The Model Prayer - Pt 2

 

[Jesus said] Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:9–13 ESV).

 

Sometimes we can go for years thinking that we understand a passage in the Bible and then discover that we were mistaken. For me, one of those verses was the opening of the well-known Lord’s Prayer. I knew that I had questions about some sections of this prayer, but one part that seemed obvious to me was “hallowed be Thy name.” Christians recite this prayer together often, sometimes weekly, and I would bet that many of us share the same mistaken idea that I had, namely, that the meaning of “hallowed be Thy name” was so obvious it needed no explanation. Well, that would be belief that robs us of the richness of the declaration.

 

Part of the reason we might miss this is our unfamiliarity with the language, especially the older King James English. We should read it more like “let your name be sanctified.” It is a positional statement more than a request or statement of need. It is a declaration of Who rules the world. Today we have no contextual understanding of that. Our world is ruled by the rich and powerful for their needs to be met. This is not our God. The prophets of Israel, however, knew that this was only a temporary condition. The day was coming when God, the rightful ruler of all creation, would assert His rule. He would throw down all the rulers of this world. He would rule over the world through His own appointed King, the Messiah. That King would rule in righteousness and justice. Under that rule the world would no longer be a place of rebellion and evil; the King would conquer every trace of rebellion; every square inch of creation would be under the rule of God, reflecting His goodness and love. This is what the prophets meant by “the kingdom of God” or “the kingdom of Heaven”—God’s rule, through His Messiah, over all the earth, bringing in eternal righteousness.

 

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus speaks of the same concept that Ezekiel does (cf. Ezekiel 37), the sanctification of the name of God. What God says He is going to do in Ezekiel is what we are praying will happen when we pray the Lord’s Prayer. God has made many promises to His people, but the world around us feels quite safe in either ignoring or ridiculing Him. Until He comes and keeps all those promises, establishing His rule over all creation, the nations laugh at His name: “God is no big deal. Look around. He doesn’t protect His people. The world goes on the same day after day.” Well, a day is coming when no one will be able to ignore God anymore. God is going to step into history and destroy all the kingdoms of this world and rule over His people and bless them. When He does that, He will “sanctify His name.” God is already holy, but in this world His name, his reputation, is seen as ordinary and insignificant. When Jesus returns to rule over all, God’s name, God’s reputation, will be restored to its rightful place.

 

Now, that’s a world I want… and the sooner the better. Therefore, I pray “… hallowed by they Name!”