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THE PENTATEUCH

GENESIS ---EXODUS--- LEVITICUS 1.1-7.38 --- 8.1-11.47 --- 12.1-16.34--- 17.1-27.34--- NUMBERS 1-10--- 11-19--- 20-36--- DEUTERONOMY 1.1-4.44 --- 4.45-11.32 --- 12.1-29.1--- 29.2-34.12 --- THE BOOK OF JOSHUA --- THE BOOK OF JUDGES --- PSALMS 1-17--- ECCLESIASTES --- ISAIAH 1-5 --- 6-12 --- 13-23 --- 24-27 --- 28-35 --- 36-39 --- 40-48 --- 49-55--- 56-66--- EZEKIEL --- DANIEL 1-7 ---DANIEL 8-12 ---

NAHUM--- HABAKKUK---ZEPHANIAH ---ZECHARIAH --- THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ---THE GOSPEL OF MARK--- THE GOSPEL OF LUKE --- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES --- 1 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-16 --- 2 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-13 -- -GALATIANS --- EPHESIANS --- COLOSSIANS --- 1 THESSALONIANS --- 2 THESSALONIANS --- 1 TIMOTHY --- 2 TIMOTHY --- TITUS --- HEBREWS 1-6 --- 7-10 --- 11-13 --- JAMES --- JOHN'S LETTERS --- REVELATION

--- THE GOSPELS

Chapter 15 ‘Hallowed Be Your Name, May Your Kingly Rule Come, May Your Will Be Done, On Earth As It Is In Heaven’ (Matthew 7.9-10).

Never were words less understood than the words, ‘Hallowed by Your name’. Usually people who pray them see them as meaning, ‘Let people have a high opinion of Your Name. Let them worship You. Let Your Name be held in the highest honour.’ And that is all good and right. And we should certainly desire it and we should certainly pray it.

But in fact the words go far beyond that. They are more positive. They have in mind the words of Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36.3. ‘And I will sanctify (set apart as hallowed) My great name, which was profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations will know that I am the Lord, says the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified (hallowed) in you before their eyes.’

So when we pray, ‘Hallowed be Your name’, (‘sanctify Your Name’), we are praying, ‘let Your purposes be fulfilled that will bring about the hallowing of Your name. Use your people so that great glory might be yours. Let the nations know the greatness of your name. Let them know how holy You are, and let it come about because of what You do in us Your people.’ We are praying that God will so revive us, His people, that we may have such an impact on the world that all the nations will see it. We are praying that what Jesus came to do will be accomplished through us. We are asking God to change us so much that through us the world comes to know Him. Do you really want this to happen? If you do not, do not pray the Lord’s prayer.

And we may add to ‘hallowed be Your name’ the words ‘on earth as it is in Heaven’. For in Heaven His name is ‘hallowed’. It is held up to the highest honour, it is acclaimed to the heavenly skies, and it has no greater honour than this, that Heaven beholds the triumph of God’s people. It houses the martyrs who have suffered for Christ and for His truth. It houses the number that no man can number of the people of God Who through much tribulation have entered His presence. And Heaven is filled with wonder at what Christ has accomplished in them. There His name is hallowed because of His people. And in this prayer we are to long for it to be hallowed in the same way on earth, as through His people the world is made aware of the glory of His name. So as you pray the Lord’s prayer ask yourself this question. Does your life really hallow the Lord’s Name?

May your Kingly Rule come --- on earth as it is in Heaven.’ Here we have an expansion on the previous prayer, a prayer that God’s rule over men’s lives might become a reality, and that the world might see that He rules because of the obedience of His people. In Heaven He is undisputed King. Every knee bows to Him. Every tongue acknowledges the supremacy of God, of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Even the highest angel races to do His bidding. What an incentive it would be to us if we appreciated that each day. And that is what we are praying in the Lord’s prayer. But here we are also praying that what is true in Heaven might become true on earth. That men and women may come under His Kingly Rule on earth. It is praying that God will so work that those whom He has chosen may surrender themselves to Him and own His sovereignty over their lives. It is praying that we may race around to do His bidding thinking of nothing else but how we can please Him. And on the other hand it is also praying that all that offends against His Kingly Rule will be removed, will be disposed of, so that God might be all in all.

No wonder then that our attention should not be taken up with food and clothing and earthly wealth and treasure. Imagine what would happen if I were to announce over the News that I had discovered Blackbeard’s treasure at a certain place and that I was going to dig it up and share it out, and that people had good reason to believe it was true. Can you imagine the scene? What a crowd would gather there. Imagine all the officials who would arrive there wanting a portion for themselves. And even they would be outnumbered by the number of suppliants who were also seeking to have their share. And think of the Christians who would be there. They may often have given God’s house a miss, but they would not miss being there. And all for a buried treasure. Yet we have a greater treasure than this, and sadly now the crowds have dispersed, for they do not want it. But how can we any longer therefore waste our time on Blackbeard’s treasure, or on any other earthly treasure, when we have this? No, says Jesus, our concentration must be on gathering in our Father’s own personal treasure. His treasure is His people (Exodus 19.5), a treasure beyond reckoning. His treasure is found in seeing and revealing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4.4-7). His treasure is found in the treasure of knowing more fully the One in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2.3). For God’s treasures are those on whom He would set His name, those whom He will draw to Himself (John 6.44), and the One through Whom they are to be drawn. Let us all then become spiritual treasure seekers.

‘Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.’ Well at least this is very clear. It is a cry that all over the world men might seek only to do His will, as all beings in Heaven are glad to do. It is basically a prayer that all men and women should live Christlike lives. It is a prayer that the days of obedience under the glorious Kingly Rule of God might come, days which can begin now. But before we pray this we should stop and think. Do we really want it to happen. Do we really want to live Christlike lives like this? If we do not let us not pray the Lord’s prayer for it will be hypocrisy. And if we do, let us give attention to it. For it is not something to pray lightly.

So half way through the Lord’s prayer we see that our total concentration has been on the setting apart of His name by the fulfilment of His will, the establishment of the Kingly Rule of God, and the fulfilling of His will on earth. And we have seen that that is what we should be ‘seeking first’.