Hallowed be thou Name!

(Matthew 6:9) …"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

“Hallowed be thou Name”! It is a marvelous thought to think on, the consecrated name of our Lord and King in light of Jehovah God as the only true God, for He is “hallowed” and “hallowed” be His name. Do we register the severity and magnitude of what we are actually saying? I am not sure we do. When we recite “our Father” and we declare “hallowed be thou name” does is register, does it resonate and do we get it? I am not sure I have grasped this truth as I should have. In fact I know I haven’t, forgive me Father God! But this morning I would like to consider the hallowed name of God, my God!

Holy, sanctified, blessed, consecrated, deified, sacred, revered, respected and that would only be my opening sentence. Our God is so much higher than the heavens that our carnal minds cannot begin to process and conceive who this great God actually is. We are told it is impossible to put a face or to relate to him in the natural. Why? Because we are dead in our trespasses and our sins; we are dead to the spiritual realm because of sin, until this “hallowed God”, our God stepped in by sending His only beloved Son to pay the price for sinners so that they could go free. “Hallowed be His name”!

Even those who appear to be religious are blind to the heavens and they cannot see it unless they are born again, this is what the Lord Jesus taught; “Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.": - Therefore there is a provisory condition, one must be born again, not that a person must re-enters their mother’s womb a second time, that is obviously not possible, but we are clearly taught that there are two worlds, a world of the natural and the world of the spirits; God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24): - So in order for us to enter into a relationship with God, we need to have our eyes opened to the spiritual world. How is this done? We are born again! Without this personal event in our live we will not make it to heaven; “Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”” (John 3:5)

A simple explanation and not difficult to conceptualise, or is it? If you still live in the natural world and perceive with human intellect, what I have just said will appear like gibberish and your mind will be unable to process the concept. But if we have been “born again” and if regeneration has happened in your life then what the Lord has to say on the subject will be easily understood.

But before we get lost in translation, let us not be so captivated with the concept of having to be “born again”. When God reveals Himself to a person, He firstly quickens him in the Spirit and this is why this remains a mystery for some, but for others it is a new lease on life, true life! Life in the Spirit! And this is how the Lord Jesus explains the transition in Christians lives; “Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:7-8)

The only reason some will be able to cry out to God in Spirit and truth is because of Christ’s selfless act on Calvary, Hallowed be His name!  God the Father send His only begotten Son to earth to live as a man and to die a cursed death for a crime He never committed. Hallowed be His name! What man would ever do such a thing? But God! Hallowed be His name!

The Lord Jesus hung upon that cruel Roman cross on the hill of Golgotha and the masses jeered and mocked Him, with taunts of “if you be God”! God He was, is and forever will be and yet He did not call the angels from heaven to free Him from the cross and to smite His accuses, but rather uttered these words; “And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garments.” (Luke 23:34):- Hallowed be His name!

“When we were united by faith to Christ, we were brought into such complete fellowship with him, that we were made one with him, and his interests and ours became mutual and identical. We have fellowship with Christ in his love. What he loves we love. He loves the saints-so do we. He loves sinners-so do we. He loves the poor perishing race of man, and pants to see earth’s deserts transformed into the garden of the Lord-so do we. We have fellowship with him in his desires. He desires the glory of God-we also labour for the same. He desires that the saints may be with him where he is-we desire to be with him there too. He desires to drive out sin-behold we fight under his banner. He desires that his Father’s name may be loved and adored by all his creatures-we pray daily, “Let thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven.” We have fellowship with Christ in his sufferings. We are not nailed to the cross, nor do we die a cruel death, but when he is reproached, we are reproached; and a very sweet thing it is to be blamed for his sake, to be despised for following the Master, to have the world against us. The disciple should not be above his Lord. In our measure we commune with him in his labours, ministering to men by the word of truth and by deeds of love. Our meat and our drink, like his, is to do the will of him who hath sent us and to finish his work. We have also fellowship with Christ in his joys. We are happy in his happiness, we rejoice in his exaltation. Have you ever tasted that joy, believer? There is no purer or more thrilling delight to be known this side heaven than that of having Christ’s joy fulfilled in us, that our joy may be full. His glory awaits us to complete our fellowship, for his Church shall sit with him upon his throne, as his well-beloved bride and queen.” (C.H.Spurgeon)

HALLOWED BE THY NAME!

Signing off

Tyrone