Jehovah-Sabaoth

JEHOVAH-SABAOTH: THE LORD OF HOSTS

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: The Highest Power

1. One Sunday morning, Victor, a Sunday school class teacher said to his young pupils, "OK children. We've been learning this morning just how powerful were the Kings and Queens in Bible times.

2. But there is even a higher power than Kings and Queens. Who can tell me what that higher power is?"

3. An 8 year old instantly raised his hand and shouted out, "It’s Aces, teacher! Aces are higher than Kings and Queens!"

4. That’s not really what we had in mind. God is over all powers – in heaven, Earth, and under the Earth.

B. ELISHA AT DOTHAN

1. What Elisha’s servant saw one morning nearly scared him to death. The city of Dothan where they were staying was surrounded with a great host from Syria with horses and chariots.

2. Elisha assured him, however, that “those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then he prayed that the Lord would open his servant’s eyes so that he could see into the spiritual realm.

3. Then the young man saw “the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:15-17).

4. Two hosts were present. One was a human army that had just come with the purpose of capturing and destroying Elisha.

5. The other, an angelic host, was there all along to protect God’s servant. But God, as the Lord of Hosts, was in control of both.

C. THESIS

1. Tonight we’re completing our study of the compound covenant names of Jehovah with the name Jehovah-Sabaoth.

2. Jehovah Sabaoth (The Lord of Hosts) is mentioned over 270 times making it the most frequently used compound name of God in Scripture. So it’s appropriate it concludes our study.

I. THE GOD OF ARMIES

A. WHAT ARMIES IS HE SAID TO BE OVER?

JEHOVAH TSABAOTH, as the Lord of Hosts, includes:

1. the host of heaven, the angels who minister to the Lord; 2. the stars and planets, which, like an army, carry out the will of God;

3. the armies of earth, whose conflicts his providence overrules to the accomplishment of his own wise designs;

4. the hordes of inferior creatures, as the locusts that plagued Egypt, the quails that fed Israel, and "the canker-worm and the palmer-worm, his great army," Joel 2:15; and 5. lastly, the people of the Lord, both of the old and new covenants, a truly great army, of which God is the general and commander, 2 Samuel 6:2 Psalm 24:10 Romans 9:29 James 5:4.” (ATS Bible Dictionary)

B. THE HEBREW’S WARRIOR GOD

1. To the ancient Hebrew, Jehovah Sabaoth was the leader and commander of the armies of the nation, who "went forth with them" (Psalms 44:9) and led them to certain victory.

2. Other nations believed their gods gave them victory over their adversaries, but they were just idols. But Israel proved, in the conquest of Canaan – defeating 31 nations – that the true God would give them victory if they served Him with a whole heart.

II. KEY OCCURRENCES OF ITS USE

A. HANNAH

1. First mentioned in 1 Samuel 1:3, we find Hannah making a covenant with the LORD of Hosts as she cried out for Him to hear her prayer and give her a child. (1 Samuel 1:11)

2. She called on the LORD of Hosts to win a war she could not win on her own.

B. DAVID

1. In 1 Sam. 17:45, David said to Goliath, “You come against me with the sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” 1 Sam. 17:45.

2. Goliath thought Israel’s army was just another army. David reminded Goliath that God had given Israel the Promised land and the Philistine takeover of Israel’s territory was in defiance of the Living God’s will.

3. In 2 Samuel 5:10, we find – “And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.”

C. ELIJAH

The “God of Armies” is the God of Elijah. Elijah names him when facing Ahab (1 Kgs. 18:15) and at Mt. Horeb (1 Kgs. 19:10,14).

D. ISAIAH

1. In Isaiah 51:15 we see He controls the sea and the waves.

2. In Isaiah’s vision of the Lord in the Temple, he heard the Seraphim crying to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)

E. JEREMIAH and ZECHARIAH

1. Jeremiah lived during the time Judah and Jerusalem were about to go into exile to Babylon.

2. Jeremiah reminded them 88 times that God was still the God of Hosts -- they would not escape judgment, no matter what the false prophets were saying.