“ Multitude of the Heavenly Host”
Luke 2:1-20

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Christmas Day—December 25, 2018

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’”

For our Advent and Christmas services during December this year we have had a sermon series on “The Angels of Advent,” looking at what the Bible teaches about angels, and their prominent role in the Advent and Christmas story.

The word “angel” means “messenger,” and the message the angels proclaim to the shepherds is a beautiful summary of the true meaning of Christmas.  Christmas isn’t just a “winter festival” or a “happy holiday.”  It is the message of God’s peace and goodwill toward mankind on account of his Son. 

Paul puts it this way in Ephesians, “You who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace, who has  . . . destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.”  Our sin was like a wall separating us from God, but as Paul says in Colossians, “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things . . . by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”  That is the true meaning of Christmas, “and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host.”  The word “host” in the Bible is actually an English translation of the Hebrew word “Sabaoth,” which is included in the Sanctus before Holy Communion in several of our orders of service.  When I was typing this sermon, the spellchecker put a squiggly red line under “Sabaoth” and suggested “Sabbath” instead.  But, in our Communion Liturgy, we are not singing, “Holy Lord God of Sabbath,” but actually, “Holy Lord God of Sabaoth.”  Like Microsoft Word, even many church members, who have sung that phrase from Liturgy countless times, don’t realize these are two completely different words. 

“Sabbath” means rest, and so refers to the day of rest and worship in the Old Testament.  “Sabaoth” is the Hebrew word for an army.  Originally it was used literally for actual ancient armies.  But, then it took on a symbolic meaning, to describe God’s spiritual army, his angels.  “The Lord of Hosts” literally means, “The Lord of Armies,” or, “The Lord Who Has Armies.” 

An advisor to Russian dictator Joseph Stalin once warned him against getting into a conflict with the Roman Catholic Church, to which Stalin dismissively replied, “And how many divisions does the Pope have?”  But, God does indeed have an army, mightier than any on earth, an army of angels.  Jesus put it this way in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” 

An Old Testament prophet, Micaiah, described the Lord’s armies this way: “I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven standing around him.”  Psalm 103 says, “Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.  Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.”

This picture hung above Terry’s bed when she was a child, and throughout our marriage has hung above our bed.  It beautifully portrays a guardian angel watching over two little children.  The Bible does indeed teach that we have guardian angels.  As Jesus said of little children, “For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”  And in fact all God’s children, no matter what our age, have “their angels,” God’s guardian angels, assigned to watch over you.  As Psalm 91 says, “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”

Paul says in Ephesians, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  And Peter warns, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” 

Jesus once told Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.”  Satan and his evil forces in this world are very powerful.  How can we possibly win in our daily lives in the constant struggle we face against, “the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil”? 

As we enter upon a New Year, you can be assured that the much more powerful “multitude of the heavenly host” of the Lord God of Sabaoth is fighting for you, his spiritual soldiers, his guardian angels, watching over you and protecting you, in 2019 and throughout your life. That’s what Paul means when he says in Romans: “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.”