How Do You Name Your Lord?
This excerpt, submitted by F. W. Schwartz, is from a book by Sir Robert Anderson, For His Name’s Sake — A Plea for Reverence. It is hoped that God’s people will be led to greater care in the manner in which they treat the holy name of their Lord.
“ … Prevailing habits of speech about our Saviour and Lord are derived, not from the sacred page nor from the example of the early saints, but from the apostate Church which practically denies His Lordship, and in great measure His Messiahship too. The four Gospels will be searched in vain to find a single instance where, in the days of His humiliation, His own disciples addressed Him or spoke of Him as Christians do so habitually today.
“Turn, for example, to the closing chapters of St. John. There, as elsewhere in the Gospels, He is mentioned in the narrative by His personal Name, for it is GOD who has written the story of His life; but never once is He spoken of thus by the disciples. Though Mary supposed Him dead and lost to her forever, her lament was, “They have taken away MY LORD, and I know not where they have laid Him.” “MASTER” was the word which rose at once to her lips when He declared Himself to her. That she had seen THE LORD was her testimony to the disciples. “MY LORD and my God” was the cry of Thomas when doubts gave way to faith. So also was it “when He showed Himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberius.” “That disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter” — not “it is Jesus,” as so many would say today, but “it is THE LORD.”
“Ye call Me MASTER AND LORD, and ye say well,” was His word to them; and is not this enough for any heart that cares for Him? And most of us all in days like these, when there are many antichrists, and Romanism and infidelity in their most subtle forms combine to deny His glory, does it not become those who know Him ever to proclaim Him Lord, and by reverent words to make their speech a constant protest against the irreverence that abounds on every side…?
“If Christians ever named their Lord with the realization that He is listening, they would never fail to manifest their consciousness not as the result of effort or training, but naturally and of course … With the world He is no more than a religious institution whose name represents the solemnities of their faith. With the Christian He ought to be a PRESENT LIVING LORD! But is it so…?
“Hallowed be Thy Name” is the prayer of our lips, but in practice that name is … hackneyed and degraded till men come to connect it with the jingle of the coin upon the counter.”
“…Unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever…” (Heb. 1:8). “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence of all them that are about Him.” (Psalm 89:7).