Mensa Otabil - The Lord of Hosts
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Today we look at one of the frequently used names of God in the Old Testament. It’s used so many times by different people in the Old Testament and in the nation of Israel. They use it in the context of their prayer when they were praying to God. They also use it in the context of declarations they would make or sometimes when they went into battle. They used that name, and that name is Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts.
A classic way in which that name was used is in 1 Samuel chapter 17, verse 45. Then David said to the Philistine, «You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied.» We know the story of David and Goliath; you’ve probably recounted it many times from our childhood about this little David who brought down the big Goliath. David faced Goliath with confidence. He was a young boy; he was inexperienced. Goliath was a big guy, experienced, and very well-armed. He was protected by metal armor, and he was also protected by an armor-bearer. Yet David went into this battle thinking and believing that he could bring down this big giant.
Why did David have such confidence that he could bring down Goliath? It was because he had confidence in the Lord of Hosts. He said, «I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts.» In Hebrew, the Lord of Hosts is Jehovah Sabaoth, God who leads the army. It’s a compound name that includes the revealed name of God to Israel, which was the YHWH, rendered in English as Jehovah. So it is Jehovah and Sabaoth, meaning host. That word " host» refers to large numbers of people-large numbers of military people. It gives the impression of a large group of people going into warfare. In the Bible, God is the Lord of that army.
There are two armies that I want to bring to your attention. First is that the Lord is the Lord of the heavenly hosts. When we talk about the heavenly hosts, we mean the armies of angels and supernatural beings who fight at God’s command. We know some of them in the Bible, for example, Michael the Archangel. We also know that the angels fight for God’s people. Jesus said that if He gave the command, angels would fight for Him. There are billions and billions of all sorts of heavenly beings that are warriors in the heavenly host, and God is at their command. Once in a while, they step into this earthly realm and fight for us. But there’s also a Christian host, a Christian army. The body of Christ -believers- are part of God’s army, but we’re not fighting a military battle; we are fighting a spiritual battle. We fight principalities, powers, and rulers of dark places; we wrestle against them. In that army, where we are wrestling against all kinds of evil forces, the Lord is our commander, so He is also the Lord of the Christian host.
When you are a born-again Christian, you are in God’s army just like David, and you can go out and do battle in the name of the Lord. The interesting thing is that David was not qualified to be in the natural army of Israel, but he found himself qualified to be in God’s army. So for us, we may not be military in terms of belonging to the Ghana army or the Nigerian army or the Zambian army, but we belong to God’s army, and the Lord takes us into battle and brings us out. So anytime you’re confronted with any spiritual warfare, remember the Lord of Hosts is with you, and you will come out victorious. Just as Goliath came down, so every principality and power is under your feet in Jesus' name because the Lord of Hosts is with us.
Let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, You are the Lord of Hosts. I am part of Your army. Use me to establish Your Kingdom on Earth. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»