Wednesday, September 24, 2008
How God Hallows His Name
Ezekiel 36:16-32
9/24/08 D. Marion Clark
The word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. 18 So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. 19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. 20But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ 21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.
22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
Introduction
Our typical approach to this petition in the Lord’s prayer, “Hallowed be thy name,” focuses on how we are to show reverence to the name of God. I have no problem with that and had intended to do the same until I came across this passage in Ezekiel which presents how God acts to hallow his name. As important as it is to consider what we must do, it is more fascinating to observe what God in fact does.
Text
Verses 16-21 present the dilemma facing God. Israel, through their many sins had defiled the land which God had given them (17-18). In keeping with the covenant warnings, he then proceeded to abolish them from the land, in essence from his midst. He is the holy God who cannot dwell among an unclean people, and so, to protect his holy name, he sent his defiled people into exile (19).
But this presented another problem. The act of sending the people away into other nations then led those nations to cast aspersion upon the name of God (20). The very presence of God’s covenant people in their lands raised questions, not about the people, but about God. Yes, the people got what they deserved, but evidently God is unable to control his people well enough so as to carry out his covenant intentions. The question was not whether God was just but was he able? He could start a good work, but evidently he could not finish it. That is what the exile of God’s covenant people communicated to the nations, thus leading to God’s name being profaned. Verse 21 makes clear that this dilemma concerns him.
Verses 22-23 present clearly God’s motivation. It is not for the sake of the people but for his own sake – the sake of his holy name that he will act. In verse 23, he says he will vindicate the holiness of his great name. Again, he will vindicate his holiness before the eyes of the nations. Clearly this matters greatly to God.
Verses 24-30 then spell out how God will do this work of vindication, this work of hallowing his name. Let’s look at the ways.
First, he will bring his people back. Wherever they are scattered, he will find them and bring them home. Next, he will cleanse them. He will sprinkle them with water (not immerse), and that sprinkling will cleanse them from all uncleannesses, specifically idolatry. Third, he will give them new hearts, turning hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. Fourth, he will put his Spirit within them and cause them to walk in his ways. Then there is the land. The desolate land will become fruitful. No more famine. Verses 37-38 add one more act. God will make the people fruitful. Barren wombs will bear many children and their numbers will increase. All this is how God will hallow his name.
Verses 31-32 present the impact of this work of God on his covenant people and 35-36 on the nations. First, the covenant people. Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. God’s act of redemption, which is what this is all about, is intended to provoke in his people a sense of remorse. How so? Because they understand two things: it is their sin that created the dilemma in the first place. They profaned the name of the Lord. They broke their covenant responsibilities; they defiled the land; they caused the Lord’s name to be profaned among the nations. Secondly, God makes very clear that he delivers them for his sake not theirs. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you.
Then there are the nations in verses 35-36. They will gain a newfound respect for the Lord as they behold what he is able to do. They will hallow the name of the Lord.
Lessons
1. It is the Lord who ultimately hallows his name. As sinners we are incapable of it. Our sins ever beset us and defile God’s name as we transgress his laws. Indeed, we may be more guilty than the Israelites. For we possess God’s Spirit and still disobey him. We know more clearly God’s grace and still abuse that grace. We know the love of God through Christ that they did not conceive, and we still go our own way. How often have we shamed God’s name before our unbelieving neighbors by bearing the name of Christian and then acting without the love of Christ and as though there is no calling on us to be holy? How many of our neighbors have said because of us, “If that is what it means to be a Christian, I don’t see what good it does”?
Let us give thanks that God does hallow his name. He answers the request, “hallowed by thy name.” Unlike us, he is willing and is able to uphold the honor of his name. Unlike us, he does not sin nor does he allow sin to taint him or to thwart his purposes. We are called to hallow his name precisely because he is and remains holy.
Let us give thanks for the way that God hallows his name. It is through the redemption of his people. Consider first his placing himself under covenant obligations to complete the work he purposed. God had made a promise to Abraham and he determined to carry it out even though Abraham’s descendents reneged on their part. Indeed, he saw to it that their very sins would all the more magnify his great name by the work he would do to deliver them.
God could have chosen to hallow his name by his wrath. And he does. By his holy wrath he sent his people into exile. By his wrath he punished them for their sins, and many did die. And yet, because of the covenant promise, redemption and restoration become his means of hallowing his name by what he does to his covenant people.
Aren’t you relieved that this is how God acts for the sake of his name? Aren’t you relieved that, though you do not deserve God’s favor, he nevertheless shows it to you? And consider what his hallowing his name has meant for you.
You have been gathered out of the kingdoms of this world and of Satan and brought into the kingdom of God. You have been sprinkled with the blood of Christ and cleansed from your idolatrous sins. You have been given a new heart that you might hear and believe the gospel and see a transformation take place in you. You have been given the Holy Spirit who causes you to walk in God’s statutes. You have been given a fruitful life whereby you have done good works. That is how God has hallowed his name.
2. In light of how God hallows his name, what role is there for us? Two ways. One is to follow the example of our Lord.
When we consider how God has chosen to hallow his name by redeeming us and restoring us, then let us have the same attitude in how we respond to others. We are to have the same heart of the God whom we hallow. And so, for the sake of God’s name, let us seek for redemption and restoration in others, especially those who have offended us. In regard to our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to restore transgressors in a spirit of gentleness, and if we are unable to be the restorers we are nevertheless to pray for them and desire what is good for them. We are to do unto them as we would have them do unto us. This is hallowing the name of the Lord who is their God, who has redeemed them.
In regard to our unbelieving neighbors, we are to demonstrate before them the difference a redeemed life makes, and above all, that demonstration is to be seen in the love we show to one another. By our love for one another, we are to identified with the name of Christ. Our neighbors should observe the work of the Spirit in our lives, seeing the way in which love rules our behavior, and then conclude that our God is a great God. They should see how our devotion to our God, how our concern for his honor overrides our natural selfishness. Whatever they may think of our beliefs, they are compelled to acknowledge the positive impact God makes in our lives. That is how God’s name is hallowed.
And then there is another lesson to learn from God’s means of hallowing his name. Receive the blessing of his work. One might conclude from our passage that we should be marked by shame. After all, that was God’s expressed intent in verse 32. But understand God’s intention. He wanted to make clear to the people that they could not pat themselves on the back for being worthy of God’s redemptive work. They could not say, it was because of their obedience, even their repentance, that God brought them back. All that they could point to in themselves were their sins. When God did great things for them, they could not boast before their neighboring nations that God favored them for being better than their neighbors. No, they had proven themselves no better than those who did not believe.
But remorse is not what is meant to define our lives. We have been given new hearts; we have been given the Spirit of God; we have received cleansing and the made fruitful. Therefore we hallow God’s name by rejoicing in his work that he has done in us. It is insult to reject the gift of our benevolent God. We profane the name of God when we refuse to avail ourselves of his means of grace and to rejoice in his benefits. For we reject God’s very means of hallowing his name.
We do not deserve God’s love. But God has chosen to love us. Love is what he has chosen by which to hallow his name in regard to us. Receive then that love. Rejoice in that love. Let that love be seen in the way you live, in the way you treat others. Then you will hallow God’s name.
9/24/08 D. Marion Clark
The word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. 18 So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. 19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. 20But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ 21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.
22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
Introduction
Our typical approach to this petition in the Lord’s prayer, “Hallowed be thy name,” focuses on how we are to show reverence to the name of God. I have no problem with that and had intended to do the same until I came across this passage in Ezekiel which presents how God acts to hallow his name. As important as it is to consider what we must do, it is more fascinating to observe what God in fact does.
Text
Verses 16-21 present the dilemma facing God. Israel, through their many sins had defiled the land which God had given them (17-18). In keeping with the covenant warnings, he then proceeded to abolish them from the land, in essence from his midst. He is the holy God who cannot dwell among an unclean people, and so, to protect his holy name, he sent his defiled people into exile (19).
But this presented another problem. The act of sending the people away into other nations then led those nations to cast aspersion upon the name of God (20). The very presence of God’s covenant people in their lands raised questions, not about the people, but about God. Yes, the people got what they deserved, but evidently God is unable to control his people well enough so as to carry out his covenant intentions. The question was not whether God was just but was he able? He could start a good work, but evidently he could not finish it. That is what the exile of God’s covenant people communicated to the nations, thus leading to God’s name being profaned. Verse 21 makes clear that this dilemma concerns him.
Verses 22-23 present clearly God’s motivation. It is not for the sake of the people but for his own sake – the sake of his holy name that he will act. In verse 23, he says he will vindicate the holiness of his great name. Again, he will vindicate his holiness before the eyes of the nations. Clearly this matters greatly to God.
Verses 24-30 then spell out how God will do this work of vindication, this work of hallowing his name. Let’s look at the ways.
First, he will bring his people back. Wherever they are scattered, he will find them and bring them home. Next, he will cleanse them. He will sprinkle them with water (not immerse), and that sprinkling will cleanse them from all uncleannesses, specifically idolatry. Third, he will give them new hearts, turning hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. Fourth, he will put his Spirit within them and cause them to walk in his ways. Then there is the land. The desolate land will become fruitful. No more famine. Verses 37-38 add one more act. God will make the people fruitful. Barren wombs will bear many children and their numbers will increase. All this is how God will hallow his name.
Verses 31-32 present the impact of this work of God on his covenant people and 35-36 on the nations. First, the covenant people. Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. God’s act of redemption, which is what this is all about, is intended to provoke in his people a sense of remorse. How so? Because they understand two things: it is their sin that created the dilemma in the first place. They profaned the name of the Lord. They broke their covenant responsibilities; they defiled the land; they caused the Lord’s name to be profaned among the nations. Secondly, God makes very clear that he delivers them for his sake not theirs. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you.
Then there are the nations in verses 35-36. They will gain a newfound respect for the Lord as they behold what he is able to do. They will hallow the name of the Lord.
Lessons
1. It is the Lord who ultimately hallows his name. As sinners we are incapable of it. Our sins ever beset us and defile God’s name as we transgress his laws. Indeed, we may be more guilty than the Israelites. For we possess God’s Spirit and still disobey him. We know more clearly God’s grace and still abuse that grace. We know the love of God through Christ that they did not conceive, and we still go our own way. How often have we shamed God’s name before our unbelieving neighbors by bearing the name of Christian and then acting without the love of Christ and as though there is no calling on us to be holy? How many of our neighbors have said because of us, “If that is what it means to be a Christian, I don’t see what good it does”?
Let us give thanks that God does hallow his name. He answers the request, “hallowed by thy name.” Unlike us, he is willing and is able to uphold the honor of his name. Unlike us, he does not sin nor does he allow sin to taint him or to thwart his purposes. We are called to hallow his name precisely because he is and remains holy.
Let us give thanks for the way that God hallows his name. It is through the redemption of his people. Consider first his placing himself under covenant obligations to complete the work he purposed. God had made a promise to Abraham and he determined to carry it out even though Abraham’s descendents reneged on their part. Indeed, he saw to it that their very sins would all the more magnify his great name by the work he would do to deliver them.
God could have chosen to hallow his name by his wrath. And he does. By his holy wrath he sent his people into exile. By his wrath he punished them for their sins, and many did die. And yet, because of the covenant promise, redemption and restoration become his means of hallowing his name by what he does to his covenant people.
Aren’t you relieved that this is how God acts for the sake of his name? Aren’t you relieved that, though you do not deserve God’s favor, he nevertheless shows it to you? And consider what his hallowing his name has meant for you.
You have been gathered out of the kingdoms of this world and of Satan and brought into the kingdom of God. You have been sprinkled with the blood of Christ and cleansed from your idolatrous sins. You have been given a new heart that you might hear and believe the gospel and see a transformation take place in you. You have been given the Holy Spirit who causes you to walk in God’s statutes. You have been given a fruitful life whereby you have done good works. That is how God has hallowed his name.
2. In light of how God hallows his name, what role is there for us? Two ways. One is to follow the example of our Lord.
When we consider how God has chosen to hallow his name by redeeming us and restoring us, then let us have the same attitude in how we respond to others. We are to have the same heart of the God whom we hallow. And so, for the sake of God’s name, let us seek for redemption and restoration in others, especially those who have offended us. In regard to our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to restore transgressors in a spirit of gentleness, and if we are unable to be the restorers we are nevertheless to pray for them and desire what is good for them. We are to do unto them as we would have them do unto us. This is hallowing the name of the Lord who is their God, who has redeemed them.
In regard to our unbelieving neighbors, we are to demonstrate before them the difference a redeemed life makes, and above all, that demonstration is to be seen in the love we show to one another. By our love for one another, we are to identified with the name of Christ. Our neighbors should observe the work of the Spirit in our lives, seeing the way in which love rules our behavior, and then conclude that our God is a great God. They should see how our devotion to our God, how our concern for his honor overrides our natural selfishness. Whatever they may think of our beliefs, they are compelled to acknowledge the positive impact God makes in our lives. That is how God’s name is hallowed.
And then there is another lesson to learn from God’s means of hallowing his name. Receive the blessing of his work. One might conclude from our passage that we should be marked by shame. After all, that was God’s expressed intent in verse 32. But understand God’s intention. He wanted to make clear to the people that they could not pat themselves on the back for being worthy of God’s redemptive work. They could not say, it was because of their obedience, even their repentance, that God brought them back. All that they could point to in themselves were their sins. When God did great things for them, they could not boast before their neighboring nations that God favored them for being better than their neighbors. No, they had proven themselves no better than those who did not believe.
But remorse is not what is meant to define our lives. We have been given new hearts; we have been given the Spirit of God; we have received cleansing and the made fruitful. Therefore we hallow God’s name by rejoicing in his work that he has done in us. It is insult to reject the gift of our benevolent God. We profane the name of God when we refuse to avail ourselves of his means of grace and to rejoice in his benefits. For we reject God’s very means of hallowing his name.
We do not deserve God’s love. But God has chosen to love us. Love is what he has chosen by which to hallow his name in regard to us. Receive then that love. Rejoice in that love. Let that love be seen in the way you live, in the way you treat others. Then you will hallow God’s name.
