The Confederate Flag is a part of American history, a reminder of a bloody era in which the nation was nearly torn asunder. It conjures images of rebels in grey seceding and then defending their native Virginia or Tennessee or other home state south of the Mason Dixon line from those “Damn Yankees.” How much of those images is truth or fiction has been blurred to some degree by the time that has passed and by myths and legends that have populated our culture.

Somehow through the often tumultuous generations since the civil strife ended, the “Rebel Flag” has endured along with the still expressed sentiment that “the South will rise again.” Against what and for what it would rise again I am not entirely sure. At times this flag from the past seems to be little more than a sign of “good ol’ boy” rebellion for young men who want down a six pack, shoot guns and “stick it to the man” Hazzard County style. And yet at other times, tragic and sad times, it is a rallying banner for something much more sinister.

I am a Rebel alum. I attended and graduated from Southside High School in Fort Smith, Arkansas. We were the Southside Rebels complete with a Johnny Reb mascot, the Confederate Flag and grey soldier uniforms for the band. And, yes, our fight song was Dixie. And, believe it or not, Southside’s hometown rival was Northside. No, they weren’t the Northside Yankees, but they were predominantly black and the Rebels of Southside were predominantly white. And when the Rebels invaded the Northside football stadium, both the imagery and the reality were clear. It wasn’t just a flag, a uniform and a song. Prejudice and resentment flowed freely both ways. Our cross-town rivals were sometimes referred to as the Northside N******. I don’t know how they referenced us, but I’m betting it wasn’t affectionate.

Thirty years later I find myself a pastor of a church in an old genteel southern town where the Magnolias blossom, the humidity stifles, people still wave and church bells ring. And though we are a two day drive from Charleston, in our hearts we felt the reverberation of shots fired there in a Wednesday night prayer meeting.

In the aftermath, Johnny Reb’s Flag is at the center of continuing ethnic strife and political controversy. The question on everyone’s tongue has been whether or not that flag should fly at state capitols and local high schools. State and local leaders will discuss and decide the question. But in the meantime I have a question for the Church: as believers in Jesus and citizens of His heavenly Kingdom, does the Bible give us any direction on how to view the Rebel Flag, particularly in view of ongoing prejudices?

First, understand that as a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ I am an emissary of a King and His Kingdom. And the King’s message is Reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  (2 Corinthians 5:20)

The Bible is clear – sin had irreparably separated us from God, at least from the human perspective. But then God did the unthinkable for us through Jesus.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  (2 Corinthians 5:21)

God reconciled us to Himself by the life, death, burial and resurrection of His only begotten Son, Jesus. Therefore, as an emissary of the Kingdom and on behalf of the King, I declare to all people everywhere, “Be reconciled to God.”

Reconciled to God, we are reconciled to one another. As Gentiles (all non-Jews regardless of ethnicity), we were at one time “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12)

What follows in Ephesians 2:13-22 is lengthy, but absolutely essential.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Do you see it? Through the cross people from all Gentile ethnicities and Jews are reconciled to God and to one another. The cross kills hostility, both between humanity and God and among humanity between ethnic groups. Regardless of ethnicity believers are fellow citizens of the Kingdom of God. And in a town like Ephesus, they are together members of the household of God, the visible Church. As an earthly colony of the heavenly Kingdom, the local Church is not only to declare reconciliation, but actually be a place of reconciliation.

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (Colossians 3:11-13)

Wow. This brings clarity of focus to our view of the Confederate Flag and ongoing prejudices. For how could we, as fellow citizens of the Kingdom and as one in Christ in His Church, embrace a symbol from this world that bears the perception or reality of hatred against our brothers and sisters in Christ?

And how shall we call all ethnicities to be reconciled with God while bearing any sign of ill will toward them?

I am, at least to some degree, a son of the South. I got a thrill from Bo and Luke Duke driving the General Lee and played Dixie with pride in my Rebel band uniform. I liked the feel of rebellion. I still do. And the lore of a long ago failed insurrection so easily feeds that feeling.

But a funny thing happened on the way to heaven. The King who bid me come also bid me leave. Coming to Him and His Kingdom meant leaving myself and my world. My rebel spirit and prejudices belong to a world I am no longer meant to inhabit.

I seriously doubt the South will rise again. Yet I am absolutely confident that the Kingdom of God will because Jesus has. And in the capital of His Kingdom there will be a tree – the Tree of Life. And “the leaves of the tree will be for healing the nations” – the healing of the ethnics (Revelation 22:2). The Kingdom of God will be populated with people redeemed by the blood of the Lamb from every tribe and language and people and ethnic group. Oh that God would grant us a glimpse of such reconciled worship in His churches today.