The Lord Of Sabaoth

Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 1st March service and hymns are below.

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Our principal verses are:

Jas 5:1  Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

Jas 5:2  Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

Jas 5:3  Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

Jas 5:4  Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

Jas 5:5  Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

Jas 5:6  Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

The Lord Of Sabaoth

The Lord of Sabaoth is the Lord of Hosts and James uses this phrase to draw the Church’s attention to the absolute power and authority of Her covenant God. Specifically, James is reminding us that our God will deliver judgment and justice for His oppressed people. The ungodly will suffer and Christ’s redeemed will be saved by distinguishing grace. The Lord of Sabaoth shall go forth in judgment for His poor and persecuted people whose cries for deliverance and help have entered into His ears.

The danger of riches

It is possible James has personal knowledge of some false professors in the congregations of the Lord’s people who have exploited the brethren and misused their influence to enrich themselves to the hurt of poor believers. It is certainly true that rich church members can exert more influence than they should in a local congregation and thereby govern the lives of others inappropriately. The example James provides of withholding proper wages from harvest-reapers is emblematic of any kind of financial injustice or imposition.

The love of money

The crimes levied against these rich oppressors include first amassing then hoarding riches. They have exploited the poor and aggravated their wrong-doing by callously storing up their wealth for their own later use despite evident need in others. Rusting gold and silver; moth-eaten garments, are indicative of goods spoiled through selfish hoarding. Such men were certainly in the apostolic church. Paul tells us, ‘For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows’ (1 Timothy 6:10).

Exploiting the poor

It seems more likely, however, that it is not only miserly members of local congregations but more generally the rich and powerful men of the world who are being unmasked for abuses against the poor. They are being called out for offences against their fellow men and especially believers who are less inclined to fight back, go to court or cause trouble. James has all the time been encouraging humility amongst the Lord’s people and meekness in the world. In the coming verses he also advocates patience under affliction for the testimony of Christ.

God keeps accounts

Christ’s church, the humble meek, are an easy target for unscrupulous abusers and throughout church history Christ’s true people have been mistreated and oppressed by Satan’s followers enslaved to mammon. Yet, says James, the Lord of Sabaoth hears the cries of the just. The cry of the defrauded reapers, and every victimised saint, reaches God’s throne and He shall avenge His children. He will repay those who have swindled and harmed His little ones and withheld what was just and fair from His people.

Lord of Hosts

The Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, is a descriptive name for the covenant God who knows, saves and cherishes His own dear people. For His great love wherewith He loved us our Lord shall deploy every host at His disposal for our good. The phrase, the Lord of Sabaoth, is used only twice in the New Testament, once by Paul in Romans 9:29, and here. It is a transliteration of a Hebrew word and speaks of God’s power and authority over all that is created and all that is ordained.

Justice served

Christ is Lord of the angelic host of heaven. He is Lord of the hosts of the nations of the world, ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’. ‘The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will’ (Proverbs 21:1). Even the demonic hoards serve at His pleasure. Our Lord Christ rules and overrules in the affairs of men and in the providences of life so that no crime can go unnoticed and none shall pass unjudged.

Avenge not yourselves

Paul tells the church at Rome, ‘avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord’. This is the Lord of Sabaoth. Here James accuses these wicked men of murder and speaks of some who cannot resist for they are already dead. ‘Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.’ Just blood has been unjustly spilled and like Abel’s blood cries out to God for retribution. Justice they shall have for God is jealous for His own dear children.

Distinguishing grace

James’ language predicts imminent and certain destruction of the wicked who are ordained of old to this condemnation (Isaiah 30:33). The Lord of Sabaoth will do it. By writing to the church of the impending judgment of the wicked the faithful apostle is reminding Christ’s people of the distinguishing mercy that has caused them to differ while reassuring us that the Lord of Hosts is on our side.

Amen

Hymn 369

The Pleasure of Public Worship. Ps. 84. 1-10

I. Watts                 L.M.

1
How pleasant, how divinely fair,
O Lord of Hosts, thy dwellings are!
With long desire my spirit faints,
To meet the assemblies of thy saints.

2
Blest are the saints who sit on high,
Around the throne of majesty;
Thy brightest glories shine above,
And all their work is praise and love.

3
Blest are the souls that find a place
Within the temple of thy grace;
There they behold thy gentler rays,
And seek thy face, and learn thy praise.

4
Blest are the men whose hearts are set
To find the way to Zion’s gate;
God is their strength, and through the road
They lean upon their helper, God.

Hymn 495

Coming of Christ to Judgment. Matt. 25. 31-46

J. Swain    8.7.4.

1
Lo! he comes, arrayed in vengeance,
Riding down the heavenly road;
Floods of fury roll before him;
Who can meet an angry God?
Tremble, sinners;
Who can stand before his rod?

2
Lo! he comes in glory shining;
Saints, arise and meet your King!
“Glorious Captain of Salvation,
Welcome, welcome,” hear them sing!
Shouts of triumph
Make the heavens with echoes ring.

3
Now, despisers, look and wonder!
Hear the dreadful sound, “Depart!”
Rattling like a peal of thunder,
Through each guilty rebel’s heart!
Lost for ever!
Hope and sinners here must part.

4
Still they hear the dreadful sentence;
Hell resounds the dreadful roar;
While their heart-strings rend with anguish,
Trembling on the burning shore;
Justice seals it;
Down they sink to rise no more.

5
How they shrink with horror, viewing
Hell’s deep caverns opening wide;
Guilty thoughts, like ghosts, pursuing,
Plunge them down the rolling tide!
Now consider,
Ye who scorn the Lamb that died.

6
Hark! ten thousand harps resounding!
Formed in bright and grand array;
See the glorious armies rising,
While their Captain leads the way;
Heaven before them,
Opens an eternal day.

James tells the church that the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts hears their cries for help and will come in power with authority to judge the wicked and redeem His people.