The Captain of the Lord's Host, Part 3a

Joshua chapter 5 is where we're at. We've been here for several weeks and this is going to be our last sermon in Joshua chapter 5, trying to bring enlightenment to you based on Joshua's encounter with the captain of the hosts of the Lord. And that enlightenment we're trying to bring is to help you understand how you are prepared to face every single battle you encounter. We face them every day. They come in different shapes and different sizes. But the important thing is, you need to be prepared.

And so we told you that the number one element was obedience. Obedience is important in facing your battles, to do exactly what the Lord God of Israel. Has said, and we told you that obedience was the method of victory, and then we moved from there to look at remembrance, for that was the motivation for victory, and then reverence, which was the means of victory.

Sever, the might of victory, allegiance, the measure of victory, and then reliance, the manner of victory. All that was in the last several weeks. All those things prepare you to face the battle. Israel was about to embark on Jericho. They were about to face the greatest battle they've ever faced as a nation. And as they were getting ready to go, God had several things that they needed to do that might prepare them to face the enemy. And if we look at them and follow them through, then we can begin to face the enemy preparing for battle as God would have us do.

But there's one more. And there's one more you need to understand because it helps us understand the captain of the hosts of the Lord. And that word is imminence. I-M-. Imminence. It speaks of the ever -living presence of God. It speaks of his operating within our realm. The same root word, Emmanuel, God with us, we understand emin. That God's presence is among us, that God would dwell among us. That is important because that helps you understand the captain of the host of the Lord. That is, when Joshua faced him in Joshua chapter 5.

He realized that the Lord God was not only with him, but would be present with him as he would engage in battle because he is the man of victory. And there is no victory without the Lord God of Israel. And Israel would have to understand that without the captain of the host of the Lord, without Yave Sab, the Lord of hosts, there would be no victory. Because he is the one who controls all the armies. He is the one in control of the greatest of all armies, because he is the Lord God Himself. And therefore, Israel would have to understand the em of God, the fact that He is always with them, that He dwells among them for their good and for His glory.

And that would come about as Joshua would embark on Jericho and get his marching orders from the captain. Of the host of the Lord, and then they would begin to understand what it is God would have them do, how this battle would be won, and how they themselves would have to trust the living God for that victory. And so I thought tonight what we would do is look at the L of hosts, mainly because it's mentioned 245 times in the Bible, all of those times in the Old Testament.

Of the 245 times the Lord of hosts is mentioned, 202 times it's mentioned in four specific books. In the Old Testament, and that is Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zach, and Malachi. Who is the Lord of hosts? Who is the Lord of armies? Who is the Lord of multitudes? Turn with me in your Bible to Isaiah chapter 44.

Isaiah chapter 44. Tonight you're going to have to take lots of notes because I got lots of verses. And so if you can't write quick, you're going to have to buy a tape, okay? Because we're going to cover lots of verses this evening. You need to understand who the Lord of armies is. If you're going to go to battle, then you must know about the imminence of the Lord of armies. You must know where he stands. You must know what he's about. You must know who he is. And if you do, you never lose. The Lord of armies.

The Bible says, Isaiah 44, verse number 6: Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord.

Of hosts. Now, the Lord of hosts is Yave Sab. Not Sabbath, but Saba. Yave Saba is the Lord of armies. And in Isaiah chapter 44, the Bible says, Thus saith the Lord, that's Yahweh, the king of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts.

I am the first, and I am the last, and there is no God besides me. So that tells you that whoever the Redeemer is. He is the same as the king of Israel because there's no God besides him. It says in verse 7, who was like me? Let him proclaim and declare it. Yes, let him recount it to me in order from the time that I established the ancient nation, that is, Israel. And let them declare to them the things that are coming and the events that are going to take place. Do not tremble and do not be afraid.

Have I not long since announced it to you and declare it? And you are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? Or is there any other rock? I know of none. There was only one rock. There was only one God. He is the king of Israel. He is the Lord of hosts. He is Yave Saba. That's who he is. There is only one God. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. There's only one God. He is the king of Israel. He is the Redeemer, the Goel. He is the Lord of hosts. Now we need to know who that is because Joshua meets him in Joshua chapter 5.

He's called the captain of the hosts or the armies or the multitudes of the Lord. The Lord of hosts. Who is he? What does he do? And how is it he ensures our victory in the battle? Once you understand the Lord of hosts, you never lose. You always win. But you must understand him. You must come to grips with who he is. So that's what we're going to do with you this evening. Okay? First of all, you need to understand his person.

His person. The Bible says over in Isaiah chapter 1. Verse number 24, these words. Therefore, the Lord God of hosts, the might one of Israel, declares. The Lord of hosts is the might one of Israel. If you read Isaiah 48, verse number 2, it says the Lord of hosts is the God of Israel. Psalm 46, verse number 7, that the Lord of hosts is the God of Jacob. Isaiah:, the Lord of hosts is the God that is holy. Isaiah :, the Lord of hosts is the Holy One of Israel. Jeremiah 32 :1, He's the great And mighty God.

Psalm 84, verse number 3. He is my king, and he is my God. The Lord of Israel. Or the Lord of hosts is the mighty God, the holy God of Israel. And that is who He is, and that's who lives among us and walks with us. That he might protect us and watch over us. If you know that, then point number two: you need to understand his praise.

His praise. Turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 1. 1 Samuel chapter 1 is the first time the phrase the Lord of hosts or Yave Saba is mentioned.

And it says this in verse number 3: Now this man, that's Elkanah, that's the husband of Hana. W go up from a city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts is the one we are to worship. He is the one we are to offer sacrifices. At this time it was in Sh. The tabernacle was there for over 300 years. It was there before the temple was built. And when they went up to worship, this is what they did. They went up to offer sacrifices to the Lord of armies. Listen to what Hannah said down in verse number 11.

And she made a vow and said, O Lord of hosts. If thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thy maidservant, and remember me, and not forget thy maidservant, but will give thy maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his. Head. The Lord of hosts is the one that we are to praise. And how do we praise Him? We praise Him by worship Him, by offering sacrifices to Him, and as Hannah did, making a vow to Him. He is the Lord of armies.

He is the one that we are to worship. You can say this. You can't truly worship God unless you know him as Lord of armies, Lord of hosts, Lord of multitudes. Because when Elk and when his wife Hannah went to worship him, they saw him as such and knew him as the great and mighty God, the warrior God. For the Bible says our God is a Warrior, and he fights for us in battle.

And Hannah knew that, and she was without a child, and the only one that would fight her battles for her would be the Lord God of hosts. Yab Saba. The Bible also says in 2 Samuel 7, verse number 26, that the Lord of hosts is the one whose name is to be magnified. You ought to magnify the Lord of hosts. He is to receive all of our praise. And so, in order for us to win a battle, we must recognize the person. The Lord of hosts, who He is, and we must praise His glorious name. We must worship Him. We must make vows to Him.

We must sacrifice. To him, because he is the Lord God of Israel. So we understand his person, we understand his praise. And number three, you need to understand his preeminence.

Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6, verse number 1. In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of his robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above him, each having six wings. With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts The whole earth is full of his gl. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of armies, is the Lord of Of the multitudes is Yave Sab.

That's the one who is holy, holy, holy. And it says In verse number five, then I said, Isaiah speaking, woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips. And I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. Now, what Isaiah saw that day Was the Lord of hosts in all of his preeminence? High and lifted up, he saw the king of gl. Now that's important because if you go back to John chapter 12, listen to the words of John. It says in verse number 36, These things Jesus spoke, and he departed and hid himself from them.

But though he had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in him. That the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this cause they could not believe, for Isaiah said again. He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted, and I heal them. Verse 41: These things Isaiah said, because he saw His glory, and he spoke of him.

John says that what Isaiah saw in Isaiah chapter 6 is the Lord of hosts. The Lord of glories. That is, he saw the pre Christ. And John is quoting that Isaiah passage, Isaiah specifically chapter 6 and verses 9, 10, and 11, I believe. Yeah, 9, 10, and 11. He quotes the fact that what happens is that Israel's heart will be hardened and their eyes will be blinded to the truth that Jesus Christ is King of kings, Lord of lords, he is Lord of armies. See that? That's important. And so we begin to understand the preeminence of the Lord of hosts.

The next thing I want you to notice is the position of the Lord of hosts. The Bible says in Isaiah 37, verse number 16, that the Lord of hosts is the one who dwells between the cherubim.

On the Ark of the Covenant. Isaiah chapter 6, verse number 5, he's called the king. Over in Isaiah 2, verse number 23, he is the one who will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. And then over in Psalm 24, listen to this. This is a Messianic. Psalm. Every rabbi before the time of Christ said that Psalm 24, verses 7, 8, 9, and 10 all refer to the coming of the Messiah. Every rabbi without exception said so. Listen to what it says. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift up. Them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? He is the Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. The Lord of glory is the king of glory. That is the Lord of hosts. And when you go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse number 8, it says this. Paul says, the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood, for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of gl.

So, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, verse number 8, that what they did was crucify the Lord of glory, who is the Lord of hosts, out of Psalm 24. You see that? And so we begin to understand that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is Yave Sab, the Lord of glory, the Lord of host. We must understand. His power. Turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 17.

A very familiar story. Story of David and Goliath. Listen to this, verse 45. David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword and a spear and 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 taunted. This day, the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all This assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands.

Then it happened, when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand into the bag, and took from it a stone, and slung it. And he struck the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground. You will note. That when you understand the Lord of armies, you never run from your enemy, you run toward your enemy. Did you see that in the story?

David ran toward his enemy because he feared nothing, because he came against the enemy in the name of the Lord of armies, in the name Yave Sab. David had no fear because the Lord of armies was ever present among him. This also would encourage Joshua in Joshua chapter 5 because that would give him the strength he needed to go to fight against Jericho. And when you understand the marching orders that the captain of the Lord of armies gives to him, you begin to realize how it is he had to trust God to win that battle because he had to march around the city.

In complete silence, and then make a shout, and the walls would come down. Because it would be the Lord of armies, the man of victory, who would lead the way. You see, I'm afraid that for the most part, we don't see God as Yave Saba. We don 't see him as the Lord of armies. We don 't see him as the might one. And therefore, when the enemy rises against us, we run, we hide in fear, instead of facing the enemy, knowing that our God is ever pres among us. He is the one who is all-powerful. That's why the Bible says in Isaiah 51, verse number 15: It's the Lord of hosts who divided the sea.

In Jeremiah 31, 35 to 37, he is the one who gives the sun, the moon, and the st. That's a powerful God. That's the Lord of armies. The next thing I want you to notice is his protection.

His protection. Isaiah chapter 31, verse number 4. Listen to what it says. For thus says the Lord to me, as the lion or the young lion growls over his prey, against which is a band of shepherds is called out. Will not be terrified at their voice nor disturbed at their noise. So will the Lord of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion. and on its hill. Like flying birds, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver it. He will pass over and rescue it. Let me tell you something about Jerusalem.

It is completely protected by the Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies. Nothing happens to Jerusalem unless the Lord of hosts allows it. He says he will defend it, he says he will deliver it because he The Lord of hosts. You see, He is the protector of Jerusalem. He's the protector of the Jewish people. He's the protector of your life if you understand who the Lord of hosts is and you give your life to Him. And therefore, Israel is secure in the fact that the Lord of armies is the one who fights their battles.

That leads us to his people. Point number seven, Isaiah chapter one, verse number nine, read this way. Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom. We would be like Gomorrah. Now, here we realize that Isaiah recognizes that the Lord of hosts saves a remnant. The Lord of hosts is the one who saves us from our sin. Listen, it's a miracle of God that anybody gets saved, right? It's a miracle of Almighty God that anybody comes to saving faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.

And it's only because of the Lord of armies that there's anybody that's saved. You see, Israel begins to realize, especially during the latter half of the tribulation, that there is a remnant that will be saved, that God will always preserve a remnant. God has always protected Israel, God has always preserved them down through his. We talked about it on Sunday: that God is a savior, He is a deliverer, He is a rescuer. And the reason He is because He's the Lord of armies, He's the Lord of hosts. He's the ruler over all things.

And therefore, he can protect anybody he desires. He can save anybody he wishes because he is the great God of the universe. And, folks, we need to understand the character of our God. We need to know what He's about, how he operates, what He's like, so we can learn to trust Him all the more. So, we never have to worry about what enemy comes against us, we never have to worry about what kind of battle we're going to face. We never have to worry about what's going to happen tomorrow because the Lord of armies, he goes before us.

He is our protector. He is our provider. He is ever-present. Among us. So important. The Bible says in Isaiah 5, verse number 7, that the Lord of Israel, excuse me, the Lord of hosts is the one whose vineyard is the house of Israel.

In Jeremiah chapter 10, verse number 16, the Lord of hosts call Israel the rod of his inheritance. And in Jeremiah 51, verse number 5, it says that the Lord of armies will never forsake Israel. Let me tell you something.

God has a special people, and that people are the ones who bow before him and recognize him as Lord. You see, we become the people of God. We become the rod of His inheritance when we follow what Romans 10 says, that when we confess Jesus as Lord. and belie in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. When we confess that Jesus is Yah, He is the Lord of armies, He is Lord of all, He is the King of glory, When we confess him as Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we're going to be saved.

And that's what makes us the people of God. That makes us the choice vineyard of God. And we must recognize more than any other time in the world that we know for certain that Jesus Christ is our Lord, our God, our King. And that he is the one we praise. He is the one we worship. He is the one we sacrifice to. When Joshua bowed down in Joshua chapter 5 to the captain of the Lord's host, we know that God is the only one to be worshipped, right? There's no other one who's supposed to be worshiped, just the Lord of hosts Himself, the King of glory, the might one of Israel.

And when Joshua bowed before him, he taught us to worship the Lord of hosts, just like Elkanah did in 1 Samuel chapter 1, his wife Hannah did when she made a vow to him because they were to praise his glorious name. And I wonder this evening if that's characteristic of you. If you're the kind of person who praises the name of God and understands that He is your God and your King. The next thing I want you to notice about the Lord of armies is his place.

Psalm 48, verse number 8 says this. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts. In the city of our God, God will establish her forever. Where is that? Go back up to verse number one.

Great is the Lord and great to be praised. In the city of our God, His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion in the far north, the city of the great k. And the Bible says, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, God will establish her forever.

If you read Isaiah chapter 8, verse number 18, it says that the Lord of hosts dwells in the c of David. It doesn't say he will dwell there. It says he presently does dwell there. It never says that God dwells anywhere on earth except one place, Mount Zion, the city of David. Now we know that God's omnipresent. God's everywhere, right? But Mount Zion, the city of David, is the symbol of the presence of God. Whenever we go to Jerusalem or stand on Mount Zion, let me tell you something.

There's something different. when you stand on Mount Zion than there is any other place in Jerusalem. Because the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 8, verse number 18, that he dwells there.

Isaiah chapter 18 tells us that his name is there. So we begin to understand the significance of Mount Zion. It's a little hill about 30 acres just south of the southern wall of Jerusalem. Not very big at all. It's kind of a cruddy-looking run-down hill. But it's symbolic of the presence of Almighty God. And by the way, if you have not been keeping up with the news, they discovered the palace of King David. And when you go to Israel, you can see David's actual palace that was built during the time of his kings.

And when you stand in that place. In Israel, on Mount Zion, the city of our God, you know that the presence of God is there.