I was quite excited about bringing
this message. One of the great descriptions
of our great God is that He's the Lord of Sabaoth. It's not the Lord, He is the
Lord of the Sabbath, and He is the Lord our Sabbath. It's translated in the scriptures
again and again as the Lord of hosts. And it's the Lord of Hosts
in Isaiah 51. He says, But I am the Lord thy
God that divided the sea, whose waves roared. The Lord of Hosts
is his name. So it's the Lord of Hosts, the
Lord of Armies, the Lord of Hosts. It's plural. He's the Lord of
Armies. And it's a reference, of course,
to the sovereign dominion of our God, and it's a reference
to His power over all creation. As the Lord Jesus said, it's
a proclamation almost, rather than part of a prayer in John
17 and that last night. He says, Thou hast given Him
to glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may also glorify Thee. And Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, So He rules this world and He rules all flesh,
that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
Him. So He is the Lord of all creation,
He is the Lord of all creatures, He is the Lord of all beings,
He is in simplicity the Lord of all. The first reference to
it is in 1 Samuel 1. where we have this remarkable
prayer that you probably are familiar with, the prayer of
Hannah. Hannah of course was in bitterness and sadness because she couldn't
have children and her husband had another wife who had many
children and so each year as they went down to worship the
Lord at the temple, Hannah would go, and you have her pleading
to the Lord, in bitterness of soul, 1 Samuel 1, 9, 11, in bitterness
of soul, she prayed to the Lord, and she wept sore, and she says,
O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look upon the affliction
of thine handmaid, and remember me, and forget not thine handmaid." We remember that the prayer was
answered. And it's a great reminder, isn't
it, that the Lord of Hosts looks, the Lord of Hosts remembers,
the Lord of Hosts forgets not. And in Chapter 2, of course,
Hannah is given a son, and that son is Samuel, and she'll read
later on that she's given several more children, five in all, that
are recorded. But she has this remarkable prayer,
and she says, there is none holy as the Lord, chapter 2, verse
2, for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like
our God. the Lord of hosts. There is none
more holy, there is none beside him, and there is no rock. He is the one who can be relied
upon. He's the one, the foundation. David, when he was dealing with
Goliath, He says, Thou comest to me with sword and with spear
and with a shield, but I come to Thee in the name of the Lord
of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom Thou hast defied. He is the God of the armies of
Israel and our God never changes. He's still the God of the armies
of Israel. that when David brought the ark
of God to Jerusalem and he called, he said, the God whose name is
called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between
the cherubim. He's the Lord of hosts in Psalm
24. He is the King of glory. In Psalm 46, He is our refuge. The Lord of Hosts is our refuge,
and He is with us. The Lord of Hosts in Psalm 48
has a city. He is the King and the Lord of
the city, the city of our God, and God will establish it forever. And the Lord of Hosts is the
blessing, isn't it? Blessed is the man that trusts
in Thee, O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in Thee. And Isaiah, which we'll spend some
time looking at in a little minute, it says in the beginning of Isaiah,
chapter 1 verse 9, it says, Accept the Lord of hosts, had left us
a very small remnant. Unless the Lord of Hosts had
left us a very small remnant, we should have been like unto
Sodom and Gomorrah. He is the Mighty One of Israel. That's His name. He's the Lord
of hosts, the Lord of armies. He's the Lord, the Lord is the
God of the armies on earth. It's a reference, it's a military
term, it is. It's a reference to the fact
that our God is a man of war. In Exodus 7, 4 He talks about
the armies of Israel. He brought out the armies of
Israel out of Egypt. In Exodus 15 it's described to
the Lord as a man of war. The Lord is his name. Thy right
hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord,
has dashed in pieces the enemy. Who is like unto thee, O Lord,
among the gods? Who is like unto thee? Glorious
in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. It's remarkable,
isn't it, as we read these things and we think about this world
and we think about our place in it and we think about what
the Church seems to be in the eyes of men and in the eyes of
believers. that we can be left wondering,
where is the God of Israel? And yet the Scriptures remind
us that He's absolutely, perfectly sovereign over all things. He is the Lord of hosts of the
starry heavens, isn't He? He's the Lord of hosts. He rules
the sun, the moon, the stars. He rules the whole host of heaven. And they're used in military
terms because at times they fought for Israel. The stars fought
against Sisera in Judges 5. He's the Lord of hosts of heavens
above. He's the Lord of hosts of the
sky. He speaks of the locusts, even
insects, Ari's army in Joel 2. And he uses the things, the skies,
to bring his judgement upon the people of this world. The hail,
he sent hail from the skies on the Egyptians. And on the Canaanites
there was a battle in Joshua 10.4, and the Lord slew more
with hailstones that day than the armies of the men did. He is the Lord of hosts of angels. It is like, as John Gill says,
the militia of heaven. What a remarkable thing to ponder
if we could only through the eyes of faith be led by God to
see what extraordinary armies the angels are and what powerful
armies they are. They are called the heavenly
host. They were the angels They encamp,
Psalm 347, the angels encamp about them that fear the Lord. The angels are the hosts of heaven. Micaiah in 2nd Kings, 1st Kings,
he saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the hosts of
heaven standing by him. It's a great picture, isn't it?
The Lord is sitting on his throne in heaven exercising judgment. And the context is, how is he
going to deceive Ahab and send Ahab out to battle to be killed? to be executed by the Lord in
justice. He's sitting and they're standing
by him on his right hand and his left hand. They encamp around
you, brothers and sisters, the hosts of heaven. Didn't the Lord
Jesus say, if he wished to, he could have called down from heaven
and he would have legions, legions of angels, thousands and thousands
and tens of thousands. The hosts, they are at his command. The hosts, they worship him and
they adore him and they serve him. And the hosts, as we've
seen, can be used in a military way to destroy his enemies. You might recall in 2 Kings when
Hezekiah had that huge army, 185,000 Assyrians camped outside Jerusalem
and sending these letters saying to Hezekiah and others, we have
just marched all the way down here from northern Syria and
beyond and every place we've come to, we have destroyed it
and destroyed it and destroyed it and everyone that stands against
us is going to fall. Please, for your own sakes. throw the towel in, and Hezekiah
took those letters, those blasphemous letters that criticised them
and their God, and he laid them out in the temple before the
Lord. And the Lord says, don't you worry Hezekiah, there's not
one of them coming here, not one of them coming into this
city. And the angel of the Lord went out that night. The angel
of the Lord went out that night. and smote the camp of the Assyrians,
185,000, and they were all dead corpses. The Lord of Hosts reminds us
that our God is absolutely sovereign, that our God is supremely victorious,
that nothing in this world is happening outside of His complete
control. In that same passage in 2 Kings
19 it says that the zeal, the Lord of the Hosts has zeal, the
zeal of the Lord of the Hosts shall do this. And he says, for
I, the Lord of Hosts, will defend this city to save it for mine
own sake and for my servant David's sake. The Lord of Hosts will
do it all. We come to a couple of wonderful
passages that are just remarkably descriptive of our great, great
God. There is that famous one in Isaiah
6. and you know the passage well,
but it's just so nice to read familiar things again. In the
year the King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne,
high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. If anyone
ever sees the Lord, truly sees the Lord, they're going to see
Him high and lifted up. They're going to see the train
of His robe filling the temple. And you might recall that when
the Lord Jesus spoke of this and this event, this was Jesus
Christ. This was the Lord Jesus Christ
that Isaiah saw in a temple. Turn to John Chapter 12 verse
41 and you'll see that's exactly what the Holy Spirit says. It's
remarkable. When I was at Bible College they
used to have lots of discussions about whether there were any
such things as, I think what they called the word is theophanies,
was there any instances in the Old Testament where the Lord
Jesus actually visited people. And the notion that they wanted
to put across was He really didn't. He really didn't. He didn't show
up until the Incarnation. Dear, oh dear, oh dear, brothers
and sisters. That is such, such blasphemy. He is, he was there. Whenever
people met with God and whenever people heard from God, who did
they hear from? It was always the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is just one mediator. These
things, he's speaking of The judgment, isn't it? Who has believed
our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Therefore they could not believe because that Isaiah has said
again, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts that
they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their
heart and be converted and I should heal them. These things, and
this is a reference to this Isaiah 6 passage, these things said
Isaiah when he saw His glory, when he saw the glory of the
Lord Jesus, and he spoke of Him. Isaiah is speaking about the
Lord Jesus Christ, there's nothing plainer. He saw Him sitting on the throne,
and above this throne stood the seraphims, verse 2 of chapter
6 of Isaiah, And each one had six wings, with two he covered
his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain did
he fly. And one cried unto another." This is the cry of the seraphim. This is the cry of the angelic
host of heaven in Luke 2 when the Lord Jesus came. Holy, holy,
holy is their cry. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. And the posts of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Then I said, this is what happens
when men come face to face with the Lord of hosts. Then said
I, woe is me for I am undone. It means that I am unraveled. Isaiah in these previous five
chapters has been pronouncing woes on all the other nations
around under the guidance of God and here he is, he finally
meets Him. who is the source of those woes. And then he says, Woe is me,
I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
in the midst of the people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have
seen the King. So the Lord of hosts is the King,
the King of this universe. Then flew one of the seraphims
unto me, taking a live coal in his hand, which he had taken
with tongs from off the altar, And he laid it on my mouth and
said, Lo, this has touched thy lips and thine iniquity is taken
away, taken away completely and perfectly forever. Thy iniquity
is taken away, and thy sin is purged. Though your sins be of
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red as
crimson, they shall be as wool. There are several significant
things about the Lord of Hosts. Our God, all the messengers of
God, as Isaiah was, they're all Trinitarians, aren't they? Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts. But also, all of God's messages
declare the absolute sovereignty of God. He is absolutely in control
of all things and no harm, no spiritual harm can ever, ever
befall the righteous. No harm. The armies of God, the
armies of the Lord of Hosts are encamped around. To get to us
they have to go through the armies of God. He is an absolute sovereign
and the whole earth is full of His glory. This is God's creation. Meron has the delightful task
of examining it and picturing it and then painting it. Those
that have the time to study this creation ought to be in awe and
wonder. I don't know if you've seen some
of the sunrises in this past week, but some of them have just
been remarkably spectacular. Just take your breath away. This
morning, when you should have been out at Tarerra, there was
a little bit, about 15 minutes before sunrise, and there was
a little patch of blue on the top of Mt Kulangadda, and it
was the most remarkable Soft and intense blue. And my camera,
I tried to take a picture and my camera couldn't capture at
all. It's just left there as a memory.
It's remarkable to think of God's creation. You think of the millions
of acres of coral that are just spectacularly beautiful. Think
of the millions and millions of acres of desert that just
blooms with the most spectacular flowers. And for centuries, millennia,
they weren't seen by men. But God saw all of it, and God's
children see that the earth is full of His glory. God's providence
is full of His glory. God's salvation is full of His
glory. This is His world. It is running
perfectly fine. Heaven is at rest with what's
happening on earth. But also, the Lord of Hosts is
revealed as holy, isn't it? What a lovely description of
our Lord of Hosts. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of Hosts. Holiness is a great description
of our God. It's more than just moral purity.
as one of the writers said, holiness is the whole perfection of God's
infinite being. So when you think of all the
other characteristics of God, you can actually put holiness
in front of them, can't you? His righteousness, His holy righteousness,
His judgment, His holy judgment, His justice, His holy justice,
His love, His holy love, His grace, His holy grace. It is
the whole perfection of God's infinite being. Holiness is essential
to His being. He is just called in Isaiah 40,
25, He is called the Holy One. Holy and Reverend is His name. In His sense, it's a quality.
It's equality in the angels and in the saints of God, but holiness
is the essence of God. Holiness is His beauty, Psalm
27. Holiness is His glory. He is
glorious in holiness. It is His beauty. Holy is our
God in all He is, in all He does. All He does in creation, in providence,
in redemption, in judgment and salvation is always holy. is holy and he requires holiness. He requires absolute holiness. To be in his presence you have
to be as holy as him. It's not human sincerity, human
morality, human good works. It's not even a moral reformation. Holiness. is essential. Walk before me and be ye perfect
is what's required. Be ye perfect. Holiness drove
Lucifer from heaven. Holiness of God drove the angels
that fell with him into chains of darkness. Holiness of God
drove Adam from the garden. Holiness of God drives men to
hell. Salvation is very clear and very
evident from those who have come to know anything of the Lord
of Hosts. Salvation is of the Lord from Alpha to Omega and
not based on men's will and men's worth and men's works, not even
based on the worship of men. To be holy is to be like God. to be holy is to be made to be
like God by God Himself. We are children of God, holy
by the law, aren't we? We are made so. We are made the righteousness
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. God's children in reality are
holy in redemption. 2 Peter says that we are partakers
right now of the divine nature. And there will come a time when
this body of flesh, the only thing that hinders us from seeing
God in His glory and seeing the Lord Jesus, In that awesome way
is this flesh that we carry around with us. We shall see Him as
He is because we shall be like Him. And of course, the greatest
revelation of God's holiness, as I said earlier, is in the
Lord Jesus Christ and Him on the cross. I love what Psalm
85, 10 says. It says, Mercy and truth are
met together, and righteousness and peace have kissed each other. This is the glorious work of
the Lord of Hosts. This is the work. This is that
coal that's taken from the altar under the throne of God that
purged Isaiah, touched his lips and took away his iniquity. But the holiness of God, the
holiness of the Lord of Hosts, demanded that when sin was found
on His Son, it must be punished until holy justice is satisfied. Isaiah saw the Lord of Hosts,
and we see the Lord of Hosts in the Gospel. And every sinner,
every sinner who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is made
perfectly holy by God. That's what Colossians 2 says,
isn't it? You are complete in Him. You are as complete in Him
as He is completely one with the Father. For in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, all the completeness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him, which is
the head of all principality and power. With His spotless
garments on, I am as holy as God's Son, nearer, so very near
to God, nearer I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son I am as near as he." I'd just like to close by briefly
looking at a couple of passages in Isaiah. There's a glorious
passage in Isaiah 51, I trust you'll go home and read it. He says three times, he says,
children of God, listen to me, listen to me, listen to me. Harken
unto me ye that follow after righteousness. Obviously there's
one righteousness and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse
1, verse 4. Harken unto me, my people. The Lord of hosts owns his people
in clause and his. And giving you to me, O my nation. He says, Harken unto me, verse
7, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is
my law, and the law he's talking about there is the law of spirit
and life in Christ Jesus which has set us free from the law
of sin and death. But he has these great words
to my people. He calls them Zion, again and
again in the scriptures. The people of God are called
a city. Verse 3 of chapter 51, he says,
for the Lord shall comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste
places, and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her
desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall
be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Therefore the redeemed of the
Lord shall return, and shall come with singing into Zion,
and everlasting joy shall be upon their head, and they shall
obtain gladness, and joy, and sorrow, and mourning, and shall
flee away. And here's the declaration in
verse 12 of the Lord of Hosts. He says, I, even I, am He that comforteth
you." It means, John, that He comforts you and He continues
to comfort and He's never ever going to stop being the comfort
of His people. Who art thou that thou shouldst
be afraid of man that shall die, of the Son of Man which shall
be made as grass? You see, why should we be afraid
of men? To be afraid of men is to forget, verse 13, to forget
the Lord thy Maker that stretched forth the heavens and laid the
foundations of the earth and has feared continually every
day because of the fury of the oppressor as if he were ready
to destroy. And where is the fury of the
oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth that
he may be loosed, and he that should not die in the pit, nor
that his bread should fail. But I am the Lord thy God, that
divided the sea, whose waves roared. The Lord of hosts is
his name. and I have put my words in thy
mouth, and I have covered thee with the shadow of my hand, that
I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth,
and say unto Zion, to say unto Jerusalem, to say unto the people
of God, to the church of the living God, the church that's
owned by the Lord Jesus Christ, bought by Him, redeemed by Him,
saved and loved, say unto Zion, Thou art my people. Thou art my people. I'll just finish with these wonderful
words from Malachi chapter 3 verse 16. Then they that feared the
Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard
it. And a book of remembrance was
written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought
upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith
the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, and
I will spare them. As a man spareth his own son
that serveth him. Let's pray.