“And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.”— Genesis xxxii. 1, 2. “And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse, and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.”— 2 Samuel xvii. 27— 29.
LET US go even unto Mahanaim and see these great sights. First, let us go with Jacob and see the two camps of angels, and then with David to observe his troops of friends. Jacob shall have our first consideration. What a varied experience is that of God’s people! Their pilgrimage is over a shifting sand; their tent is ever moving, and the scene around them ever changing. Here is Jacob at one time contending for a livelihood with Laban, playing trick against trick in order to match his father-in-law; then he prospers, and determines to abide no more in such servitude; he flies, is pursued, debates with his angry relative, and ends the contention with a truce and a sacrifice. This unseemly family warfare must have been a very unhappy thing for Jacob, by no means tending to raise the tone of his thoughts, or sweeten his temper, or ennoble his spirit.
What a change happened to him, when the next day, after Laban had gone, Jacob found himself in the presence of angels. Here is a picture of a very different kind: the churl has gone and the cherubs have come, the greedy taskmaster has turned his back and the happy messengers of the blessed God have come to welcome the patriarch on his return from exile. It is hard to realize to the full the complete transformation. Such changes occur in all lives; but, I think, most of all in the lives of believers. Few passages across the ocean of life are quite free from storm, but the redeemed of the Lord may reckon upon being tossed with tempest even if others escape. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” Yet trials last not forever; clear shining comes after rain. Change worketh ever. We pass from storm to calm, from breeze to hurricane: we coast the shores of peace, and anon we are driven upon the sandbanks of fear. Nor need we be surprised: for were there not great changes in the life of our Lord and Master? Is not his life as full of hills and valleys as ours possibly can be? We read of his being baptized in Jordan, and there and then visited by the Spirit, who descended upon him like a dove,— then was his hour of rest.
Who can toll the restfulness of Jesus’ Spirit when the Father bare witness concerning him, “This is my beloved Son”? But we read directly afterwards, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” From the descent of the Holy Ghost to dire conflict with the devil is a change indeed! But another change followed it, for when that battle had been fought out, and the triple temptation had been tried upon our Lord in vain, we read again, “Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”
In a short space our Lord’s surroundings had changed from heavenly to diabolical, and again from satanic to angelic. From heaven to the manger, from walking the sea to hanging on the cross, from the sepulchre to the throne— what changes are there! Can we expect to build three tabernacles and tarry in the mount when our Lord was thus tossed to and fro? Beloved, you will certainly find that the world is established upon the floods, and is therefore ever moving. Never reckon upon the permanence of any joy: thank God, you need not dread the continuance of any sorrow. These things come and go, and go and come; and you and I, so far as we have to live in this poor whirling world, must be removed to and fro as a shepherd’s tent, and find no city to dwell in. If this happen not to our habitations it will certainly happen in our feelings.
From of old “the evening and the morning were the first day,” and “the evening and the morning were the second day,”— the alternation of shade and shine, of setting and rising, are from the beginning. Dawn, noon, afternoon, evening, darkness, midnight, and a new morning follow each other in all things. So must it be: there is a need for clouds and showers, and morning glories, “until the day break and the shadows flee away,” when we shall be fitted to bask in the beams of everlasting noon. In the case before us, we see Jacob in the best of company.
Jacob, not cheated in Mesopotamia, but honoured in Mahanaim; not trying to outwit Laban, but gazing upon celestial spirits. He was surrounded by angels, and he knew it. His eyes were open, so that he saw spirits who in their own nature are invisible to human eyes. He became a seer, and was enabled by the inward eye to behold the hosts of shining ones whom God had sent to meet him. It is a great privilege to be able to know our friends and to discern the hosts of God. We are very apt, indeed, to realize our difficulties, and to forget our helps: our allies are all around us, yet we think ourselves alone. The opposition of Satan is more easily recognized than the succour of the Lord.
Oh, to have eyes and hearts opened to see how strong the Lord is on our behalf. Jacob had just been delivered from Laban, but he was oppressed by another load: the dread of Esau was upon him. He had wronged his brother; and you cannot do a wrong without being haunted by it afterwards. He had taken ungenerous advantage of Esau, and now, many, many years after it, his deed came home to him, and his conscience made him afraid. Notwithstanding that he had lived with Laban so long, his conscience was sufficiently vigorous to make him tremble because he had put himself into a wrong position with his brother: had it not been for this he would have marched on to his father Isaac’s tent with joyful foot. Dreading his brother’s anger, he was greatly distressed and troubled: these angels came to bring him cheer by helping him to forget the difficulties round about him, or lose his dread of them by looking up and seeing what defence and succour awaited him from on high.
He had but to cry to God, and Esau’s four hundred men would be met by legions of angels. Was not this good cheer? Have not all believers the same? Greater is he that is for us than all they that are against us. If this morning I shall be enabled by the Holy Spirit to uplift the minds of the Lord’s tried people from their visible griefs to their invisible comforts I shall be glad. I beg them not to think exclusively of the burden they have to carry, but to remember the strength which is available for the carrying of it. If I shall cause the timorous heart to cease its dread, and to trust in the living God who has promised to bear his servants through, I shall have accomplished my desire. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge, and therefore no weapon that is formed against us shall prosper, and even the arch-enemy himself shall be bruised under our feet.
In treating of Jacob’s experience at Mahanaim we will make a series of observations. First, God has a multitude of servants, and all these are on the side of believers. “His camp is very great,” and all the hosts in that camp are our allies. Some of these are visible agents, and many more are invisible, but none the less real and powerful. The great army of the Lord of hosts consists largely of unseen agents, of forces that are not discernible except in vision or by the eye of faith. Jacob saw two squadrons of these invisible forces, which are on the side of righteous men. “The angels of God met him,” and he said, “This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim (two camps) for there a double army of angels met him. We know that a guard of angels always surrounds every believer.
Ministering spirits are abroad, protecting the princes of the blood royal. They cannot be discerned by any of our senses, but they are perceptible by faith, and they have been made perceptible to holy men of old in vision. These bands of angels are great in multitude; for Jacob said, “This is God’s host”: a host means a considerable number, and surely the host of God is not a small one. “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels.” We do not know what legions wait upon the Lord, only we read of “an innumerable company of angels.” We look abroad in the world, and calculate the number of persons and forces friendly to our Christian warfare; but these are only what our poor optics can discover: the half cannot be told us by such means. It may be that every star is a world, thronged with the servants of God, who are willing and ready to dart like flames of fire upon Jehovah’s errands of love. If the Lord’s chosen could not be sufficiently protected by the forces available in one world, he has but to speak or will, and myriads of spirits from the far-off regions of space would come thronging forward to guard the children of their king.
As the stars of the sky, countless in their armies, are the invisible warriors of God. “His camp is very great.” “Omnipotence has servants everywhere.” These servants of the strong God are all filled with power: there is not one that fainteth among them all, they run like mighty men, they prevail as men of war. A host is made up of valiant men, veterans, troopers, heroes, men fit for conflict. God’s forces are exceedingly strong: nothing can stand against them. Whatever form they take, they are always potent, even when God’s host is made up of grasshoppers, cankerworms, and palmerworms, as in the Book of Joel, none can resist them, and nothing can escape them.
They devoured everything; they covered the earth; and even darkened the sun and moon. If such be the case with insects, what must be the power of angels? We know that they “excel in strength,” as they “do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.” Rejoice, O children of God! There are vast armies upon your side, and each one of the warriors is clothed with the strength of God. All these agents work in order, for it is God’s host, and the host is made up of beings which march or fly, according to the order of command. “Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path.” All the forces of nature are loyal to their Lord. None of these mighty forces dreams of rebellion. From the blazing comet which flames in the face of the universe to the tiniest fragment of shell which lies hidden in the deepest ocean cave, all matter yields itself to the supreme law which God hath settled. Nor do unfallen intelligent agents mutiny against divine decrees, but find their joy in rendering loving homage to their God.
They are perfectly happy, because they are consecrated; full of delight, because completely absorbed in doing the will of the Most High. Oh that we could do his will on earth as that will is done in heaven by all the heavenly ones! Observe that in this great host they were all punctual to the divine command. Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. The patriarch is no sooner astir than the hosts of God are on the wing. They did not linger till Jacob had crossed the frontier, nor did they keep him waiting when he came to the appointed rendezvous; but they were there to the moment.
When God means to deliver you, beloved, in the hour of danger, you will find the appointed force ready for your succour. God’s messengers are neither behind nor before their time; they will meet us to the inch and to the second in the time of need; therefore, let us proceed without fear, like Jacob, going on our way even though Esau with a band of desperadoes should block up the road. Those forces of God, too, were all engaged personally to attend upon Jacob. I like to set forth this thought: “Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him he did not chance to fall in with them. They did not happen to be on the march, and so crossed the patriarch’s track; no, no; he went on his way, and the angels of God met him with design and purpose. They came on purpose to meet him: they had no other appointment.
Squadrons of angels marched to meet that one lone man! He was a saint, but by no means a perfect one; we cannot help seeing many flaws in him, even upon a superficial glance at his life, and yet the angels of God met him. Perhaps in the early morning, as he rose to tend his flocks, he saw the skies peopled with shining ones who quite eclipsed the dawn. The heavens were vivid with descending lustres, and the angels came upon him as a bright cloud, descending, as it were, upon the patriarch. They glided downward from those gates of pearl, more famed than the gates of Thebes. They divided to the right and to the left and became two hosts. Perhaps the one band pitched their camp behind, as much as to say, “All is right in the rear, Laban cannot return; better than the cairn of Mizpah is the host of God.” Another squadron moved to the front as much as to say, “Peace, patriarch, peace with regard to Esau, the red hunter, and his armed men: we guard you in the van.”
It must have been a glorious morning for Jacob when he saw not one, but many morning stars. If the apparitions were seen in the dead of night, surely Jacob must have thought that day was come before its time. It was as if constellations mustered to the roll call, and clouds of stars came floating down from the upper spheres. All came to wait upon Jacob, on that one man: “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him”; but in this case it was to one man with his family of children that a host was sent. The man himself, the lone man who abode in covenant with God when all the rest of the world was given up to idols, was favoured by this mark of divine favour. The angels of God met him. One delights to think that the angels should be willing, and even eager, troops of them, to meet one man.
How vain is that voluntary humility and worshipping of angels which Paul so strongly condemns. Worshipping them seems far out of the question; the truth lies rather the other way, for they do us suit and service: “are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them that are the heirs of salvation?” They serve God’s servants. “Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son”? But this he has said, first to the Only-Begotten, and then to every believer in Christ. We are the sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty, and these ministering ones have a charge concerning us: as it is written, “they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.”
I have shown you that believers are compassed about with an innumerable company of angels, great in multitude, strong in power, exact in order, punctual in their personal attention to the children of God. Are ye not well cared for, oh ye sons of the Most High! Those forces, though in themselves invisible to the natural senses, are manifest to faith at certain times. There are times when the child of God is able to cry, like Jacob, “The angels of God have met me.