Adoni - Master - The Lord Our God

Open your Bibles, please, to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 10, the paragraph beginning with verse 12.

DEUTERONOMY 10

I would like for us to think today about the truth that is suggested in verse 17 of this chapter:

DEUTERONOMY 10

The reason that I call to your attention this particular verse is that in this verse are the three basic names of God which we have been thinking about in this series. Remember that I told you there are three basic names for God. One is Jehovah; another is Elohim; the other is Adonai. We thought first about the name Jehovah and then we thought about the compound name of Jehovah. Then we thought about the name Elohim, reminding you that in the singular, it is El and in the plural it is Elohim. Then we thought about the words that were associated with the word Elohim. We had compound names of Jehovah and compound names of Elohim.

Today we want to present to you a few suggestions concerning the third name at which we have not yet looked, the name Adonai. You may be thinking, ``I don't see any of those words in this one particular verse and yet you said that all three of those names were included in it." Those of you who have been able to be with us for each study in this series will remember that I told you that the Hebrew names are presented here many times with their English counterpart and the only way we can tell which name is suggested to us is in some instances by the way the word itself is spelled. With that thought in mind, look again at Deuteronomy, chapter 10, verse 17:

DEUTERONOMY 10

We will read the verse using the Hebrew words: ``For Jehovah is El of Elohim, and Adon of Adonai, a great Elohim, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward." If you were following as I read this verse in this manner, you will realize that the word LORD as we find it first there in verse 17, with every letter capitalized is the translation of the Hebrew word Jehovah. The word God is the translation of the word Elohim, and the word Lord with just the first letter capitalized is a translation of the Hebrew word Adonai . It is that name that we want to think about together today.

The first thing I would suggest to you is the meaning of the name by the phrase that is presented in verse 17, Lord of lords, Adon of Adonai. Adon is the singular form; Adonai is the plural. What does this word Adonai mean? We would be certainly interested in knowing because this name of God is used some 300 times in the Old Testament. We may not always realize that because it is written as it is written and sometimes we don't read the word carefully as it is written and we don't notice that the word Lord has the first letter capitalized or all the letters capitalized. We certainly should.

As I have suggested to you before, we believe in verbal inspiration of the Bible. We don't believe that the Holy Spirit makes any mistakes. We don't believe that the Holy Spirit would address God as Jehovah when He meant Adonai. We don't believe that He would address Him as Elohim when He meant to address Him as Jehovah. We believe that every time a particular name of God is used, it is used for a particular purpose. If it is used 300 times in the Scripture, then we ought to be able to understand its real meaning.

I would like for you to turn with me to Psalm 123, which is a relationship which David described as his own life, a relationship that he had learned existed between the child of God and God Himself. We read:

PSALM 123

Notice verse 2:

PSALM 123

Look at the word masters. That word is the translation of the Hebrew word Adonai, and that is the meaning of this particular name of God. Adonai means master. Remember the verse we read in Deuteronomy? Do you see how it begins to open up? God was introduced in Deuteronomy, chapter 17, as Lord of lords. Master of masters---that is His name.

That is the relationship that many of us, I think, have failed to experience in our lives. We know Him as Jehovah; we know him as Elohim, but how many of us really know Him as Master? How many of us know Him as the One to whom we have subjected our every thought and our every will?

It is interesting to notice that every time, with one exception, that the word Adonai is used in the Scripture, it is used in the plural form instead of the singular form. You may ask, ``Of what particular significance is that?" To me it is of tremendous significance because it is proof of the truth of the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is our Master; the Holy Spirit is our Master; the Lord Jesus Christ is our Master---always in the plural with one exception.

What is that one exception? Turn to Psalm 110. We read from verse 1:

PSALM 110

Those of you who are fairly familiar with your Bibles will know that this is a prophetic psalm. It is a prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. That becomes very evident when we compare verse 4 with chapter 15 of Genesis, chapter 9 of the book of Hebrews, etc. So we realize that this is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. We realize that it is a conversation between two members of the Godhead, and that becomes exceedingly interesting in the light of our study today. Look at the first verse. Notice the word Lord is used there twice and spelled differently in each instance. Following the little suggestion that I made to you, you will keep in mind that when you find the word LORD spelled with every letter capitalized, it is a translation of the word Jehovah. When you find the word spelled with only the first letter capitalized, it is a translation of the word Adonai, so you would read the verse this way: ``Jehovah said unto my Adonai, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Actually the word Adonai is the word Adon, the singular instead of the plural.

To make this simpler still, we might read it this way, ``God the Father said to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." That is exactly where the Lord Jesus Christ is today, at the right hand of the throne of God. How long is He going to sit there? Until His enemies---those who are not subject to Him---become subject to Him.

Notice down in verse 5:

PSALM 110

Adonai, at the right hand of Jehovah, shall strike through kings in the day of His wrath. One of these days the Lord Jesus Christ is going to return and strike through the kings in the day of his wrath. The preceding verses are what we commonly refer to as the day of the Lord or the Battle of Armageddon. So Psalm 110 shows us the relationship of the Godhead, one to the other.

Turn with me, please, to chapter 9 of the book of Daniel, for there this name Adonai is used eleven times. Those of you who are familiar with what we are going to find in Daniel, chapter 9, will remember that we are going to find a prayer that Daniel prayed when he was overwhelmed with the sin of his people. He identified himself with his people and he realized that the problem that existed with them and that exists with us is the matter of surrender. Once we have learned the secret of surrender, everything else in our lives falls into their natural places.

I am going to read chapter 9 of the book of Daniel, verses 1-19, because it is a tremendous example of the kind of penitent praying, surrendered praying, that it would be well for all of us to do; and I am going to use the word Master every time it is found in the Scripture:

DANIEL 9

If you were listening as we read this prayer of Daniel, you could surely recognize the spirit of surrender and subjection that was in it in all these verses, particularly there in the height of the pain that was related to the sin of his people, when he addressed God as Master . Remember, he makes no plea for God's help on the basis of His own righteousness or the righteousness of his people. He knew there was none. He makes the plea on the basis of the fact that God was the Master, particularly in verse 19: ``O Master, hear; O Master, forgive; O Master, hearken and do..."

Turn, please, to chapter 6 of the book of Isaiah for another illustration of this truth that we want to leave with you today, that when you know God as Jehovah, that is one thing; when we know Him as Elohim, that is another thing; when we know Him as Master, we have reached the place of sweet surrender. Beginning in verse 1:

ISAIAH 6

You probably noticed as we read that the word Lord was mentioned several times. When the first letter is capitalized, I used the word Master; when all the letters were capitalized, I used the word LORD. The interesting thing to notice is that when Isaiah was speaking about surrender and about the control of God in his life, it was always Master. When the seraphim and the heavenly beings were describing God in all His majesty, it was Jehovah. When the sovereignty of God was related to all the activities of the earth, it was always Jehovah, but when the personal relationship is described it is always Master. Notice, for example, in verse 1:

ISAIAH 6

That is the key to the passage. This describes the experience in Isaiah's life when he made that final and ultimate surrender to the Lord. Notice that it happened in the year that King Uzziah died. If you read the historical portion of the Word that is related to this personal experience, you have every reason to believe that King Uzziah stood between Isaiah and the Lord, that as long as Uzziah was alive, Isaiah couldn't see the Lord; but when Uzziah got out of the way, Isaiah reached the place of surrender and he could call Him Master.

I want you to notice that when it came time to commission Isaiah for service down in verse 8, it wasn't Jehovah or Elohim who did it, it was Adonai. ``...I heard the voice of the Master, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?..." Notice the accuracy of the Scripture. God needed a servant, not just a creature. He already had that. He needed a servant, one who would obey explicitly every order that He gave, and so it was the Master who did the calling. The interesting thing to notice in this particular instance was that implicit obedience was demanded because Isaiah was called upon to fulfil, to my mind at least, the hardest task that any preacher could possibly be called upon to fulfil. Notice in verse 9: ``Go preach, but I am going to tell you before you start, Isaiah, that no one is going to understand what you say and no one is going to be able to see what you are trying to tell them, and no one is going to be able to believe your message. As a matter of fact, it is going to get worse and worse and worse and worse."

Isaiah did exactly like most of us would do even though he was surrendered as he was, he said, ``Master, how long?" The implication of that question was, ``Lord, that's not too good. I don't particularly relish the thought. Lord, how long am I going to have to do that? I know eventually the harvest will come. I know eventually things will get easy." God said, ``No, they are not going to get easy. I want you to preach that way until the cities be wasted without inhabitants, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land."

Do you realize what He is saying? ``You are not going to be a success. There is not going to be any response to your ministry, but I want you to go right on preaching that way." Only someone in complete surrender to the Lord would be willing to do that. Only someone who knew the Lord as Master would be wiling to obey. Only complete surrender would accomplish such a thing as that.

Please turn to Genesis, chapter 15, a passage of Scripture which involves Abraham, who has introduced us to the names of God perhaps more than any one individual in the Scripture. Notice verse 1:

GENESIS 15

I would like to call your attention to verse 2: ``And Abram said, Master God...:" This is the first time this word is found in the Old Testament, and it is found on the lips of a man who had found the secret of complete surrender. That is the meaning of the word Adonai.