TITLES OF GOD: JEHOVAH-SABAOTH
DR. JIM DIXON
PSALMS 24:1-10
SEPTEMBER 3, 1989
“Lord Sabaoth, His name from age to age, the same.” Those words were written 450 years ago by Martin Luther as he wrote the lyrics to the great hymn of the faith, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” And whenever we sing that hymn, as we did this morning, we say those words, but what do those words mean? Lord Sabaoth, His name.
In the Bible, 285 times God is called Lord Sabaoth or in the Hebrew Jehovah Sabaoth. Now this title is a very complex title and it has four very distinct meanings. This morning we’re going to try to cover all four of those meanings.
First of all, this title means Lord of the Stars. Jehovah-Sabaoth, Lord of the Stars. In the Bible, the stars of heaven are oftentimes called “hoshamyam sabaoth,” the Lord of “hoshamyam sabaoth,” the host of heaven. And calling God Jehovah-Sabaoth, we are saying that he is Lord of the Stars and this is a title of majesty. Perhaps majesty beyond what we could ever possibly hope to understand.
And just these past few weeks, men and women all over this nation, and men and women all over the world have marveled at a robot space probe called Voyager II. Voyager II has journeyed all the way to the most distant planet in our solar system. Of course, Pluto is normally the most distant planet in our solar system, but because of its irregular orbit for this 20 year period, Neptune is given that distinction. And so, Voyager II, traveling at speeds up to 61,000 miles per hour has made this 4.4 billion mile journey in the space of 12 years time has come within 3000 miles of Neptune’s cloud cover, 3000 miles of this strange and distant planet. And Voyager II has unveiled some of the mysteries of our solar system’s eighth planet. Voyager II has also unveiled some of the mysteries of Neptune’s satellites, including a moon called Triton. And people marvel and people stand in awe and people say, “Perhaps 20th century man has finally reached the point where he can unveil and examine the majesty, the diversity of the cosmos.”
God wants us to understand that actually we are only looking at the smallest fragment of the smallest corner of one galaxy out of more than a hundred billion galaxies. Our solar system only has one star. How can we comprehend all the stars of creation? Our solar system only has one star and we call it the sun and it radiates light and that light goes forth and light from the sun reaches Neptune in four hours and 15 minutes. It’s a lot quicker than Voyager II because, you see, light moves at 186,000 miles per second rather than 61,000 miles per hour. And light continues to radiate from the sun beyond Neptune. And that light goes out beyond our solar system into this galaxy we call the Milky Way. And light reaches the nearest star, “Proximus Entari,” in 4.25 years. And light reaches the nearest solar system in 100 years and light reaches the closest edge of our galaxy in 20,000 years, and light reaches the furthest edge of our galaxy in 80,000 years. Moving at 186,000 miles a second, it still takes light 80,000 years to reach the furthest edge of our galaxy because this galaxy is 100,000 light years across.
Now, how long would it take Voyager II at 61,000 miles per hour? How long would it take Voyager II to reach the most distant edge of this galaxy? Well, I don’t know, but scientists, you see, scientists have charted the projected course of Voyager II for the next 1 million years. And they tell us that Voyager II journeying out into this galaxy in the next million years will only reach 13 stars, 13 stars in 1 million years. And yet this galaxy has 100 billion stars. But, you see, so limited is our technology in the 20th century, so limited is the capacity of man that our space probe is barely able to even scratch the surface when it comes to examining the galaxy we call the Milky Way. But this galaxy is, of course, one of more than 100 billion galaxies.
And the light from this galaxy goes forth and the light reaches other galaxies. But, you see, moving at 186,000 miles per hour, it takes the light from our galaxy 1,500,000 years just to reach the nearest galaxy. And it takes 2.2 million years for light to reach the closest spiral galaxy. Our galaxy is a spiral galaxy. Andromeda 2.2 million light years away. And it takes light 15 billion years to reach the most distant galaxies known to man.
The Bible says “the heavens declare the glory of God.” Jehovah-Sabaoth, Lord of the Stars. Incredible thing is there are many people in our nation, many people in this world who worship stars. 40,000 people right here in the United States of America read their horoscopes every day. They’re guided by what the Bible calls “hoshamyam sabaoth” rather than Jehovah-Sabaoth. He might say, “Well, you know, I read my horoscope, but I don’t need to. I mean, I’m not really addicted to reading my horoscope and I don’t really follow what it says there. I’m not really guided by what it says there. I’m just curious. And I like to get a little message, even if it’s from an astrologer every day.”
Well , you see, you really only know if you’re addicted to something when you try to quit. And why don’t you do that? Why don’t you just stop reading your horoscope and see what happens? See, God doesn’t want you to be guided by the stars. He wants you to be guided by the Lord of the Stars, Jehovah Sabaoth.
Well, there’s a second meaning of this title, and the second meaning is Lord of the Angels. You see, in the Bible, angels are sometimes called the “heavenly hosts.” Jehovah-Sabaoth means the “Lord of Hosts” and certainly one of the meanings of this title is Lord of Angels. The Bible tells us that God created a race of beings called “malakeim” in the Hebrew, “angeloi” in the Greek. Both words mean messenger. Both words refer to angels, but angels are more than messengers. They are also watchers, the Bible says, and guardians, and they are vast in number. The Bible says, “Myriads of myriads of angels surround the throne of God.” A myriad is 10,000 in number. 10,000 times 10,000 is 100 million, but, you see, “myriads of myriads” is in the plural and the number is beyond calculation. A great host, the heavenly host, Jehovah-Sabaoth, the Lord of Angels.
The Bible speaks of angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, principalities and powers. There is structure to the world of angels. CS Lewis in his book “Out of the Silent Planet” proposed that perhaps “the angels of God are individually given authority over the planets of the cosmos.” Biblically, this is not an alien concept. In fact, the Bible indicates that angels are actually individually given authority over nations and cities and churches and guardianship over individuals. And the Bible makes it very clear that as there are holy angels, the angels of God, so there are angels that are fallen angels, which at the dawn of time fell from glory when they fell long ago. These angels do his bidding. These angels, these fallen powers of darkness are in conflict with the forces and with the angels of light and they battle, they battle for nations, they battle for cities, they battle for churches, they battle for you.
Perhaps you’ve read Frank Peretti’s book called “This Present Darkness,” which speaks and describes this conflict in the heavenly rounds. Billy Graham wrote a book called “Angels,” a book sold more than 1 million copies in four months’ time. Obviously, there’s a lot of fascination with the subject of angels in our time.
There was a time long ago when some Christians worshiped angels, but angeolotry is not really a danger today because, you see, today there are many Christians that doubt the very existence of angels. How arrogant that must seem to God, Jehovah-Sabaoth that mankind would think that he is the only intelligent form of life created by the creator, that in this vast cosmos and all the galactic systems in everything created by God we’re it. The audacity. And the Bible makes it very clear. Angels are real. They are spiritual in nature. One day you who believe in Jesus Christ will see angels face to face. When we leave this world and we pass into the world to come and we enter the new heavens and the new earth, the Bible says we will see innumerable angels in festive gathering. Bible indicates that there are some people who have seen a few, few people perhaps who have seen angels even today, and some have seen angels perhaps unawares.
There is a third meaning of this title, Jehovah-Sabaoth. This third meaning is “Lord of Armies.” I know most of you have heard of Constantine the Great. He was of course the first emperor of the Roman empire to embrace Christianity. He had heard of Jesus Christ long before he ever became a Christian. And the turning point of Constantine’s life was in the year 312 AD. It was before the greatest battle of his life, the battle of the Milvian bridge, which took place on the Tiber River, a battle where Constantine confronted his greatest enemy, Maxentius. It was a battle for authority over the western world.
The evening before that battle in 312 AD, Constantine, by his own testimony was asleep that night. And in the middle of the night he had a vision. And in this vision, Jesus Christ appeared to him. And Christ said, “As you go to battle tomorrow, if you fight under the sign of my cross, I will give you victory.” It’s a historical fact. It’s a matter of historical record that the next morning Constantine arose and he issued a command that every single soldier in his army would take the Christian Cross and put that cross on each individual battle shield that they would take the letters, chi, rho, two Greek letters, the first two letters of the name of the son of God and place those letters on their battle shields. And this is exactly what happened. And they went to battle, and Constantine won one of the greatest victories in the history of the world.
It was a turning point of his life. It was the turning point of life for many Christians throughout the Roman world because after that, Constantine granted religious freedom to Christians. Suddenly, throughout the Roman Empire, for the first time, Christians were free to worship, and Constantine granted Christians the right to own property and properties that had been confiscated by the Roman government were suddenly returned, given back to Christians.
And in the year 325, it was Constantine himself who sat an authority over the Council of Nicaea when the Nicaean Creed was written, one of the great confessional statements of the Christian world. And, of course, in 337 Constantine received Christian baptism and on his deathbed he confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. But the truth is, he had long before made Christianity the religion, the official religion of the Roman world and all because on a moment in the year 312, he had seen that Jesus Christ is Jehovah-Sabaoth, the Lord of Armies.
The word “Sabaoth” is a word which originally referred to armies. It was a military term. It came to refer to the armies of stars in the heavens. And it came to refer to the armies of angels in the heavenlies. But its original meaning was simply to the armies of soldiers, the host of armies, and specifically the armies of Israel. Throughout Israel when God was called Jehovah-Sabaoth, many times the meaning was simply that he is the God of the Armies of Israel. And we see this as we go through the Bible.
I know many of you have read, Judges chapter seven. You cannot read that story without experiencing some measure of awe as you see the children of Israel in the promised land and yet afraid. And they are living in dens and caves of the earth because the Midianites and the Amalekites have invaded Palestine. And suddenly you see Gideon rise up and Gideon develops this army of 32,000 Jews, 32,000 men, and he rallies them to go to battle as the army of Israel. He rallies them to go to battle against the army of Midian. And the army of Midian had 120,000 men. The army of Israel was outnumbered 4 to 1. So Gideon says, “Jehovah-Sabaoth give us victory.” And God says to Gideon, “I will,” but you have one problem. You have too many men. And Gideon says, “How can this be? We’re already outnumbered 4 to 1.” And God says, “I want you to go to your 32,000 men, and I want you to say ‘whoever’s afraid, you’re free to go’.” Gideon was afraid to do this, but he went to his army of 32,000. He says, “Any of you who are afraid, I know we’re outnumbered 4 to 1. Any of you who are afraid to go and battle against the Midianites and their 120,000, you’re free to go.” Immediately, 22,000 Jewish men proved that they were not brain dead, they left, and only 10,000 Jewish soldiers remained 10,000.
Now they were outnumbered 12 to 1. And Gideon says, “Jehovah-Sabaoth, give us victory.” And God said, “I will only you have one problem. You have too many men.” Gideon says, “We’re outnumbered 12 to 1.” God says, “You have too many men. I’m going to tell you what I want you to do. I want you to go down to the river when your men are thirsty, and I want you to let them drink. All of the men who just fall into the river and drink water freely, I want you to dismiss them. Only the men who remain alert, who remain standing and lap up the water with their hands are worthy to remain members of your army.” Well, Gideon led his 10,000 to the water. And the problem was 9,700 men flew into that water and drank. Only 300 remained alert. Only 300 remained standing and lapping up the water with their hands. And so, there he was an army of 300 and he said, “Jehovah Sabaoth give us victory.” God was ready. And the army of Israel went with 300 against the armies of Midian with their 120,000. And by the power of God and by the hand of God, through surprise attacks, through brilliant maneuvering, through divine guidance, they won the victory. Jehovah-Sabaoth, Lord of Armies.
Even as children, I know you read Joshua chapter 6 through 8, or at least you heard the story of Joshua. As the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River and they came into the promised land for the first time, and the armies of Israel surrounded the fortress city of Jericho, you remember how those armies marched around the fortress city of Jericho for seven days and on the seventh day seven times? You remember how the trumpet sounded and you remember how the people shouted, and you remember how the walls of Jericho came tumbling down and why? Because of Jehovah-Sabaoth the Lord of Armies.
Well, there is a fourth meaning of this title. And for all of us this morning, this fourth meaning, this final meaning, is the most important. The fourth meaning of Jehovah-Sabaoth is “Lord of the Saints.” See, the word saint is a word, which in our time, I think is oftentimes misunderstood. Many people think a saint is somebody who served God long ago and who is now dead, but now venerated. But, you see, biblically a saint is any person, any man or woman who loves Jesus Christ and has committed their life to him as Lord and Savior.
In the Bible, the word for saint is the word “hagios.” Sometimes the word is used to describe angels because they are holy, but other times the word is just used to describe the people of Christ because they are covered by the holiness of Christ. We are the saints and we are part of the Lord’s hosts. Sometimes Jehovah-Sabaoth simply refers to the people of God and his Lordship over them. And if you belong to Jesus Christ, God wants you to understand you are part of his hosts. Sabaoth. You are part of his army and he has sent you forth into this world to wage war. That is why the Apostle Paul oftentimes refers to his co-workers in Jesus Christ as “fellow soldiers.” See, that is why the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “Onward Christian Soldiers” are indeed very appropriate hymns for the Christian world. Marching as to war. But the Bible is clear. We do not battle against flesh and blood. We battle against the principalities and against the powers, against the spiritual hosts of darkness, against the world rulers of this present darkness. We’ve been sent forth into the world as light, as an army.
Of course, if you’re a Christian, you’re a citizen of the highest kingdom. You’re a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. And if you’re a Christian, you’ve been drafted into military service, the army of Christ. The problem is in this world today, there’s a lot of draft dodgers, a lot of Christians who just do not want to participate in this great struggle. As Christians, we’ve been called to take the love of Jesus Christ to the nations. We’ve been called to rescue the perishing. We’ve been called to take the gospel to people of all nations. And we’ve been called to take the gospel to our neighborhoods and to our places of work. We’ve been called to take the message of Jesus Christ. And we’ve been called to take a cup of cold water in his name, to reach out in compassion for people around us for his kingdom’s sake. We’ve been called to serve this great army of God. We’ve been called to serve Jehovah-Sabaoth.
I read recently a story of Joseph Richards who lives in a small Nebraska town. He had just moved into a community there and a woman who lived next door came up to him and said, “Sir, uh, could you please take my son to the hospital?” He didn’t want to do it, but he felt obligated. And so, he said he would. See, the problem was the nearest hospital in that part of Nebraska was 50 miles away. And so, Joseph Richards got into his car, and this woman’s boy got into the car with him, and he began to drive the boy to the doctor. Began that long journey. And as the car took off, the boy said, “Sir, are you God?” Joseph Richards kind of laughed. And he said, “no.” He said, “Why do you ask that?” And the little boy said, “Well, this morning I heard my mom praying, heard her praying that somehow God would get me to the doctor.” And Joseph Richards was just quiet. He didn’t know what to say. And the little boy said, “Well sir, if you’re not God, do you work for him?” Joseph Richards thought about that for a little while. And then he smiled, and he said, “Well, I guess I do.” And he decided that day that he wanted to work for God a whole lot more. See, there’s nothing that can give you joy like serving Jehovah-Sabaoth. Nothing can give you that sense of fulfillment. Nothing can give you that sense of completion. Nothing can satisfy you like serving him, joining in the service of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Of course, when we serve the armies of Christ, we’re not always rewarded by this world. We don’t always receive the accolades of men and women. We’re not always venerated by the people of this world. God wants us to serve for a higher purpose.
Now, I read a story recently by Conway Twitty. Conway Twitty is country music singer, of course. And he said there was a time when he was very jealous of other entertainers, particularly when he was young in his career and nobody knew him. Sometimes he would be with other entertainers. And they were, you know, given tremendous applause and there were crowds that greeted them and he was jealous. And it kind of bothered him because nobody gave him any recognition. And then he heard a story, he said, about a missionary, a true story of a missionary who returned from China after 42 years of serving Jesus Christ in China. And he came back to the United States on this great ship and came into New York Harbor. And on that ship there was an entertainer who had just spent two weeks in China. And as they came into the New York Harbor, thousands of people were gathered all to welcome this entertainer home. He’d been two weeks in China, thousands of people were gathered there to welcome him. And the missionary who had spent 42 years in China came back to America and there was virtually nobody there to see him. And the missionary said, “Lord, I don’t understand. I spend 42 years working in China. This man spends two weeks in China. He comes home and thousands of people are here to welcome him. I spend 42 years in China, and I come home and there’s nobody here to welcome me.” And he heard the Lord’s voice. And the Lord said, “Son, you’re not home yet.”
And I love that because, you see, this world is not our home. And the Lord wants us to understand that the world is not our home. And if you serve the hosts of Jehovah, if you serve the kingdom of Christ, if you’re part of his host on this earth, the day is going to come when you arrive in heaven and God promises there’s going to be a heavenly host to greet you there. He is Jehovah-Sabaoth. He is the Lord of Hosts, Lord of the Stars, Lord of the Angels, Lord of Armies, Lord of the Saints. He calls each and every one of us to serve his kingdom. Let’s close with the word of prayer.
Lord Jesus, we come before you and we acknowledge that you are Jehovah-Sabaoth. You are the Lord of Hosts. Lord, help us to be your people. We have embraced you as Lord and Savior. Help us Lord, to enter into your work that we might enter into this great struggle between light and darkness and this battle for the souls of men and women. Lord, that we might go forth and share your love and we might serve your kingdom. Lord, we long to see you face to face. We look forward to that day. We pray these things in your great name. Amen.