Hallowed Be Your Name
Matthew 6:9
We are learning to pray from Jesus. Here in His Sermon on the Mount Jesus is teaching us how to pray. In Matthew 6:9 Jesus says, “In this manner, therefore, pray…” And Jesus then gives us a model prayer, a pattern for prayer—what we traditionally have called the Lord’s Prayer because He taught it to His disciples.
Last time we learned that Prayer is based on a personal relationship with God the Father. So Jesus teaches us to pray, “Our Father in heaven” (Matt. 6:9). Prayer is an expression of the relationship we have with Him as children of God. Jesus opened the way for us to become children of God through His death and resurrection. Now “we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19).
The address, “Our Father,” reminds us of God’s approachability. When we begin our prayer, “Our Father,” we begin to pray based on an intimate relationship with God – that of a father and child. God is not an angry judge looking for an opportunity to condemn us, nor is aloof and distant, too busy to hear you. He is our Father and can be approached on an intimate basis.
It is also important to remember that our Father is “in heaven.” The Father sits on the throne of majesty and at His right hand shines His Son, Jesus Christ. God is “in heaven.” He is God of majesty and might. He is the glorious King, surrounded by the angelic host, sovereign over all things in heaven and on earth. God is above all. He has all authority and all power. He is heavenly. He is separated from sinners. He is undefiled. He is holy. He is “Our Father in heaven” (Matt. 6:9).
On the one hand, our Father is easy to approach because we are His beloved children; on the other hand, He is the King of the universe, clothed in heavenly glory.
These two attributes of God come together wonderfully in the next part of the prayer, “Hallowed be Your Name.” This, by the way, is the first petition. This is the first prayer request, “Hallowed be Your name.” And it’s on God’s behalf. “Hallowed be Your name” is a request, not a declaration. We are not saying, “Lord, your name is hallowed!” We are saying, “Lord, cause your name to be hallowed!”[1] This is then the fundamental duty in prayer. “Self is immediately removed and God is the priority. The glory of God, the hallowing of His great name, is the beginning of all prayer.”[2]
The first thing we do when we come to God in prayer, acknowledging Him as the Father who cares about us and who has all the resources we need, is to confess that the priority is not us but God, because the first thing we pray is, “Hallowed be Your name.” When we pray “Hallowed be Your name,” we climb to a new level of respect for God and reverence for His person. When we begin our prayers “Hallowed be Your name,” we are not rushing into the presence of God to demand something, we come into His presence recognizing who God is and honoring Him with our praise. Jesus teaches us the pattern to start our prayers with “Hallowed be Your name”. We must not wait until we have said everything we wanted to say and then tack on at the end, “Oh, by the way, God, You’re pretty great too.”
This is an expression of worship, of reverence, of praise. The verb, “Hallowed”, comes from the word for “holy.” It means to be holy, set apart, sanctified. When we pray “hallowed be Your Name,” we are not praying that God would be made holy. God is already holy, set apart, by His very nature. God is supremely holy—separate from us. He absolutely belongs to a different sphere of life and being. Rather, we are praying that God would be acknowledged as holy, known as the holy God who He is. We are praying that God be set apart in our minds and hearts to be worshipped, praised, honored, and adored. To hallow the name of God is to hold His matchless being in reverence, utter awe, to hold Him as unique, above and beyond everyone else.
The object of all prayer is that God be glorified. Jesus gives this great promise about prayer in John 14:13. “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” That verse tells us the purpose of prayer—God’s glory, “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” God’s glory was the constant focus of the Lord Jesus Christ. In His high priestly prayer (John 17), Jesus declared, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, … I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do, … I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world,” (John 17:1, 4, 6).
All of Jesus’ life fulfilled this prayer to hallow the Father’s name. Prayer is first and foremost a recognition of God’s majestic glory, a submission to that glory[3], and a petition for God’s name to be glorified. John MacArthur wrote, “True prayer brings the mind into immediate contemplation of God’s glory, and true prayer should hold it there until the believer’s soul is properly impressed.”[4]
This is why the model prayer that Jesus teaches begins with three petitions concerning God. “Hallowed be Your Name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done” and for all these requests we are asking that God’s name be hallowed, His kingdom come, and His will be done, “On earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:9-10).
How is God’s name hallowed in heaven? Angelic creatures cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isa. 6:3). The worship in heaven never ends: “they do not rest day or night, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” (Rev. 4:8). Every creature in heaven joins in saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!” (Rev. 5:13). That’s the scene in heaven. God’s name is honored and adored in unceasing worship.
What about the scene on earth? Listen to what God says through the prophet Isaiah,“And My name is blasphemed continually every day” (Isa. 52:5). The scene on earth could not be more different from the scene in heaven. In heaven, God’s name is honored as the angels worship without ceasing. On earth, God’s name is despised, blasphemed all day long.
And into that chasm, we pray the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer. To pray ‘Hallowed be Your name’ means to ask God to let His name be worshipped, exalted, honored, and adored on earth as it is in heaven. It is to ask God to so move and act in the world, that people will worship and treasure Him above all else.[5]
How do we “Hallow” God’s Name?[6]
1. We hallow God’s name by reverencing His person.
Praying “Hallowed be Your name” is not a passing homage. It is not a casual bit of religious routine. It is really a recognition of a whole sphere of respect and reverence, of awe and appreciation for who God Our Father is.
“Your name” stands for far more than a title, far more than a word. The name of God is always an expression of His person and His character. It means all that God is. To hallow God’s name means more than just thinking of His name in an adoring way. To hallow His name is to go beyond the name itself to set apart and magnify the One who stands behind the name.
We learn much about God from His names in the Bible. He is God the Father; He is Adonai the sovereign; He is Yahweh the covenant Lord, the one who is “I am that I am”; He is Elohim the mighty creator; and El Elyon—God Most High. There are dozens of names and titles by which God is called in the Bible. Maybe the reason God is known by so many names is that one name or title could never express His eternal nature and infinite perfections. Each name reveals to us an essential aspect of God’s nature and character.
In Exodus 33:18 Moses prayed, “Please, show me Your glory.” Then the Lord answered (Exo. 33:19), “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you …” (“the Lord” is Yahweh, the covenant name of God). After putting Moses in a cleft of the rock because as God says, “for no man shall see Me, and live” (Exo. 33:20), then the Lord, “descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord,” (Exo. 34:5). Look at how the Lord proclaims His name (Exo. 34:6): “And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.’”
When the Lord proclaimed His name He was not just stating His title, He was showing His glory by expounding His character. He proclaimed His mercy, grace, patience, goodness, truth, forgiveness, and justice. This is God’s glory. This is His holiness.
During the wilderness wandering of the people of Israel, they came to a place called Kadesh (which by the way is related to the Hebrew word qâdash, meaning to be holy, set apart). At Kadesh they had no water (Num. 20:1-2). And the people grumbled against Moses (Num. 20:3). But the Lord told Moses to speak to the rock and to bring forth water for the people (Num. 20:8). But Moses’ spirit was angry, and he spoke rashly (Num. 20:10) and struck the rock twice with his rod (Num. 20:11). The water came, but so did the stinging word of God to Moses: “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” (Num. 20:12).
Notice what God said to Moses: “you did not believe Me, to hallow Me.” We hallow God by believing Him, trusting in His word. God is not hallowed when we do not have a spirit of faith and trust in His word.
John said, “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son” (1 John 5:10). When we disbelieve God, we make Him our to be a liar and we profane His name. Not trusting God is the exact opposite of hallowing His name. When we pray, “Hallowed be Your name“, we are asking that God would cause His name to be reverenced by people trusting in His word and believing in His Son.[7]
In John 17:6, when Jesus prayed, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world,” what did He mean by “I have manifested Your name”? Did He mean, “I’ve told them Your name?” No, He meant, “I’ve revealed who You are.” Remember Jesus said (John 14:9), “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” Jesus showed who God is—His true nature, His true person, His name. The name of God is supremely and fully revealed in Jesus Christ. Jesus was the Father’s glory incarnate, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). As John MacArthur says, “’Name’ is not a title, it’s a total”[8]; it’s the whole being of God.
Psalm 99 says, “3 Let them praise Your great and awesome name; He is holy … 5 Exalt the LORD our God, And worship at His footstool–He is holy … 9 Exalt the LORD our God, And worship at His holy hill; For the LORD our God is holy.” (Psa. 99:3, 5, 9).
In Isaiah 8, the Lord God warned the prophet not to be like the people of Israel. “Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’ Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your fear, And let Him be your dread.” (Isa. 8:12-13).
How do you hallow God? You hallow Him by not fearing what men fear but fearing God. Very practically it means that when God commands you to take your stand for Him in this hostile world, you fear displeasing God more than you fear the hostility of man. When we pray, “Hallowed be Your name,” we are praying, “Father, cause people to reverence You so much that it is more dreadful to lose your approval than to lose anything the world can offer.”[9]
We hallow God’s name by reverencing His person.
2. We hallow His name by rehearsing God’s works.
Several of the Psalms give us an example of this kind of praise.
2 Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious. 3 Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You. 4 All the earth shall worship You And sing praises to You; They shall sing praises [to] Your name.” Selah (Psa. 66:2-4)
Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD! (Psa. 105:1-3)
The works of His hands are verity and justice; All His precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, And are done in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever: Holy and awesome is His name. (Psa. 111:7-9)
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. (Luke 1:49)
Paul hallows the name of the Father in his letter to the Ephesians. He praise or “blesses” “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Eph. 1:3). Then he goes on to rehearse the ways that God “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” He writes about how God chose us (Eph. 1:4); adopted us (Eph. 1:5); made us accepted in the beloved (Eph. 1:6); redeemed us through Christ’s blood (Eph. 1:7); made known to us His will (Eph. 1:9); given us an inheritance (Eph. 1:11); and sealed us with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13)—all “to the praise of His glory,” (Eph. 1:14; also Eph. 1:6, 12).
We hallow the name of the Lord our God with acts of public and private worship. Our hymns often help us to rehearse the saving works of the Lord. We hallow His name by remembering and rehearsing what God has done in Christ.
3. We hallow His name by relinquishing control over our lives.
31 “Therefore you shall keep My commandments, and perform them: I am the LORD. 32 You shall not profane My holy name, but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel. I am the LORD who sanctifies you,” (Lev. 22:31-32)
We hallow the name of God when we keep His commandments. We profane the name of God when we break His commandments. So, when we pray, “Hallowed be Your name,” we are praying, “Father, cause your word to be obeyed.”
To obey the Lord, we must trust in the Lord and in His sovereign will for our lives.
Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, Just as we hope in You. (Psa. 33:20-22)
Jesus prayed this kind of prayer submitting to the will of the Father:
27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” (John 12:27-28).
When He prays “Father, glorify Your name” it is essentially the same as “hallowed be Your name.” Jesus illustrates perfectly what it means to pray this way. He submitted His will to the Father’s will for God’s glory. That is hallowing the name of God.
Paul encourages the Roman Christians to submit themselves to God as an act of worship:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (Rom. 12:1)
Paul warned the Jews in the church at Rome, “…. the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,…” (Rom. 2:24). It is a solemn thought to realize that failure on our part to hallow the name of the Lord has disastrous consequences, in causing that name to be blasphemed by the world. When we pray each day “Hallowed be Your name,’ we are saying, “Father Your reputation is at stake in me today. May I live in such a way as to be a credit to Your person. My others see Your character through my behavior and honor Your name because of what they see of You in me.”
Hallowing His name means living in such a way that I increase His reputation in the world. When you pray, “Hallowed be your name,” you are both the voice and the feet of that petition. As the very words leave your lips, your life is part of the answer. When you pray that God’s name be hallowed, your first obligation is to live in such a way that God can answer your prayer through your life.
We hallow the name of God by relinquishing control over our lives, submitting ourselves to obey Him.
4. We hallow His name by recognizing His presence in our lives.
For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones. (Isa. 57:15)
I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. (Psa. 16:8)
That’s what it means. The Lord is before us, near us. “God, it’s Your purpose, it’s Your kingdom, it’s Your will, Your glory.” That’s where all prayer starts. Hallowing His name means I have set the Lord always before me, praying, “Oh God, before I ever talk about my bread, my sin, my life—know this: I desire Your name to be hallowed, Your glory to be displayed.”
Will this prayer be answered?
Our Lord did not teach us to offer futile prayers. Every petition of the Lord’s Prayer will be answered. When we frame our prayers around the Lord’s Prayer we can always pray with confidence. Each of the six petitions will be answered when our Lord returns and each has an answer that we can experience here and now. There’s a ‘now’ answer and a ‘then’ answer.
When Christ returns in power and glory, God’s name will be hallowed, honored, glorified, and exalted.
“For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
As the waters cover the sea.” (Hab. 2:14)
Paul declares “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phl. 2:10-11).
This world will be the home of righteousness. Never again will God’s name be blasphemed. God’s name will be honored on earth as it is in heaven. And all of God’s people will worship Him, love Him, and adore Him forever.
But how can this prayer be answered here and now in this world that despises God’s name? What is God’s answer to His name being blasphemed all day long? Immediately after God says through Isaiah that His name is blasphemed continually every day, the Lord says, “Therefore my people shall know my name.” (Isa 52:6). God’s answer to a world that despises His name is a people who know His name.
When we pray ‘Hallowed be Your name,’ we are asking God to raise up here on earth, people who know Him, love Him, and treasure Him. We pray so that in a world that despises and blasphemes God’s name, His name may be honored.[10]
God wants His name to be hallowed in us—that we would be His children by faith in Jesus Christ so that we would reverence His person in Christ, rehearse His mighty works in Christ, relinquish control to Jesus Christ, and recognize the presence of Jesus Christ in us—all for His glory!
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[1] John Piper, Hallowed Be Thy Name in All the Earth, https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/hallowed-be-thy-name-in-all-the-earth
[2] John MacArthur, Hallowed Be Thy Name, https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/42-148/hallowed-be-thy-name
[3] John MacArthur, Hallowed Be Thy Name, ibid.
[4] John MacArthur, Hallowed Be Thy Name, ibid.
[5] Colin Smith, What Does It Mean to Pray ‘Hallowed Be Your Name’? https://openthebible.org/article/what-does-it-mean-to-pray-hallowed-be-your-name/
[6] David Jeremiah, Prayer the Great Adventure, Multnomah Publishers, Sisters OR, 1997. pp. 92-95. I adapted Jeremiah’s outline from chapter 5 for this sermon.
[7] John Piper, ibid.
[8] John MacArthur, The Priority of Prayer, https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/2235/the-priority-of-prayer
[9] Piper, ibid.
[10] Colin Smith, ibid.
