Monday, November 15, 2010
Ezekiel 36:23 "And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD," says the Lord GOD, "when I am hallowed in you before their eyes."
HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME
We generally don't use the word "hallow" in every day language anymore. What does it mean? There is a word that we are quite familiar with that we use and read regularly in our study of Scripture which means the same as the word hallowed. It's the word "sanctify." In fact our text uses both words "sanctify" and "hallowed." In this verse, those two words are a different translation for the same Hebrew word.
So what if we were to substitute the word sanctify for the word hallowed in the Lord's Prayer? "Sanctified be Your name." Does that help us understand the meaning of this petition? Not really, right? We also need to understand the word sanctify. Very literally the words sanctify and hallowed mean "to be set apart as something special."
I have a neighbor who is a big Georgia Tech fan. He collects all kinds of Tech memorabilia. But he doesn't keep it out on the coffee table or on the counter in the kitchen. He has a special cabinet where he keeps those pieces that are most valuable and special. He sets them apart from the rest of his belongings.
We can use that example to help us understand what we are praying for in this verse. When we pray "Hallowed be Thy name" we are praying that God's name would be set apart, made holy, glorified in our lives. God's desire is to make His name holy through us. God sent Jesus as our Savior in order that His name might be made holy through us. He has sent us a Redeemer through whom we have been sprinkled clean of all our sins. He has sent His Spirit to bring us to know Him as our God, our LORD, our Redeemer, and to cause us to walk in His ways.
Certainly, God's name is holy, but let us continue to ask that our Heavenly Father would also help us to keep it holy in our lives.
