The Tattered Flag

We recognise a nation—a people—by its flag. So what flag would God’s people fly? Based in the Bible, Geoff Garne suggests one answer.

Miraculously, from the rubble of New York’s World Trade Center, a New Zealand flag was recovered. Pictured above, it now occupies a place of honour in the Parliamentary building in Wellington, New Zealand. Torn, tattered and scarred though it is, it’s still unmistakably a New Zealand flag! What was retrieved from the ruin of an unspeakable tragedy has become a symbol of freedom and survival.

The flag of any country is a significant object, regardless of its condition or history. A national flag symbolises all that a nation stands for: its people and their history, the cultural traditions, national achievements and aspirations, triumphs and tragedies, joys and sorrows, victories and defeats, and hopes for the future. Above all, it symbolises their Constitution, the laws and law-makers, and the authority and sovereignty of its rulers. All this and more are embodied in a small piece of cloth!

a symbol of God’s dominion
God’s kingdom also has a “flag”; it represents His dominion and authority over a world that is His by right but is in rebellion. He tells us this: “I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy. . . . Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God” (Ezekiel 20:12, 20).

So, interestingly, instead of on a flag made of rag, God inscribed His sovereignty and authority on time. The Sabbath is the sign of God’s right to rule. The Bible never describes the Sabbath as exclusive to a group of people, a particular place or time in history. It is never called “the Sabbath of the Jews” or “the Christian’s Sabbath”—belonging to a particular race or creed—for example. Rather, it’s described as His, “a Sabbath to the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:10).

God created it when He created this world: “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating” (Genesis 2:1-3).

The creation of God’s “flag”—the Sabbath—was an intrinsic part of His overall work of Creation. The record doesn’t say that God ended His work on the sixth day; rather, He ended on the seventh. His creative work remained incomplete until He’d inscribed it with His signature in time. It was His crowning and concluding act of Creation.

From generation to generation, the Sabbath was intended to remind the human race that God was their Creator and, because He is our Creator, that He has the right to rule over us, in our best interest. It represents both His creative authority and His love for us!

The position of the Sabbath commandment in the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) is noteworthy. God placed it in their very heart. If it had been first or the last, then human perversity could have led detractors to argue that the commandment was there by accident, that it didn’t really belong in the sacred code but had been attached by some scribe subsequently. God placed it where nothing could ever dislodge it. It is also noteworthy that the Sabbath commandment is the only one to begin with the instruction to “remember.” God knew how easy it would be for us to forget or ignore it. He was stressing how important He regards this institution to be.

He also warned that an effort would be made to tear down His standard and replace it with that of an impostor! Which is precisely what has occurred. Centuries before, however, through the prophet Daniel, God foretold that a power would arise that would attempt to subvert the Sabbath of His command. The impostor would “speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws,” he said (Daniel 7:25).

Given this reference to “times” and “laws,” it’s reasonable to conclude that it refers to the Sabbath commandment. It is the only one of the 10 that features the element of time. (Some modern translations render this passage as changing “time” in the “law.”)

The change came about gradually. During the first two centuries of the Christian era, the followers of Jesus—the Christians—adhered to the biblical Sabbath, which all Jews observed, and about which there was no question.

There is no doubt that the Sabbath observed by early Christians is that day between Friday and Sunday, the first day of the week, and the same day Jesus honoured “as his custom was.” He gave a clear indication that His followers were to continue in this tradition when He predicted the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Speaking to His disciples—all Sabbath-keepers along with Him—He instructed them to pray that their flight from besieged Jerusalem wouldn’t be on “the Sabbath” (Matthew 24:20).

Sabbath in the New Testament
The apostle Paul and his converts kept the Sabbath. Those who believe that the Sabbath is an Old Testament institution with no place in New Testament Christianity overlook the fact that there are more references to the Sabbath in the Book of Acts than the entire Old Testament!

In Acts (13:14, 42, 44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4, 11) are some 84 references to the Sabbath. The picture painted in Acts 16:12-15 portrays the very first Christian service held on European soil! That riverside service at Ephesus was the birthplace of the Christian church in Europe and it was on the Sabbath.

During the first two centuries of Christianity, the church was bitterly persecuted by pagan Roman emperors.

Millions of Christians died for their faith, refusing to compromise. But a change came when Constantine, Emperor of Rome, embraced Christianity. Then it became popular to be a Christian. Pagans flooded into the church, bringing with them many of their pagan practices, ideas, philosophies and traditions, many of which were “christianised” to make them acceptable and accessible.

One of the core belief–practices to fall victim to this process was the Sabbath. In place of the traditional seventh-day Sabbath worship, Emperor Constantine instituted Sunday—the day venerated by the pagans in honour of the sun-god, the first day of the week, as the day for Christian worship. The first Sunday law was enacted by Constantine in 321 AD. It commanded rest from labour on “the venerable day of the Sun.” In 364 AD, at the Council of Laodicea and subsequent church councils, the decision was ratified. God’s colours were lowered.

the restoration of the Sabbath
Like that national flag at the World Trade Center, the Sabbath was buried, seemingly lost beneath the rubble of human tradition for hundreds of years. But God’s Word predicted its rescue and ultimate restoration to prominence. It’s in Revelation 14:6: “I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.’”

The wording of this message is too similar to the wording of the fourth commandment to be coincidental. The call of God to humanity to acknowledge Him as sovereign Lord, because He is the Creator, is as unmistakably clear in God’s final message as in the original commandments.
Then comes the outcome of that proclamation: “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey [“keep,” KJV] God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus” (verse 12). The word keep, which is used in the King James Version, implies both to observe and to preserve.

ere is a group of people who, in a world that has discarded the claims of God’s law, observe truth. They hoist the flag of the Sabbath, demonstrating loyalty to God.

But is the day one observes really that important? Is not one day as good as another, especially if you love God and accept Jesus’ death on your behalf?

Isn’t one flag just as good as another? Imagine if it were a US or even Australian flag placed in the New Zealand Parliament. What message would that send to Enzedders? Even if positive, it would be different to that sent by the WTC flag.

Flying my country’s flag symbolises my loyalty to and love for my country! And keeping God’s Sabbath symbolises my loyalty to and love for my God!

A prominent TV preacher summed it up this way, saying: “Christianity isn’t simply something to believe in, but Someone to love.” And Jesus puts it this way: “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). That means flying His flag. So, what flag do you fly and under whose banner do you stand?

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