Often times we use the word "Lord" in our conversations with people. Now the question is, do we really understand its meaning? Chances are, you might say "Oh, it never dawned on me even to look into the dictionary." Well, so that we may use it more meaningfully, let us examine it.

Originally, the word "Lord" simply meant "Sir". For example we say: "the Lord Chancellor" or "Lord Hamilton," etc. However, from the third century before Christ this word, "Lord" took on a new meaning when the Jews began to use "Adonai" (the Greek word for Lord) in place of "Yaweh" in the reading of the Bible. From then on up to our times, that has become the new meaning of the word "Lord" namely,"Yaweh" or God, the Kings of kings.

Christ's followers Call him "Lord"

When Christ came into the world his followers called him "Lord". For example, we read in Luke 1:43, Elizabeth inspired by the Holy Spirit exclaimed:

"Who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to visit me;"

Or we have the book of Acts 2:36 which says:

"Therefore, let the whole house of Israel know beyond any doubt that God has made both Lord and Messiah this Jesus whom you crucified."

Therefore, when we say "Jesus Christ is Lord" what we actually mean is that Jesus is Yaweh. He is God, the King of Kings.

Jesus Christ is Lord over the whole of creation for two main reasons:
 
 

John 1:1-2 says: "In the beginning was the word and the word was in God's presence, and the word was God...The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.."

Jesus is the word. Therefore, Jesus is God.

1 John 5:20 says:

"And we are in the One who is true, for we are in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life."

John 10:30-33 says: "The Father and I are one...It's not for any God deed that we are stoning you but for blaspheming. You who are only a man are making yourself God." From the Scriptures we see that Jesus claimed to be God and it was because of this claim that they were stoning him.

The greatest proof, indeed, of his being God is his Resurrection from the dead by His own power. Yes, many have risen from the dead like Lazarus, or the son of the widow of Naim, or Dorcas in the book of Acts but not by their own power. Jesus even told them before he died!

"Destroy this temple and in three days time I will built it up again".

He was referring to his body, not the building that was made of stones. And truly, three days after his death on Friday he rose to life on Sunday morning.
 
 

Furthermore, in Acts 7:28, it says "In him we live and move and have our being," or in Colossians 1:17 it says, "He is before all else that is. Everything continues in being"

Who is this "him" that the passages quoted above are referring to? Definitely, the context of these two quotations tells us it is Jesus. It means, therefore, that everything is in the hands of Jesus, even our very existence, so that if he withdraws his support on our existence we will all go back to nothingness where we came from.

No wonder, St Paul explains in his letter to the Philippians 2:10-11: "Every knee must bend in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God the Father Jesus Christ is Lord!"
 
 

We know the account of creation and of man's fall in the book of Genesis. In chapter 1:26 it says:

"Let us make man in our image after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and the cattle and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."

Here, we see that God gave to man dominion over whole of creation. What does this word "dominion" mean? It means authority, kingship, rulership. In other words, when God created man, he made him the king of all creation. Man was the ruler of the world!

Because of this everything on earth was submissive to man, from the most ferocious animals like the lions, the tigers, etc... down to the smallest creatures like the germs which our naked eyes cannot even see. Man was enjoying the respect of every creature in the world as long as he was in right relationship with God. Everything then was in perfect order. Psalm 5-7 says: "What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man that you should care for him? You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honour. You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet."

This state of things, however, did not last long. Something went wrong somewhere. In I Revelation 12:7-we read: "Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. Although the dragon and his angels fought back, they were overpowered and lost their place in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancients serpent known as the devil or Satan, the seducer of the whole world, was driven out, he was hurled down to earth and his minions with him."

Take note that the scripture says: "he was hurled down to earth and his minions with him." When Satan came into this world he continued his rebellious activities against God. Seeing that man was in good relationship with God and holding dominion over the whole of creation, Satan started working on him to destroy the relationship and take away from him the dominion. Genesis 3:1-7 tells us how the devil did it: "Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the Lord God had made. The serpent asked the woman, 'Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?' The woman answered the serpent: 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'You shall not eat or even touch it, lest you die" But the serpent said to the woman: 'You certainly will not die! No. God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad." The woman saw that tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloth for themselves.

Here, we see how the devil talked to man against God and how man listened to the devil and followed him instead of God. Man fell into the hands of Satan. And because man is the link between God and the whole creation, when he fell the whole of creation also fell with him.
 
 

1 External Effects

With this fall man lost the dominion that he enjoyed over his environment and all the creatures. Everything in creation went into chaos and disorder. The creatures of the world did not only lose their respect for man they even became enimical to him. Now, they even attack man so that man has to spend millions to protect himself against them. Look at the germs, what little creatures they are, yet how much money is man spending to protect himself against them.

2 Internal Effects

The effects of man's fall are not only in the creatures around him but even within. Man lost control even of his own self. St Paul says in his letter to the Romans 7:15-20: "I cannot even understand my own actions. I do not do what I want to do but what I hate. I act against my will, by that very fact I agree that the law is good. This indicates that it is not I who do it but sin which resides in me. I know that no good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; the desire to do right is there but not the power. What happens is that I do, not the good I will to do, but the evil I do not intend"

The devil then, became the king of the world. The whole of creation was in his hands including man. He succeeded in taking away from man the dominion given him by God. And man became the prisoner of the devil.

Rom 8:20: "Creation was made subject to futility"

No wonder, in one of the temptations of Jesus the devil said to him:

"I will give you all this power and the glory of these kingdoms; the power has been given to me and I give it to whomever I wish" (Lk 4:6).

In Ephesians 6:12 Paul the Apostle calls them: "the principalities and powers, the rulers of this world of darkness"

and when Jesus talked to the Scribes and Pharisees he called them children of the devil, in John 8:44 :"The father you spring from is the devil, and willingly you carry out his wishes. He brought death to man from the beginning...."
 
 

But because God loves man so much, he did not allow this situation to go on forever. Right after the fall, God promised man a redeemer. He told the devil: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offsprings and hers; He will strike at your head while you strike at his heel" (Gen 3:15).

Truly enough, when the "fullness of time" came, God fulfilled his promise by his only son Jesus.

"God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him" (Jn 3:16-17).

Indeed, when Jesus came he himself said: "Now has judgment come upon his world, now will this world's prince be driven out. And I, once I am lifted up from the earth - I will draw all men to myself" (Jn 12:31-32)
 
 

By knocking down the devil! St John the Apostle says in his epistle: "It was to destroy the devil's works that the Son of God revealed himself" (1 Jn 3:8).That is why St Paul said in Colossians 2:15: "Thus did God disarm the principalities and powers. He made a public show of them, leading them off captive, triumphed in the person of Christ"

In other words, what Jesus really did was this:

He allowed the devils to destroy the fallen human nature which he took unto himself. By so doing he destroyed the devil's kingdom (Eph 2:15-16). To top it all, He even used the devils to destroy their own kingdom. It is something like they got caught in their own trap. Had they known that the human nature of Jesus was the fallen nature of man they would not have touched him at all. They probably had some inkling about it but they were not really sure.

For one thing, the devils were disturbed by his presence because when he commanded them, for instance, to get out of a person they could not resist him. Jesus had become such a disturbance and a threat to them that finally they decided to just finish him once and for all. Only to find out that what they thought was the solution to their big problem, had completely shattered their own kingdom. The burial of Christ's body was the burial, the end of the devil's rule over man and the whole of creation.

When Jesus rose from the dead his resurrection was a victory, a triumph over the devil. The risen Christ is the new humanity that is no longer under the rule of Satan. In fact he took back from Satan the rulership of dominion that man lost in Adam. By virtue of this victory Jesus is now the king of creation. He is now the second Adam; and even the devils have to bow to him in this world. St Paul says in Ephisians 1:22-23: "He has put all things under Christ's feet and has made him, thus exalted, head of the church, which is his body: the fullness of him who fills the universe in all its parts"
 
 

Jesus is indeed, the Lord and King of the world by virtue of his being God and of his victory over the devil. But the most important question for each one of us is:

"Is Jesus my personal Lord and King?"

This question is very important because man is a free creature and Jesus respects his freedom. Even if Jesus is the Lord and King of the whole creation, he will not impose his kingship over man whom he created free. Man therefore, must decide whether to accept Jesus or not as his Lord and King.

Jesus will never be your Lord and King to rule your life or personal kingdom no matter how miserably, bankrupt it may be unless you surrender it to him and invite him to rule it for you. The reason is because there can only be one king in a kingdom. But he will always be there to respond to you the moment you call on him. In fact, because of his so much love, he will even continue to knock at your door to offer himself to you. He says in Revelation 3:20, "Here I stand, knocking at the door. If anyone hears me calling and opens the door, I will enter his house and have supper with him, and he with me".