Hallowed Be Your Name

The Christian pilgimage is an exercise in knowing God. Pride, the devil, and the world's temptation get in the way. They must be put to death by refusing to associate with ourselves.

In Luke 11:1, we read, "It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples."

One amazing thought from the previous verse, and there are many, is this: Whichever disciple said to Jesus, and we don't know who, but it was probably true of all, "as John also taught." At this point in their spiritual growth, the disciples had not come to reverence Jesus for who He is. He used the word Kurios, which means Lord, in a master-slave relationship but then immediately compared him to a fellow slave.

Hallowed Be Your Name as Understood By Christ

Following the request of the unknown disciple, Jesus began by saying, "When you pray, say, Father, hallowed be Your name." Jesus began where all things begin, and that is with the creator God, who is Father. He is first the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in existence as God, not as a creator. He is not a Father to Christ in time but eternally. For this reason, Jesus Christ is equally set apart and should be in our minds from everything created.

The word hallowed in Greek means to make holy, to venerate, or to set apart. As always, Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter. When we pray, we are to hallow the person of God. We make nothing holy; Jesus is talking here about our viewpoint, our state of humility and worship of the living God, who Himself is the only Holy eternal life. From such a viewpoint, there is no comparison of Jesus Christ, who is God: "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God," John 1:1 with any other created person. Such should be the case as we view the saints of old and those who hold positions of authority in the church.

Jesus Christ understood who He is and His relationship with the Father. "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser." Jesus' use of the term I am in John's Gospel comes out of Moses' dialogue with God from the burning bush, where God announced Himself to be the great I AM THAT I AM. Then again, Jesus said, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works." Jesus declared two of the three parts of the trinitarian family of God and the abiding or remaining eternal as one. Jesus bids us; yes, He commands us to hallow His name.

Hallowed Be Your Name - Your Kingdom Come

The thought that Jesus presses into our minds with this request, "Your Kingdom come," is the kingdom yet to come. Jesus speaks of a literal 1,000-year kingdom that will complete the revelation of God's holiness and fallen man's sinful condition and need for salvation by the one, only, eternal, sovereign, and loving God (all-powerful, promise-keeping Trinity). Oh, what is in the names of God?

As God's names represent His attributes and character, so will the coming kingdom reveal the same in practice. God has recorded human history as the slander of God's creation. Man fallen into sin is a reproach to the character and goodness of the Godhead in whose image man was made. In the millennial kingdom, the ruling class will be the redeemed souls and resurrected bodies of the righteous by the blood of the Lamb made perfect (Hebrews 12). Six thousand years to date, it expresses men in rebellion, pride, and hatred of their creator, so much so that they would nail Him to a piece of wood. For 1,000 years, they will see what could have been and will be, but only for those of whom He chooses to bestow His grace. Any different way of looking at grace is a denial of grace.

Hallowed Be Your Name Your Will be Done on Earth

For any skeptic of a literal coming kingdom of Christ, Jesus emphasizes the coming of the heavenly kingdom to earth in our prayers. Revelation reveals that this present earth will be put out of existence at the White Throne Judgment, and there will be no coming kingdom to it. Christ commands us to pray, "Your will be done on earth, this earth. We are to be salt and light here and now and even more so in the coming kingdom of Christ. The first resurrection that Revelation 20:5 declares, "This is the first resurrection," will bring this earth into subjection to Jesus' rule through His redeemed people.

With these things in mind, let us come to the throne of grace and say hallowed Be Your Name as we ought. Let us lay aside worldly wisdom, the religion of men, the divisions, jealousy, and pride of the disciples before the cross and Pentecost. Let us come as men of faith and seek to obey Him as He bids us to by making disciples and planting churches not in our name but in His. Let us give the headship of the church back to the one to whom it belongs.

Bless you all!