Thus Says The LORD of Hosts

The Coming Peace and Prosperity of Zion- Part 1.

Zechariah 8 can be divided into two messages: A message of restoration (1-17); and a message of rejoicing (18-23).  There is a recurring theme in this chapter that is hard to miss.  Twelve times God reveals His Name:

1. ² “Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. 
2. 3Thus says the Lord: I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. 
3. ⁴ Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age. ⁵ And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. 
4. ⁶ Thus says the Lord of hosts: If it is marvelous in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my sight, declares the Lord of hosts? 
5. ⁷ Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, ⁸ and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.” 
6. ⁹ Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Let your hands be strong, you who in these days have been hearing these words from the mouth of the prophets who were present on the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. ¹⁰ For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for beast, neither was there any safety from the foe for him who went out or came in, for I set every man against his neighbor. 
7. ¹¹ But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, declares the Lord of hosts. ¹² For there shall be a sowing of peace. The vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give their dew. And I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. ¹³ And as you have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong.” 
8. ¹⁴ For thus says the Lord of hosts: “As I purposed to bring disaster to you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the Lord of hosts, ¹⁵ so again have I purposed in these days to bring good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear not. 
9. ¹⁶ These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; ¹⁷ do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.” ¹⁸ And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, 
10. ¹⁹ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace. 
11. ²⁰ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities. ²¹ The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts; I myself am going.’ ²² Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord. 
12. ²³ Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’ ”

God comes to us through this passage as Jehovah Sabaoth -- the LORD of Hosts. The word "se-ba-ot" comes from the Hebrew word meaning armies.  Jehovah is the self-existent God who redeems.  It is He who leads the victorious armies of Heaven. He is the God of the armies of Heaven.  

We first see this name for God appear in Biblical revelation in 1 Samuel 4. “So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.” (1 Samuel 4:4, NIV).  In this story, idolatrous Israel rightly assumed, but wrongly presumed upon God.  Because the LORD of hosts was enthroned between the cherubim they assumed that the God of heaven's armies would bring defeat.  They assumed right, but presumed on God in this case. More familiar to us is the battle between David and Goliath.  In 1 Samuel 17:45 David evokes the name of Jehovah Sabaoth as his power -- the universal king of all heaven and earth, the head of all heaven's armies. 

In the 2nd stanza of Luther's great hymn: A Mighty Fortress is Our God [1], he pens these words:

Did we in our own strength confide

Our striving would be losing

Were not the right man on our side

The man of God's own choosing

Dost ask who that may be

Christ Jesus it is He

Lord Sabaoth His name

From age to age the same

And He must win the battle

"The King of glory, who commands the armies of heaven and who will eventually defeat all His enemies in this world, is none other than Jesus Christ. He is the LORD of hosts (Revelation 19:11–20)." [2]  The Biblical record is unified on this point: God is the LORD of hosts and He wins the battle.  He is sovereign and mighty in all things.  He commands all the forces.  He triumphs over all battles.  He never loses.  "He must win the battle."  How important is it, before we hear the words of the LORD to understand who is speaking to us in this passage.  This is Heaven's Conquering King, the command of all the holy armies who addresses us.  The One that cannot be defeated.

Father, how amazing it to me this morning that my Heavenly Father, is the Commander-in-Chief of all the omnipotent armies of heaven.  I get to call You, Father.  As King of kings You stand in glorious array above all the forces of the world that ever were and will ever come.  You stand victorious. Oh with Luther we exclaim: Our striving would be losing lest the right Man was on our side.  Praise You, Lord Jesus. Because of LORD Sabaoth, we also exclaim with the Apostle Paul, "“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37–39, NIV).  We fight to win because we have won.  We strive and labour for the Gospel because the Gospel has succeeded.  We win against forces that already defeated.  Today I pray that the LORD of all heaven's armies would lead His Church in that aroma of victory and that we would claim what He has already has owned. For the glory of Christ.  Amen!

 

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1.  Frederick Henry Hedge | Martin Luther | Tommy Walker © Words: Public Domain 

Music: 1997 Universal Music - Brentwood Benson Songs (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc.)

2. Read more:http://www.gotquestions.org/Lord-of-hosts.html#ixzz3JzwZL0fx