It was begun by the pioneer Bible translator William Tyndale. It was continued a century later by the Authorized (King James) Version translators. All English language Bibles, except perhaps those for Jewish believers in Yeshua (Jesus), still use it. I am talking about the English word for a sovereign ruler. It was used to translate the Hebrew Adonai and YHWH (Yahweh) in the Old Testament and the Greek word Kurios in the New Testament. It is, even today, the name of the upper house in the British Parliament. English speaking believers in Christ world wide utter it hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of times daily. It is so often on our lips that its awe-filled meaning is easily dulled. But in deepest sincerity we sing from the heart: "He is Lord, He is Lord, He is risen from the dead and He is Lord. Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord." Used this way, the word means deity; He is both God and Man in one Person.
More than a few believers have paid with their lives for declaring that Jesus Christ is Lord. Beginning with those who were smeared with wax and burned as torches to light Nero's gardens, down to those tortured and murdered in Muslim and Marxist countries today, it can be costly to utter those words. Others, in free countries, utter the words casually and the Lord Himself asks them, "Why do you call me Lord and not do the things I say?" The first few generations of believers in Christ were, from time to time, ordered to say: "Caesar is lord". In the worst persecutions (both in Rome and modern times) they were also ordered to curse Christ. Merely uttering "Caesar is Lord" was viewed by enlightened Romans as a simple act of patriotism, promoting the unity of the empire as embodied in the emperor. The utterance was to be accompanied by a pinch of incense dropped on a flame in a public place. A certificate called a 'libelli' was issued to prove that the act of emperor worship had been performed; something like a receipt for paying taxes. Unethical and dishonest "Christians" would get a friend to obtain a libelli for them. Thus they could 'truthfully' tell the rest of the church, "I have not bowed to emperor worship".
Honest and courageous believers would refuse any form of emperor worship and cursing Christ was unthinkable. Instead, they boldly and publicly declared, "Kurios Iasous" -- "Jesus is Lord" (or in Latin: "Jesu Domini"). The current form of "Caesar is Lord" here in the U.S. is the requirement that you not call certain things sin. High officials have said, "Christians need to change their beliefs".
In a practical sense, I confess His Lordship in my attitude and obedience to Him. I can deny His Lordship in how I treat people. Most believers, down through history, have confessed or denied Him in these seemingly small ways day after day, rather than under some threat of torture and death. But the stakes are being raised. The county clerks who have resigned rather than issue those God-defying same-sex 'marriage' licenses; the employees who resign rather than lie for their employers; the teachers who resign rather than teach anti-God and anti-Christ curriculum; they are all paying the price for confessing His Lordship over all of life.
I gladly confess His Lordship by giving thanks for food in the midst of unbelievers and offering to pray for all kinds of people on all kinds of occasions. And, if I write on historical subjects I confess His Lordship by writing the dates as either B.C. or A.D. and refuse the growing practice of denying His Lordship by writing B.C.E. ("before the common era") and C.E. ("common era"). If unbelievers want to use those Christ-denying abbreviations that is their choice.
Did I lose you on those last two sentences? Since the year 525 A.D. Christians have honored their Lord by writing dates since the birth of Christ as A.D. (Anno Domini -- "in the year of our Lord"), and if the date is before the birth of Christ as B.C. The Latin "vulgaris aera" ("common era") was used by Christians centuries ago, but they meant something quite different from its current use. To them it was "the common dating system based on the birth of our Lord". The world wide use of the calendar based on the birth of Christ is God's sovereign overruling of history to honor His Son. In the last 30 years, however, the C.E. and B.C.E. abbreviations have become the symbol of banishing Jesus the Lord from all of life as secular humanism wages its war against the knowledge of God. Don't believe the claim that those abbreviations are used to avoid offending those who do not believe He is "our Lord". This is gross hypocrisy because there is little concern about offending conscientious Christians. Pay no attention either to the disingenuous excuse that "the calendar is off by five years anyway".
As further evidence of the irrationality of using those abbreviations consider this. If they write a date such as "1860 C.E.", ask them, "eighteen hundred and sixty years since what?! It is as though they are saying, "we will continue to use the calendar based on His birth but we will never mention Him." I will not bow to this current form of emperor worship and use those Christ-denying abbreviations! Even the writers of the U.S. Constitution boldly signed that document with the words: "done at Philadelphia IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD one thousand seven hundred eighty-seven" (emphasis mine). The next time someone tries to tell you that the writers of the Constitution did not consider God important enough to mention in that document, tell them, "but they did, however, confess Jesus as Lord at the end of that document before they signed their names to it;
Finally, may "the LORD bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you".
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