“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” Psalm 115:1
When we pray “Hallowed be your name,” what are we praying?
God’s name is an expression of His identity, nature, reputation, glory and power. When Moses first encountered the LORD at the burning bush and asked His name, God responded: “I am who I am” (Eh-heh-yeh / asher / eh-heh-yeh). Then God went on, “Say this to the people of Israel: I AM (yeh-hah-vay) has sent me to you” (Ex. 3:14). The personal name of God is derived from the Hebrew verb “to be.” The God of the Bible is the God who IS. That is His Name: being, existence, life.
This Name, since it belongs to the One and Only God, is holy. It is matchless. It stands utterly alone. There is no other God so there is no other Name worthy of our worship and devotion. The Great Sh’ma of Israel begins, “The LORD our God, the LORD is ONE,” or “The LORD is our God, the LORD alone” (Deut. 6:4). God is not the first among many rival gods. He is the One and Only – the sole Supreme Divinity – “The only God our Savior.” All other “gods” are pretenders to the throne, counterfeits.
So when we pray “Hallowed be your name” we are first of all acknowledging the truth that God’s Name is holy. “Holy is your name.” This is a confession of worship, a profession of faith. As we draw near to our heavenly Father in prayer, we recognize that, like Moses, we are stepping into a holy place. For God is holy in His uniqueness (the only God), in His righteousness (absolute purity), in His glory (radiant majesty) and all of His other infinite perfections (wisdom, goodness, patience, power and love – to name a few).
And God’s Name is holy since it represents all that He is in a single word. Consider the third commandment:
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” Exodus 20:7
To use God’s name in a flippant, casual, non-worshipful way (to say nothing of using it as a curse!) is number three in God’s Big 10! Just as it is intolerable to make an image of God (#2) so it is unacceptable to misuse God’s name. No image can represent all that God is. And God’s Name (“I am”) is the one acceptable short-hand to express and summarize the nature and glory of God. It is no small offense to diminish God in your heart or in your words by speaking His name without contemplating His glory. For more on this listen to Pastor Colin Smith’s excellent message “Your Struggle with Religion,” from his series The 10 Greatest Struggles of your Life.
For 1,500 years, from the time Moses learned the personal name of God, the people of Israel would not even speak the name (Yahweh, LORD in our modern translations) out of reverence for the third commandment and the unparalleled glory of God. Instead they would substitute the more common word adonai, which means “lord” or “ruler.”
Consider the central message of the gospel: “Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 1:4).
When you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” (Rom. 10:9), you are acknowledging that the Rabbi from Nazareth who was crucified under Pontius Pilate and rose again on the third day – that Jesus – is the personal, covenant God of Israel. “Jesus (Savior), the Christ (King) is LORD (Yahweh).” The name that Jews were nervous to state, we are now freely exhorted to speak and sing and shout in joyful celebration and awestruck wonder!
“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11
The Name of God we profess to be holy as we pray the Lord’s prayer, is the glorious, matchless name of Jesus, given to Him for all time by the Father. And as we pray “Hallowed be your name” we not only confess the truth that God’s name is holy, we express our desire and commitment to help others see and know the holiness of His Name! “May all people come to see and celebrate the holiness of your Name!”
And then look at this mind-blowing gospel result. For those who call on the name of Jesus to save them (Rom. 10:13):
“No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” Revelation 22:3-4
For all of eternity the life, the being, the existence, the glory and goodness – all that God is as expressed in His Name – will be upon us. That is what it means to be glorified – to have all of the righteousness of Christ realized in us. We will not only be covered by the blood of his sacrifice (forgiven), we will not only be judged righteous before God (justified), we will be filled with the goodness of God Himself (glorified)! His holy name will be on our foreheads!
“Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name!”