Hallowed Be Your Name (Matthew 6)

None of us likes our name to be misused. People have found themselves in court for misusing another person’s name. The basis for protecting our name from misrepresentation and slander can be traced to the third commandment in the Decalogue which forbids taking the Lord’s name in vain. And we are told not to say wrong things about other people for the reason that they are made in the image of God. 

 

Probably, we think of swearing and a crude use of the divine name as being the point of the third commandment. Yet there is more to it than such wrong usages. We take his name in vain when we use it lightly, thoughtlessly, carelessly. Maybe the best illustration is to consider how a people or nation should use the name of their monarch. What would people think if we misused the name of the Queen? They would not think much of us.

 

What the petition reveals about Jesus

One obvious aspect of this petition is that it reveals how much Jesus loved the name of the Father. He wants his people to treat the Father’s name with respect. Indeed, on the evening of his arrest, when he came to pray to the Father as recorded in John 17, he summarised his three years of teaching in these words: ‘I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world’ (v. 6). And he also said: ‘I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them’ (v. 26). That last verse indicates that there is a connection between Christian love and understanding the name of the Father.

 

What does the word ‘hallow’ mean?

Hallow means to regard something as sacred. So the petition is concerned with the Father’s name being treated as sacred. Where is his name to be regarded as sacred? The petition does not specify, so the answer probably is everywhere, although if the petition was being used in a specific occasion, we would obviously have the location in mind. 

 

Who brings about the hallowing of the Father’s name? The verb is in the passive mood, which means that God is the unnamed subject. The petition says that basically only the Father can hallow his own name, but he can hallow it in different ways. We will come back to this detail later.

 

We may be surprised to know that the verb is an imperative, and normally an imperative is a command. Clearly, we cannot command the Father from the point of view of authority. So what does the imperative indicate? It points to strength of expression, of intensity of desire. In other words, this is what a child of God wants most to happen, for the Father to hallow his name everywhere. We could say that this petition is similar to the desire that the glory of God will be everywhere.

How can we, mere humans, hallow his Name?

This expression, ‘Hallowed Be Your Name,’ is the first petition of the prayer. Since everything in the prayer is concerned with what God alone can do, it means that only God can fully hallow his name. This does not mean that we should not attempt to hallow it. Instead our expressing the petition is a confession of our weakness, an admittance that we are not able to do so. 

 

The inability would be there even if we were not sinful. Indeed, given the grandeur and greatness of God, it is not even possible for the entirety of the inhabitants of heaven to hallow fully the great name of God. Their combined contribution would be great, but it would only be the product of his own working. No one in heaven is independent of the power of God, of the wisdom of God, of the love of God. All they do is done in response to his kindness expressed in his dealings with them. He enables them to do whatever they do.

Understanding this reality could cause one to think that we are asking God to do what is impossible – to add to his own glory. What is meant here is that God exalts his glory by revealing its features to his creatures. There are a limitless numbers of ways by how he can do so. 

Yet at the same time, we can see that this expression ‘hallowed be your name’ states clearly the desire of the hearts of his people. This is what they most want to see, the name of God being praised and honoured. It is an inevitable consequence of conversion to want God to be glorified.

There is also an indication here that this statement comes out of deep Christian experience. What should be the highest moments in our earthly experience? To borrow words from Gardiner Spring: ‘The happiest moment of the Christian's life is when he enjoys the most enlarged and most impressive views of God, and dwells with adoring wonder on his boundless and unsearchable perfections.’ 

 

There is also expressed in this statement a longing for the perfect world to come. After all, the place where God’s name will be hallowed perfectly will be in the new heavens and new earth.

 

The name here is Father

In this petition, we are instructed to pray that the name of one divine person should be hallowed. This does not mean that we should not hallow the names of the other divine persons – the Son and the Spirit. Yet maybe there is a hint that we cannot honour the three if we fail to honour the Father. It is striking that Christians can speak a lot about Jesus and a lot about the Holy Spirit, but they do not seem to say so much about the Father. So we can consider some reasons that should lead us to honour, respect and revere the name of the Father.

 

We reverence his name because he is a divine person

As Christians, we know the profoundest truth that can be known, which is that the one God exists as three persons. The divine existence is one that is beyond our minds to grasp. It has often been said that if we try to explain the Trinity we will lose our minds, but if we deny the Trinity we will lose our souls. We recognise the Trinity by faith based on divine revelation – the Bible reveals us what we need to know about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

 

We rejoice in knowing that our God is a fellowship, indeed the most amazing fellowship that exists. This fellowship is amazing because it has always existed and because the divine persons share together the greatest pleasure that is constantly possible. What binds them together eternally is their own glory, and together they ensure that it is realised always. In a real sense, this is what this prayer is about.

 

We reverence his name because of the attributes he possesses

The Father possesses fully all divine attributes. We are familiar with the definition of God given in the Shorter Catechism: ‘God is a spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.’ The Father is infinite in his wisdom – there is nothing that he does not know. He is eternal in his power – his fullness cannot increase. He is unchangeable in his goodness – he remains kind and loving to his people. Therefore, we should worship him for the features that he possesses as a divine Person.

 

We reverence his name because of the actions he has done

There are many actions of the Father that we could think about. We can go back to the work of creation at the beginning of time. The Father, the Son and the Spirit were fully involved and fully delighted with what they created. After all, to whom did they say it was good, especially when they were rejoicing over their inanimate creation? The cry must have been an inter-Trinitarian celebration. We have no evidence that they had made anything previously, and how they rejoiced in their actions! The Father’s name should be honoured, respected and revered for his work of creation.

 

We can think about his activities in connection with his Son becoming human. The writer of Hebrews records the Son as he was coming into the world saying to the Father that he had prepared a body for his Son. At that moment, whether it is a reference to his conception or his birth, his body was very small. Yet the Father would have delighted in providing the body and he should be honoured, respected and revered for doing so.

 

Why did the Father provide a body for his Son? We have the answer to that question in John 3:16. God provided the body of Jesus in order for him to go to the cross and there endure the penalty that had to be paid because of our sins. Before then, in that body, Jesus had lived a perfect life on our behalf as well. Surely the fact that he provided the body of Jesus should cause us to desire that the name of the Father should be honoured, respected and revered.

 

The Father did not leave the body of Jesus in the tomb, separated from his human soul which had gone to heaven when he died. He raised his Son from the dead and later gave to him the name that is above every name, the name of Lord. Jesus is now at God’s right hand, exalted as the Mediator. And for him having that wonderful position we honour, respect and revere the Father.

 

We can think briefly about what the Father does for his people, those who have been born again. The Father calls them through the gospel to believe in his Son. When the call is an effectual one, they believe in Jesus and the Father justified them. This justification involves reckoning to them the perfect life of Jesus and pardoning all their sins. At the same time, he adopts them into his family. Surely, this introduction to the Christian experience is one that causes us to desire to honour, respect and revere the Father! 

 

We reverence his name because of the aims that he has

We can divide the aims of the Father into two – what he plans for human history before the Day of Judgement and what his plans are for the eternal state. As far as this life is concerned, his plans include blessing his children, answering their prayers, accepting their praise, chastising them for their waywardness, and welcoming them into glory. His plan includes calling his people who are not yet converted to enter his family. That is his plan for all of them, although each of them will face different circumstances.

 

On the Day of Judgement, it is his intention to be with all his family as they are gathered in his presence. All of them will be there. Abel was the first to enter his presence, at least as far as his soul was concerned. He was followed by billions of others, and on that Day they will be united with their bodies. Those who are alive at the second coming of Jesus will with them be glorified by the Father, and he will give to them the inheritance of the new heavens and new earth as his heirs. Surely, even now, perhaps long before that great day will come, we want to honour, respect and revere the Father.

 

How do we hallow his name?

We have thought about why we should do so and have seen many important reasons for such a response. But howshould we do so? We should do so gratefully. He has so blessed us through his attributes, actions and aims. It is a great sin not to be grateful to such a Father. We should do so penitently because he has continued to bless us despite our sins and falls. Repentance leads to restoration by the Father. 

 

We should do so publicly, and we know that one such place is gathering with his people to praise his great name and rejoice together in his amazing salvation. And we should do so privately, because as Jesus said at the beginning of this section of the Sermon on the Mount, the Father who sees in secret delights to reward his people with blessings. Private adoration is a wonderful means of grace.

 

Jesus was to say later on to the Father that he had revealed the Father’s name to his disciples. He went on to say that although he would soon be leaving them he would continue to reveal the Father’s name to his people. Jesus as our prophet delights to teach us about the Father. He does so from his Word worked out in our experience. The Bible tells us that the Father answers prayer, Jesus tells us to try it and see what the Father will do. The Bible tells us that if we are obedient to the commandments, the Father and the Son will live with us. Jesus tells us to try it and see what will take place. 

 

No doubt, other things could be said about why and how we should hallow the name of the Father. The main reason for both is connected to salvation, a salvation in which the Father reveals his attributes, activities and aims, and a salvation for which we can express gratitude for receiving, repentance for failing, and do so publicly and privately in the presence of the Father.

 

How does this work out in practice? When we waken in the morning, we should desire intensely that the Father’s name would be hallowed in our lives throughout the day. When we look round the street in which we live, we should desire intensely that in each home the Father’s name would be hallowed. When we look at sinners on the broad road, we should desire intensely that the Father would hallow his name by bringing them into his kingdom. When we meet as a congregation, we should desire intensely that the Father’s name would be hallowed in our worship and in our fellowship. When we look ahead to the world to come, we should rejoice that the time will come when the Father will hallow his name in a perfect environment.

---