The Flag of Freedom

The profound announcement from was curiously understated. Russian President Boris Yeltsin stood with the presidents of and , republics that with had founded the in 1922, and declared, “The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, as a subject of international law and a geopolitical reality, is ceasing to exist.”

At first, the news was hard to grasp: the superpower hat millions in the West feared as the evil empire ceasing to exist, just like that? But then the world saw the Russian tri-colored flag rise triumphantly over the domes and spires of the Kremlin. A new banner flew over what had been Lenin and Stalin and Brezhnev’s empire. And the truth did register; things really had changed—fundamentally and irreversibly—in the corridors of power below.

A flag is just a color-patterned cloth, of course; just a symbol. But symbols are far from unimportant. The people of who took to the streets at the end of 1989 knew how important symbols are. As they marched, they defiantly waved their flags of protest—flags of freedom. And the dictators staring out of their palaces and bunkers saw those brave flags waving in the streets and knew that their days were numbers.

Flags have always been powerful symbols of a people’s loyalty. They have moved countless citizens to dedicate their lives in service and countless young men and woman to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Is there a flag that flies over the on earth? Does a banner wave over Christ’s great movement of grace and freedom?