2.15.26 – Sanctifying His Name

We have just finished our study of "The Big Ten" and Mishpatim (right rulings), where the children of Israel—God's firstborn sons—made a commitment to practice all that God gave to Moses (Ex. 24:3).

I want to step back for a moment and reflect upon one of the Ten Devarim (the Ten Commandments) that is easily overlooked, and connect it with Yeshua's prayer when He said, "Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed (sanctified, set apart) be Your name..." (Matt. 6:9).

What many do not realize is that this statement takes us right back to the third Devarim of the Big Ten (Ex. 20:7):

"Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."
(Ex. 20:7)

In Hebrew, v'yitkadash sh'mecha ("that Your name be sanctified") is a petition that the universe's imperfection would be rectified. Huh?

The sanctification of God's name is a promise of the end of days described by the prophet Ezekiel: "And the nations will know that I am the Lord," declares the Lord God, "and I will prove myself holy among them in their sight" (Eze. 30:26; 38:23).

In Hebrew, one's name is their reputation. Desecration of God's name (hilul hashem) occurs when the perception of God in the world fails to match His true self. The exile of Israel—where all of us currently are, outside the land of our inheritance—gives a false impression about God. As prophesied through Ezekiel: "When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name, because it was said of them, 'These are the people of the Lord, yet they have come out of his land'" (Eze. 36:20).

So when God's people lack autonomy in the land—as promised by God in the Torah—it seems to the nations as if the Lord is a covenant breaker, God forbid.

This false impression makes it possible to believe ideas like replacement theology (where the church has replaced Israel as God's covenant people while not keeping the covenant requirements; Jer. 31:31–34). This modern-day sentiment essentially asserts that God has forsaken Israel—which God explicitly stated He would not do (Isa. 49:15–16).

Sanctifying God's name entails shattering the illusion of the nations once and for all. It means finally gaining a clear vision of the God of Israel, especially His loyalty to Israel's covenant. This is what our Master instructed us to pray for with the simple line "that Your name be sanctified" and "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain."

As we move into our next study on the Tabernacle, I hope we will keep in mind where we have been and apply those Scriptures to our 21st-century lives by conforming our behavior to those eternal truths :-)

As a modern-day application, we know that God does not act toward His people like a tyrant. Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Constitution of the United States that governments and their governors derive their power from the governed. This idea was adopted from the mutual covenant made at Mount Sinai. Unlike the unconditional rainbow covenant that God made with Noah, the Sinai covenant was conditional upon the people's choice to agree with the heavenly to govern them. As a result of trusting their leadership—namely, God—the people said three times in 100% unity, "All that you have said we will do" (Ex. 19:8; 24:3), even if they did not fully understand (v'nishma) what was being asked of them (Ex. 24:7).

The Apostle Paul said in his letter to the assembly at Rome that "faith comes by hearing" (shema) and "hearing (obedient action) by the Word of God" (Rom. 10:17). This passage is directly connected to our Torah portion for this past week, for it is here at Mount Sinai that the revelation of God's Word takes place to the entire nation of blood-bought, baptized, manna-feeding, water-drinking, Amalek-overcoming believers (Ex. 18–24).

Pharaoh considered himself to be a god (elohim). He enslaved the people of the world as a tyrant, making oppressive rules to keep the people under his thumb. He made his executive orders the "word of god," and the people obediently acted upon them under duress. Moses was sent to deliver God's firstborn sons (Ex. 4:22) to confront this tyrannical god and let the people go so they could serve the true God at Mount Sinai, where God would make Himself known to them in love and a heavenly constitution of mutual agreement. There they would learn how to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and might and their neighbor as themselves (Ex. 3:12; 5:1; 7:16; 8:1, 20–21; 9:1, 13; 10:3–4).

The Lord (YHVH), the covenant-keeping and relational God, had His work cut out with these former slaves. The enslavement of 210 years and the people's presence as strangers in a foreign land for 430 years had taken its toll on their minds and bodies. As you already know, the cancel-culture brainwashing was so strong that four-fifths of the people, though liberated, chose to stay behind in Egypt rather than follow God onto the Promised Land—their God-given destiny!

When the Word of God is obeyed, it will always produce an action that matches the original instruction (e.g., Gen. 1:2–5). Scripture calls this "faith." Faith is an action identifying who you have been listening to (Heb. 11). There are only two gods in this world: the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4), the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience (Eph. 2:2), and the God of all creation who reveals His benevolent love through His Word (1 John 4:8, 16; Deut. 7:9). It is obvious that, at times, because of trying times, we find ourselves listening to both, creating a "double-minded" lifestyle (James 1:2–8).

It has been said that everyone has an opinion, but that is not completely true. Each of our opinions is based solely on who has been speaking to you, what we have listened to, what environment you have received it in, and your faith in that source.

Life always produces two choices. Jesus/Yeshua said, "You are either for me or against me" (Matt. 12:30). Today, we are presented with many choices from two different voices. Our decisions today, good or bad, will have a "compound effect" in our lives (Gal. 6:7–9). My opinion is that we focus on listening to one voice—the One True God—and let His Word shine from your life for the world to see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:16). May it be said of us, while we are in exile, "Those people sanctified His name with their lifestyles" :-)

Shalom!
Alan

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