All right, if you don't open up your copy of God's Word tonight to Numbers chapter 20, we continue our study into the Lord's Prayer. Thought this might be a good passage for us to consider, not immediately, but Lord willing, we'll consider it as we go through the study tonight. Let's give attention to God's Word, Numbers 20. I'll be reading verses 1 through 13. And the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month. And the people stayed in Kadesh. And Miriam died there and was buried there. Now there was no water for the congregation. So they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying, if only we had died when our brethren died before the Lord. Why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness that we and our animals should die here? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there any water to drink. So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, take the rod, you and your brother, Aaron, gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before your eyes, and it will yield its water. Thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation and their animals. So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he was commanded. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock. And he said to them, here now, you rebels, must we bring water for you out of this rock? Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice. with his rod, and water came out abundantly. And the congregation and their animals drank. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, because you did not believe me to hollow me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. This was the water of Meribah. because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and he was hallowed among them. This is from the reading of God's word. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we ask now that you would add your blessing to the reading of your word as we seek, Father, to continue our study in the Lord's prayer and that model prayer that the Lord Jesus Christ gave his disciples, even gave us. So Father, as we consider, help us to understand what it means that your name would be hallowed. We ask this in Jesus's name. Amen. Well, brothers and sisters, we're going to continue tonight in the study. We are on the first petition. We just read that numbers 20 versus one through 13. And now it's good for us just to review a little bit of of what we did last week when we took a look at the preface to the Lord's Prayer. And as we did that, we just asked that very general question. What is prayer? And as we looked at the larger catechism, we saw that prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God in the name of Christ by the help of the Spirit. Confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies. And as we go through the Lord's prayer, we're going to see that in a bit that opened up larger catechism. The writers of the larger catechism didn't pull this out of thin air. They pulled it from scripture and used even, I'm assuming, the Lord's Prayer, the model prayer to guide them in writing this answer. Well, as I said last week, we're going to be spending the next now about five weeks or so, maybe six, as we're studying the Lord's Prayer. We're going to be using the shorter catechism, but we'll add other things to that as well. And the goal is that we would all be growing in our individual and our collective ability by the work of the Spirit to pray, to pray rightly before our God in such a way that our communion and our union with God grows. Well, last week we considered that preface, our father, which art in heaven. And as we did that, we we considered three things. Praying as a child to your heavenly father, pray to God as the only one who was able and ready to help and finally pray to God with and for others. And we really spent some time thinking about what it meant to come before God as our heavenly father, but as a child. We are children of God, and we look at that, we consider that, and what a blessing it is that we can and do come as a son, a daughter of God Most High, and offer up to Him the desires of our heart. And then we we consider very briefly the fact that God really is the only one who is able to help us because he's the one who understands our path. And so when we talk about being helped by God, he's the one who knows our path, not not the path that we desire, but the path that he has placed us on. And so who else would we go to? to ask for help, to seek, to seek his face. Who else? He knows our path. He comprehends our path. And then as we we pray, our father, we studied and we knew that we were praying in faith, that that's a basis that's necessary for us to pray with faith, in faith. And as we do, we're praying with our brothers and sisters. for each other, with each other. This is that entry into the Lord's prayer, the preface. All those things caught up in the preface. Well, tonight we want to study that first petition, hallowed be thy name. As we do, let's just let's just think. Think upon what it means to hallow God's name. We see that as the angels descend, as Jesus Christ is born. And what happens? The angels come before the shepherds in the field and they cry out to them, unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly, suddenly there's a multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. Well, I wanted to bring this out for us to show us immediately what it means to hallow God's name. And here we see the angels doing it as the Lord Jesus Christ is born, as the son of God comes and takes on a human nature. Jesus. As very God is present on Earth, Emmanuel. the angels and the host, the heavenly host, praise God, saying glory to God in the highest. That's hallowing God's name. Well, as you see, I got the wrong scripture verse there in Spanish. We'll try to correct that, but we won't be reading it tonight. So what is the Lord's Prayer? Let's just read it and remind ourselves of all its components. In this manner, therefore, pray our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Amen. Well, tonight we're going to be studying that first petition. Hallowed be your name. That's our focus. That's our goal to unpack this just a little bit tonight. Well, we're going to break this down into three questions or three heads if you want to think of it that way. First, what is a petition? As we begin to look at these six petitions, this is our first one, what is it? We're going to dig into that a little bit and not spend a lot of time on that. More importantly, what is the significance of God's name? Why does Jesus point us as the first petition to the name of God? And then, of course, number three, what does it mean to hollow God's name? Well, let's dig into that. What is a petition? Well, as Hannah comes up to the tabernacle, As she comes, she is a woman who is sad. She has been denied the ability to have a child. The other wife in the family has had many. And so she comes and she petitions God. Listen to her prayer. Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant, and remember me, and not forget your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life. Eli, the priest, thinks that Hannah is drunk because her lips are moving, but he can't hear anything. She's praying this within her heart. This is her petition before the Lord, her request before God. First, that she would be remembered, and secondly, that God would provide her a child. And so Eli finally recognizes this. is go in peace. And the God of Israel grant your petition, which you have asked of him. We have another example in Esther. Now Esther is a Jewish queen. And her people, all of the Jews, are going to be annihilated unless she acts, unless she approaches the king. And so she puts on two banquets for the king and for Haman. And the king asks her the second time, because she has a request, the king knows it. King again said to Esther, what is your petition? It shall be granted. What is your request? Up to half the kingdom, it shall be done. And she responds, if I found favor in your sight, O King, and if it pleases the King, let my life be given me at my petition and my people at my request. That's a petition. It's a coming before one who has the ability, the power to not only hear, but then to grant. That's a petition. Webster's defines it as a formal request or supplication, verbal or written, particularly a written supplication from an inferior to a superior, either to a single person clothed with power or to a legislative or other body, soliciting or asking for some favor, grant, right, or mercy. That's usually what we think of when we think of a petition, something you sign, something that a bunch of people are getting together to get the government or some other organization or entity to do something that they have the power to do. And so you're asking, you're requesting a petition. Well, that's what all of these things are in the Lord's prayer. There are six of them. Six petitions in the Lord's Prayer. And each of the six, as we pray, we are asking, we are requesting, we are petitioning God to do something in every single one of them. God is the one who must act. And the Lord's Prayer implicitly recognizes and acknowledges that truth. Don't we see that throughout all of Scripture? Isn't that what Christianity is all about? It's God's work. It's God's decision. It's God's creation. It's God's Son. It's God's redemption. It's God's salvation. God is the one who is at work. We've been studying that in Romans as we have talked about and continue to talk about justification. It's God who justifies. That's His sole work. In the six petitions of the Lord's Prayer, we are asking, we are seeking, God to do something. He's the creator. He is the sustainer. He is the sovereign Lord who has all dominion, authority, power, rule and control. So we asked. Who else could act with authority? And effectiveness, who else would we go to? as the Sermon on the Mount, as Jesus is about to complete the Sermon on the Mount, as he's been telling his disciples about the Ten Commandments, about how you have to keep them perfectly if you're going to be saved. And then he tells them to ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. I think that there's a sense in which as Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Mount, he's going through the commandments and he's telling them that they're much broader than they ever thought. And they're scratching their heads and they're wondering, how are we going to do this? He's saying, well. You don't have to. All you need to do is ask the father. All you need to do is seek the father. All you need to do is is not. He will give you life. You see, in Jesus' statement, his teaching to his disciples, there's nothing here about what his disciples were to do. They were just to ask. It will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. So we seek. These are all petitions. That's the idea of the Lord's Prayer. And as we go through each of the petitions, we should just be remembering this portion of the lesson that we are going to asking, we're going to seek, we're going to knock on the door of the Lord. And we're going to be asking him to do. Well, what's the significance of the name of God. Why would this be the first petition and why would Jesus point us to the name of God? What's caught up in that? What's the idea? Why does the first petition relate only to the name of God? Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. What is the significance of only referring to God's name? In other words, what should you be thinking about and meditating upon as you pray, hallowed be your name? I think we need to begin answering that question by asking the question, which name? Jesus is not specific. The Lord's Prayer is not specific. It's very generic. It's very general. Hallowed be your name. Should we be thinking of God Almighty? Or should we be thinking of the Lord of hosts? Should we be considering the Holy One of Israel? How about our Redeemer from everlasting? Father of the fatherless? Our Potter? The High and Lofty One? Each name for Jehovah carries with it meaning and sets forth attributes. They're weighty. Every single one of them. And so by referring to. Hallowed be your name, meaning the father's name. Jesus seems to have included all. By which God makes himself known now, I didn't just make that up. No. What did Moses learn? about God in the wilderness as he was tending sheep, as he comes upon the burning bush. What did he learn as God was speaking to Moses from the burning bush? Remember in this account. Moses is very hesitant. to lay down his staff, give the sheep back to his father-in-law, and head back to Egypt. He's very hesitant. He's putting up all kinds of obstacles and barriers to going back. And one of the obstacles and barriers he puts up is, well, if the children of Israel ask me, they say to me, who sent you? What's his name? Moses asks God, what shall I say? God said to Moses, I am who I am. He said, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you. Well, just in that name, what do we know? What can we grasp? This is one who does not have any beginning, who does not have any end. He exists. And he exists within himself. I am who I am. There is nothing outside of God which affects his existence, much in this name. He tells Moses much about the one who is speaking to him. You see the significance caught up within just this one name of God? Well, here it is, shorter catechism, question and answer with regard to the first petition. What do we pray for in the first petition, in the first petition, which is hallowed be thy name. We pray that God would enable us and others to glorify him in all that whereby he maketh himself known. That's the portion I want you to fix on right now. Thy name. as understood by the writers of the Shorter Catechism, really refers to everything by which God is known. What is everything? Well, you can think of his creation. God is known by and through his creation. God is known by and through his word. God is known by and through all of his works. God is known by and through all of his attributes. You see how broad this is? The name of God, Jesus's reference to the name of God as understood by the writers of the shorter catechism is really not merely a reference. I use that term carefully. not merely a reference to Jehovah or Yahweh or the Lord. It's a reference to anything and everything by which he has made himself known. The larger catechism really blows that up for us a little bit, expands upon that. He tells us his titles, his attributes, his ordinances, that means his statutes, his laws, his word, his works. And then they get very broad and whatsoever he's pleased to make himself known by. However, God makes himself known. That would be included. In this idea of the name or your name. So it's broad, it's big. That's what we should be thinking about as we go to prayer, as we're thinking about praying to God, as we're thinking about asking him to hallow his name. It's everything by which he is making himself known. Well, let's get down then to the meat. What does it mean to hallow? We don't use that word. At least I don't. You might. Really, the only time I use it is if I'm reading scripture and come across it or in the Lord's Prayer. We don't use the word every day. It's not common. So first, it's going to help us to determine what does the word mean and then consider how it's used in the Lord's model prayer. When I think of hollow, I think of this picture, a hollow in the tree. And that's not the idea. That's not it. To hollow is a verb. And according to Webster's 1828, that picture here is not the 1828. That's a modern version. It means to make holy, to consecrate, to set apart for holy or religious use, to devote to holy or religious exercises and to treat as sacred or to honor as sacred. There's kind of the idea, generally speaking, when we think of hallowing or to make hollow. It's to sanctify, to consecrate, to set aside. or particular use of purpose, God. God sanctifies or hallows or consecrates something or someone as he sets it aside or apart for a particular use. He did it with the tabernacle. This is a artist's rendering of what the artist thought the temple, Solomon's temple, looked like. Each one of those things, the altar and the temple itself, were set aside. They were consecrated for the purpose of worship. Everything inside the temple, all of the things, the ark, the covenant, the table of showbread, the lamp, lampstand, The incense, everything within the temple used for worship was consecrated. It was set apart. Remember, the incense wasn't supposed to be used for anything else but for burning within the temple, within the tabernacle to God. It was a sin for them to use it for anything else. It was set aside for worship. God set it aside for that particular purpose. In a sense, how is it? He sets it aside. He sanctifies it. Well, God also sanctified the seventh day, didn't he? For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it or sanctified it or set it apart from the other six days, a day of worship, a day of service, a day of praise, set it apart for a particular use determined by God. What about the garments that Aaron wore? Consecrated. sanctified, hallowed, set apart. You should take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments and his sons and on the garments of his sons with him and he and his garments shall be hallowed. Aaron was being set aside for priestly work, for priestly service, along with his garments and along with his sons, along with their garments, for a particular work. Serving God. That's what it means to hallow. To set aside, to sanctify. But, big but here. As we pray, hallowed be your name. We're praying and asking for something different than that which God has done with things and people he has set aside for worship. And here, I think, is the crux of the idea. Our thoughts and meditation should be upon God himself, the creator. not specifically upon the creation. Now you might say, well, that's kind of contradictory. You said that God's name, the name of God, Hallowed Be Your Name, means everything by which He's known, and that includes the creation. That's right. But we're not setting our minds and meditating upon the creation specifically. As we think of the creation, Then as we're thinking of that, we're thinking, how does that honor and magnify God's name? How does the creation show forth his splendor? That's the difference. Our thoughts and our meditations are upon God himself as we seek to hallow his name. Now let me just say something here at this point. We're unable, as God's creatures, to actually bring more glory to God. We're unable to really and truly, in and of ourselves, make His name hallowed. He's the one who does that. He is the one who has done that. He is the one who continues to do that. And so as we're praying this prayer, we're asking that God himself would first be the one who is hallowing his own name. That he is the one who is glorifying himself by and through all of which he does. And that as he uses means, that he would use us his creation to do the same. It's the idea. In this petition, we pray that God's name may shine forth gloriously and that it may be honored and sanctified by us in the whole course and tenor of our lives. Again, I think Watson has nailed it. This is the idea that God is the one who's first hallowing his name. And then as we pray that he would enable us, that he work within us by his spirit, that every part of our lives would be that which would honor and glorify God's name. Watson goes on to say, to hallow is to set apart a thing from the common use, some sacred end in particular. See how he's talking about what we defined earlier. But then when he talks about hallowing God's name, in particular, hallowing God's name is to give him high honor and veneration and to render his name sacred. That's the idea. not just his name, but everything by which he makes himself known. And here's where the shorter catechism gets at that particular thought and idea and scriptural truth. We pray that God would enable us and others to glorify him and that he would dispose all things to his own glory. You see, it's God's work that he would dispose all things to his own glory and that he would also work in us, enabling us and others to glorify him. That's the idea of hallowing God's name. Now, we read Numbers 20 for a reason tonight. First, because he uses that word twice in Numbers 20, verse 12 and verse 13. Sometimes, brothers and sisters, the best way for us to understand something is to see a negative example or to see where somebody didn't hallow God's name, his works. Sometimes that's the best way for us to learn. The positive is when we think of the negative. And so here in Numbers 20, as Moses and Aaron have been dealing with a grumbling and complaining people of God time and again, When they come to this particular place in the wilderness and they're lacking water. As Calvin points out, the people don't go to God. They don't go to Yahweh and ask him to provide. They come to Aaron and Moses and they complain. Complaining against God, ultimately. They're complaining, they're asking, why has God brought us to this place? And so we might think, well, you know, Moses and Aaron have been on a long road and they've been handed much and they've been grumbled against much. Who can blame them? God tells them to take the rod, go to the rock, and speak to the rock and water will flow. That was a promise. That was a promise that God made. It was also a command that this is how you'll deal with my people who are sinning against me. And this is how my name will be hallowed. What does Moses do? He doesn't speak to the rock. He takes the rod and he strikes the rock twice. Calvin puts it this way, and clearly God says to Moses and Aaron, because you did not believe me, to hallow me in the eyes of the children of Israel. Calvin writes this, asking himself the question, how has Moses transgressed? And in fact, he was so entirely, speaking of Moses now, he was so entirely taken up by considerations of their contumacy, meaning the people's complaining, that he did not acknowledge the grace of God. It became him then to confidently assert that God had again promised the same thing rather than to speak with hesitation. Moses' job was only to show the glory of God, speaking to the rock by doing exactly that which God had called him to do. And in that way, lifting up, magnifying the name of God, glorifying the name of God, hallowing the name of God, keeping the name of God sacred. And Moses does just the opposite. But what does the Lord do? Notice the last clause or phrase here in verse 13. I'll just read the whole thing. This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them. How can that be? Moses sinned against Him. It can be and was because of who God is and what he did. Notice a couple of things very quickly. The people of God were sinning against God. In fact, I think we could say with confidence the people of God were hating God right now. They were still at enmity with God. They were questioning why he's brought them to this point in the wilderness, why he brought them out of Egypt. Why didn't he just leave them where they were in their bondage? They were questioning his wisdom. And Moses and Aaron, in failing to keep The right and perfect command of God took it upon themselves to do something very different than he had commanded. Here now, you rebels, must we bring water for you out of this rock? You can just hear Moses pointing to himself and lifting up himself, as opposed to lifting up the name of God. But yet, even as the people sin against God, even as Moses and Aaron sin against God, what does God do? He's merciful. He's merciful to the children of Israel who are contending with him. And in his mercy, as he pours out this water, which is a sign of the Lord Jesus Christ, He shows his name to be sacred, to be holy, to be unaffected by those that were sinning against him. He shows himself to be faithful. And as he does so, he hallows his name. Well, Even though Moses and Aaron did not hollow God's name, he does so himself. And that's our prayer. Because brothers and sisters, as we are imperfect, as we are sinners, even every time we pray this prayer, it's mixed with sin. And so we rely upon God, we depend upon God. to do that which we are unable to do perfectly. It's a petition. It's a request that he would hallow his name. Use us, yes. Use us, Father. But you're the one who's going to be able to do it perfectly in the only way that's true and the only way which indeed glorifies yourself. Well, brothers and sisters, that's kind of a skimming over the first petition. Next week, Lord willing, we will jump into the second petition. If I can figure out how to record this as next week, I will most likely be on my way or in Iowa for the General Assembly. Amen.