Say Amen to Jesus — Hallowed be your name

The Lord’s Prayer – it’s a prayer we know so well and love so much. It helps us realise that prayer doesn’t have to be a chore or mindless rote; if we take to heart what Jesus tells us in these verses then prayer can become our greatest adventure. Prayer can be an inspirational, upbeat encounter with the living God, not something we shy away from, or even dread, but something which pulsates with energy because the closer we are to God the more we hear his heart beat.

Jesus explicitly tells us how not to do it: he says, don’t be like the hypocrites in verse 5 and don’t be like the heathen in verse 7. Then, he gives us a master class in prayer; he shows us the best way to do it: ‘Our Father in heaven’ – that tells me who he is and where he is; we come before him as trusting children.

It’s the next phrase – ‘hallowed be your name’ – that we are meditating on this month. That suggests, as we enter into the Lord’s near presence and, by faith, reach out and touch the throne of grace, that we do so as reverent worshippers. He is our Father, our heavenly Father; and, right here, he is our ‘holy’ Father, for that’s the thought behind the rather old-fashioned word ‘hallowed’.

We have the invitation in Psalm 96 to ‘worship the Lord in the splendour [or beauty] of his holiness.’ There is nothing cold or rigid about God’s holiness, nothing austere; rather, it is attractive and intrinsically lovely. At the outset of this prayer, therefore, we are compelled to acknowledge God’s bright and burning holiness; here is a God renowned for his perfections.

There’s an incredible vitality to it, it suits him to a tee. Holiness and God fit together like a hand in a glove, they are a perfect fit. Such an environment is conducive to fulsome praise and adoring worship, it’s a classic case of God getting what is rightfully his. But as we draw near, we have to do it God’s way and only on God’s terms! Let me illustrate …

Ever seen anyone struck dead during a worship service? I haven’t, but it has happened! Recall the two sons of Aaron in Leviticus 10, they were priests in the Tabernacle – Nadab and Abihu? The people were having a marvellous time of worship, it was a real good celebration, a kind of praise party; that same day, these fellas got too big for their boots and tried to offer to the Lord something that was unacceptable … the outcome was swift – zap, two dead men on the desert sand.

Much the same happened to Uzzah in 1 Chronicles 13; God’s people were moving the ark of God’s presence to Jerusalem on an ox cart. When the oxen stumbled, Uzzah thought God needed his help, so instinctively he reached out his hand to steady the ark of the covenant. The Bible says that God was incensed to such a degree that Uzzah perished.

The abiding lesson we learn from these two stories is that, yes, we can approach God, but it has to be with a clear awareness of who God really is – he is holy! And because he is pure, he will not allow his name to be tarnished, nor will he stand back and permit his name to be sullied in any way. The best intentions and the brightest ideas do not impress a holy, holy, holy God; you read Isaiah 6, even the angels around the throne recognise that. They stand in awe of him. Our God is not a warm glow, like the dying embers on the hearth. He is a consuming fire, ‘majestic in holiness’ (Exodus 15:11).

It’s an indisputable fact that God is holy; it’s equally true to say that everything associated with him is holy. His law is holy, and so is his promise. His ways, his words, his works, and his wrath are holy. His priests are holy. Even his people are holy, in the sense that we are set apart by him and for him. You see, it all makes sense when we realise that God does what he does because he is who he is. It all ties in with Psalm 103:1 where we are encouraged to ‘praise his holy name’.

A ‘holy name’ – that is why the Old Testament people of God took names as seriously as they did. They didn’t name their children after sports figures, pop stars, or Walt Disney characters. They gave them names that reflected the essence of their divine calling; to them, a name was not just a label, it was an identity. People do not just have names, they are their names.

That is especially true when it comes to the holy name of God. God’s name expresses his person, it is a mirror image of who he is. It reveals his divine nature, it shows his eternal qualities and character. In other words, God is who his name is!

He is Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. He is El Shaddai, the Mighty God. He is the Holy One, the Everlasting Father. He is the Maker and the Redeemer. He is the Hiding Place, the Shepherd, and the Rock. Whatever the name, and you can take your pick, God is who his name is because he does what his name says. Augustus Toplady hit the nail on the head when he wrote: ‘When we in darkness walk, Nor feel the heavenly flame, Then is the time to trust our God, And rest upon his Name.’

No wonder we say with Jeremiah: ‘No one is like you, O Lord, you are great, and your name is mighty in power’ (10:6). Or we sing with King David in Psalm 8:1, ‘O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.’ Or we shout with the seraphim in Isaiah 6:3, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory.’

Let’s get down to the nuts and bolts of this line in the model prayer – ‘hallowed be your name’. What does it mean for God’s name to be hallowed? It doesn’t mean that God can become any more holy than he is; he is already 100% holy, he is holiness personified.

So when we ask God to hallow his name, we’re actually asking him to do something. We want him to glorify himself for God is hallowed whenever he shows that he is the Holy One. All we are doing is asking him to reveal that he is exactly who he is. We’re inviting him to live up to his name, to do what he does best, to magnify himself in all the earth.

God does that in your life and mine when he uses us to grow his church and extend his kingdom of light. When we tell others about him, when we declare his greatness, when we lead someone to faith in Christ, when we are the real McCoy, when there is a buzz in our relationship to Jesus, the name of the Lord is lifted high, and our God is exalted – he is thrilled to bits for he knows that, in the grand scheme of things, every bit of the glory bounces back to him. That’s when his name is hallowed!

If we’re going to impact our world and influence our generation for Jesus Christ, we need to ask God to make us holy; holy in our actions, in our words, in our thoughts, in our emotions, in our worship, in everything – as people look at us, we want them to see a genuine replica of a God who is thrice holy. The Puritan Thomas Watson said: ‘When our lives shine, his Name shines in us.’

I say it reverently, but he wants us to be a chip off the old block – like Father, like son! The beloved pastor from Dundee, Robert Murray McCheyne, said that a holy man is an awesome weapon in the hand of a holy God … and he’s right.

I think we can take heart, for this is a prayer that God intends to answer. We know from Isaiah 59:19 that God’s plan is to reveal more and more of his perfection until the whole earth is full of his holiness – we read: ‘from the west, men will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory.’

You see, folks, when it comes to worship and service, we come before him with a spirit and attitude of reverence – he is God, and his name is holy. ‘Tell out my soul, the greatness of his Name, Make known his might, the deeds his arm has done; His mercy sure, from age to age the same; His holy name – the Lord, the Mighty One.’

Sam Gordon has authored a number of books with Ambassador. Originally from Bangor, he and his wife Lois make their home in the heart of England. He is the Bible teacher on TWR-United Kingdom’s daily programme, Truth for Today, heard online at www.twr.org.uk.

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