KAVOD SERIES · PART ONE · ARTICLE 1
THE GLORY DUE HIS NAME — GOD MAKES HIMSELF KNOWN
What Does Glory Weigh?
Some words can become lighter through familiarity. Glory may call to mind brightness, majesty, or something beautiful—but distant. Scripture brings it much closer.
The Hebrew word often translated glory is kavod. It belongs to a family of words associated with weight or heaviness. Depending on its context, kavod can speak of honor, dignity, importance, splendor, and glory. It points us toward something—or Someone—too weighty to be treated lightly.
That is where our journey begins.
God is not an accessory to an already crowded life. He is not one interest among many or a religious subject to consider when convenient. He is our Creator, our King, our Judge, and—for those who belong to Christ—our Father. Everything exists by Him and for Him.
His glory is not something we give Him as though He lacked it. Glory is already His. We are called to recognize it, declare it, delight in it, and live beneath its weight.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism expresses our purpose with beautiful simplicity:
“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.” —Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 1
The same catechism later explains that when we pray, “Hallowed be thy name,” we ask that God would enable us and others to glorify Him in everything by which He makes Himself known.
To glorify God and to enjoy Him are not competing purposes. The God who commands our worship also invites us to know Him. The more truly we know Him, the more reason we have to trust Him. The more deeply we trust Him, the more readily we obey Him. And the more we see of His goodness, holiness, mercy, power, and faithfulness, the more our hearts find their proper joy in Him.
At the beginning of this journey, we may know several names and titles of God without having considered what they reveal. But as Scripture opens them before us, the fearful will meet the LORD of Hosts, the weary will hear the voice of the Shepherd, the needy will look to the God who provides, the guilty will discover the LORD our righteousness, and the lonely will be reminded that He is Immanuel—God with us.
We are not gathering religious vocabulary. We are drawing near to the God who has made Himself known.
The First Desire Jesus Teaches Us to Pray
When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He began with the Father:
“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” —Matthew 6:9
Before daily bread, forgiveness, temptation, or deliverance comes this first petition: Hallowed be thy name.
The verb translated hallowed means to sanctify—to regard, treat, and honor as holy. Jesus was not suggesting that God’s name could become more holy than it already is. God is eternally and perfectly holy. We are praying that His name would be recognized and honored as holy—within our own hearts, among His people, and throughout the earth.
This prayer turns the light upon us. Do we treat God as holy? Does His revealed character carry its rightful weight in our decisions? Do our words, desires, worship, relationships, and conduct testify that He is worthy?
We can speak God’s name while living as though He were distant. We can sing of His holiness while resisting His commands. We can ask Him to bless our plans without first asking whether those plans honor Him.
Therefore, “Hallowed be thy name” is not an ornamental beginning to prayer. It is a plea for God to put our hearts, priorities, and lives in their proper order.
It is a prayer of devotion—and of surrender.
More Than a Name
In Scripture, a name is often more than a label used to identify someone. A name can represent identity, character, authority, reputation, and the person who bears it.
God’s names do not give us mastery over Him. They are not secret formulas, charms, or words by which we can control spiritual power. God’s names are gifts of revelation. The incomprehensible God has stooped to make Himself truly known.
We must also distinguish carefully between God’s personal name, His titles, descriptions of His character, and names connected with particular places or events. They do not all function in precisely the same way. Yet each may direct our attention toward something God has revealed about Himself.
This is why His name can be loved, feared, trusted, praised, proclaimed, glorified—and profaned. How we treat God’s name reveals something about how we regard God Himself.
“Show Me Thy Glory”
One of Scripture’s clearest connections between God’s glory, His name, and His character appears after Israel’s terrible sin with the golden calf.
Moses pleads with God to continue with His people. Then he makes an astonishing request:
“I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.” —Exodus 33:18
God answers:
“I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee.” —Exodus 33:19
Moses asks to see God’s glory. God responds by displaying His goodness and proclaiming His name. Then the LORD passes before Moses and declares Himself merciful and gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving sin, yet never treating guilt as though it did not matter.
This is not accidental. God’s glory is inseparable from who He is.
His glory is seen in His holiness and His goodness, His mercy and His justice, His patience and His truth. We cannot honor God rightly while accepting only those attributes that comfort us and ignoring those that confront us. The God who forgives is also the God who judges. The God who is near is also high and holy. The God whose love is beyond measure never separates His love from truth.
Moses wanted to see God’s glory. God proclaimed His name.
That is why the names of God matter.
The Glory Due His Name
Psalm 96 calls the families of the earth to respond:
“Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts. O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.” —Psalm 96:8–9
The psalm does not call us merely to think correct thoughts about God. It calls us to sing, bless His name, proclaim His salvation, declare His wonders, bring an offering, worship in holiness, tremble before Him, and tell the nations that the LORD reigns.
God’s revelation calls for a whole-person response.
Biblical obedience is not dependent upon our emotions. We obey God because He is Lord, including on days when our feelings lag behind the truth. But God does not call us to cold obedience stripped of affection. Scripture commands us to love Him, fear Him, delight in Him, hope in Him, grieve over sin, and rejoice in His salvation.
Truth instructs the mind. Worship awakens the affections. Faith submits the will. Obedience carries that response into life.
We do not give God glory that He does not possess. We give Him the glory “due unto his name” by recognizing, confessing, displaying, and proclaiming the glory that has always been His.
The Name Made Known in Christ
God’s self-revelation reaches its fullness in His Son.
John writes that the eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among us:
“And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” —John 1:14
John then writes:
“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” —John 1:18
The language echoes God’s revelation to Moses—His glory, goodness, mercy, and truth. But now the glory of God is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus could say to the Father:
“I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.” —John 17:6
Christ did more than pronounce a divine name. He made the Father known through His words, His works, His holiness, His compassion, His obedience, His death, and His resurrection.
As the cross approached, Jesus prayed:
“Father, glorify thy name.” —John 12:28
The names of God cannot be studied rightly apart from Christ. He is not merely another entry in our journey. He is its center. The Son makes the Father known, and the Holy Spirit opens our hearts to receive the truth He has revealed.
Because This Is Who God Is…
Because God is holy, His name must never be treated lightly.
Because He has made Himself known, we must listen.
Because His glory is weighty, He must not be pushed to the margins of life.
Because He is gracious, we may draw near through Christ.
Because He is worthy, we should desire that others know and worship Him.
So begin this journey with a simple prayer: Father, hallow Your name in me.
Ask Him to expose whatever you have treated as more important than His glory. Ask Him to move His truth from the page into your thoughts, affections, choices, and conduct. Ask Him to teach you not merely to recognize His names, but to know, love, trust, obey, enjoy, and proclaim the One who bears them.
The question is not only, What does kavod mean?
The deeper question is: What has true weight in my life?
Prayer
Father in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Forgive us for treating lightly what is holy and for allowing lesser things to carry greater weight in our hearts. Make Yourself known to us through Your Word. Teach us to behold Your glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Awaken our affections, strengthen our faith, and bend our wills toward joyful obedience. May our thoughts, words, worship, and conduct give You the glory due unto Your name. And through our lives, make Your name known to others. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Next in the journey: YHWH—the LORD Who Reveals Himself.
Scripture to Carry With You
“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” —Matthew 6:9
“Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.” —Psalm 96:8
“I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” —John 17:6
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