Hosts of One [Most Holy Trinity; St. John 3:1-15]

Jesus speaks to you all today saying,

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up”

So must the Son of Man, that’s Jesus, be high and lifted up. Three Sundays ago, the Old Testament reading was about Moses and this serpent that was lifted up. Yet, here Jesus is lifted up and in complete solitude. No one goes with Him and even God turns His back on Him.

This is done so that we know that no creature could make satisfaction for our sins. Only Christ, true God and true man, could do that. Also, this solitude-ness is God acting completely backwards. In Philippians, we hear Jesus speaking of the same idea. That, somehow, Jesus emptied Himself (2:7).

So, how can this God of all things, Who fills all things, Who creates all things, Who of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, and Who needs not one thing from anybody be empty and act in solitude?

One word God uses to describe Himself may help us with this. That word is “sabbaoth”. Not to be confused with Sabbath, Sabbaoth means “hosts” or “great (amounts of) armies”. When we sing the Sanctus, just before Communion, we confess that the Lord is Holy, holy, holy and that He is the Lord of hosts.

The “sabbaoth” of God are more numerous than can be counted and this was a great source of comfort when the angels sang this fact to Isaiah. For God was always telling His people to do outrageous things. He was always advising them to take on tasks too great for the number of people they had.

Whenever the Israelites would march to war, it was always, “Take as few people as you can”. When Moses faced Egypt; when David faced Goliath; when Gideon faced the Midianites (Judges 7); when Isaiah faced his own people and when Jesus faced all of creation.

There was not a time when sheer numbers overwhelmed the enemies of God. The Lord never called upon His hosts to fight for anything in Scripture. He always made sure to empty His forces as much as He could. He always made sure the small conquered the great, the weak conquered the mighty, and the humble conquered the exalted.

Repent. You let these little things in Church, pass you by. You think words and words come out of your mouth, but the true meaning of it is categorized as useless and put into the storage compartment of your brain.

However, you can understand might and power. You understand this word, Sabbaoth, because it deals with strength and potential victory. If the Lord has hosts, He can run over evil in this world anytime He wants. If this church were bigger, we could do more.

Dear Christians, Jesus is the Lord of Sabbaoth, but He uses His hosts sparingly. Indeed, at one point Jesus even said to Pilate that none of this suffering and dying stuff had to happen, because Jesus could call down these hosts to save Himself.

But He didn’t. Jesus of Sabbaoth issued the order to stand-by, for this is the way the charge will be won and the victory secured: God alone will die and rise again.

Yes, Jesus surrounds you with this great host to protect you from every danger, but they are there to, first and foremost, protect your faith. This faith which is so important, that the Creed tells us we must think thusly of the Trinity or we can’t be saved (Athanasian Creed).

This faith is so important, that we have spent gobs of paper and resources to make sure we know it, make sure we have it and can keep it. The faith that is so important, that Jesus used His Holy Trinity power to become a man, die on the cross, and rise again for you.

Thus, only one man is responsible for the care of Israel, not a host of hosts. One man is responsible for the faith remaining on earth, and one man is responsible for your salvation: Jesus.

Not just any Jesus, but true God and true man, Jesus; Jesus who created all things, Jesus; Jesus who causes His Name to be kept holy among us and to be written on our foreheads in Baptism, Jesus.

Which is why, when Nicodemus comes, the Lord of Sabbaoth, embodied in Jesus, speaks of salvation in baptismal terms. Because if one is to be saved and see the kingdom of heaven, then one must be a baptized believer, for it is there that the true Faith is given to believe and to think on the things of God.

It is necessary to think of Jesus, but in all and everyway holy Scripture speaks of Him. You can not speak of the power of God without speaking of the weakness of God. You can not speak of the Godhead of God, without speaking of the humanity of God. You can not speak of the Lord of Sabbaoth, without understanding the suffering of Jesus.

Or can your god not do those things? Is your god too full to be empty? Is He too powerful to be weak? Is He too alive to be dead?

The only point to being the Lord of Sabbaoth is to also be that Lord without hosts. Meaning, Jesus can be Lord of Hosts even when He, alone, is dead and buried. Jesus can be the sustainer of the universe, while feeding at His mother’s breasts. Jesus is so alive, that He can die and it not affect anything.

Isn’t that the almighty God you want and have been pining for? The God of the Athanasian creed is also the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is also Jesus. Jesus is the Man who continues to reveal Himself to us in His Word, for that is the power of God for salvation. Your salvation.

So, as you are saying or chanting the word “Sabbaoth”, it is no idle or small thing. The word conveys not just its literal meaning, but, when applied to Jesus, reveals to us all the things He has said and done, as Lord, including His suffering and death, but also His sacraments given so that we would have communion with all of that.

Singing the word, Sabbaoth, should make you think of the great God who is always concerned with you, more concerned than He is about sparrows. Yet, it should also remind you that Jesus hid those hosts and became a servant, in order to serve you forgiveness in water, Word, and bread and wine.

Holy, holy, holy is the angels cry at the appearance of the Lord. Holy, holy, holy is our cry in this place, at the appearance of that same Lord, in the flesh, and on this altar. Heaven and earth are full of His glory, because He took on our flesh and died on a cross. This place, on earth, is filled with His Glory, because He promised it. Blessed is the God-man Jesus, because He is the only one that comes in the Name of the Lord, doing His will, fulfilling His Law, and giving us salvation.

This is your Lord of Sabbaoth and this is the Lord you want saving you, and none other. This is the catholic faith and whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved.