" IN THE FIRST PETITION, WE ASK FATHER TO USE EVEN CLOUDS AND KINGS TO MOVE MEN TO GLORIFY HIM. "

122. Q. What is the first petition?
A. Hallowed be Thy Name. That is: Grant us first of all that we may rightly know Thee,[1] and sanctify, glorify, and praise Thee in all Thy works, in which shine forth Thy almighty power, wisdom, goodness, righteousness, mercy, and truth.[2] Grant us also that we may so direct our whole life-- our thoughts, words, and actions-- that Thy Name is not blasphemed because of us but always honoured and praised.[3]
[1] Jer. 9:23, 24; 31: 33, 34; Matt. 16:17; John 17:3. [2] Ex. 34:5-8; Ps. 145; Jer. 32:16-20; Luke 1:46-55, 68-75; Rom. 11: 33-36. [3] Ps. 115:1; Matt. 5:16.

Scripture Reading:
Leviticus 26:13-21
James 5:13-18
John 12:20-28

Singing:  (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 66:1,2
Hymn 4:1,2
Psalm 115:1,5
Hymn 10:1,3,8,9
Hymn 23:1,2,3

Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

In your personal prayers, what is it that you normally pray about? I would not be far wrong, I think, if I were to say that in our speaking with God our thoughts tend to circle around people, be it ourselves or others. We ask the Lord to take care of family members, to be with the sick and the persecuted and the lonely and the straying and those confronted with special needs. We pray for strength to do our daily work, for wisdom to care for our children, pray also for the forgiveness of sins.

In itself, brothers and sisters, this is all good. We indeed do well to lay these concerns before our God. Jesus Himself commanded us to when He told us to pray for our daily bread and to pray for the forgiveness of our sins.

But the thing is, congregation, that before Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread, He taught us first to pray about God. The first petition is this: "Hallowed be Your Name." So we echo Scripture in our Lord’s Day like this: "Grant us first of all that we may rightly know You, and sanctify, glorify, and praise You...." That is: when Jesus taught us to pray, He told us that not we ourselves were to be central in our prayers; central was instead to be the Lord our God. As to the place that we ourselves are to have in our prayers, well, we’ll come to that, the Lord willing with Lord’s Day 50, on the fourth petition. Today we need to learn the first thing the Lord taught us to pray about, and that is the glory of our heavenly Father. So I summarize the sermon with this theme:

In our walk through Scriptures this afternoon, brothers and sisters, we shall discover that the first petition is exceedingly far-reaching in its impact, so far reaching in fact that God’s children, when they pray this petition, actually ask God to change weather patterns and mobilize terrorists for the glory of His own Name. Precisely because this first petition is that far-reaching, shall we do well –before we begin our walk through Scriptures- to remind ourselves of whom it is that we pray to. We heard it last week: the God to whom we pray is none else than our heavenly Father. Yes, He has all power and might so as to control leave and blade, rain and drought, nuclear powers and terrorists, airplanes and bombs. But He’s not a ruthless, a cold being unmoved by the plight of men. He has given up His only Son so that sinners might be His children. He now loves these children with a most tender and heartfelt compassion. In a word: we direct the first petition to our Father.

"Hallowed be Your Name," Jesus told us to pray. The words themselves mean simply this: we are instructed to ask God to make His glorious reputation more glorious, more unique than it already is. That is: in this petition we ask the Lord to work in such a way that all creation recognize the incomparable uniqueness of the Creator and so give Him the praise that is His due.

I said: give Him the praise that is His due. What is the praise that He wishes His creatures to give to Him?

God, three in One, had existed from all eternity. He alone was there, never lonely, never lacking anything, always sufficient in Himself, great beyond measure. It pleased this God to create a world. Why? For the sake of His own good pleasure. This God was infinitely great, and in the greatness of His wisdom fashioned a world that reflected something of His greatness and His glory. So it was that when the Lord laid the foundations of the earth, the angels broke out into songs of praise – I read in Job 38:6f. These angels, themselves just recently created, saw the power and wisdom of almighty God in the works of His hand, and so burst out in songs of praise for this God of glory.

Adam and Eve also, themselves created by God, marveled day by day at the glory of God as reflected in His handiwork. If sinful David could one day look at the stars and state that "the heavens are telling the glory of God" (Ps 19), if David could behold God’s creation and the place God had given to man in creation, and then exclaim His admiration of this God –"O Lord , our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!" (Ps 8)- how much more could Adam and Eve do so before the fall into sin when God came to them in the cool of the day! Angels and man, yes, creation altogether, joined in jubilant praise of the God who had created such a marvelous universe as display of His great glory. And because of this praise from angels, animals and Adam was that first petition being answered right from the beginning already; the name, the exalted reputation of this wonderful God, was being made more glorious throughout creation by means of the songs His creatures sang to His glory.

Then came the fall into sin. With that fall death entered the world, creation itself became subject to decay (Rom 5,8). God’s handiwork, which had reflected so wonderfully the glory of its Maker, was now marred, defaced, vandalized. As such, creation no longer reflected the greatness and perfect glory of the God who had initially made it. That’s to say: creation could not give to God any more the honor that was His due. Nor could any creature upon the earth give that glory; all –especially man- were touched by sin, corrupted. So, with that fall into sin, the first petition was frustrated! And Satan with his demons could gloat over the success of their vandalism….

But if that is so, beloved, we understand too that the Lord God –worthy of all glory as He is- could not leave His creation so defaced by sin. For the sake of His own Name, the glory of His holy reputation, the Lord sought out our fallen parents from behind the shrubs of Paradise and proclaimed to them the redemption He promised to give in Jesus Christ. If Jesus could later state that the angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner repents (Lu 15:7,10), how must the angels of heaven have broken forth into songs of praise for God when He announced His gospel of redemption and worked faith in the dead hearts of Adam and his wife! For this work of God showed forth His goodness and His mercy, it pointed up the righteousness and the truth of this God of glory!

In order to unfold His work of redemption, the Lord God chose a people for Himself. With that one people Israel, the Lord established His covenant, bound Himself by oath to that single nation. Because of the close relationship God established between Himself and Israel –recall what God said through Moses to Pharaoh: "Israel is My first-born son"- because of that close relationship was God’s own reputation tied to Israel’s conduct. Should Israel, after God gave them that deliverance from Egypt’s house of bondage, now choose to serve other gods, Israel would in effect make a mockery of God’s redeeming work, would in fact be saying that God is not someone special, is really in a category with the gods of Canaan, Egypt, the Philistine, and one can choose whom one will. So it was that God gave Israel laws, instructions that obliged Israel to be holy as God was holy, to be different from the nations around them because their God by covenant was so very different (cf Lev 19:2). More, exactly because God’s reputation was so connected to Israel’s conduct, did the Lord tell Israel not to offer their children to other gods, nor to swear falsely, swear by other gods, lest the Lord’s name be profaned – He says in Lev 18:21; 19:12. To say it in the words of LD 47: all the commandments which God gave to direct Israel’s whole life –including thoughts, words, and actions- were directed to that one purpose of having His name honored and praised by His people, and not blasphemed.

But what now, brothers and sisters, if God’s covenant people Israel should refuse to direct their whole life, including thoughts, words, and actions, in obedience to God’s laws, should decline to live in such a way that God’s name be always honored and praised, and never blasphemed? What would happen, beloved, is this: Israel would provoke God’s jealousy. Already at Mt Sinai, where God made His covenant with this people, He told Israel that He would punish His children severely if they hardened themselves in disobedience. He promised sickness and famine, terror and war, pestilence and death, until this people would awaken from their stupor, would repent of their sins, would again direct their whole lives –including thoughts, words, and actions- in such a way that their Lord’s glorious Name was not blasphemed but rather honored and praised. That’s the material of Lev 26. And we understand why it was that God gave this promise; He –God of glory that He is- is insistent that He receive the glory that is His due.

As it turned out, Israel’s conduct in years to come did not give to God the honor and praise His greatness deserved. Though Israel was God’s people (and known to be such), Israel yet lived like the nations, lived like people who worshiped Baal, Ashteroth, Molech, etc. So it was that God, in the days of the Judges, carried out the curses mentioned in Lev 26; He sent upon His people plagues of famine, of war, of terror. Why? So that His reputation might not be defiled among the nations of the earth, might instead be honored. God insisted that His people live according to His good commandments so that the peoples around Israel might marvel at the good laws God had given and join in songs of praise for this God (Dt 4:6ff).

To summarize so far: God made Israel His special people –why?- so that through them His wonderful name might be hallowed. The Lord gave Israel particular laws and insisted on obedience –why?- so that through their obedience His glorious name might be hallowed. The Lord chastised Israel when that people sinned, gave punishments to prompt repentance –why?- so that the glorious reputation of the God of glory might be exalted the more. In a word: the whole manner of God’s dealing with His people throughout the entire OT revolves around the theme of this first petition. The angels of heaven and Israel on earth were expected to join together in praying that first petition, and God answered that prayer for the hallowing of His holy Name by moving if necessary even clouds and kings to urge Israel to live their whole life to the glory and praise of God Most High. Famine, war: such chastisements upon His covenant people were ultimately motivated by God’s divine desire to have His children give Him the honor that was His holy due.

That brings us to our second point:

For we understand, brothers and sisters: if all God does revolves around God and His glory, it is for us too to ensure that our whole life –including thoughts, words, and actions- is to revolve around God and His glory. Here is shattered any thought we might have of living for ourselves, of looking after our own comfort, pursuing our own reputation. It is the instruction of our heavenly Father that we pray for His name to be hallowed, but surely we cannot pray this petition while at the same time the goal of our lives, the motivation of our actions, revolves around ourselves. To pray this first petition one must deny the self, set oneself on the back burner in favor of God and His glory. This petition compels us to come to grips with why we exist, it directs us to take our place under the Creator who made all things for His own pleasure. One cannot pray as Jesus instructed unless and until one confesses with heart and soul that God is God, that life revolves around Him, that I exist for reasons outside myself. So this petition sounds the death-knell for the selfishness and egoism of our day; this petition allows no room for me to focus on me and my comforts. Here is the principle of I Cor 10: "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, of whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (vs 31).

It will be good to place this instruction from God into practical perspective. I draw your attention first to Elijah, then to Jesus.

The prophet Elijah, writes James, was "a man with a nature like ours" (5:17). He wasn’t different than you or I, wasn’t a better person, more pious, etc. I read: "he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months." Why, brothers and sisters, could Elijah ‘achieve’ this ‘success’ with his prayers? Could you perhaps do the same? The answer to that is Yes, you can do the same. In fact, in principle we do the same.

To elaborate. Back at Mt Sinai already, God had told His people-by-covenant that they were to direct their whole lives in such a way that His Name was not blasphemed because of them but rather honored and praised always. God added that if His children would refuse to hallow God’s name by their conduct, He would send plagues of famine, war, terror, sickness – Lev 26. In fact, God literally says this to Israel:

We’re to note that this promise is voiced not on first time disobedience, but rather on recurring offences, stubborn hardness.

What now was the situation like in the days of Elijah? King Ahab officially removed the Lord from being Israel’s God, and officially replaced the Lord with Baal. This people of Israel, God’s people, this people who was expected to be different from the nations because their God was so unique in His power and glory, now acted officially like the other nations. Here, then, was not glory for God; here was rather blasphemy!

Elijah knows that first petition, knows that all life must revolve around God and His glory. What, then, does the prophet do? He does nothing else, beloved, then remind God in prayer of His own promises of long ago: ‘Lord, you said in Lev 26 that if Your children would not direct their whole lives to Your glory, You would shut the heavens, seal the clouds, grant no rain. Lord, Ahab –and Israel with him- have crassly ignored You, replaced You with another god; Lord, "hallowed be Your Name!" Act, O God, for Your own name’s sake! Do what you have said You would do, shut the heavens, so that Israel might be brought to repentance, might realize that Baal is nothing and You alone are God on high.’ He prays the first petition, and lo, he is answered; God moves even clouds so that Israel might be forced to give Him the glory that is His due. And No, receiving an answer on this prayer is not a surprise; God had promised an answer as this, yea, had commanded that prayers of this nature be made of Him (for His name was to be hallowed). Elijah, a man no different than you or I, prayed that first petition according to the will of God, and so could count on it that God would certainly hear His prayer. As Jesus also said: Ask and you shall receive; ask that God’s Name be hallowed, and God will do it.

But notice, too, beloved, how much Elijah had to deny himself in his prayer. To ask that there be no rain: that would touch not just Israel, but Elijah himself; he too would be able to find no bread, no drink! And certainly the prophet would have had to consider that consequence before He prayed! But this is the will of God: "whoever loves father or mother or lands or houses or self and one’s health more than Me is not worthy of Me" (cf Mt 10:37f). Elijah understood the purpose of his existence, and therefore looked away from himself, looked only to God and His glory – and prayed accordingly. Then notice, beloved, that Elijah never came up short as a result of his prayer; that God of all glory –Elijah’s Father in Jesus Christ- supplied so very abundantly for His servant by the brook Kidron.

The second example comes from Jesus’ prayer in Jn 12. Jesus is within a week of going to the cross (cf 12:1). He says this: "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? [Shall I say]: ‘Father, save Me from this hour, spare Me from the cross’?" (vs 27). Note, brothers and sisters, what Jesus asks. He considers whether He should look after His own interests, His own safety first, or not. He’s a true man, and He looked up against the horrors of the cross in the same way we would. "Shall I say: ‘Lord, it’s all too much, I can’t stomach the coming horrors of Calvary; save Me from this hour’?" But Jesus knows: this is something He cannot say, may not say. He had just said in the preceding verses that "he who loves his [own] life loses it" (vs 25). If Jesus should now think of Himself first of all, and for the sake of His own skin refuse to proceed to the cross, He would well and truly lose His life, eternally. But He knows: life doesn’t revolve around the self; life revolves around the God who created life for the sake of His own glory. So it is that Jesus determines what to do. Says He: ‘No, I’ll not pray for Myself; I shall instead pray that first petition: Father, glorify Your Name, hallowed be Thy Name’ (vs 28). To that prayer heaven responded straightaway, responded with delight: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again" (vs 28). How God would glorify it again? By directing things in such a way that God’s Son would indeed be triumphant on Calvary. Yes, here is encouragement for the Son of God as He struggled with the thought of having to deny Himself for the sake of God’s glory; here Jesus was assured that "he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (vs 25), Jesus included.

Was it easy for the Lord to pray this prayer, to forget about Himself and focus His attention on the God of glory? Let’s make no mistake, beloved; that was far from easy. But Jesus realized why He existed, realized that His chief end in life was not Himself, but God, and therefore went ahead on the road upon which His God had set Him.

And it’s true: on the cross of Calvary He received no support, no strength from His heavenly Father in His battle against the hosts of hell. Elijah received support in His circumstances so that he lacked nothing – witness the food the ravens brought him, and the bread supplied by the widow of Zaraphet. But not so Jesus. Jesus was made sin, rejected by God –why?- so that God’s name might be hallowed! On the cross He paid for sin, defeated Satan, conquered sin and death, and so delivered God’s creation from the blemish which we in Adam had placed over God’s handiwork. Jesus fought on Calvary for the glory of God’s great name, and the blessed result was that God’s Name was not blasphemed because of Jesus, but rather honored and praised.

That, congregation, is why the Lord God exalted Jesus to the heavens, crowned His eternal Son with the glory due to God, gave Him a name above every name, a name so wonderful and renowned that at the mention of that name every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth would bow in recognition of God’s glory (Phil 2:9ff). Yes, because of that triumph on Calvary, because Jesus so perfectly looked away from Himself and sought only the glory of God Most High, could the apostle John on Patmos see and hear the choirs of heaven sing their songs of praise to God:

And other choirs join in the jubilation: .

You see: in heaven that first petition is answered so perfectly! For every creature in heaven above gives to God the glory that is His due!

But on the earth beneath it is not yet so. Within the church and outside the church –so John is told in the Revelation he saw- there is so very much that does not honor and praise God because of His works, but rather blasphemes His holy Name. Within the church, where God has so wonderfully displayed in Christ His almighty power, His wisdom, His goodness, His righteousness, His mercy, His truth, in that church there remains so very, very much evil. One need but look at our own lives to see it. And is there repentance for it all, and hence a genuine fight against sin? We need but look in our own hearts. And the world in which we live too embraces so very much evil; the selfishness of our society, the abortions and divorces and materialism, etc, does not hallow God’s name, but instead dishonors the Creator and Sustainer of life.

And what is it now, brothers and sisters, that the Lord has pledged to do with those children of His who break His covenant, who refuse to be different from the world around, who decline to give to God the glory that is His wonderful due? What has God pledged to do to the unbelieving world? John on Patmos was told the answer so plainly in the Revelation he saw. Israel of old would receive plagues of famine, of war, of sickness, of terror; in the Book of Revelation the Lord of glory makes clear that His New Testament Israel shall receive –if God’s glory is not first and foremost in our lives- shall receive plagues of a similar nature. Think of the plagues promised in the seven seals in Rev 6, the plagues of the seven trumpets in Rev 8 and 9, the plagues of the seven bowls in Rev 16. These plagues shall come –when?- as answer to that first petition! God shall be glorified, and if His children refuse to direct their whole life –including thoughts, words, and actions- to His glory, if those children instead give to Satan and his offspring the opportunity to mock God through us, the plagues shall come.

You see: it is for these plagues –upon ourselves and all who blaspheme God- that we pray when we take that first petition on our lips! When we ask God to hallow His Name, we urge Him to pour out His plagues on those –and that can include ourselves!- who refuse to live in a manner worthy of God’s greatness. Who can explain in detail why the Lord permitted the terrorists to destroy those towers last September? But one aspect of the answer is certainly this, that God was answering the prayers of His people to hallow His own name – and so demonstrating the judgment that must come on sin and spelling out to a postmodern world that there is such a thing as evil. Who can explain in detail why the Lord permits things to happen in our personal lives as He does? One aspect of the answer is certainly this, that God is answering our prayers to hallow His name – in our personal lives, in our families, in the congregation, in our community, in our country. We may not be able to give exact links between our prayers and the things that happen, but we may know for certain that the Lord is busy bringing praise to Himself in all that happens – and that’s precisely what we pray for in the first petition. Then it’s not for us to busy our heads on how God answers our prayers in the first petition; it is for us instead to believe that He is answering our prayers, and so to keep praying earnestly, and then accepting in faith whatever God in wisdom puts on our path. We believe: He gathers praise for Himself. And that’s what we want.

But we know ourselves to be sinful, and God’s judgments severe…. Who then dares to pray this first petition?! Which sinner on the face of the earth dares to ask the Lord to hallow His name – a prayer that includes a request to God to pour forth His plagues upon the earth so that sinners repent of evil and acknowledge God to be the God He is? Ought we not rather to ask the hills to fall on us…?

Remember, beloved, the instruction the Lord gave His disciples before He taught them to pray the first petition. Said He: when you pray, say: "Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your Name." Father: we remember what the Lord had said about His being a Father. We remember how Elijah was wonderfully cared for, though a drought choked the land. We remember that Jesus was rejected by God, so that we might nevermore be forsaken by Him. We know: the God to whom we direct the first petition is our Father. And that is why we dare to pray this first petition – though praying it may cost us our houses and jobs, our peace and earthly security. We dare to pray it, because we believe that Father will glorify Himself by caring for us wonderfully, even when we’re touched by cloudless skies, or afflicted by extremists who would drop their terror upon us. We dare to pray it, even if it means that we pray for plagues upon loved ones. We’re sure: the God who made us His children through Jesus Christ will save us. Amen.