HOLY SPIRIT TEACHINGS
Banner of Submissiveness
SS 2:3-4
“Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods,
So is my beloved among the sons.
I sat down in his shade with great delight,
And his fruit was sweet to my taste.
4 He brought me to the banqueting house,
And his banner over me was love.”
These beautiful Scriptures have a unique metaphor describing what the Shulamite woman sees her beloved as being. It’s a combination expressing love and war all in one. The first revealing God as love (1 John 4:8) and secondly, revealing God as a Man of war (Exodus 15:3; Isaiah 42:13). The Shulamite woman representing God’s people or the Bride developing into her courtship with the Groom or what would be characterized as being Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33); her sitting under his shade (in submissiveness unto God; James 4:7) and consuming the fruit (good fruit) which is soothing /agreeable (sweet) to her taste. This submissive unto God (under His Spirit’s leading) is compared to being shade under a tree or a shadow. The shade is considered a form of protection or defense (Ruth 2:12; Psalm 16:1; Psalm 36:7; Psalm 57:1; Psalm 61:4; Psalm 91:4). So, she is saying that with great delight or pleasure, as she sits in submissiveness under God, in this, it is her defense or protection.
then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.
The shadow (also known as the shade or shelter) can not only provide defense or protection, but also hide what God chooses to hide for His purposes, so that He may care for His people in their time of need and be known to them as Provider(Psalm 17:8; Psalm 27:5; Psalm 63:7; Deuteronomy 32:10; Genesis 22:13-14). The cloud by day in the above Scripture is similar to the shade from the tree in Song of Solomon. It too will provide a shadow or covering of protection, to the whole area of Mount Zion AND over her assemblies. These assemblies are referring to a movement of forces or troops as in a military; revealing the Man of War that God is, which is also spoken of as a relation in Song of Solomon regarding the banner.
In Song of Solomon 2:4, the term banner is defined in Hebrew and applied in this context as a military standard, as used in the four camps into which the twelve tribes were divided into (Numbers 1:52; Numbers 2:2-3, Numbers 2:10, Numbers 2:18, Numbers 2:25; Numbers 10:14, Numbers 10:25). “And His banner over me was love,” in other words, His military standard or often known as a defense specification to God, for His people, is love. It isn’t surprising that God used this term from a military perspective in the Scriptures, as He demonstrated much of this love and war characteristic in king David, the man ‘after His own heart, one that would do His will’ (Acts 13:22). What made David after God’s own heart? His ability to do God’s will alone. Only one time did he go against the commandments of the Lord or disobeyed Him, and God had mercy on him (1 Kings 15:5). He wasn’t prone to continuously disobeying God as a ruler; acting in rebellion and arrogance, therefore rejecting the word of the Lord (1 Samuel 15:23). He instead followed the commandments of the Lord in obedience (as in obedience to the Holy Spirit), showing his love for God (1 John 5:3; John 14:15, John 14:23; 2 John 1:6). He also demonstrated the characteristics of a strong leader (in this example militarily), as God instructed him to do so (1 Samuel 23:1-6; 2 Samuel 5:17-25), to show the importance of obedience to God in all things, especially in times of battle; especially the one waging against our soul (Psalm 55:18; 1 Peter 2:11; Romans 7:23).
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice–the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him.
We as His people are to completely obey the Lord by His Holy Spirit, which is love and this will become our banner or protection over us, waving over us. It also shows what our true worship is to be. It’s not singing unto God, but true obedience unto God. The banner/standard is a flag, and in a war when a flag is raised, it indicates a few things. If it’s a white flag it’s known as a protective sign to cease fire or surrender. Since God is in charge of all things, including the ability to allow the enemy to attack anyone, then if you have a flag waving over you from this angle then it is showing God that as an obedient servant to Him and His ways, to deliver you from the whiles of the enemy and also protect you at times from his attacks and also God’s wrath (Jeremiah 15:11; Psalm 138:3; Isaiah 41:10; Psalm 121:7; Psalm 32 ; Psalm 7; Psalm 91:10; Genesis 28:15; Proverbs 12:21). This is because your love for Him in obedience is displayed and is waving over you; your surrender unto His will is your protection and for Him to relent and have mercy upon you in His love because your worship is true unto Him. This banner/standard waving over you can also represent God’s hand waving over you, as He executes His power to come against that which is false or working at enmity against Him (Isaiah 19:16). In addition, there is also another type of flag that is raised in war, and that is for claiming victory. In a spiritual sense both the ‘surrender’ flag and this flag are the same. In your obedience unto God, your surrender to His will, you will ultimately walk in victory in the end; as Christ did when He had victory over sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:56-57; Romans 8:37; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 5:4). Through your obedience in all things to the Holy Spirit of God, you become one in Christ, Who has and will conquer sin and death waging war against you (Proverbs 21:31; Psalm 3:8). God in the natural sense revealed what He would do in the spiritual for His people in the coming days in this war, when He had the Israelites go against the Amalekites. God had Moses raise his hands up and the Israelites would win, but when they were down, they would not, however in all this God revealed the act of obedience is the victory in every battle warring against you; and when that standard (the staff or the hand of God is held up or held to His paths, you will have victory and not stumble, Psalm 17:5). Amalek became a form of what God would show darkness as being in the spirit realm, a continuous enemy against God and His ways. We as His people need to maintain or sustain His standard, His defense specifications, to His ways or paths in a strait walk, so that we do not slip and give way to the ways of darkness (as in compromising the faith of our Lord, Psalm 37:31; Psalm 44:18; Psalm 119:133; Job 23:11; Luke 13:24; Matthew 7:14).
8 Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set.13 So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 Moses built an altar and named it The Lord is My Banner; 16 and he said, “The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.”
This altar built in the desert which was what had occurred in the above Scriptures, brought forth the name of Jehovah -Nissi. The altar was built in remembrance to what God had done for His people in victory when there was a great struggle, showing that a people that worshipped God rightly would be victorious. Connecting this with what’s already been mentioned, when His people truly walk in complete obedience to His Holy Spirit, in true worship unto Him, they will be victorious. God protects and covers His people with His hand or through His Power of the cross, not only His, but in our own cross that we all must carry in obedience unto Him (2 Corinthians 2:9; Philippians 3:9-11; 1 Corinthians 1:18; Luke 14:27; Matthew 16:24; 1 Peter 2:21-24).
He brought me to the banqueting house, And his banner over me was love.
Christ in His obedience to the Father, brought His own to the banqueting house when He obeyed His Father to His death on the cross (Philippians 2:8-11). Christ continues to manifest God’s name by His Spirit to His people by giving them the same words He was given as He walked with God on the earth and by this manifestation, they continuously obey His Holy Spirit, keeping His Word. They receive them and understand fully that they are from God. This is what is considered the new wine (Mark 2:22; Matthew 9:17). The banqueting house was not just used for feasting in Biblical times but also for wine drinking. Sometimes they were known as ‘the house of wine’ (Esther 7:2). In spiritual terms, Jesus is the one Who brings the good wine, not the worldly one which has a mixture of some of the Truth and the false ( of God’s ways); the one that leads to mocking and dissensions of all sorts, poisoning anyone that consumes it (receives it). Christ brought and continues to bring the best wine, in order to manifest His glory (John 2:10-11). This glory Christ manifests IS the glory of God’s name. Those of His that obey Him in all areas of their lives WILL drink of this wine. He will prepare them in true worship unto Him, therefore making their vessel new, and THEN He will commune with them in the banqueting house, and there they will have God’s protection and victory in and through Christ, in love.
“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. 9 I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.