Meeting and Knowing God as Jehovah Sabaoth
When You’re In Over Your Head signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the
Haggai 2:4-11, 23
4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the
LORD. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the
high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,
declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you,
declares the LORD of hosts,
5 according to the covenant that I made with you
when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in
your midst. Fear not.
6 For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once
more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and
the earth and the sea and the dry land.
7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures
of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house
with glory, says the LORD of hosts.
8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares
the LORD of hosts.
9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater
than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in
this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of
hosts.’”
10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in
the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD
came by Haggai the prophet,
11 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Ask the priests
about the law:
23 On that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will
take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of
Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and make you like a
LORD of hosts.”
Proverbs 18:10
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the
righteous runs into it and is safe.”
Maybe you are here this morning and you are in a
situation that looks rather hopeless. More bills on
the table than you have money to pay. Left rest of
the family home this morning in rebellion. Facing
difficulties that seem impossible to solve….
Your cares are greater than your capabilities…..
The Meaning of the Name “Jehovah Sabaoth”
Found as LORD of Host in our English Bibles….
This is another way of saying, “God of the Angels.”
The term “host” means army or other organized
group. “Multitudes in the service of God.
“The Captain of Heaven’s Armies”
Jehovah Sabaoth is the God of the angelic host
who carry out His will.
The phrase “Jehovah Sabaoth” occurs 281 times in
the Old Testament and denotes that the God of
Israel brought heavenly powers to the aid of His
needy people.
The Use of the Name in Scripture
The name, the LORD of HOST (Jehovah Sabaoth)
is never found in the Pentateuch, Joshua or
Judges. It rarely occurs in the books of Kings or
Chronicles, and not much more than that in the
book of Psalms. It is a phrase mostly related to the
Prophets. The name is prominently used 80 times
in Jeremiah, the prophet who wept over the
destruction of Jerusalem. It also occurs 14
times in Haggai, 50 times in Zechariah, and 25
times in Malachi, the Last book of the Old
Testament.
The first use:
1 Samuel 1:3
The book of Samuel is a transitional book. Prior to
Samuel, Israel was led by different judges who
were military, political and spiritual leaders.
When they follow the LORD, they were victorious…
When they follow other gods…. They were
defeated…
At this time, at their lowest level of depression and
bondage, God raised up Samuel, to lead Isreael
from a theocracy into an earthly kingdom. From
leadership by judges to leadership by kings…..
Israel needed to see Jehovah as the one who had
an army who would lead them to victory…but their
eyes were on an earthly king….
1 Samuel 1:3
This man went up from his city yearly to worship
and sacrifice to the LORD of hosts in Shiloh.
Then in vs. 11, Hannah is praying about an
impossible situation….
Then she made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts,
if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your
maidservant and remember me, and not forget
Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a
male child,
The next occurrence in found in 1 Sam. 4:4 “So the
people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from
there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts,
who dwells between the cherubim.”
The people knew that the LORD of Hosts was their
militant Leader, but their faith was in a thing.. the
piece of furniture rather than the LORD of Hosts…
Israel was defeated….
We often put our trust in other things and people….
Our Bibles… “hold them up and shake them in the
devils face…”
Our quotes or sayings….
“I’m trusting in the Lord…”praise the Lord….”….

The next occurrence is 1 Samuel 15:2 where King
Saul is told to destroy the Amlekites….
1 Samuel 15:2
Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I have noted what
Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way
when they came up out of Egypt.
One of the first and most exciting uses of the
name “Jehovah Sabaoth” is in 1 Samuel 17: Where
David is facing Goliath…
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. 46This day the LORD will deliver you
into my hand, and I will strike you and take your
head from you. And this day I will give the
carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds
of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all
the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
47
Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD
does not save with sword and spear; for the battle
is the LORD’S, and He will give you into our
hands.”
In 2 Samuel 6 & 7 when David becomes King… He
calls on Jehovah Sabaoth….
In 1 Kings 18 when we are introduced to Elijah
who is representative of the OT prophets…
5
Then Elijah said, “As the LORD of hosts lives,
before whom I stand, I will surely present myself to
him today.”
The first of the major prophets, Isaiah introduces us
to this name in the very first chapter…Vs. 9
Unless the LORD of hosts
Had left to us a very small remnant,
We would have become like Sodom,
We would have been made like Gomorrah.
Paul quotes this passage in Romans 9:29
29
And as Isaiah said before:
“Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed,
We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like
Gomorrah.”
Isaiah had put all his hopes and dreams though in
an earthly kings named Uzziah, who died.
Isaiah gives his testimony… In Isaiah 6:
3
And one cried to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!”
5
So I said:
“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips; For my eyes have seen the King,
The LORD of hosts.”
Sometimes God will let great disappointment come
your way to get your attention……
Before Israel went into captivity, God sent
prophet after prophet reminding them that
Jehovah Sabaoth was available to fight for
them if they would only repent and trust Him….
In Captivity… Ezekiel and Daniel…He is not
mentioned as Jehovah Sabaoth….WHY?
This name of God belongs to a certain time in
the experience of God’s people. It is God’s
name for man’s extremity.
So often, not until we find ourselves failing and
powerless do we realize our need to run to our
Jehovah-Sabaoth.
This is a name for those who find their resources
inadequate in the midst of a struggle.
This is the name of God to run to when there is no
other help – from our perspective…
This name is not for those have ceased to fight.
Therefore you do not find it in Ezekiel…. In
Ezekiel’s day, Gods people were to settle
down for seventy years of captivity…
In the prophets we find that He is not only the One
who delivers, but also the One who Judges…..
In Haggai, the remnant had gone back and start
the rebuilding of the temple, but not finished
it…..and this where we read our text…..
In the last book of the OT, Malachi this great
name, Jehovah Sabaoth is used 25 times, it
is connected with both a blessing and a
curse….
3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of
hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of
heaven And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
3:11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your
ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for
you in the field,” Says the LORD of hosts;
As Jehovah Sabaoth, He will protect both
physically and spiritually those who tithe to
Him…..
Remember 3. The Lord will allow His faithless people to be
defeated.
1. Jehovah Sabaoth brings heavenly power to the He could and would have fought for us if we
aid of His children. would have believed and trusted Him…..
Joshua 5:13-15
13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his Psalm 46:11
eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing
before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And The LORD of hosts is with us;
Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for The God of Jacob is our refuge.
us, or for our adversaries?” Selah
14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of Psalm 24:10
the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Who is this King of glory?
Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped The LORD of hosts,
and said to him, “What does my lord say to his He is the King of glory.
servant?” Selah
15 And the commander of the LORD’s army said Psalm 84:12
to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, O LORD of hosts,
for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Blessed is the man who trusts in You!
Joshua did so.

2. The LORD of Host rules the armies of heaven

so they will obey His will. It is an innumerable
host…

Hebrews 12:22
“
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an
innumerable company of angels,…”