Word of Encouragement (3/17/2021)

We are thinking about what we should pray for. There is no better place to start than the Lord’s Prayer. Yesterday, we talked about the significance of calling out to God as “our Father in heaven.” Today, we want to talk about the first petition: “hallowed be your name” (Matt. 6:9).

“Hallowed be your name” means “May your name be made holy.” This raises an immediate question: does this mean that God’s name is not holy? If something has to be made holy, it must not be in a state of holiness. But it’s ridiculous to think that God’s name is not holy. For God is holy: He is the Essence of holiness, the Source of whatever is holy and sacred.

To understand this petition, then, we must recognize the distinction between God’s inherent holiness, which is always holy and can never be profaned, and God’s perceived holiness, which can be profaned by the sinful rejection or improper acknowledgment of men (and angels). It is somewhat like a bad rumor that an innocent person may unfortunately suffer: he is innocent but he is perceived as guilty of something. How does this happen with God’s holy name?

One reason that this can happen is because of God’s covenant with sinners, by which God promises to be their God and makes them His special people. He throws His lot with them, so to speak, to the point that what they do affects His reputation, just as what a child does reflects good or bad on his parents. The people of Israel throughout their history brought much shame and dishonor to God by their idolatry and sins. The worst time was when God cast them out of the promised land and scattered them among the nations for their repeated and unrepentant sins. This was according to His promise in the law. Even so, God lamented, “But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, and yet they had to go out of his land’” (Ezek. 36:20).

But God could not let His holy name be profaned forever. So, He promised, “And I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD... when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight” (Ezekiel 36:23). How would He make His name holy again? Just as His holy name was profaned by the punishment of His people, He would make His name holy by the redemption of His people. This was partially fulfilled when Israel was allowed to return to the promised land. But they continued to live under the rule of foreign nations.

It is in this context that we have to understand the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus was telling His disciples to pray for the vindication of God’s holy name by the full redemption of His people. You can see the irony of this, can’t you? To pray this prayer was to pray for the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, without which we cannot have God’s full redemption for the vindication of God’s holy name! How amazing is Jesus’ love for us!

But should we pray this prayer now that Jesus died and rose again from the dead? Of course! Even though Jesus accomplished our redemption, its full application has not been made complete. Even though we are justified once for all, we still sin and will continue to do so until we are glorified in heaven. If we are honest with ourselves, we must acknowledge that we still bring shame and dishonor to God’s holy name through our sins, big and small, especially through our public sins. In praying this petition, we are asking God to complete our glorious redemption at the day of Christ (Phil. 1:6) and, in the meantime, hallow His name by transforming us into His image so that the world will see our good works and give glory to our heavenly Father (Matt. 5:16).