Lord - Adonai

 

             (10) In John 12:41 we read, “These things said Esaias [Greek for Isaiah], when he saw his glory and spoke of him.” We are asked to concede that this probably applies to Isaiah 6:1. We reply that we believe it does: but notice that the Hebrew word rendered Lord in that verse is not Jehovah but Adonai; our present contention is that the name Jehovah does not properly apply to any one except the Heavenly Father—although it may be applied to his special messengers while they are speaking or acting for him representatively in his name.

            Nor do we dispute that Adonai is sometimes used as one of the many titles of the Heavenly Father.  We claim that in this text it does not apply to the Father but to the Son.  Similarly [E_page 48] the same word Adonai is used in referring to Christ and his Millennial kingdom in the second Psalm (4-9): “The Lord [Adonai] shall have them in derision.  Then shall he speak to them in his wrath and trouble them in his sore displeasure ....The Lord [Jehovah] hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.”

            But some one may perhaps claim that Adonai of Isa. 6:1 must refer to the same person as Jehovah of verses 3 and 5. We answer, Not so: the “Messenger of the Covenant,” the representative of Jehovah, might well be saluted with praise in the name of the Father whom he represented. Note again that in verse 8 it is not Jehovah that gives the message, nor that pronounces the judgment, but Adonai; for the Father “hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” Matt. 23:34,36,38; John 5:22,27

            Other instances of references to our Lord Jesus in close connection with the name Jehovah, and yet another word used in the Hebrew, but translated also Lord in our Common Version Bibles, might be cited.  Note Malachi’s statement, “Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord [Adon from the same root as Adonai] whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord [Jehovah] of hosts.... He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord [Jehovah] an offering of righteousness.” Mal. 3:1-4

 

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