Names of God 4. Adonai

                     Names of God 4. Adonai

  Of course when I think of Adonai, the first thing that comes to my mind is

 

But for those who have no clue what I just posted, let me explain Adonai. In review we have looked at 3 names so far revealed to us by Moses' biography in Exodus and his recording of ancient history in Genesis as told to Him by God. Lets look at Exodus 3 and 4 to review and introduce this new name.

Exodus 3:1-6

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

    Moses knew Elohim. He realized when he killed the Egyptian and identified with the Israelites that he was identifying with their God - Elohim, the creator of the universe and God over all gods. He was a fearful, awesome God who demanded taking off his shoes and caused Moses to turn away. He is that God that says
           

 

Exodus 3:7-9

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁹ And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. "

 

Now Moses is introduced to El Roi, the God who sees in the above passage. Then Moses is introduced to Jehovah, the timeless, eternal God who wants to be in a personal relationship as seen by the passage below

 

Exodus 3:10-14

 

¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
¹² And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
¹³ Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

 

Have you ever been told that you have to do something that you just don't want to do so you make excuses? "I have a headache", "I have a sore throat", "I won't know anyone there", and the person you tell these excuses says "Here, take some Tylenol", "Here is a throat lozenge", "No, Billy's mom said he is going and you know him". Finally, you can see you aren't getting out of it because someone is in control over you and is insisting that, "Yes, you are going whether you like it or not!" This is what happens to Moses in the next passage

 

Exodus 4:1-14

Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

² Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A staff,” he replied.
³ The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. ⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. ⁵ “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
⁶ Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.
⁷ “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
⁸ Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. ⁹ But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”
¹⁰ Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
¹¹ The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
¹³ But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”
¹⁴ Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses
                          
  By the time verse 10 comes around, Moses has realized that this fearsome creator God has come down in response to what He has seen,  offered to use Moses and go with him in a personal relationship and that you can't say no to Him if you are in a relationship with Him. He is Adonai. He is Lord. He is master of your life. You aren't in control anymore. You have to wave the white flag and surrender. As a side note, when you realize that God is Holy and you are separated from Him because of sin and enter into a relationship with Him through His son Jesus, as you get to know Him and grow in your Christian life you will realize that He doesn't want a part of your life, He wants it all. You must come to the point of surrender in your life as a Christian because as you see in verse 13,14 No,Lord is an oxymoron.

    Since Moses realized this about God, he could better recount the life of Abraham through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Abraham was from the line of Shem. This was the God-fearing line of Noah through whom the Messiah would come. Thus, he knew Elohim. In Chapter 12 Abraham is invited into a personal relationship with Jehovah which represents salvation by faith as seen in Hebrews 11:8-11,15,16

                                       Genesis 12:1-4
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

² “I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing
³ I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him

 

     Like me and probably a lot of us, when we first enter into a relationship with God, we come to Him in a very selfish manner, i.e. what does God have to offer me? Heaven? Health, wealth, prosperity? A meaning in life? A wonderful plan for my life? Sparing us from being "Left Behind"? Moses was also promised to be blessed, protection, a land, fame and he said, "Yes". However, like Moses, like Abraham, like you and me, God reveals that He wants all of us and he wants our unconditional surrender. For me, God asked, "Are you willing to be a missionary?" , and I said no for the longest time. For Moses He said "Are you willing to go to Egypt" and he sais, "No"for the shortest time. (Hey. if He can burn a bush He can burn me) For Abraham the call to be his Lord, his Adonai came in Genesis 14 and 15. Lot had been captured by 4 kings so Abraham summoned 318 men and travelled 240 miles to get Lot back. He defeated the kings, took all the spoils and 2 people met him after his victory, Melchizadek and the king of Sodom.

 

                                           Genesis 14:18-24

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, ¹⁹ and he blessed Abram, saying,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
    Creator of heaven and earth.
²⁰ And praise be to God Most High,
    who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

²¹ The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.”
²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, ²³ that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ ²⁴ I will accept nothing

                                        Genesis 15:1-6

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”

² But Abram said, “O Jehovah Adonai, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” ⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
⁶ Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.


    Notice in verse 1, Abraham was afraid. What was he afraid of? What was Adonai calling him to surrender?
     1. Safety, security, health, revenge.. He was a small group of people who had won the battle through the miraculous intervention of ElElyon (a different name for a different day) and would presume that they would want revenge. Adonai told him, don't worry," I am your shield". How much do you worry about these things. They say the fear of death and the fear of cancer are 2 of the top human fears. When we make Jesus, Lord/ Adonai of our lifes we are putting our lives into His hands. With me, this fear of being a missionary and getting killed was keeping God from being my Adonai, and until I surrendered that to Him, I was just one of those Christians living for myself rather than God.
     2. His future. He was still the guy with the bad land, had insulted his neighbors, and had turned down enough wealth to make him the richest man in the known world. Nothing had changed for him - actually it had gotten worse. God took him to the stars and renewed His promise with him. How much do you worry about your future, your finances, your legacy, your retirement fund? Adonai says, "put your life in my hands and you don't have anything to worry about. I promise to take care of you" (Matt.6:33)
    3. His family. He wasn't getting any younger, his wife was menopausal, and Viagra hadn't been invented. How was he going to have a family? He needed to surrender that to Adonai. Are you worried about your family? Maybe you are single and there are no immediate prospects for a future family. Maybe you are infertile. Maybe you have kids and are worried about their grades, their college, their popularity or lack thereof. Maybe they have begun driving! Turn that over to Adonai. Do you realize He cares for them more than you do? He knows the future and it turns out good for you.

     

    Tony Evans gives the illustration of a password into your email account to demonstrate what happens next. He says that Lordship is the access code into everything else God has for you. If you make Him your Adonai, doors are opened to more revelation of God to you. If you don't, you hit a dead end. You stay a baby. When you look at this Genesis passage, what was opened to Abraham through surrender?

 

    1. A new revelation of God. God revealed Himself as El Elyon. You won't know God better until you give Him everything

    2. His word. (Gen.15:1) Are you reading scripture and it is like blank words on a page? My guess is there are some Adonai problems

   3. His presence (Gen. 15:5) When is the last time you felt God's presence in your life? Does He feel distant or like He has abandoned you? My guess is there are some Adonai problems

   4. Revelation of His worth - He is the reward. It isn't Heaven, it is the God of Heaven. John Piper says, "The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever say, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?" If God hasn't become your heartbeat, maybe you are holding something back.

  5. A secure salvation. - vs.6 is quoted in Romans 4 the chapter about salvation through faith as illustrated through the life of Abraham. We see from Abraham that his salvation is so secure as he makes God his Adonai that God gives him a ceremony where He walks between animals cut in two and basically says may it be done to me as it has been done to these animals if I don't do what I have promised.

 

Here are a few diagnostic questions to see if you have made Jehovah your Adonai as gleaned from Tim Keller.

 1. Am I willing to obey no matter what God says, no matter how I feel about it?

 2. Am I willing to thank God for whatever happens in this situation even though I have no idea why?

 3. Am I relying on anything other than God for my hope and meaning in life?

 

  Here is a worship song that you can sing to Adonai

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1jgD69WzMY