The Army of the Lord

Here’s another term I have heard many times that I have to wonder about.  “The Army of the Lord”.  Do you know where this comes from?  The first place I found was in Joel chapter two.  It describes this great and terrible army of horse-like creatures whose very appearance causes even the strongest man to pale in terror. Yikes.  Then in 2 Kings chapter 6 we see the story of Elisha asking the Lord to open the eyes of his servant to see “those who are with us”. This army was a multitude of horses and chariots of fire.  

Many times God is referred to in the old testament as the Lord of Hosts.  I like to think about those hosts as described above and realize how great an army He commands!  Huge, terrifying, powerful, numerous, and kind of freaky looking.  

Let it sink in a little.  The Commander of the Hosts of Heaven is the lover of your soul.  

I think that if I was under some kind of attack the army of the United States would not likely come to my aid.  Of course if the whole country were under attack they would, its what they are there for.  But if it was just me - nope.  But that is because the power of even the US military is limited and they are hindered as well as empowered by their mission and purpose.

The mission and purpose of Heaven is another thing entirely.  If I am under attack and the enemy of His Love is invading, The Commander of Heaven rises to rescue and save me!  He is my defender and look at the arsenal at His disposal!! Wow.  And yes, he will come and rescue even if it is just little ol’ me because I am His beloved!  The Bride of Christ! And His heart is toward me.  

Contemplate this - this is the creator of the universe coming to your aid:

“In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry for help before Him came into His ears.

Then the earth shook and quaked; and the foundations of the mountains were trembling and were shaken, because He was angry.

Smoke went up out of His nostrils, and fire from His mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it.

He bowed the heavens also and came down with thick darkness under His feet........

From the brightness before Him passed His thick clouds, hailstones and coals of fire.

The Lord thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice.

He sent out His arrows, and scattered them, and in flashes in abundance, and routed them.

Then the channels of water appeared, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke Oh Lord, at the breath of your nostrils.

..He took me. He drew me up...He delivered me from my strong enemy.”

Psalm 18

And that’s just Him - didn’t even need the army for that one ;)

I think somewhere along the line we got this crazy idea in our head that we were His army.  I really don’t see it.  I know there is the whole analogy of wearing the armor of God and Paul talks about doing battle with spiritual weapons.  I believe that.  But I don’t want to forget that He has an army that I cannot see that is great and terrible and He is more than willing to wield it in my defense.  

I understand the whole - we have the authority on earth - principle and what He wants to be done here needs to be declared by us as the authority in this world.  but are we the army?  If so, I would imagine we are captains.  Captains are over the troops but under the commander.  Wait, you may say, there are an awful lot of us, how can we all be captains? If you let yourself think about that question for a  while you may begin to feel overwhelmed.

If one of us can put a thousand to flight - you’ve heard this - how many are under our command?  and if two of us increase the number exponentially, again, how many are under our command?  I have never heard of anyone’s battle being delayed because the Host of heaven was busy elsewhere so I am inclined to think that “host” is a bigger number than I can fathom.

So we can command the Host - but wait, we are under the Commander.  This means that we only do what He commands.  So we don’t go dreaming up battle plans and whipping out our epaulettes whenever we feel like it.  No, we submit ourselves to the Master and Commander and seek His directives.  We listen to hear what He is saying - and say that.  We watch and see what He is doing and follow. We wait. 

Who is the Army of the Lord? 

We are - and then there is the rest of the army.....