Thine...not mine | Hallowed be your name

To begin, this is worship. 

 

The opening address of the Lord’s Prayer – “Our Father in heaven…” – vaults us into the heavenlies and places us in the presence of Him who is relationally and characteristically our Father. 

Now what? 

We worship!

“…hallowed be your name.”

You’ll notice that this is not a request.  See how there are no question marks here…or anywhere in the prayer for that matter.  Rather, it’s a declaration with an edge on it directed toward the Father.  It is a forceful affirmation of the Father’s name…to be hallowed!  It is a pronouncement of something that is already true about Him and Him alone, to Him and Him alone!  There is no other name that ought to be hallowed.  His name alone is hallowed. 

But what is His name?  What are we hallowing here?  “Father” is an aptly fit title, but who has he introduced himself as? 

Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”  And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 

God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.’  This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remember throughout all generations.                               ~ Exodus 3:13-15

Did you catch it – the Father’s name? 

                “…hallowed be The LORD, I AM!”

It could be lengthened to “I will be to you everything who I most fully am forever.”  The name of the Father is uniquely all that makes Him who he alone is!  His name is His essence; all the character and quality of His nature!  You follow?

Whew, this is deep Andy…

It is deep, but not so deep we need to drown here.  Think about your character and the qualities that make you, you.  Be honest.  Given the right audience, I could begin listing those things about you and sooner or later someone would guess your name.  It works with objects too…

                Small, binding, title, front and back cover, pages, words, chapters, verses, etc.

At first you’re thinking of anything small.  Then the cover thing and pages and words makes you think of a book.  Then chapters tip you off to a specific type of book.  Finally verses makes you think of the Bible.

                Strong, black, liquid, hot, cup, drink, from beans, caffeinated, etc.

 Coffee, of course.  You get this?  The more characteristics or qualities we list, the more obvious what we’re talking about becomes, and the name of that object is revealed.  We might suggest, merely as a way to remember this, that:

name = fame 

What we or something else is famous for or known particularly by becomes associated with our or its name.  One more…

“…merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clears the guilty, visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

What am I talking about here?  What is the name associated with this description? 

Hint:  Exodus 34:6-7.  Read it… 

“The LORD, the LORD!”

Of course.  You had it early on, I’m sure. 

Here is the Father’s name:  The LORD (YHWH) or I AM, and His name is inseparable from His fame or His renown or His preeminent reputation.  His name is the sum total of all that qualifies and characterizes Him as who he most fully is forever!  And if that is His name, that is what we are declaring to be hallowed!

Now, you probably haven’t used the word hallowed in many casual conversations this week.  Probably, besides using it when you pray this prayer, you haven’t used hallowed…ever?  It’s out there.  You’ve heard it before, but mostly it’s a word that is so embedded in specific contexts – the hallowed halls of a university or Halloween or hallowed be your name – that it feels off limits for the day-to-day. 

And if it makes you feel any better, the Bible doesn’t use the word very often either.  In most popular English translations it shows up twice:  Once in Matthew and once in Luke, both in the Lord’s Prayer.  (It shows up several times in the King James Version of the Old Testament, but still only these two times in the New Testament.)

   

So, what does “hallowed” mean?  Any guesses? 

Simply put, it means “holy.”  More specifically, though, because it’s a verb we could say it means, “to be holy,” or better still, “to be regarded as holy.”  The issue is one of distinction.  It has less to do with perfection or flawlessness and more to do with being set apart from the ordinary and being lifted waaaaaay up, above the common place.

Here’s a picture…

Have you seen The Lion King?  Remember when Rafiki, the Baboon, sets apart Simba from all the other animals, taking him to the peak of Pride Rock, and lifts him up.  The whole plane of animals looks up and cheers for the young lion cub who will one day be their king. 

That’s “hallowed.”  And it’s worship, really. 

Here, at the outset of the Lord’s Prayer; our prayer, we stand or sit or kneel or lay or whatever before our Father and we worship.  Here we are declaring to Him that His name; the sum total of all that makes Him who He fully is forever, is regarded or considered to be set apart and lifted up above everything.  Creator set apart from creation.  Redeemer lifted up above the redeemed.  Our Father in heaven hallowed by His children.  God worshiped.

  

Now try this:  Make a list of things that are true of God and God alone; the qualities and characteristics of our Father in heaven that set Him apart from us and lift Him up as the only God, forever.  These make up His name; His fame and renown.

Then pray through the first line of our prayer with His name on your mind and on your tongue… 

“Our Father in heaven, you are eternal and infinite and incomprehensible to me!”

“Our Father in heaven, you are righteous and just and patient!”

“Our Father in heaven, you are faithful and gracious and loving to no end!”

Catching it?  It’s worship!  It’s a declaration to God of those things that set him apart and lift him up as wholly other than you or me.  Remember as you do that, to pray in the plural (bring others with you before God) to your Father (relationship and character) in heaven (go humbly into the place of power and majesty).