Hallowed Be Your Name

The Heidelberg Catechism gives us a good explanation for the first request of the Lord’s prayer: Hallowed by your name.

This afternoon, we’re going to walk through this request, as taught by Revelation 4 and Isaiah 6.

When we pray, “Hallowed be your name,” we’re asking God to help us really know Him. How do we know God? There are two ways: general and special revelation. General revelation includes seeing God’s handiwork in all of creation. Just as an anthropologist can see human creativity in the brushstroke of a cave painting, we also can see God’s creativity in the brushstroke of DNA.

Special revelation, the Bible, is the revealed Word of God. In it tells God tells us who He is. His character, His moral nature, His truth, justice, righteousness, grace and loving-kindness are contained in it. In it, He tells us that He has a plan for us, for His universe. God is absolute in power, authority and rule. God is completely just. God is incredible in grace and mercy. In the Bible, God reveals His amazing love!

God invited the Apostle John to see things that were so amazing he could hardly put them down on paper! One day we too will see, and we will understand. Nevertheless, what John wrote is understandable, and it tells us all about God. It tells us why He deserves our blessing, our worship, our praise.

Open Door

John looks and sees an open door. God doesn’t hide anything. For those who seek, he reveals that He sought them first, He opens the door and invites them in. John responds to the invitation and in the Spirit, goes through the door.

The first thing He sees is the throne in heaven and the one sitting on it. Isaiah also saw God seated on the throne. The voice of God is like thunder, like a trumpet blast that rocks the doorposts. God is omnipotent, all-powerful, all-worthy of praise, God is hallowed because He is on the throne.

Have you ever been to England? Have you seen Buckingham palace? Have you seen the queen sitting on the throne? There’s power there. There’s a sense of awe. But all that is nothing compared to what John saw and felt.

God’s throne represents all power and authority in the universe. God is the just judge. God will bring justice. God will satisfy the broken-hearted.

But the presence of a rainbow around the throne is a reminder. It reminds God of His covenant with Noah. It reminds God to be patient with sinful humanity. It is a symbol pointing to God’s atoning work in Christ Jesus. God judged the world, but saved believing Noah and his family. God made a way for them to escape judgement. God has made a way for all who believe to escape judgement, through his Son, Jesus.

God isn’t a power-hungry tyrant. He isn’t a paranoid dictator who does everything he can to hold onto his power. We know this because, surrounding the throne is 24 thrones occupied by twenty-four elders.

Authority

God delegates his authority. He doesn’t keep it all to himself. He trusts others with power and responsibility. When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden, He gave them dominion over it. He empowered them to exercise their authority over all creation. He created them to rule.

Think of it! God gives people tremendous authority! He raises up leaders and nations. He uses people to bring justice and judgement, mercy and love! He responds to needs by empowering people to respond!

But here is a powerful thought. He gives us children. He gives us the responsibility to raise them. He delegates His authority to each and every parent! What an awesome responsibility! What amazing trust! How can we not praise God for this?

Before the throne was a sea of glass. The Israelites feared the sea. They did not desire to travel on it. For them, the sea represented the worst forms of evil. Leviathan lived there. Creatures large enough to swallow a man whole swam through the mighty waves.

But the sea before the throne is calm, restive and safe.

Doesn’t this call to mind another sea? A lake where a storm can come up in seconds, and even experienced fishermen can be caught off guard, and their boats capsized?

A storm came out of nowhere one night, and the men in the boat held on for their lives. When all of a sudden, they saw an apparition. They saw someone walking on the water! Who could walk past them while they struggled in vain?

Then Peter recognised his Lord. “If it is you, tell me to come to you on the water! And so Peter, dangerously rocking the boat, literally and figuratively, jumped overboard and began walking to his Lord. But the storm rose up around him and for a moment, he took his eyes off his Lord. He started to sink, he cried out for help.

Jesus reached out and pulled him up and held him. With a word, he calmed the storm. He and Peter got into the boat and finished their journey. God is hallowed because He calms the storms of life. He is peace in the midst of sorrow, anguish and trial. He brings perfect peace. One day, all the storms of life will be stilled. God will make it so. In the meantime, Jesus comes to us, walking on the waves of the storm. Even if we start to sink, Jesus pulls us up, He has the strength to hold us!

The Source

Before the throne are four living creatures, Isaiah identifies them as seraphim. God is the source of every created thing. God chose to create! God chose to create you. David says, “You created me in my mother’s womb. You are on this earth because God chose to make you! God knew exactly what you would look like. God knew what you would do. God created you for His glory. You reflect God’s glory by bearing His image. Every human being bears God’s image.

These aren’t just creatures, we aren’t just creatures; we are living creatures. God is pro-life, and so are we! We value life. We value people. We value the unborn, so we work hard to promote life! We support agencies like the Lethbridge Pregnancy Care Centre. We support activities that promote life. Because life honours God.

These four creatures exist to praise God. They are always hard at work praising him. They never cease saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”

Holy, Holy, Holy

This is the very definition of God. He is Holy: set apart, completely other. There is nothing, nothing at all like him. He is the Lord God Almighty. Nothing rules like God. Nothing is like God; nothing comes close to God’s power. God is eternal. It is fitting that both the Old Testament and the New Testament proclaim: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.” No other word is repeated three times. This is important. Take note, God is indeed holy.

Have a conversation with an atheist. He will question God’s existence by saying, “If it was God who created the universe and everything we see, who then created God?” It seems like a good question, doesn’t it? But do you see the obvious failure? God is eternal. God by definition is not created. God always was, always is and always will be. It is preposterous to ask, “Who created God.” If God were created by someone or something else, then God wouldn’t be God.

But he is God. He is the eternal, everlasting, the only one worthy of all praise and honour. He is the one who by definition, ought to be hallowed—for there is none like him!

The elders bow down and worship God. They say, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things and by you they were created and have their being.”

Doesn’t this give us a great picture of God? Doesn’t this inspire worship? We could go on and on! We could sit here and study God forever, and we shall! That is what heaven will be like! Eternity spent getting to know the eternal one, the one who reveals himself, the one who knows us and makes himself known to us! We will learn more and more about God. Honestly, what is revealed is all we need to know for salvation, for eternity with God, but it really barely scrapes the surface.

This book is like learning what a beach is like by studying a single grain of sand. It is marvellous in its facets, but there are so many innumerable things that we can learn from God through creation and through His book. Read it! Make a point of reading it whenever you can! It’s amazing how we learn more about God every time we read the Bible. Reading it makes us want to know him more! It sets inside us a desire for heaven that seems at times to make you feel like you’re going to burst if you don’t get there soon!

Ah, that’s the Word of God! That’s the power and might and love and justice and mercy of the one to whom we say, “Hallowed be your name.”

And now here is the thing that is really amazing, humbling and sweet. God directs all our living; what we think, say and do so that His name is always praised and honoured because of us.

As to God’s eternal decree, there is nothing we can do that can diminish God’s praise. But because God gives us freedom, we are able to do things that do not honour God.

Like Isaiah, God invites us to see Him, to know Him and to proclaim Him in our lives. He has cleansed us, and purified us, so that we can live, we can go, as Isaiah did. People watch believers for this reason.

This is what Jesus taught in Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

People notice what we do. So let us live as exemplary lives as we can, as we are already doing! God the Holy Spirit is in us, enabling us to do this, so let’s continue to do it! Let us also become good students of people. Let us learn, as we learn about God, let us learn and understand the people around us. Let us learn why they think the way they do. Let us learn how and where they have gone wrong in their understanding of the world. Let us shine the light of Christ onto them! So that they may see God! So that they may hallow his name, in full knowledge of what they are doing!

To that end, there are many resources available to us. I encourage you to look at the Stand to Reason website. I encourage you to read books like this one: Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions. It will help you understand others, and give you great tools to engage people in conversations.

All power and authority belongs to Christ. He has empowered us by his Holy Spirit to exercise his power and authority to bring his light to the nations! Let us hallow his name, by being great ambassadors for Christ! Amen.