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This will be the last time I’ll review the names of God. The reason I want to review them is so that if someone asks you, ‘What are the names of God?’ you will be able to tell them.
I’m not, necessarily, going to go through and reiterate the meaning of all of them, but I want to go ahead and review them for you. The seventh name of God, which we will cover today, is ‘Yahweh Sabaoth,’ which means LORD of Hosts.
- 1. Elohim
- 2. Yahweh
- 3. Adonai: Lord and Master
- 4. El Shaddai: God Almighty
- 5. El Elyon: Most High God
- 6. El Olam:
- the Everlasting God
- the Age-lasting God
- the God of the Ages of the Ages
- 7. Yahweh Sabaoth: LORD of Hosts
We don’t find the LORD of Hosts given to us in the first part of the Bible. We don’t find it in Genesis. We don’t find it in quite a few places, because there’s something unique about the name the LORD of Hosts. We do, however, find it quite widely used in the Prophets.
The Names of God in Holy Scripture by Andrew Jukes:
pg. 155—The last name of God which the Old Testament gives us is, Yahweh Sabaoth, the LORD of Hosts. A special peculiarity attaches to this title, namely that it is only known in the general failure of God’s elect, Israel.
We can also say of God’s elect, the Church. One of the biggest problems we have to deal with is that once we are in the Church, what do we do when we see that we have fallen short and failed, or that we are weak, or that we’re confronted with a problem that is greater than us?
It is never found in the book of Moses, or in that of Joshua or the Judges, or in Job, or in the Proverbs, or in Ecclesiastes. It occurs but rarely in the books of Kings and Chronicles and much more often in the Psalms, but in most of the Prophets, especially those that are most keenly felt—the failure of Israel in the ‘promised land’—the name meets us constantly. Nearly 80 times in Jeremiah, 14 times in the 2 short chapters of Haggai, nearly 50 time in Zechariah, and 25 times in the very short prophecy of the book of Malachi.
That is very interesting!
Whenever I think of Psa. 46, or what is said there concerning the LORD of Hosts, I am reminded of one scene in the movie called The Zulus where the troops are all surrounded—less than 200 troops, including all the cooks and all the medical people—by Britain are surrounded by approximately 7,000 Zulus. In one excursion they killed a whole, I would say, brigade of British troops. When they came into this one particular part of the valley, which was surrounded by high hills all the way around, they were stuck right there. Even the Australians, who were there to help the British, didn’t stay and fight.
Here’s this little group that is there fighting off these Zulus. I remember one particular time when the minister was drunk and he was locked up in the corn crib. There was fighting and the arrows were flying. Here’s this sergeant—I always loved his performance, it was really good because he had this very stoic face, this huge mustache and he had the typical hat on—and he quoted Psa. 46. I can almost hear the words ringing in my ears now: The LORD of Hosts is with us!
Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Always remember that. God has plenty, as it were, of the Hosts to help you, to help you in different ways! I’m sure that we all receive a lot of different help in many different ways that we don’t know anything about because we don’t see the angels and we don’t know what we’ve avoided. We don’t know that we don’t know, but we have this promise: The angels of God encamp around those that fear Him!
Verse 2: “Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea... [this sounds a lot like Rev.] ...though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains shake with the swelling of it. Selah. There is a river whose streams make the city of God rejoice, the Holy dwelling place of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her at the approach of the morning. The nations raged, the kingdoms were shaken...” (vs 2-6). Tie that in with Psa. 2 where it says ‘how the heathen rage and imagine a vain thing.’
“...He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The LORD of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah” (vs 6-7). There is the name LORD of Hosts!
- What is the host?
- How does the host act?
- How does the host behave?
- How does that involve itself with the things going on, on the earth?
We’ve heard people say for years, ‘God has gone way off and left the world by itself to go it’s way until the end of 7,000 years then God is going to intervene.’ No! We’re going to see that that is not true. God, through His hosts is involved with the world and things going on, in a very close and intimate way.
Verse 8: “Come, behold the works of the LORD who makes desolations upon the earth, Who makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth...” (vs 8-9). This is really a prophecy, clear on down to the beginning of the Millennium.
“...He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots in the fire. ‘Be still, and know that I am God! I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’ The LORD of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah” (vs 9-11). It almost reminds me of the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude. That sounds like a hymn that they could be singing in claiming that promise when God intervenes with them
We first encounter the name the Lord of Hosts in 1-Sam. The thing I want to bring out with this, is to show that the name the LORD of Hosts is not limited to a nation, or a church, but down to the very smallest one that God would call or work with, the hosts of God are there to help.
You know the story of Hannah that she had no children. She came and Eli thought that she was drunk. She said, ‘No, my lord, I’m not drunk.’ Eli said, ‘May your petition be granted.’
1-Samuel 1:10: “And she was in bitterness of soul...” This shows that she was pretty low. Have you ever had a time when you’ve had it so tough that you’re bitter? You’ve had it so difficult that you even question your own attitude toward God. She did here; she had “…bitterness of soul…”
“...and prayed to the LORD, and wept sorely. And she vowed a vow and said, ‘O, LORD of Hosts... [the LORD Who has all the Heavenly hosts to help] ...if You will indeed look upon the affliction of Your handmaid and remember me...” (vs 10-11). Isn’t that something that she felt forgotten? Is there ever been a time when you felt forgotten? Here’s a good example of how she went to God and said, ‘Remember me, O LORD,’ even in the bitterness of her soul.
“...and not forget Your handmaid, but will give to Your handmaid a manchild, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head” (v 11).
You know the rest of the account of how Samuel was dedicated to God and how God used Samuel. In 1-Sam. 2, we find that the ‘lamp of God’ was nearly ready to go out. Here’s a time when not only was Hannah way down low, but God was not working with the people of Israel because they failed in the ‘promised land.’ They weren’t doing the things they were supposed to do. In addition to that, the priests failed. Of all people you would think should not fail! The priests failed! God didn’t remove them for a long time.
Here’s Eli: old, nearly blind, decrepit, and his two sons Hophni and Phinehas have been sinning. Eli had several warning that were given to him. Even a warning that came from God to Samuel and Samuel had to tell Eli, ‘Your sons have been sinning and have been desecrating the sacrifice of God.’
- What happens when you are leaving God?
- What happens when you are down at your lowest?
- The enemy comes!
- Who came? The Philistines came!
- What did Hophni and Phinehas say?
- The people came around and said that we need to fight the Philistines!
So, Hophni and Phinehas said, ‘Let’s take the Ark of God, the priests and the trumpets and we’ll go out before the Ark of God and we will prevail in the battle because we have the Ark.’ There’s a tremendous lesson for us there. I’ve heard people say, ‘We are God’s Church!’ That may be true, but how do you stand before God? God did not let them win the battle even though the Ark was there.
- the Philistines smote the Israelites
- they killed Hophni and Phinehas
- they, of all things—horrors of horrors—captured the Ark of the Covenant
The messenger went back and told Eli what happened and he fell over backward and split his head open on a big rock that was next to where he was sitting. It happened according to the prophecy that God said, ‘In one day, I will require your life and that of your sons.’
What did God promise to do if Israel was obedient? God promised He would fight for them! He let them know very clearly, through the history that we have. You can go through Exo., Num., Deut., Joshua and Judges and see how God fought their battles for them, when they were right with God!
There came a time when even after Samuel, though he was righteous, set up his sons to judge. This is an amazing thing when you read the Bible; it happens so often, you have a righteous king and an evil son, you have a righteous son who is the son of an evil king. Here’s the whole circle in this particular case: Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were the evil priests. Samuel was the righteous prophet sent from God. Then Samuel set up his three sons to be judges. What happened to the three sons?
1-Samuel 8:1: “And it came to pass when Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel. And the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second was Abiah, judges in Beersheba. Yet, his sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted judgment” (vs 1-3).
Why does this happen? Because, every generation must prove to God that they want God! They have to be free to make their own choices. Isn’t that the biggest battle that we have with our children? Yes, it is! Sure, it is! How do you bring up your children in a God-fearing home with the way that the world is today and have them keep their equilibrium and stay with God? That’s a challenge that has been with every generation and here it is here.
Verse 4: “And all the elders of Israel gathered themselves and came to Samuel to Ramah.” Here is the carnal solution:
- they couldn’t trust in God, Whom they couldn’t see
- they were fed up with Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas
- they’re fed up with the three sons of Samuel
Verse 5: “And they said to him, ‘Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.’” When you have a king, you have a standing army and you have your own hosts! You fight your own battles!
Verse 6: “But the thing was evil in the eyes of Samuel when they said, ‘Give us a king to judge us.’ And Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them’” (vs 6-7). If we insist long enough, complain long enough and gripe long enough:
- Will God let us have our own way? Yes!
- Though it’s carnal? Yes!
- Will God still be with us even if we try and do right after that? Yes!
God said that He would be with them if they did what He said. He wanted to teach them a lesson by having Saul as the first king. Then, David as a second king to show what would happen if you had a king that really feared God.
Verse 8: “According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even until this day—works with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they do also to you.And now hearken to their voice. Only, you shall surely protest solemnly to them, and show them the kind of king who shall reign over them” (vs 8-9). God allowed it! God said, ‘This is the king that you’re going to have:
- he’s going to take another tenth
- he’s going to take your sons
- he’s going to take your daughters
- he’s going to enlist them in the army
Anyone he sees who is strong and fine as a man fit for war, he shall have by My authority.’ So, they had a king.
Now, let’s look at some of the things that took place. When we call upon the LORD of Hosts to help us, we are trusting in Him. We are not looking to our own physical circumstances. Here’s the case of David and Goliath, classical case. You know the whole story; I’ll just summarize and paraphrase so that we can get the overall lesson.
1-Samuel 17:43: “And the Philistine said to David, ‘Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, ‘Come to me...’” (vs 43-44). Every time I see this I have a vision of someone bigger than André, the giant: ‘come to me you little scrawny thing.’
“‘...and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.’ And David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of Hosts...’” (vs 44-45). Why? Because the battle is God’s! It is the hosts of God that are going to win the battle!
Do you think for one minute that the little rock—however big it was—was what actually killed Goliath the giant? No! I imagine when David threw that rock there was an angel right behind it and when that rock was let loose, that angel gave it a little flick and it went just like a bullet, straight into his brains. There are several lessons:
- you don’t look to the number of troops
- you don’t look to the gear that you have
- you don’t count God as being on your side because you have great numbers
God is always glorified in the small things that He is able to use.
“...the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.The LORD will deliver you into my hand today, and I will strike you and take your head from you and give the bodies of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air today, and to the wild beasts of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel” (vs 45-46). Notice how we have:
- the LORD of Hosts, the God of Jacob
- the LORD of Hosts, God in Israel
these are always inner-connected
When God gave His promise to Abraham, what did He say? ‘In you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed! I will bless them that bless you and I will curse them that curse you. If your children go astray, I will chastise them, but I will always remember My covenant with you.’ This is what we’re seeing here, the God of Israel!
Verse 47: “And all this multitude shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’S, and He will give you into our hands.”
That’s how we can solve our problems and difficulties as they come along. Put them into the hands of God and let Him solve them. Just like God, through Moses, told the Israelites when they were standing at the Red Sea, ‘Stand still and see the salvation of God!’ Exactly the same thing here.
1-Sam. 6 is where the Philistines took the Ark of God. We’re kind of backing up in time a little bit because I want to show something. You know what happened to the Philistines when they got the Ark of God. It wasn’t quite like the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. I thought that what they did graphically was gruesome when the guy looked into the Ark, which was supposed to be the Ark of God. I don’t know how they did it, but they stripped everything off, down to his bones, layer by layer, for looking into the Ark of God. Here the Philistines had the Ark. God sent them hemorrhoids and mice. They were plagued; a terrible, awful plague. They said, ‘What’ll we do? Let’s get this and:
- we will make a peace offering to Yahweh
- we will put the Ark in a cart
- we will put in there golden mice and golden hemorrhoids
- we will send it toward Israel
That’s what happened. In 1-Sam. 7:1 the Ark came to Kirjath-Jearim and it stayed there 20 years.
We know that David brought the Ark back (2-Sam. 7)—just a little history. Let’s see what David says when he goes to get the Ark; that’s the point I want to make. This is after David received the promise that Solomon, David’s son, would build the temple, and God would build a house for David.
2-Samuel 7:26: “‘And let Your name be magnified forever, saying, ‘The LORD of Hosts is the God over Israel.’” There, again, we see how that is the God over Israel, the LORD of Hosts!
Verse 27: “And let the house of Your servant David be established before You.For You, O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, have revealed to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’”
David sent to get the Ark. They sent down a cart and loaded it on the cart, they were driving it back and Uzzah put his hand up on the Ark and he was zapped to death. David was greatly disturbed because he couldn’t bring the Ark back, after God said He would let him build the house. The first thing to do was to bring back the Ark so it would be at the tent, the small tent in Jerusalem. The rest of the tabernacle was still over in Gibeon.
When they brought the Ark back, it stayed there before David and he set Eleazar over it. When he asked God why he killed Uzzah, God gave him the answer: ‘Because you didn’t do it according to the way I instructed.’ Only the Levites were to carry it! The second time they went out and got it with the staves and the Levites carried it. Then David had the big song and dance before the Ark of God and one of his wives got all upset with him because he was dancing.
Then we find a mistake of David’s in the incident of Bathsheba, and the killing of her husband, Uriah the Hittite. After all God had done, then God had to intervene and directly punish David. There was a mistake on a personal level. When David got older he forgot Who the LORD of Hosts was! What did David do in 2-Sam. 24? He numbered his armies rather than relying on the armies of God! You know the result of that, 70,000 people were killed. Of course, there’s a great lesson in how the leaders can kill people for their own actions and God will allow it. God will let it happen.
Here’s the whole lesson of those things in the book of 1-Samuel. Psa. 118 ties in a little bit, and may give you a little hint about how it is for those who seek to save their lives. The New Testament says that ‘those who seek to save their lives will lose it and those who lose their lives, for My sake, shall save it.’ It’s the same way when you come to having God fight your battles for you. Sometimes, you just have to back away. Sometimes, there are certain things that you can do, like David did—run out there with the slingshot and the stones—you can do a little bit. Here’s a tremendous Psalm that talks about it.
Psalm 118:1: “O, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good because His steadfast love endures forever.Let Israel now say that His steadfast love endures forever. Let the house of Aaron now say that His steadfast love endures forever. Let those who fear the LORD now say that His steadfast love endures forever. I called upon the LORD in distress…” (vs 1-5). We find there’s distress after you know God. The LORD of Hosts is after you understand about God, after you understand about:
- Elohim
- Yahweh
- Adonai
- El Shaddai
- El Elyon
- El Olam
Verse 6: “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The LORD is for me as my Helper; therefore, I will look in triumph upon those who hate me. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man” (vs 6-8).
That’s the whole lesson of the numbering of the children of Israel. We’re doing the same thing today with our armies, with our defenses and with everything we’re doing: If we have a greater defense, we’re going to deter the evil. No, you won’t! You can have the greatest defense in the world, but if God decides that it’s time for Him to do what He’s going to do, you’re greatest defense in the world isn’t going to stop it or turn it back.
I don’t know how God views our President ‘making peace’ with the enemies. Maybe it’s more like God viewed it when Hezekiah was given another 15 years to live. He:
- got lifted up in his vanity
- invited the ambassadors of Babylon
- showed them all the treasures of Israel
- showed them all the defenses of Israel
- revealed everything to them
Because they were nice, friendly guys and they came to tell Hezekiah what a nice man he was. I don’t know, but you can be guaranteed that no lasting good is going to come of the President’s ‘peacemaking.’
Verse 9: “It is better to trust in the LORD than to trust in princes.All the nations surround me, but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. They surround me; yea, they surround me, but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. They surround me like bees... [I can’t help but think of these killer bees] ...they are extinguished like the fire of thorns, for in the name of the LORD I will cut them off” (vs 9-12). That sounds a little bit about a prophecy of the return of Jesus Christ—doesn’t it? Sure does!
Let’s see how God always—in spite of His corrections, in spite of everything that goes on—leaves himself a little remnant. Let’s see how this is brought out and told to us. This is one thing that we can have confidence in with God, because we’re going to enter into some horrific times. The handwriting is on the wall. There’s no way to turn it back.
Almost every week there is some kind of new disease coming up, or a resurrection of an old disease that you didn’t know. I remember this particular one called lyme disease. A tick will bite you and it will leave a mark that is a whelp with a little kind of hollow center. Around that hollow center is a ring and in the ring between that and the hole where you were bitten, there are little raised portions. That lyme tick can put into your blood stream a virus. Some people get arthritis, some people get something similar to Alzheimer’s disease and some get multiple sclerosis. I never heard of that. What they did, they went back and tested everybody who lives in that area of Minnesota where they have these lyme ticks. Forty-five percent of the population showed antibodies to the lyme virus. Some of them didn’t get the lyme disease. It makes you wonder about all of these diseases that people are getting.
God has already set His hand. This nation is going to be cursed, it is going to come down, and it is going to be a terrible sight to behold. We wish that it wouldn’t. We wish that we didn’t have to live to see it. Unfortunately, we can’t pick the times in which we live.
Here’s a promise that God has given, Isaiah 1:5: “Why should you be stricken any more? You will revolt more and more; the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the top of the head there is no soundness in it; only wounds and bruises and putrefying sores... [that is so true] ...they have not been closed, nor bound up, nor soothed with ointment. Your country is a desolation... [it hasn’t quite reached that yet, but it’s getting closer and closer] ...your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land right in your very presence...” (vs 5-7). That’s true! Hordes of Japanese, Germans and Arabs buying up our land. Most of the big buildings in downtown Los Angeles are owned by the Japanese, also in Chicago, New York and other big cities of the Unites States.
“...and it is wasted, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, like a hut in a garden of cucumbers, like a besieged city... [it’s just grown over] (here’s the promise): ...Except the LORD of Hosts had left us a very small remnant, we would have been as Sodom; we would have become like Gomorrah” (vs 7-9). So much for numbers; the host belongs to God; the remnant is what He will work with! That’s why though we’re small or though we’re weak or whatever we may be, as long as we stay close to God and let Him fight our battles, then we are part of that small remnant.
Let’s go to Isa. 6 and see the experience that Isaiah had in being commissioned to continue on bringing His prophesy. If you’re going to be just a lone prophet out there crying in the wilderness, one person, think about Jeremiah; go back and study about Jeremiah. What did God say?
- Jeremiah, I have called you from the womb
- I formed you in the womb for a special purpose
- I am going to send you to a rebellious house
- I’m going to send you to those who have flint foreheads
- they are going to be after your soul day and night—prophesying a little bit—but I will make your forehead stronger than theirs
- I will make your word stronger than theirs
Here’s this 16, maybe 20-year-old kid going around prophesying in the name of the LORD. You know why he said, ‘the LORD of Hosts,’ so much? Because God had to help him! He was alone. How’s he going to be protected? The only One Who can protect him is God!
Isaiah 6:1: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I then saw the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim; each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another, and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory’” (vs 1-3). This tells you what keeps the universe going. This tells you how God is interacting with the earth. We’ll see this. I’ll project forward a little bit; just think for a minute how much the book of Revelation is involved with the hosts of the LORD, with the angels of the LORD—the whole book, brethren, the whole book!
Verse 4: “And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of the one who cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, ‘Woe is me! For I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.’” (vs 4-5) This tells you when God is going to do something in the world it’s going to be done. He’s got all of His angels, His Hosts and His armies ready to do it!
Verse 6: “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, ‘Lo, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin atoned for’” (vs 6-7). God can do it any way He wants to—right? God shows us that we do it by baptism. With Isaiah it was done supernaturally and miraculously by this way.
Verse 8: “And I heard the voice of the LORD, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’... [the hosts of God] ...Then I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’…. [look at this message that was given] ...And He said, ‘Go, and tell this people, “You hear indeed, but do not understand; and you see indeed, but do not perceive”’” (vs 8-9). How’s that for frustration. He has to go out and preach, but they won’t understand it.
Verse 10: “Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and return, and be healed.” It shows that it’s only going to be done when God has made up His mind to call.
I think that’s what’s happening in the world today. They hear but their eyes are closed even more and more. Their ears are closed. Their eyes are closed. The heart of the people is made fat. What happens when the heart is made fat in an evil way? It’s not working! They don’t have the feeling they ought to; quite a description of the society.
In 2-Kings 6 we will see how this invisible host works. This is the time when Elisha was being chased by the armies of Syria, and he had only his one little servant with him, his one little helper. It looked like they were going to be devoured. Here were two little guys that they sent out the whole army and the king to get them.
2-Kings 6:13: “And he said, ‘Go and spy where he is so that I may send and bring him.’ And it was told him, saying, ‘Behold, he is in Dothan.’ And he sent there horses and chariots and a great army” (vs 13-14).
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“…And they came by night and surrounded the city. And the servant of the man of God arose early and went out. And, behold, an army surrounded the city, and horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, ‘Alas, my master! What shall we do?’ And he answered, ‘Do not fear... [this is the kind of faith and confidence we need to have] ...for those with us are more than those with them.’ And Elisha prayed and said, ‘I pray You, LORD, open his eyes so that he may see.’ And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. And when the Syrians came down to him Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, ‘I pray You, strike this people with blindness.’ And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha” (vs 14-18). What good is a blind army? You just walk through right in the middle of them. You could make a great movie out of this. Think about it. A fantastic movie!
Let’s see another occurrence. This is when the Assyrians were compassing about and ready to take over Jerusalem. They sent a letter and said, ‘You better surrender and all the people of the land don’t dare listen to Hezekiah because he’s going to deceive you.
2-Kings 19:14: “And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, ‘O LORD God of Israel Who dwells between the cherubim, You are God Himself, You alone of all the kingdoms of the earth; You have made the heavens and the earth’” (vs 14-15). That’s how you need to pray. That’s how you need to get your mind, heart and thoughts toward it. In other words, though this problem may be really bad, right here in the moment, God is still there and He’s got His hosts to help you!
Verse 16: “LORD, bow down Your ear and hear. O LORD, open Your eyes and see, and hear the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, and have thrown their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, and they have destroyed them. And now, O, LORD our God, I beseech You, save us out of his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, and You only” (vs 16-19). So, you know what happened? The army of God came at night, killed 185,000 of the Assyrians and Israel didn’t have to raise a sword.
That’s what we find in v 35: “And it came to pass that night, the angel of the LORD went out... [that’s part of the hosts] ...and struck a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. Now when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies.” Wouldn’t that be amazing?
- we’re putting away all of our arms
- we’re all going to repent to God
- this nation is going to turn back to God
Therefore we’re not afraid of you, and if you lift your hand to come against us, know that God is going to destroy you!
Haggai 1:1: “In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the Word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, ‘Thus the LORD of hosts speaks, saying...’” (vs 1-2). Here’s a little remnant of people who have come back after the captivity. What is their problem? They’re not trusting in God; they’re looking only to the things that appear to be!
“‘...“This people says, ‘The time has not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built.’”’” (v 2). It was time that it should be built to fulfill the prophecies of God.
Verse 3: “Then came the Word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, ‘Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your finished houses, and shall this My house lie waste?’” (vs 3-4). Of course, there are many analogies you can tie into this. Think about that as you drive across the length and breadth of the land. See all the houses we have in America, city after city, and how the people are living in all those houses. What are they doing? They’re doing whatever they want to! They’re not doing anything of the work of God at all.
Verse 5: “And now, therefore, thus says the LORD of Hosts, ‘Consider your ways. You have sown much, but bring in little; you eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you dress, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes’” (vs 5-6). Sounds just like today—doesn’t it? You can go to the store and you can buy $50 worth of snacks and they will be gone that very day! Try it on a football day sometime. You’ll wonder where did it go? Then everyone’s hungry by mealtime. It’s crazy!
Verse 7: “Thus says the LORD of Hosts, ‘Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain and bring wood, and build this house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,’ says the LORD. ‘You looked for much, and behold, it came to little! And when you brought it home, then I blew on it. Why?’ says the LORD of Hosts. ‘Because of My house that is waste, and you, each man runs to his own house’” (vs 7-9)—everyone going out to do what he wants to do, rather than doing what God wants to do. The LORD of Hosts not only rescues, the LORD of Hosts also brings punishment—both!
Verse 10: “Therefore, the heavens above you have held back the dew, and the earth has held back its fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground brings forth, and upon men, and upon livestock, and upon all the labor of your hands.’ Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared before the LORD. Then Haggai, the LORD’S messenger, spoke the message of the LORD to the people, saying, ‘“I am with you,” says the LORD.’.... [that’s a key thing to remember with the LORD of Hosts] ...And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God” (vs 10-14).
Haggai 2:4: “‘Yet, now be strong, O Zerubbabel,’ says the LORD. ‘And be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong all you people of the land,’ says the LORD, ‘and work; for I am with you,’says the LORD of Hosts.” What is another saying that’s in the Bible? What did Paul say? ‘If God be for us, what or who can be against us?’ Nothing! Same attitude.
Verse 5: “‘According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’” Then He gives a prophecy of what’s going to happen:
Verse 6: “For thus says the LORD of Hosts... [I can just hear the song of this that is sung in the Messiah] ...‘Once again—it is yet a little while—I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I will shake all the nations; and the desire of all nations shall come... [the return of Christ] ...and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD of Hosts” (vs 6-7). That’s really quite something when you start looking into the book of Revelation, and how much the host of God is going to be involved in bringing about the return of Christ and setting up the things for the battles at the end.
Let’s just summarize some things: When you go the book of Daniel, Gabriel (Dan. 9) is the one who brings the prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah. Daniel calls him Gabriel the angel, and in one place Gabriel the man. So, he appeared in a man’s form. Wherever an angel appears, one of the first things it says is, ‘Fear not!’ Why does an angel always say, ‘Fear not!’? Because as fleshly human beings, we’re not ready to encounter an angel, who is stronger in might. Then we find in Dan. 12 just when the end is going to come, and it says Michael stands up for his people. Apparently,
- Michael is in charge of all the hosts of God, which is going to rescue Israel
- Gabriel is in charge of all of those things that have to do with the first and second coming of Christ to get everything set in order
Of the things that took place, we know that an angel appeared to Zacharias. Zacharias was the father of John the Baptist. He told Zacharias, ‘You’re going to have a son and you’re going to call his name John. Just to show you how quickly disbelief sets in, and how just a question—maybe we think is an honest question; if you were like Zacharias, you would think it was a honest question—he said, ‘How’s this going to be?’ The angel said, ‘When you go home, your wife will conceive and bring forth a son, and his name will be called John. Because you didn’t believe me, you’re going to be mute until after he’s born.’ We find out that it was at the time they were going to circumcise John.
One of the greatest things that happens to Israel in a long, long time, an angel comes and appears to the priest and he goes out and he can’t speak. Then the angel Gabriel six months later[transcriber’s correction], goes over and talks to Mary. The first thing he says, ‘Fear not, I am sent from God. You’re going to bear a Son and you will call His name Jesus’ and in another place it is: ‘You will call His name Emanuel.’ Then he said for Mary to go visit her cousin, Elizabeth, she’s with child. Then we find that the angel, again had to intervene, when she came back from visiting Elizabeth, because Joseph found out: ‘Uh, oh! She’s three month’s pregnant.’ He was going to divorce her and put her away. He could have. The angel again appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, fear not to take Mary as your wife to yourself for that which is conceived in her is conceived of the Holy Spirit.’
Then, we have the warning that came from the angel when Herod was going to kill all the babies, to give Jesus an escape. An angel appeared to Joseph again to bring his family out of Egypt and bring them back. Then an angel appeared to Joseph to take Him to Nazareth and not go to Jerusalem.
Just for a minute picture yourself that you were Mary or one of the brothers of Jesus, or even Joseph; we’ll just say, Joseph. Just picture in your mind, what if God said to them, ‘I’m going to open your eyes and you going to see the host of angels around here watching over Jesus, taking care of Him.’ I wonder what it would be like to see that. I don’t know, I couldn’t tell you. That’s just one of these, ‘what ifs.’ After the fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, and the temptation with Satan, we find here:
Matthew 4:11: “Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.” The host of God, or the angels of God are intrinsically wrapped up in carrying out the will of God, always!
Here’s quite a shocking statement that Jesus said, John 1:44[transcriber’s correction]: “On the next day, Jesus desired to go into Galilee; and He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ Now, Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found Him of Whom Moses wrote in the Law, and also the prophets, Jesus, the son of Joseph; He is from Nazareth.’ And Nathanael said to him, ‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said concerning him, ‘Behold, truly an Israelite in whom there is no guile.’ Nathanael said to Him, ‘How did you know me?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you’” (vs 44-49). What kind of powers did Jesus have? Fantastic spiritual powers!
Verse 50: “Nathanael answered and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Because I told you, “I saw you under the fig tree,” do you believe? Greater things than these shall you see.’ And He said to him, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, hereafter... [sometime after this] ...you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God descending to and ascending from the Son of man’” (vs 50-52). That would be an awesome sight.
This is when Jesus went to pray, just before being arrested. He knelt down, Luke 22:42: “Saying, ‘Father, if You are willing to take away this cup from Me—; nevertheless, not My will, but Your will be done.’ Then an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him” (vs 42-43). I don’t recall ever having even the feeling that an angel came to strengthen me. I don’t know if that has ever happened to any of you. It makes you wonder what that would be like.
Verse 44: “And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat became as great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
Matthew 26:51: “And one of those with Jesus suddenly stretched out his hand, drew his sword, and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.... [that’s Peter] ...Then Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword back in its place; for all who take up the sword shall die by the sword. Don’t you realize that I have the power to call upon the Father at this time, and He will furnish Me with more than twelve legions of angels?’” (vs 51-53) That’s 120,000 angels! If you don’t think that 120,000 angels could wreak havoc around there, they sure could. They were there as part of the hosts of God, 12 legions! That’s something!
I can look back and see when God has spared me from some things. I know that something had to happen so that something else wouldn’t occur. I’ve seen that in case of an accident, or just missing one, or all of a sudden having to change my schedule, and I changed my schedule and that’s exactly what God wanted me to do. I don’t know exactly how the thing just impressed upon my mind. Here’s a promise, it ties in with the LORD of Hosts.
Psalm 34:4: “I sought the LORD, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.They looked to Him and were radiant; and their faces were not ashamed.This poor man cried, and the LORD heard, and saved him out of all his troubles” (vs 4-6). Remember, the way of salvation out of all of your troubles, may not necessarily be the way that you think.
Here’s the promise, v 7: “The angel of theLORDencamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.” We know in the New Testament that when the disciples were saying, ‘don’t let them bring the little children here’? Jesus said, ‘Let the come, because their angels behold My Father’s face in heaven, continually.
I don’t know how God does it. I don’t know exactly how these things are done, assigned or whatever, but here it is, there’s a promise: “The angel of theLORDencamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.”
It tells us the opposite. If you don’t fear God, if you don’t love God and then you do something foolish—like Hophni and Phinehas—the angel of the Lord is not going to be camped around you and you’re going to get it! There’s part of the condition for it.
Hebrews 1:13: “But unto which of the angels did He ever say, ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet’? Are they... [the angels] ...not all ministering spirits, being sent forth to minister to those who are about to inherit salvation?” (vs 13-14). That’s quite a statement. Maybe we don’t think about that sometimes. When we are approaching some of the things we need to do, maybe we ought to ask God just to prosper our way with His angels. As it says in one of the Psalms, ‘The angels of God will prosper your way.’
What did the angels do when the women came to the tomb early in the morning? They rolled back the stone so they could see that Jesus was not there! You can go through the whole book of Acts and find out how the angels of God were with and protected the apostles. Remember, in Acts 4, when Peter was let out of prison, he came knocking on the door. A woman came, looked and said, ‘Someone’s at the door.’ Who is it? ‘It looks like Peter’s angel.’ You read that! That says something! Then, how God sent an angel when certain of the apostles were in prison to miraculously take off all of the iron shackles that they had and open the door where they could walk out, unassisted. Fantastic!
from: Names of God in Holy Scripture by Andrew Jukes.
pg 168—The apostles lives are full of illustrations of this heavenly service. Peter in prison, Phillip guided into the desert, Paul in the storm, John on the Island of Patmos. All are witnesses of the angelic help, which is ever waiting upon the Lord’s servants. To John, especially was given, that he should not only hear the voice of many angels round about the throne, but also to see how these angels are committed, not a little, to the government of this world. Not unto the angels, but to man has God put in subjection the world to come.
Now it’s under the hands of angels. In the world tomorrow it will be under our hands and not the hands of angels. Daniel 7 reveals these four kingdoms:
Right in the middle of that it says, ‘One like the Ancient of Days.’ Then it talks about all the angels and the thousands and thousands of the hosts round about the throne of God to carry this out. We see the same thing beginning here in Rev. 1. There’s quite a bit to cover in Rev. just in the way of the angels. If I miss one or two don’t worry. The whole thing is to cover the principle of it.
Revelation 1:1: “...He made it known, having sent it by His angel to His servant John.” Angels are involved in it all the way through.
Then we have John’s vision of Jesus Christ, Who is walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, which are the seven Churches. There are seven stars, which are the seven angels to the seven churches. There’s a lot that goes on with angels concerning the Church and what it’s doing. I just may go through chapter by chapter and summarize rather than read each verse, so we get the impact of it.
Rev. 4 and 5 where it’s ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.’ Then it shows the thousands of angels. Do you think that the angels are going to sit around there and just twiddle their thumbs all day? ‘Oh, Lord, what shall we do?’ Well, you’re a spirit being, just sit here and sing to Me. No! They’re going to be carrying out the work of God! They’re going to be carrying out what God is doing here on the earth!
Revelation 5:11: “And I saw and I heard the voices of many angels around the throne, and the voices of the living creatures and the elders, and thousands of thousands.” That must be some scene! When we’re resurrected, I wonder if we not only sing the song of Moses, but I wonder if we’re going to be greeted with an angelic choir? Makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck!
We know that Jesus opens the seven seals, and in Rev. 7 we have four angels standing on the four corners of the earth. They control the winds, that it blows not. Then another angel comes down and seals the 144,000.
We come to chapter 8, the seventh seal was open and Rev 8:2: “Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.” Then, each one of these angelic trumpet plagues took place.
Revelation 9:1: “And the fifth angel sounded his trumpet; and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth, and there was given to him the key to the bottomless abyss. And he opened the bottomless abyss...” (vs 1-2).
Verse 11: “And they have over them a king, the angel of the abyss...” I don’t know if that’s Satan or one of the high-ranking angels that fell with Satan. We know in Rev. 12, that the angels of God fought and the angels of Satan fought and there was no place found for the angels of Satan. I can’t tell you if this is directly Satan, or if this is one of the principalities.
“...his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but the name he has in Greek is Apollyon” (v 11). Then the sixth angel sounded.
Verse 14: “And it said to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet, ‘Loose the four angels who are bound in the great River Euphrates.’ Then the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were loosed, so that they might kill a third of men” (vs 14-15).
In Rev. 10 again is the angel, a mighty angel. We’re going to enter into a time, brethren, when it’s going to be manifest that the angels are doing some fantastic things in this world. It’s going to happen. Then we come to Rev. 11, which ends in the resurrection. What does it say of the resurrection in Matt. 24? It says that at the last trump, He’s going to send the angels of God around to gather the elect from the four winds. When we’re resurrected, the first thing we’re going to do is meet that angel, whoever he is. They’re going to carry us up to meet Christ on the Sea of Glass. That’s going to be an amazing trip! It really will be.
Then, we have the whole account about the angels fighting, Revelation 12:7: “And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels warred against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels warred.”
I know I’m going a little fast, but sometimes this gives us an impact as to what is happening. God is going to carry out in the book of Revelation, using His hosts, the LORD of Hosts!
Revelation 14:6: “And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and language and people... [and his message]: ...saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God, and give glory to Him, because the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him Who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters’” (vs 6-7). One last chance before the scourge comes on them that have the mark of the beast. One last chance to repent.
Verse 8: “Then another angel followed, saying, ‘The great city Babylon is fallen, is fallen, because of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, which she has given all nations to drink.’ And a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives the mark in his forehead or in his hand, he shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed undiluted in the cup of His wrath; and he shall be tormented in fire and brimstone in the sight of the Holy angels, and of the Lamb’” (vs 8-10). Going through it this way, leaves quite an impact in your mind, how God is going to intervene with the angels!
In Rev. 15, what do we have? We have the seventh trumpet that is blown and out of that comes the seven last plagues of God and they go do the work that they have to do. These interfere with the spirits of devils that are working miracles.
Then, we come to Rev. 19, where the marriage of the Lamb takes place and we return with Christ and with the angels. You can tie in there:
—all together! That’s going to be a vast army. That’s going to be something!
The thing is that the Yahweh Sabaoth or the LORD of Hosts is the One Who is going to prevail in every battle!
- Satan doesn’t have a chance!
- This world does not have a chance!
We need to:
- claim the promises of God
- stay close to God
- love God
- fear God
and the angels will protect us!
When shall we go to a place of safety? or how? When we see that, we’ll see that there is maybe an angelic answer to the problems that you have with that answer. I’ll leave you hanging in suspense on that.
All Scripture from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter.
Scriptural References:
- Psalms 46:1-11
- 1-Samuel 1:10-11
- 1-Samuel 8: 1-9
- 1-Samuel 17:43-47
- 2-Samuel 7:26-27
- Psalm 118:1-12
- Isaiah 1:5-9
- Isaiah 6:1-10
- 2-Kings 6:13-18
- 2-Kings 19:14-19, 35
- Haggai 1:1-14
- Haggai 2:4-7
- Matthew 4:11
- John 1:44-52
- Luke 22:42-44
- Matthew 26:51-53
- Psalm 34:4-7
- Hebrews 1:13-14
- Revelation 1:1
- Revelation 5:11
- Revelation 8:2
- Revelation 9:1-2, 11, 14-15
- Revelation 12:7
- Revelation 14:6-10
Scriptures Referenced, not quoted:
- Psalm 2
- 1-Samuel 2; 6; 7:1
- 2-Samuel 24
- Daniel 9, 12, 7
- Acts 4
- Revelation 4, 7, 10, 11
- Matthew 24
- Revelation 15, 19
- Matthew 25
- Zechariah 14
Also Referenced: Books:
The Names of God in Holy Scripture
by Andrew Jukes
FRC:nfs
Transcribed 03-27-14
Proofed: bo—4-1-14
