Praying to God and His Glory

DMLJ: We come now to the next division of the Lord’s Prayer which is that which deals with our petitions.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching, Vol.2 - The Sermon on the Mount, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev

There are six petitions…or seven…depending on how one counts these.  The first three, either way, are devoted to God and His glory; these are examined here.  The next three (or four) have reference to ourselves, and will be covered in the next post. 

Matthew 6: 9(c) Hallowed be thy name

‘Hallowed’ means to sanctify, to revere, to keep or make holy.  In this case, it speaks to the greatness and majesty of God, to His holiness.

DMLJ: Before we begin to think of ourselves and our own needs, even before our concern for others, we must start with this great concern about God and His honour and His glory.

The order is important.  It is just as true in this prayer as it has been throughout the entire Sermon on the Mount. 

DMLJ: He says, stop for a moment and just recollect and realize this, that your greatest desire of all should be that this wonderful God, who has become your Father in and through Me, should be honoured, should be worshipped, should be magnified amongst the people. 

Are we praying to God because our prayers will make God more holy?  Hardly:

MHA: “Hallowed be” should be understood in the sense that the name of God should be hallowed, or glorified, in human beings, in the Christian community.  In the words of Cyprian of Carthage, “We say this not wishing that God should be made holy by our prayers, but asking the Lord that his name should be hallowed in us.”

We are glorifying God – and through our prayer reminding ourselves of His glory, praying that this is true in us.  We are praying that the whole world may come to know God like this; to bow before God in adoration.  To come with fear – not craven fear, but reverential awe.

Yet, the wording is interesting: Hallowed be thy name.  The prayer is not that God be hallowed, but His name be hallowed.

MHA: In the Bible there is the idea that God cannot be named, that his name is inaccessible to human beings.  At the same time, in the Old Testament, God is constantly referred to by various names.

There are more than a hundred such names for God, each providing some peek into the character or nature of God.  But the most characteristic name is Yahweh – the personal name of God, a name that reveals no meaning, other than I AM.

Often in the Old Testament we are presented with the name of the Lord.  Build a house for the name of the Lord; build the house unto my name; the name of the Lord dwells in the temple; the name of the Lord is confessed in the temple.

The book of Psalms is full of such examples: how wonderful is thy name; I will wait on thy name; men shall praise his name; I will bless thy name.  The reference is to His name, and not to Him.  Not only is God reverently worshipped, but so is His name.

MHA: It is necessary to take into account all this Old Testament context in order to understand the meaning that Jesus invested in the words “Hallowed be thy name.”

Jesus often spoke such: I have manifested thy name; keep through thine own name; I have declared them unto thy name. 

MHA: The name of God has holiness in and of itself: human prayer cannot add to its holiness.  The name of God has gracious power in and of itself.

I AM.

MHA…the Christian community prays that the power of the name of God may be extended to all of its members, fill their lives with the sense of God’s presence, and give them the strength necessary to walk on the path to righteousness and perfection that has been outlined by Jesus in the Gospels.

I am struck by this idea of “the name of God.”  Yes, I am sure I have read it numerous times in the Bible, but I never really thought about it apart from just “God.”  I am not sure what to do with this or what it means.  For now, I can only conclude that I haven’t taken the name of God as reverently as is deserved. 

Matthew 6: 10(a) Thy kingdom come

This idea of the kingdom of God is central in the Gospels; there are also promises and prophecies in the Old Testament.  Yet, it doesn’t mean just one thing.  Yes, it is synonymous with eternal life, but it is more than this:

MHA: It is also the new dimension of life that becomes accessible to a person living on earth when he discovers God for himself through Jesus Christ.

I want to stay away from the theological issues and differences raised by the way this is phrased, and just recognize the idea offered by Metropolitan Hilarion and stated here by Lloyd-Jones:

DMLJ: The kingdom of God is also here at this moment in the hearts and lives of all who submit to Him, in all who believe in Him.

Jesus says that the kingdom of God is within you:

MHA: The coming of the kingdom is an event that is exclusively internal: it is the meeting of a human being with God, the revelation of God to the human being.  It takes place in the heart and can be imperceptible to bystanders.

That first sentence doesn’t ring true to me (but I do want to present the view), and even seems contradicted in later statements by Metropolitan Hilarion.  The second one is a little difficult also; as we have seen through this study, especially from Lloyd-Jones, that the Christian is one who is wholly different from the natural man.  Live the Beatitudes, and this will be perceived by others.

MHA: …the words of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come,” should not at all be understood as a request for the approach of the second coming of Christ.

It is easy enough to directly pray for the second coming.  Yet, the prayer is one for some future event: Thy Kingdom come.  God’s kingdom exists now, and it is in the Christian now.  So, what is to come if not Christ’s second coming?

Elsewhere in his work, Metropolitan Hilarion seems to indicate that the prayer can include the idea of Christ’s second coming, His coming in glory.  He develops this idea extensively, which makes the earlier statement about this event being exclusively internal even more confusing. 

Both understandings were to be found in the early Church.  In the earliest Church, they expected Christ’s return in their lifetime.  Tertullian would write that it was something like “let your will be done,” and understood this will to be done within the individual; Origen would write similarly.  Later, it extended to both: the second coming and also in the heart of each believer.

MHA: Often the two dimensions (the kingdom of God as the second coming of Christ and the kingdom of God as the internal condition of the believer) are combined in a single interpretation.

This rings most true to me, but there is more. 

MHA: The kingdom of God is opposed to an earthly kingdom.

Yet the earth can be transformed:

DMLJ: The kingdom of God really means the reign of God; it means the law and the rule of God.

MHA: Only by following these laws established by Christ can a person make earth into heaven.  And only then can the kingdom of heaven come everywhere – not only in heaven, but also on earth.

Now, I recognize that this statement might be a bit confusing, but I keep in mind that following the teaching of Christ in this Sermon can only happen via the help of the Spirit.  Which means the kingdom of heaven on earth can also only happen with the help of the Spirit.  I think it speaks to the views held within the Eastern Church, regarding the relationship of heaven and earth.

There is a further way to consider this:

DMLJ: In one sense the kingdom has already come.  It came when the Lord Jesus Christ was here.

I think Lloyd-Jones sums this all up very nicely:

DMLJ: we should have a great longing and desire that the kingdom of God and of Christ may come in the hearts of men. … So that when we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come’, we are praying for the success of the gospel, its sway and power; we are praying for the conversion of men and women….

But it goes even further than that.  It is a prayer which indicates that we are ‘Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.’ (2 Peter 3:12).  It means that we should be anticipating the day when all sin and evil and wrong and everything that is opposed to God shall finally have been routed.

Finally, the third petition in this first sequence:

Matthew 6:10(b) Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Metropolitan Hilarion writes that this concept of the will of God is one of the most important concepts in theology.  Through God’s will, the creation of the universe was accomplished; through God’s will, man was created.

MHA: The petition that Jesus included in the Lord’s Prayer concerning the will of God is intended to teach people to submit to it.

Consider this: God’s will brought all of creation into being, yet we need to be taught to submit to it.  If this doesn’t speak to the pride of man, I don’t know what does (well, the crucifixion also…).

MHA: Before the fall of Adam and Eve, the will of man coincided with the will of God.  After the fall, human will was often in conflict with God’s will

Before the fall, man’s free will was in obedience to the will of God; there was harmony.  After the fall, there was conflict.  Jesus’s will, though fully human, did not come into conflict with God’s will; many times, He prayed that not His will, but the Father’s will, be done.  He showed the flawless image for us to imitate.  Like Jesus, we may ask for what we want in prayer.  But, like Jesus, we must submit our will to God’s.

MHA: Jesus does not call his disciples to passively wait for the fulfillment of the will of God; he calls them to be coworkers with God in fulfilling his will.

Conclusion

DMLJ: In these words, then, we are taught how we begin to pray.  Those are the petitions with which we must always start. 

More than a desire for the salvation of souls, our desire should be aimed at the honor and glory of God.

DMLJ: Have we really prayed that prayer, that petition, ‘Hallowed be thy name’?  If only we are right about that, the rest will follow.