THE ANGEL OF THE LORD ENCAMPETH

I suggest that the term, the angel of the Lord, highlights God’s immediate presence to help. In the New Testament, the thought is clearer. In the great commission, the Lord Jesus powerfully stated to His disciples, ‘and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world’, Matt. 28. 20.

We are all ‘poor’ individuals, v. 6. Many of us live in circum­stances that are not of our own choosing. We identify with the song, ‘Where could I go but to the Lord?’ Like the poor man, we, too, cry out in our sad circumstances and the Lord hears us and saves us from total despair. How does He do this?

He encamps around us continuously. The enemy never rests. Peter describes the adversary as a roaring lion constantly on the outlook for someone to destroy, 1 Pet. 5. 8. For that reason, the Lord’s presence around His own is described in the present tense. He encamps around His people. No wonder both Testa­ments affirm that because the Lord is our helper we, His people, do not fear, Ps. 27. 3; Heb. 13. 6.

The king of Syria believed there was a traitor in his camp, for in every military move he made against Israel, the king of Israel knew about it. When he was told it was Elisha who was inform­ing the Israelite king, he was furious and sent an army to capture the prophet. When Elisha’s servant saw the Syrian army, he was terrified. The prophet prayed, the servant’s eyes were opened and he saw the area around Elisha full of horses and chariots of fire, 2 Kgs. 6. 17. There is no doubt that the Lord encamps around those who fear Him. He sustains them and may even literally deliver them, remember Peter, Acts 12. Paul’s testimony is rele­vant for, in the midst of all his enormous trials, he states, ‘no man stood with me … (but) the Lord stood with me, and strength­ened me’, 2 Tim. 4. 16, 17.

That the Lord’s presence encamps around His own does not imply that they will not face enormous difficulties, as did Job, or even death, remember the Christian martyrs, but it does imply He will go each step of the way with us. Walking with Him - blessed experience! - we are truly delivered from the enemy, whatever his plans might be. To God be the glory!