The Deity and Lordship of Jesus Proclaimed At His Birth

Luke 2:11  for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.


But in this usage it's way beyond that. When it says this is the Savior who is Christ the Lord, you'll notice and it will be true every time it's used in the Bible to speak of Jesus Christ or of God, it's a capital "L". You're not seeing it here as some human designation, you're seeing this as a divine designation. To say that this child is Lord, listen very carefully, is to say that this child is God. Lord is intended to imply in the Greek all that is implied by the Hebrew word Yahweh, the tetragrammaton, the Hebrew name for God. To say that Jesus is Lord is to say that Jesus is God first and foremost. And let me say this as clearly and simply as I can and you need to remember this, the most fundamental and basic confession of Christianity is this, Jesus is Lord. That is the most fundamental and basic confession of the Christian faith. Without that you don't have Christianity.

Again I say, the most fundamental and basic confession of the Christian faith is a three-word statement, Jesus is Lord, with all that Lord means.

And, you know, there's so many people out there who really don't get it. There are Christian people who when they hear people talk about grace and talk about faith and we love Jesus and Jesus is our Savior and He died for us, they don't understand the subtleties of what's going on. Those cults obviously masquerading as Christian are not Christian, they are satanic counterfeits because no matter what they affirm they deny that Jesus is Lord. And that, again I say, is the most fundamental and basic confession of the Christian faith. If you want to be saved,Romans 10:9 says, you must confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. That is unequivocal.

What does it mean? It means to say that Jesus is God and all that that implies. And if you're God, that implies sovereignty and authority.

Kurios means supreme power with authority with legitimacy. It is a word that expresses an authority that is valid, lawful and legitimate. And kurios is used here. Jesus is legitimately, validly Lord. He is Lord lawfully. He is Lord legally. He is Lord by virtue of nature who He is. So the root idea of kurios is legitimate sovereignty, legitimate authority. And, of course, the ultimate legitimate authority in the universe is God. 

~ Excerpts from John MacArthur on "The Announcement of Jesus' Birth"