What the Lord’s Prayer really means
by Julian Mann, TCW:
WHEN as a schoolboy I first came across the Lord’s Prayer, I remember being a bit mystified by the first petition in it – ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name’. I had no idea what ‘hallowed’ meant. It sounded a bit spooky.
What are we praying for when we pray in the Lord’s Prayer that God’s name would be hallowed on earth as it is in heaven?
Essentially, we are praying that the one true God, the loving creator and ruler of heaven and earth, the God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, would be honoured and worshipped and obeyed on earth as he is in heaven.
In the Old Testament the personal name of God, Yahweh, the name by which he was known by his chosen people, the Israelites, was bound up with his sovereignty, his righteous rule over the world. The Old Testament book of Exodus records God speaking to his servant Moses from the burning bush and revealing his name to Moses, a man on the run from the authorities in the then world superpower, Egypt. God commanded Moses: ‘Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD (Yahweh) God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations’ (Exodus3v15 – AV).
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