Holy Is Your Name

Does holiness seem to be more of a religious word in our day? About the only time you expect to hear the word holy is in a religious service or in a silly exclamation such as, “Holy Cow!” However, God is holy. We are to be holy. His name is holy. So, what does it mean to be holy?

By definition, something that is holy is set apart from or separated from common things. So, in reality, museum artifacts are holy because they are separated from common items that are in current use. They have an important connection to our past, a unique quality, or great value. These special objects are guarded from casual contact, protected from the elements, and given a place of honor in a museum. Visitors are expected to give the artifacts proper respect.

God is holy. He is deserving of honor and respect, no, reverence and awe. We show reverence, not by admiring God as an artifact in a museum, but by our worship and by our devotion to his ways. He is holy because he is, by his very nature, separate from mankind and all that is created. He is holy; man is common. He is righteous; man is unrighteous. He is eternal; man is finite. He is creator; man is created.

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he taught them that the name of God is holy (hallowed). It is not enough to accept that God himself is holy, his name is also holy. 

At some point in their history the ancient Jews stopped saying the name of God. It is said that they reasoned that if they did not say God’s name then they would not break the command:

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” 

--Exodus 20:7

It appears that the ancient Jews put God’s name up on a shelf as if it were an artifact. Yet, that was not God’s intent.

When God revealed his name to Moses it meant something. God told Moses to tell the Israelites that the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob was about to deliver them from Egypt. He told Moses to tell Israel His name and it was packed with meaning. He is the one who Is:

“I AM Who I AM.”

God expected his name to be spoken but with reverence and honor. His name was not to be on an equal level with the names of foreign gods. His name was above them, because he is real, and he is supreme. His name is not a common name like that of any man or woman throughout history. His name is not to be used as the punch-line of a joke or the subject of humor. His name is not for meaningless exclamations of surprise. God’s name is not to be shouted as a explicative when experiencing sharp pain or anger.

God’s name has meaning and it uniquely identifies God as deity, as one who is self-sufficient, eternal in existence, and changeless. No other single descriptor is capable of encompassing his identity. His is not a name that must not be spoken but one that must be revered. The name of God can only be attributed to Him, for no other name can make such a claim as does the name of God: 

I AM.

“Our Father in heaven...HOLY IS YOUR NAME.”

Mark Stinnett

October 29, 2023