May 19 - Hallowing God’s Name - Evangelical Caucus/Devotional

Scripture (1 Peter 1:16) commands believers to be holy (“hallowed”), whereas it recognizes God as being holy. So attributing to Him the holiness that already is His is how we hallow His name.

As with every other truly righteous action, hallowing God’s name must begin in the heart. Peter reminds us to “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts” (1 Peter 3:15). When we do this, we also sanctify Him as Lord in our lives, as we above all affirm that He exists: “for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:6).

Discovering and believing scriptural truth about God is also a way to hallow His name. Any deliberate ignorance or wrong doctrine about the Father shows gross irreverence for Him. But if we want to completely hallow His name and have full reverence for Him, we must go on to have a constant awareness of the Father’s presence. David was a great example of this: “I have set the Lord continually before me” (Ps. 16:8).

Perhaps the greatest way of all for us to hallow His name is by following His will—down to the smallest task—making it the entire goal of our lives to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31).

Furthermore, we hallow God’s name by drawing others to Him. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may … glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16; cf. Ps. 34:3).

Everything we do, think, say, and communicate is a reflection on the name of God, since we have been called by His name and wear it as our chief identity. When are you most likely to forget that you bear the name of Christ, that you carry the responsibility for doing nothing to defame or discredit it?

From grade school...

Holy God we praise Thy Name

Lord above we bow before Thee

All on earth Thy scepter claim

All in heaven above adore Thee.

Infinite is Thy vast domain

Everlasting is Thy reign.

Accompanying music

What I have learned over the past years when it comes to God’s name was how plain it is laid out in the Book of Exodus.

“And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, hath appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬-‭16‬ ‭ASV‬‬

The Hebrew letters of Yod Hay Vav Hay is in the original Hebrew text. There is no J sound in the Hebrew so our English translation would have done better to just use the Y instead of the J. The King James (original) has the Hebrew letters of God’s name on the cover! The vowels that are used in multiple manuscripts are the Sheva, Cholam and Kamatz. Within the original King James there was one occurrence of IEHOVAH (which was later changed the IE to an J). There are only a few uses of JEHOVAH in the King James Bible. All other occurrences (thousands of uses) of YHVH the translators used God’s title instead of His Holy Name. In all of the cases you never read His Name you read “the LORD”. If you read the American Standard Version of the Bible you can see where every place where the Hebrew text has God’s Name (YHVH) they transliterate His Name as Jehovah.

If you truly want to honor the God of creation you can call upon His Name!

I have traveled the world over and my name is my name. Whenever my name is translated into a foreign language they always keep the pronunciation of my name in tact as best as they can. There is a history that goes back into where God’s Name was removed and where it became unlawful to speak. Do you dare speak God’s Name as it is pronounced in the Hebrew tongue? You decide.

If you read the American Standard Version of the Bible you can see where every place where the Hebrew text has God’s Name (YHVH) they transliterate His Name as Jehovah.

If you read the New World translation, you'll see every place that YHVH is NOT used, the 'translators' have inserted Jehovah as well.

The New World Translation strives to convey faithfully the original message that was inspired by God. (2 Timothy 3:16)

Many translations of the Bible sacrifice faithfulness to God’s message in favor of following human traditions, for instance by replacing God’s personal name, Jehovah, with titles such as Lord or God.

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