"God of... Hosts"

    I would like to take some time now to better understand God, so our faith can flourish, by looking at bible verses that declare/describe God to be the “God of” something. What that something is, or rather what those somethings are, as there are many, is what this study will help you come to know. I hope it will draw attention to aspects of God that you may not have known or focused on and also refresh your heart’s appreciation for the ones you may already be familiar with.

    Let’s begin with “God of hosts” as it is the most used “God of…” phrase in the Bible, appearing 40 times in the Old Testament, 9 of which are found in Amos. It is often written as “LORD God of hosts,” “Lord GOD of hosts,” a few times as “the LORD, the God of hosts,” and twice as “O God of hosts” (in Psalm 80:7, 14).  

Side notes: The term “LORD of hosts” is used 245 times in the Old Testament, but we will limit our study to only the mentions of “God of…” in the Bible. Also, both “God of hosts” and “LORD of hosts” are phrases only found in the Old Testament.

    God declared Himself to be “the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts” (Amos 5:27), so what exactly does it mean? Who are the “hosts”?

    Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance/Hebrew Dictionary shows “hosts” (in every instance we are looking at) to be the Hebrew word: tseba’ah (H6635) This word, tseba’ah, is from the primitive word ‘tsaba’ (H6633*) and means ‘a mass of persons (or figurative things), especially regularly organized for war (an army); by implication a campaign, literally or figuratively (specifically hardship, worship): - appointed time, (+) army, (+) battle, company, host, service, soldiers, waiting upon, war (-fare).’

*tsaba (H6633) to mass (an army or servants) assemble, fight, perform, muster, wait upon, war

    This term draws our attention to God’s power and authority. He is able to do what He has said. He has a host at His command and servants ready and waiting to obey His command. He is almighty and He will accomplish all that He has declared!

“God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him. O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You.” (Psalm 89:7-8 NKJV)

    We can see the term “God of hosts” and leave it at that, just a term, but let your mind dwell on that for a moment. Considering it is like looking up into the night sky. You look up and see maybe a handful of stars at first, but then as you continue to look and your eyes adjust, more stars seem to come out of nowhere, tiny points of light suddenly fill what was moments ago simply a canopy of darkness and your mind fills with wonder as more and more stars continue to come into view.  

    Grab your Bible and turn to 2 Kings 6:14-17 where the King of Syria was making war against Israel. The prophet, Elisha, had a servant who was quite anxious about the enemy’s army surrounding them and so Elisha prayed that the LORD might open the young man’s eyes to the truth of the matter, then told him, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who with them” (v16). What did he see when the LORD opened his eyes? “…behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (v17).

    This is our God, the very God we serve. He is the LORD God of hosts! ‘With God you are the majority’ is not a platitude, but the plain truth. He is the God of hosts. You can trust that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20)! We have no need to fear any person, for with our God, the God of hosts, we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:31-37, be sure to read this reference – it is SO good!)!!

    God is able. He is the God of hosts, a description of ultimate power, ability, and capability – vast, untold resources and might – this is the God you serve! Do you trust Him? Are your eyes opening to His magnitude? Pray that they might be so that you can confidently put on His armour each day and stand strong in Him and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10-18), knowing without doubt that the very God of hosts surrounds you!

You can do it! So can I!! 

Worthy of Jesus

    Are you worthy of Jesus?

    Of course, your immediate response may be, “No!” quickly followed by the question, “Can anyone ever be worthy of Jesus?” To which I will respond, “Yes, we can! You can, I can; we all can! We CAN be worthy of Jesus!” If the Lord wills, over the next few weeks we will see how to be worthy of Him who gave His life for us!

    Consider this statement made by Jesus:

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me…” (Matthew 10:37 NKJV)

    To be worthy of Jesus, one must love Him more than their father or mother.

    What does that mean?

    Well, what if your father or mother followed a religion different from what is found in the Bible? What if they were devout to it and expected the same of you? Religions like Jehovah’s Witness and the many variables of the (Dutch) Reformed use pressure tactics like ostracization to shame people who leave, causing embarrassment to the father and mother whose child lacked commitment. Parents wishing to avoid excommunication for their child may use all manner of appeal to keep them in attendance: “If you love us you will stay!”, “If you love us you would understand how important it is!”, etc. etc.

    Jesus says that we must love Him more than our father and mother. To be worthy of Jesus we must do what is necessary, even if it means disappointing our parents to obey Him and follow His commands as found only in the Bible – there is only ONE gospel message (Galatians 1:6-10, Romans 10:17), found only in the Bible, and not in any creeds of men (which many religions are founded in and many denominations follow more closely than the Bible) – we must be willing to love Jesus more than all the earthly pressures that may be imposed on us by our father or mother.

    If you have found the one true gospel and you have chosen to obey it even though it is different from what your father or mother believe or what they raised you to believe, you have proven yourself to be worthy of Christ! I pray that you may still have time and ability to help your parents to see the one true gospel, that their eyes may be opened to its Truth, to God’s Truth!

“Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.” (Psalm 119:18 NKJV)