Friday, 21st September 2007
God = Holy
When I was praying last night, I said the Lord’s Prayer and the first line of it really hit. What does ‘hallowed be your name’ (Luke 11:2) really mean. I had a good think/meditate and I think it can mean several and wonderful things!
Looking at it in different Bible translations:
hallowed be your name (NIV, NASB)
may your name always be kept holy (NCV)
may your name be kept holy (Living)
and in the Message (wow!) Reveal who you are
#1 May God’s name always be kept holy and honoured - don’t use it in vain/to swear. Ok, I think this is what I’d first think of, but I think there’s another very important meaning that helps us do this.
#2 The Message ‘Reveal who you are’ sort of says it. In the times of the Bible (and in many cultures today) your name isn’t just what you’re called, it sums up who you are and what you do. So God having the name of ‘Holy’ means that he is holy!
In Isaiah’s vision of Heaven, he sees the Seraphim (heavenly beings / a type of angel) and their continual song is: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.†(Isaiah 6:3)
In the Jewish culture, to call something/someone a name three times means that they are perfectly/fully/totaly that quality, so God is amazingly and wonderfully holy!
By getting my head round this, it made me realise how important honouring and valuing his HOLY name really is.
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