Written on March 1st, 2006 - 6:33PM Last Updated: July 28th, 2006 - 5:45PM
He said to them, "When you pray, say, 'Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come. May your will be done on Earth, as it is in heaven. (Luke 11:2)
As we continue learning from the teaching of Jesus, we find our first goal in prayer, after fully recognizing the identity of the One to Whom we are praying.
We ask our Father to set apart the Name that is His. The Greek verb most often translated "make holy" (αγιασθητω) is passive, aorist and imperative. So we ask the Father to do something (imperative). We ask Him to do it at a point in time (aorist). And finally, we ask that He do it to His Name, not that the Name does it by itself, or that we do it on our own.
At first, we may wonder why the Lord would use the aorist tense for this, and in fact for all the requests of the Father He tells us to make. If this is a prayer not only as a model but that we also "say" (λεγετε), then why not use the present or participle form of these requests, showing a continual action from a continual request?
One possibility may be that this is the ingressive form of the aorist tense, which still reflects the punctiliar (i.e., specific point in time) nature of the aorist, but has its effects continue. So then we ask that the Father set apart the Name that is His, knowing that it will have an ongoing result. When He does this, each time we ask Him as His people, it will continue to happen in response to our request, with necessary results.
We are addressing the Father, as His people, and we are asking Him to "set apart the Name that is His."
I translate the end in this way because there is a definite article before "your name" (το ονομα σου), so that it is literally-"the name—yours." Thus the Lord speaks the truth of the revelation of God throughout the Old Covenant and before, that He possesses a Name that is to be His memorial forever.
God said moreover to Moses, "You shall tell the children of Israel this, 'Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations. (Exodus 3:15)
"I am Yahweh. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images. (Isaiah 42:8)
Although this is true, it is important to recognize that the Lord does not have us address God in this model prayer as "Yahweh," but as "Our Father." Although Jesus recognizes the Father has a single Name, He desires us (as the Assembly) to seek Him as our Father. This mindset will reinforce the relationship we have together with God, that He is our Father and we are His children. We are not just His creation, and He the Creator (reflected in the Name "Yahweh")—but we have entered into a much deeper relationship: that of parent and child.
Additionally, ονομα ("name") encompasses more than just the literal, lingual appellation. A name represented the person behind the label, their character, their essence. There is even one instance of "the Name of Yahweh" being personified ("his" can also be translated "its"):
Behold, the name of Yahweh comes from far away, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire. (Isaiah 30:27)
5Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Yahweh. 6Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, "Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, 7keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children's children, on the third and on the fourth generation." (Exodus 34:5-7)
In many scriptures, such as above, God's Name Yahweh is directly connected with His Nature: merciful, gracious, slow to anger, loving and faithful, forgiving, yet just and righteous. He is the Creator—He Who Causes To Become—therefore His glory can in no wise be given to idols, or other created beings.
This concept of a name being synonomous with the person continued on as Jews began to be wary of ever pronouncing the Name. Even now, many of them refer to Yahweh as "HaShem," which is Hebrew for "the Name." This reflects the ancient meaning of "name," that it is not only a lingual appellation, but an outward reflection of a person's true essence. It is a symbol of their very self.
The apostles and disciples reflected this belief when referring to God and His Son in the New Covenant scriptures (the original Greek text of Acts 5:41 has only "the Name" and not "Jesus" also):
because for the sake of the Name they went out, taking nothing from the Gentiles. (3 John 1:7)
They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Jesus' name. (Acts 5:41)
Don't they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? (James 2:7)
Throughout the Old Covenant we see this concept of Yahweh's Name as holy being lived out through His people. It is by His people that His Name either remains set apart, reflecting Him as the only God and Creator, or becomes common, putting Him alongside the other false gods of the nations, such as Baal, Ashteroth, etc. Do His people treat Him as the One Who alone is Lord, obeying His commands as truth? Or do they speak His Name and do not do what He says?
6"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? Says Yahweh of Armies to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, 'How have we despised your name?' 7You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, 'How have we polluted you?' In that you say, 'Yahweh's table contemptible.' 8When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn't that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn't that evil? Present it now to your governor! Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person?" says Yahweh of Armies. (Malachi 1:6-8)
21You therefore who teach another, don't you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn't steal, do you steal? 22You who say a man shouldn't commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23You who glory in the law, through your disobedience of the law do you dishonor God? 24For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,"{Isaiah 52:5; Ezekiel 36:22} just as it is written. (Romans 2:21-24)
How then do these two halves go together—that we ask our Father to set apart His Name, yet at the same time it lies upon us to practically do it?
It is because of His Son, Whom He sent, that we might become His true sons and daughters. Only by the authority Jesus has given us to become the children of God (John 1:12) might we truly live in a way that sets His Name apart from all others; not just the Name—Yahweh—but as we call upon Him as "our Father."
It is only because of Jesus, sent by the Father, that we can call Yahweh our Father, therefore it begins with Him to set His Name apart.
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen. (Romans 11:36)
This is the irony of God that only those who know Him as Father might ask Him to keep His Name set apart, for it is only through them that it can happen.
We need the power from Yahweh that enables us to live holy lives, that when we refer to Him as our Father, it might not lose its meaning and become a common thing. Knowing Yahweh as Father is indeed a noble thing, something different from any other relationship people might have. It cannot become common by those claiming to know Him as Father living as though not in communion with Him. Therefore, we ask Him to do the setting apart, because His Spirit in us enables us to live in a way that will keep this truth pristine.
Therefore, we must ask Him, as His people, to do so!
As you read this site, you will hopefully come to know Yahweh more fully.
But all of this continuing knowledge is useless unless and until you come into union with Him. I use the word union because it is truly a marriage. It is that deep connection we all seek, for which we most often look in other people. However, the truth is that our hearts will only be fulfilled when we enter that union in fullness with the One Who made us.
This is the grace of God, that He has not stayed distant for us only to worship as Creator. But He has come unto us, even become one of us—in His Son, ChristJesus—in order to share an intimate union with us. He desires such closeness that it truly will envelope our entire life, transforming us into something new and wonderful.
You may have already entered this union with Him and only seek to know Him better through reading here. But if you have not, as you do read, let this Gospel sink into your heart as you read it now.
God loves you, and has cast your sins into the sea. He has sent His only Son as the Savior of the world—that includes you.
That Son, JesusChrist, was born as a man through a virgin who had given her life to Yahweh; He lived without sin, reflected the glory of His Father, God, in all His words and deeds, and was persecuted even unto death because of it.
His death upon a cross was the powerful explosion that separated you from your life of death. It remains for you, now, to enter into that death with Him. As you die to the one you are now, a person separated from God from your many sins, you will be born anew, with a nature predisposed to live rightly. This gift is free to you, with nothing you can do to earn it. It is the mercy of God to offer it to you, as He loves you so much! All you must do is receive it by trusting Him to have delivered you. Simply place your life in His hands and embrace the freedom that came through that death on the cross.
The Gospel is that Jesus did not remain dead, but rose again on the third day after His crucifixion! Death could not hold Him, as He was without sin. And so death will not be able to hold you, as you identify with Him fully through your trust in Him. Let go of yourself and confess Him as Lord of your life. The power of His death and resurrection will work in you all that your Creator has destined for you. You will truly enter a new life and experience that intimate union you have been seeking all of your life.
So ponder these words as you read here of this great God—Yahweh—and all that He has revealed to His creation. Let His Spirit testify to your heart that these words are true, that God is Love, and that He sent His Son so that you might receive the life that is unbound by time and space. As you feel that witness in your heart, simply believe and receive what He is offering to you, even now, and begin your new life as a child of God.
Please write to me and let me know when you take this step, as I will be your brother in Christ—we will be one in Him!
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7In praying, don't use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking. 8Therefore don't be like them, for your Father knows what things you need, before you ask him. (Matthew 6:7-8)
Scripture Quotes: World English Bible Translation.
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