symbol of Christ in the snake raised on a pole. Another banner raised over the encampment.
And we have Christ. We read in Luke—for the third time—about the Christ, the Banner of the Root of Jesse, the rallying point for all who are God’s own.