"The angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear Him, and delivers them." (Psalm 34:7)
That this is not a mere figure of speech, but an actual fact, as shown by many instances in the Bible. Let us note a few illustrations.
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, had come up with a vast army against Jerusalem, and had written the most boastful and insulting letter to Hezekiah, the king. Hezekiah placed the matter before the Lord, and received this assurance concerning the king of Assyria, "He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with a shield, nor cast a mount against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come unto this city, says the Lord. For I will defend the city to save it." (2 Kings 19:32-34)
That was a promise of complete deliverance, and here is the record of its fulfillment: "And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord wentforth, and smote the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand; and when men arose early in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and return, and dwelt in Nineveh." (2 Kings 19:35-36)
There is no one who may not have as great protection, for the promise is, "The angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear Him, and delivers them." (Psalm 34:7)
And the Lord is not content with sending forth a single angel to protect His servants. When Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the Syrian army,--horses, and chariots, and a great host,--and the servant was terrified, the prophet assured him, "They that be with us are more than they that be with them." (2 Kings 6:16)
Elisha was sure of this, even though he could not see his protectors, but the servant had not so strong faith, and so the Lord mercifully opened his eyes; "and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses andchariots of fire round about Elisha." (2 Kings 6:17)
With their aid Elisha lead the whole Syrian army where he would.
When Christ was surrounded by the soldiers and the mob, with the traitor Judas at their head, and Peter offered forcible resistance, the Lord bade him put up his sword, and said, "Think you that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels." (Matthew 26:53)
We are assured that: "As He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 5:17)
The Father's love for us is equal to His love for Him. "I in them, and You in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that You have sent me, and have loved them, as You have loved me." (John 17:23)
Therefore we know that in any time of need we could pray to the Father, and He would send to our aid "more than twelve legions of angels," if so many were necessary. There are "ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands" (Revelation 5:11) of them, even "an innumerable company of angels." (Hebrews 12:22)
And they are all "ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for them who shall be heirs of salvation." (Hebrews 1:14)
There is therefore no lack of their help. Now let us make a little calculation. "The angel of the Lord," who came to the aid of Hezekiah, proved himself equal at the very least, to one hundred and eighty-five thousand men. We know full well that he could just as easily have turned back Sennacherib's army if it had been ten times as large; but we will take the number given, counting one angel equal in a contest to one hundred and eighty-five thousand men.
But the Lord has promised us "more than twelve legions of angels," if we need them. A Roman legion was about six thousand men. Twelve legions make seventy-two thousand men. One hundred and eighty-five thousand multiplied by seventy-two thousand, gives us more than thirteen thousand millions.
That is, the "more than twelve legions of angels," which the Lord holds at the service of each of His children, are, at the very lowest calculation, equal in fighting power to about fourteen thousand millions of men, or ten times the population of the whole earth. [PP Editor's note: Waggoner wrote this in 1896, when Earth's population was about 1.4 billion. Today (2019) it is 7.5 billion, so the minimum "fighting power" of the angels, according to his calculation, is still double the population of the Earth. This would assume, of course, that every man, woman, and child, on the earth was a well-equipped soldier of war!] With such an overwhelming force at his disposal, the child of God is safe anywhere. He needs not the protection of earthly powers, for he has power with him infinitely greater than all theirs combined; so that he may say, "The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? ... Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me in this will I be confident." (Psalm 27:1,3) "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid." (Isaiah 12:2)--Present Truth, January 16, 1896--Psalm 34:7.