Title: Sanctify the Father's Name
Contents
Jesus taught his disciples to pray, having them first call on God, “Our Father in heaven,” and then make six petitions.
That first petition is a petition to “sanctify your name.”
The literal translation of the text should be “Hallowed thy name”, not “Father’s name sanctified.”
But our linguistic convention is that we cannot call God “you” in the second person. This is because when you call someone “you” in the third person, it becomes a very honorable title, but when you say “you” in the second person, it is a condescending one.
Therefore, you cannot call on God and then say, “Sanctify your name.”
When praying to God, there are people who often refer to God as “you”, which is a mistake.
So, because “you” in the original text refers to God the Father, in the Lord’s Prayer we use now, we do not say “sanctify your name” but “sanctify your name”.
What, then, is the meaning of the prayer to “sanctify your name”?
First, think about the problem of the name in the words “You sanctify your name”, and then consider the problem of holiness.
First, it is a matter of the name of God.
For the Hebrews, a name is not just a title, but an illustration of the existence, character, nature, office, or mission of the person bearing the name. We see in the Bible that often when a person's name is changed, a decisive change in his or her identity or life is accompanied.
For example, what happened when Abram changed his name to Abraham?
In Genesis 17, God makes a covenant with Abraham.
There was a solemn declaration from God that he would make Abraham the father of many nations, and that God would become the God of Abraham and his descendants. As a sign of that covenant, all the males of the Abrahamic family were circumcised.
And as a sign of God's blessing and eternal covenant, Abraham's wife Sarai, who was 100 years old, also changed her name to Sarah and promised to give her a son, Isaac.
Simon a fisherman became Peter a fisher of men, and Saul, a persecutor of those who believed in Jesus, became Paul a servant of Christ.
In this way, the names of characters in the Bible reveal the existence, nature, and character of the person, or their office or mission.
This is also true of God. The name of God can be said to refer to God Himself.
The writer of Psalm 33 says, “…for we have put our trust in his name” (Psalm 33:21).
To rely on God's holy name means to depend on God. the prophet Isaiah
“Therefore you will glorify the LORD in the east, and in all the islands of the sea you will glorify the name of the LORD, the God of Israel” (Isaiah 24:15).
If God is holy, his name is also holy.
Therefore, his name should not be profane. The Old Testament gives serious warnings against profaning the name of God. In Leviticus 22:32
“You shall not profane my name. I will be sanctified among the children of Israel.” And in Exodus 20:7, which speaks of the third of the ten commandments,
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. The LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” And in Leviticus 24:16
“If you blaspheme the name of the LORD, you must put him to death, and the whole congregation will stone him with stones.
Any alien or native who blasphemes the name of the LORD, he must be put to death.” I did.
Next, consider the issue of holiness in the words “You sanctify your name”.
Countless times throughout the Bible, God is spoken of as holy. When referring to God, the word “holiness” basically refers to a God who is fundamentally different from us humans and creatures.
The Hebrew word for holiness originally meant “separated.”
In other words, it refers to God's unique and most inner nature separate from all other beings.
Today's text is very helpful in understanding “the holiness of God” in that sense.
Notice again verses 8-11: “Night and day without ceasing they say, ‘Holy. holy holy
Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.' When the living creatures sat on the throne and gave glory and honor and thanks to him who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fell on their faces before him who sat on the throne and numbered them. They worshiped him who lives forever, and presented their crowns before the throne, saying, 'You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things. All things existed according to your will and were created.’”
What is the meaning of God's holiness found here?
First, in verse 8, “Holy. holy holy As we say, “Lord God Almighty”, we can see that God’s “omnipotence” is included in the meaning of His holiness.
All beings other than God have their limits, but God alone is omnipotent.
Second, as in verse 8, “He who was, and is, and is to come,” and in verse 9, “He who sits on the throne and lives forever and ever”, the meaning of God’s holiness includes “eternity”. can be found.
There is nothing in this world that is eternal by itself except God.
Only God is eternal and everything else can be eternal only by God.
Third, in verse 11, “The Lord created all things. All things were and were created according to your will.” As in the meaning of God's holiness, His "Creator" is contained.
Only God exists, and everything in the world is created by Him and exists according to His will.
Fourth, the holiness of God means “He alone to receive glory and honor and thanksgiving and worship and power.”
Look again at verses 9-11: “When the living creatures sit on the throne and give glory and honor and thanks to him who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever, He lowered the crown before the throne and said, 'Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things. All things were and were created according to your will.’”
Fifth, the Bible speaks of God's holiness and also calls for reverence for God.
The holiness of God can be understood to mean “a God to be feared by all.”
Isaiah said, “The Lord of hosts, ye shall call him holy, and make him the one you will fear and fear” (Isaiah 8:13).
Sixth, we see that God's holiness is also closely related to his ethical quality, that is, his “righteousness”.
Isaiah also said, “He who is holy will be called holy because he is just” (Isaiah 5:16).
These words ultimately show that the word “holy” refers to “the God of God.”
Therefore, “the sanctification of God’s name” means nothing other than “God becomes God”, that is, “the things that should be attributed to God are completely returned to God.”
Therefore, when we pray “to sanctify your name,” we are begging that we will know and acknowledge God as who He is.
In other words, may we know God as the almighty, eternal, all-creator, and just God, fear him, and give him all glory and honor, thanksgiving, worship and power, that This is the meaning of prayer.”
What did Jesus mean when he taught us to pray “that your name may be sanctified”?
It means that we should want to receive the glory that God deserves.
In order to do that, we must not hide the glory of God with ingratitude, injustice, and evil deeds.
It means “fear God.” And ask God to repel all ungodly people, to defend his holy name from their self-indulgence and blasphemy, and to cause all to fear it.
We pray that all unbelief and ungodliness that defile God's holy name will be destroyed and that the majestic God will be glorified. Especially those who, by the grace of God, have been chosen in Jesus Christ to call God Father, are to live holy lives.
In 1 Peter 1:14-16 the Apostle Peter says:
“Do not be conformed to the lusts that you followed in times you did not know before, as obedient children, but be holy in all your conduct, just as the Holy One who called you is. It is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’”
God said that when the people of Israel did not keep their faith right before God through idolatry, his name was defiled (Leviticus 18:21, 19:12, Ezekiel 36:20-23). Therefore, if we truly want his name to be sanctified, we must have a firm and unwavering resolve to turn away from idolatry of all kinds and to keep the faith.
As Jesus approached the time of his arrest and crucifixion, he prayed to God the Father and told the story of what he had done in coming into the world, saying:
“I have revealed your name to those you gave me out of the world” (John 17:6, 26).
Our prayers to God to sanctify the Father's name are therefore prayers for the continuation of what Jesus Christ did, the sanctification of God's name, on earth.
Jesus taught this prayer so that the disciples could understand and remember the work of salvation and the restoration of the kingdom of God that He would accomplish through His crucifixion, and they would continue to long for it and become ministers of the work of evangelism according to the will of the Lord. .
Let us now summarize the meaning of the petition, “Hallowed be your name.”
This petition is to know God rightly as our Creator and righteous Providence, and the Father who saved us in Jesus Christ, to fear Him, to obey Him, to live a holy life, to live a life of praise and worship, and to sincerely desire to be servants of the kingdom of God. will be
In the Bible, God or his name is said to be “holy” or “holy considered” and “glorified.” Or it is worth noting that the words “to be glorified” are often used side by side or alternately.
After crossing the Red Sea, Moses and the people of Israel sang to God, “Who is like you among the gods, O LORD?
Who is like you, glorious in holiness, and majestic to praise, and who does marvelous works?” I did.
The prophet Isaiah describes his sight of God this way:
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, and the hem of his robe filled the temple, and seraphs stood there, each with six wings, with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet. and covered them, and with both of them they flew, and called to one another, saying, Holy, holy, is the whole earth, O LORD of hosts, is his glory” (Isaiah 6:1-3).
Here we can see that the words for God's name "holy hallowed" and "glorified" are effectively synonymous.
Therefore, we must not stop at praying daily and begging that “Your name be sanctified.”
Whenever we pray, we should also pray and commit ourselves to make our own lives holy.
Let us glorify God by living a holy life different from those of the world who do not know God.