Move up to the Standard!

Heb 2:1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

During the Civil War there was a flag bearer, a standard bearer who stood at the front lines. The Flag bearer was shot and another man came and picked up the standard and someone in the back yelled “Move the standard back here!” The gentleman that picked up the standard said “No, you move up to the Standard!”

Standard- fixed, rallying point, cannot change

Many years ago, the 13 colonies felt that God had enlightened them to become a free nation.  They were getting together, casualties were coming, POWS were being captured and the American government went to a man named Francis Scott Key.

Key probably wrote one of the most famous songs in American history- National Anthem.

He wasn’t a song writer, but a lawyer. American government came to him and said we would like you to go and petition for our soldiers. Go to the British and ask them for a prisoner exchange. Soldier for soldier.

So, he went and met an admiral at Fort McHenry and said here’s what we want to do. Enough fighting, you’ve got our soldiers and we’ve got yours, lets exchange them. The man gave him his word.

Francis Scott Key said “wonderful! Can I have the privilege of telling them?” So, they drew back the boards and lowered Francis Scott Key into the bowels of that ship and there he saw men chained one to another, every third person to the floor and these men were in darkness and Francis Scott Key says these wonderful words, You’re Free! You’re Free!

These men came back to Francis Scott Key and the words he heard took him aback, they said “When can we go fight go fight again!?” He said you’ve already done a great deal for your country, you need to go home and enjoy your family, enjoy your life!?

They said Mr. Key, the battles not over, we have to fight! And he knew he needed to get these men off the ship asap so he went to the admiral and said with Godspeed, lets exchange prisoners.

The admiral had changed his mind. He said I hate to tell you that the exchange of these prisoners is the least of your worries because tomorrow America will cease to exist.

He says “You cannot go back on your word!” What do you mean?! The Admiral said that “Our orders have been given. That flag over there? You see that flag over there that is waving? That’s your symbol of freedom but if that flag, that standard does not come down, by night fall, we will blow Fort McHenry off the face of the earth!

Francis Scott Key says you can’t do that! The flag won’t come down I promise you that. But he knew in the back of his mind, he said there’s no way, this fleet has never been defeated before and yet he looked out on the horizon and the admiral pointed something out. He said “You see all those tiny black specs in the horizon, those are the British fleet and they will be here in a couple hours and if that flag does not come down by nightfall, we will fire upon Fort McHenry.

The soldiers overheard something going on, “What’s going on! Mr. Key! What’s Going on!? He said they are going to blow up Fort McHenry!? They’re going to blow the flag down, they’re going to end America, they say we’re done!

Soldiers respond with “That flag can’t come down, that’s our freedom! That standard represents our freedom! It cannot come down!

He says I’m in the same predicament you are!? I can’t go over there and tell them, it’s going to happen we got to pray! So as night settled, the flag stood tall, the standard still waved. It was eerie quiet. Then all of a sudden, POW! Rockets went off. 100 rockets in unison!

Mr. Key covered his ears the sound was so unbearable. Soldiers were crying from the bowels of the ship, “What’s going on!? Mr. Key! Tell us!” He says I can’t see anything, there was so much noise, so much smoke, I can’t see anything he said!

They asked “Mr. Key is the flag still there!? He says I can’t see. They say focus Mr. Key? When the rockets go off, you’ll see a red glare! And that will tell you if the flag is still flying!

So as the rockets went off, he could still see the flag flying off in the distance. The standard is still there brothers!

So, until 3am the British fleet fired upon Fort McHenry. Then at dawns early light, the sun rose and off in the distance, thread bare and shot through, the banner still waved! The Standard is still flying! As Mr. Key got off the boat and began to survey Fort McHenry mortar was everywhere, through all the shrapnel, all the metal, all the gunfire that flag had dropped in the night. Fort McHenry was blown to smithereens.

Every cannon was aimed at that flag! But a patriot whose name we will never know risked his life and picked up that flag from the ground and held up the Standard with his own body.

He knew he would be killed and but yet another Patriot saw what he was doing and another and another and The Standard was held up by the dead bodies of those patriots. They said the Standard cannot fall!

As Mr. Key surveyed all these casualties. He wrote “Oh say can you see, by the dawns early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming, who’s brought stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fights ore the round parts we watched, were so gallantly streaming and the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there! Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, ore the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

Men and women willingly gave their lives to make sure the standard did not fall.

Therefore, we ought to give a more earnest heed to the things that we heard, lest anytime, we should let them slip.

Men and women of God have sacrificed to hold up the standard. There are some that like to stand up in the church crowd and say Move the standard back here! My response is No! You move up to the standard!

It’s time to step up to the standard.