So far we have looked at:
Elohim: Creator of the Universe, Covenant Making Father, Character of the Universe
Jehovah: Revealed Revelation, Promise of Real Relationship, Redeemer
El Shaddai: the Almighty over Nature, Almighty to Nourish, Almighty to Nurture
Today we’re going to focus our attention on Adonai. Adonai in the OT was used to speak of God without mentioning the name of Jehovah (Yahweh).
Adonai is translated in our Bibles as Lord – capital L with rest in lower case letters. It means Lord, but more literally, Master. It invokes within the name totally ownership of a subject!
Introduction: Adonai in the OT
It occurs 300 hundred times in the OT.
It is also almost always used in the plural, Lords, when referring to God. This is the same as the use of Elohim, and again gives the idea of the trinity within a title of God. When used of men it is always in the singular form, adon.
Psalm 110:1: The LORD (Jehovah) says to my Lord (Adonai): "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."
Jesus refers this passage in the Psalms as speaking of Himself (Matt 22:41-45; as does Peter in Acts 2:34-35, Hebrews 1:13; 10:12-13).
How significant is Psalm 110 then when David uses the singular form when referring to Jesus, “Jehovah said to my Adonai,” or “Father God said to Christ…”?
The other names of God we have looked at so far focus on the character of Father God and, essentially, require no obedience on our part. But the name Adonai, literally master, shows that God has ownership of all things and rightly claims complete obedience from His children!
Where is the fatherhood in this title of Master? When we think of Masters and slaves, we tend to go to a couple of pictures in our minds: Upstairs Downstairs, or Kunte Kinte and Roots. We don’t look as slavery as a good thing in essence.
Malachi 1:6a: "A son honours his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honour due to me? If I am a master, where is the respect due to me?" says the LORD Almighty.
It would seem that Father God equates Lordship with fatherhood! We might struggle with this and think that God is now a dictator, but not so, for as we see this relationship is always built on love!
Job speaks of the fear of the Lord inherent in the name Adonai.
Job 28:28: And he said to man, 'The fear of the Lord-that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.' "
This fear is not a cowering fear, but one of honouring Him. Wisdom begins with this fear because wisdom means we will do what the voice of the Lord tells us!
First use of this name in the OT, as with El Shaddai, is in Genesis 15:1: “After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."
Abram then replies with the joining of two names – Adonai-Jehovah, acknowledging that Jehovah is also Master!
1. Right Relationship of Slave and Master
Abram know what this relationship meant, but today we seem to lack that understanding. In those days slavery implied the entire ownership of the slave by the lord or master.
In acknowledging Adonai as Master Abram is expressing the complete ownership that the Lord has over him.
But Abram understood that this Lordship did not mean that he was under the will of a dictatorship. Even in those days slavery had nuances that we forget.
The purchased slave stood much nearer in relationship than the hired servant.
The hired servant was free to go as he or she wished.
They served but were primarily consumers of the wealth – they got paid!
They could negotiate terms.
Serving was a job.
How many Christians are like that today?
o They look for a church that is going to serve them primarily.
o They look at what they can Get out of a church rather than committing to a church.
o When that church no longer meets their needs they are off.
o God is there to meet their needs rather than be served by them.
Sad, but true.
The purchased slave had much more depth in their relationship!
In Israel the hired slave was who was a stranger could not eat the Passover or the holy things, but the purchased slave, who belonged to the Master, and so was classed as a member of the family, had such rights (Ex. 12:43-45; Leviticus 22:10-11).
The purchased slave had the rights of protection and help!
In the absence of an heir the purchased slave became the heir apparent, for instance, Eliezer was the heir to Abram’s entire household! (Gen 15:1)
The purchased slave looks solely to their Adonai for provision.
Psalm 123:2: As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy.
As Adonai Father God becomes our great reward! (Gen15:1)
If He is the reward then the relationship with Him must be a strong one! Our desire becomes focussed on who He is and His faithfulness. He becomes our shield!
If a human master can sustain a relationship with a purchased slave, how much more can Adonai-Jehovah sustain His purchased ones?
Look quickly with me at the relationship between Naaman and his slaves! Naaman has been told to go dip in the Jordan seven times by Elisha and God would heal him of leprosy!
He has a hissy fit and is on his way when the servants say to him: “Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'?" (2 Kings 5:13)
“My Father…” What an honour to have a master that was a father to them, purchased slaves!
2. Right Relationship with the Lord
Jesus called Lord / MasterAbout 300 hundred years before Jesus, the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek by a group of Jewish translators in Alexandria, Egypt. They used a Greek equivalent of Adonai or master, despot. We would see this word today as tyrannical! But actually in the Greek is means Lord or Master.
This title is the most commonly used title when referring to Jesus in the NT.
We literally belong to our Lord and Master – Jesus.
1 Corinthians 6: 19b-18a: You are not your own; you were bought at a price.
1 Peter 1:14-15: As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
But mirrored in the NT is the incredible relationship between Master and us:
Jesus called us friends:
John 15: 14-15: You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
We’re now joint heirs
Romans 8:16-17: The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Just as purchased servants in the OT were heirs, we too are joint heirs except we are called His children! Adopted and purchased! What a combination!
3. Rights to Relinquish.
Our problem is that we want to inherit and live in blessing without taking that blessing to the world!Make no mistake, we are all purchased!
Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Paul referred to Himself repeatedly as the bondservant of Christ.
Romans 1:1, “Paul a bondservant of Jesus Christ…” (NKJV). This is someone who was purchased, and as such, only had the rights their master gave them!
We are to be at His complete disposal.
When I was born again I had no doubt in my mind that once I accepted the gift of Grace, forgiveness, eternal life, that was purchased for me on the cross of Calvary, that my life was no longer my own.
I surrendered my rights for a claim on my life!
There are examples of this in the Bible:
Moses – Ex 4:10
Even though Moses was fearful, God never asks us to do something that He will not equip us for.
Gideon – Judges 6:15
David – 2 Samuel 7:18-20: Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: "Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, O Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD? "What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Sovereign LORD. For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.
Adonai appears three times in four verses!
Why is it today Christians seem more concerned with their personal comfort and rights?
We have marginalised the Lordship of God, yet He is our reward! We like comfort! We like others to go! But the truth is, God commands us all to go!
He commands all of us to changing the world in which we live in! When I talk of the world we live in I don’t even mean the whole world, but the micro-world in which we live, our circles of influence!
Isaiah uses the name Adonai too: It is the vision of God as Adonai that sends him on his prophetic career!
Isaiah 6:1 I saw the Adonai!
Isaiah 6:8: Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
The call to go comes from Adonai!
Throughout the Bible those who acknowledge God as Adonai, recognise themselves as God’s servants with no claim to their rights! Time and again they are called, “God’s servant,” or, “the servant of the Lord”
Psalm 119:125: I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes.
Whether king, prophet, or priest, if someone recognises Father God as Adonai, they have to recognise that they are servants!
It seems that this idea has been lost in gospel preaching and today’s Christian’s are more acquainted with Getting your full potential, Getting more, being more etc.
Actually, the gospel teaches that to get up, you go down, to be victorious, you surrender, to achieve you serve.
We have all become consumers of grace rather than ministers of grace. So when the Lord says to me, go here or there, I go. Why? I like to think that I am at His complete disposal!
Realising He is the master means we surrender.
Wrapping it up:
So what? What do we do now? Give ourselves to Him afresh and expect the unexpected!
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