Sixth Privilege. Dost thou fear God? he hath given charge to the armies of heaven to look after, take charge of, to camp about, and to deliver thee—"The angel of the Lord encamped round about them that fear him, and delivereth them" (Psa 34:7). This also is a privilege entailed to them that in all generations fear the Lord. The angels, the heavenly creatures, have it in commission to take charge of them that fear the Lord; one can slay men in one night 185,000. These are the ones that camped about Elisha like horses of fire and chariots of fire when the enemy came to destroy him. They also helped Hezekiah against the band of the enemy because he feared God (2 Kings 6:17; Isa 37:36; Jer 26:19). "The angel of the Lord encamped round about them"; that is, lest the enemy should set upon them on any side; but let him come where he will, behind or before, on this side or that, the angel of the Lord is there to defend them. "The angel." It may be spoken in the singular number to show that everyone that feareth God hath his angel to attend on him and serve him. When the church, in Acts, was told that Peter stood at the door and knocked, at first, they counted the messenger mad, but when she constantly affirmed it, they said, It is his angel (Acts 12:13-15). So Christ saith of the children that came unto him, "Their angels behold the face of my Father which is in heaven." Their angels, those of them who feared God, had each of them his angel, who had a charge from God to keep them in their way. We little think of this, yet this is the privilege of them that fear the Lord; yea, if need be, they shall all come down to help them and to deliver them, rather than, contrary to the mind of their God, they should by any be abused—"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Heb 1:14).
[Quest.] But how do they deliver them? The text says, "The angel of the Lord encamped round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." Answ. The way they deliver them that fear the Lord is sometimes by smiting their enemies with blindness, that they may not find them; so they served the enemies of Lot (Gen 19:10,11). Sometimes by smiting of them with deadly fear; and so they served those that laid siege against Samaria (2 Kings 7:6). And sometimes by smiting of them even with death itself; and thus they served Herod, after he had attempted to kill the apostle James, and also sought to vex certain others of the church (Acts 12). These angels who are servants to them who fear the Lord are them who will if God doth bid them, revenge the quarrel of his servants upon the stoutest monarch on earth. This, therefore, is a glorious privilege of the men who fear the Lord. Alas! Some of them are, so it means that they are counted as not worth taking notice of by the high ones of the world, but their betters do respect them. The angels of God count not themselves too good to attend on them and camp about them to deliver them. This man had his angel to wait upon him, even that he feared God.
Seventh Privilege. Dost thou fear the Lord? Salvation is nigh unto thee—"Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land" (Psa 85:9). This is another privilege for them that fear the Lord. I told you before that the angel of the Lord did encamp about them, but now he saith, "his salvation is also nigh them"; although it doth not altogether exclude the conduct of angels,[20] but include them; yet it looketh further. "Surely his salvation," his saving, pardoning grace, "is nigh them that fear him"; that is, to save them out of the hand of their spiritual enemies. The devil, and sin, and death, do always wait even to devour them that fear the Lord, but to deliver them from these his salvation doth attend them. So then, if Satan tempts, here is their salvation nigh; if sin, by breaking forth, beguiles them, here is God's salvation nigh them; yea, if death itself shall suddenly seize upon them, why, here is their God's salvation nigh them.
I have seen that great men's little children must go no whither without their nurses be at hand. If they go abroad, their nurses must go with them; if they go to meals, their nurses must go with them; if they go to bed, their nurses must go with them; yea, and if they fall asleep, their nurses must stand by them. O my brethren, those little ones that fear the Lord, they are the children of the highest; therefore, they shall not walk alone, be at their spiritual meats alone, go to their sick beds, or to their graves alone; the salvation of their God is nigh them, to deliver them from the evil. This is the glory that dwells in the land of them that fear the Lord.
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