Matthew 6:9

“Our Father who is in heaven.”

The disciples can now approach God as their Father because they have come to Him as His ‘sons' (Matthew 5:9). They have come under the Kingly Rule of Heaven, and their delight is now to do His will. He is their Father in Heaven (Matthew 5:16; Matthew 5:45; Matthew 6:1). The stress on this throughout the Sermon is remarkable (Matthew 6:14; Matthew 6:26; Matthew 6:32; Matthew 7:11; Matthew 7:21). It is something that they must not forget.

Note that it is a joint prayer. They are to pray ‘our' Father. They are to come as one ‘body' together, as the new congregation of Israel (Matthew 16:18). There is to be no thought of their just being individual disciples, although that is not to say that they cannot pray this prayer individually. But when they do it will always be with the recognition that they are a part of God's holy nation, God's true people (Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9). They pray as one.

And they recognise that they cannot approach Him lightly. For while He is their ‘Father', He is their Father ‘in Heaven'. This last addition may seem to make it to a point typically Jewish (to some extent in contrast with the prayer in Luke, although the idea is still intrinsically present there), but the emphasis is different from what would be intended by a Jew. For the idea is not in order to make God somewhat remote, but in order to emphasise His very nature and being. He is ‘heavenly'. And therefore as we pray we are to be concerned about heavenly things.

No non-Christian Jew ever actually spoke of God in a way remotely as personal as this until well after the time of Christ, and even then there were only indications of a part of the idea that lay behind it. It is true that a similar phrase (‘our Father') is found as purported to be on the lips of late first century Rabbis, but it is only in later literature, and not as a direct address (compare also Deuteronomy 32:5 where the idea is exemplified). It did not have the same personal emphasis, but was more secondary.

The Jews did, however, see God as Father in a general way, and the prophets did sometimes border on approaching the idea found here. The words of Jeremiah 31:20 are, for example, moving and explicit,

"Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child?

For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still.

Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him,

Says the Lord".

Here there is a clear invitation for Israel to respond to a loving Father, for we have the picture of a Father yearning for the loving response of His son, even though His son has been recalcitrant. It presented Israel with a joint opportunity (it was not individual), but it was not one that they ever took. God might look on them in this way, but at their worst they ignored Him and at their best they would never dare to presume because of their unworthiness.

We can compare here Deuteronomy 32:5, ‘They are not His children. It is their blemish. They are a perverse and crooked generation. Do you thus requite the Lord, O foolish and unwise people. Is He not your Father Who has bought you, Who has made you and established you.' Here the thought is very much that of Exodus 4:23, ‘Israel is My son, My firstborn', where as His son He had redeemed them. But then it records their refusal to accept the honour, because they were unwilling to fill the position that was there demanded. So all through their history God offered to be their Father, but all the time they refused.

The same offer to be their Father and Redeemer is spoken of in Isaiah 63:16 where the prophet declares to God, “You are our Father. Though Abraham does not know us, and Israel (Jacob) does not acknowledge us, You O Lord are our Father, our Redeemer from everlasting is Your Name.' The thought there is, however, of a powerful and authoritative Father and Redeemer, not the personal Father that Jesus had in mind, and it goes on to say that because of their recalcitrance and refusal to respond to Him He actually causes them to go astray.

Indeed Hosea reminds us that He had ‘called His son out of Egypt', but that when they had come they had brought Egypt with them in their hearts, and He had thus had to return them there again (Hosea 11:1), because they had not come fully.

God's offer to them continued while the prophets were still prophesying, for in Malachi 1:6 God declares:

‘A son honours his father, and a servant his master.

If then I am a Father, where is my honour?

And if I am a Master, where is my fear?

Says the Lord of hosts.

Here the father is seen as a figure of authority, in parallel to a master and his servant. It is a reminder that the offer of Fatherhood brings with it a requirement to fulfil the responsibilities that went along with the idea, but the invitation to be His sons was still there, even though again there was little response.

The same option was opened to them in Jeremiah 3:19, where it is connected with the final time of restoration. There Jeremiah has in mind the time when Jerusalem will once more be ‘the throne of the Lord' (Matthew 5:24; compare also ‘the city of the Great King' - Matthew 5:25.), and all nations will gather to it (compare Acts 2:5). And His offer is, ‘You will call Me “my Father” and will not turn away from following Me'. But he adds that their response at that time was to ‘deal treacherously with Him' like an unfaithful wife. It may, however be seen as significant that here the final restoration was seen as being in terms of His people coming to Him and calling Him, ‘My Father'. And that this is what Jesus is offering them now.

For other references to God as Father in the Old Testament see Psalms 103:13 (where it is indirect in the form of an illustration, thus God is seen to be ‘like a father'); and Malachi 2:10 (where it is again as Creator).

The Jews did not totally ignore the idea of God as their Father in accordance with these Scriptures, but it was very much as One Who was kept at a distance, lest they be too presumptious. Indeed they would no doubt have seen this prayer, with its lack of qualifying phrases, as presumptious and blasphemous. (Jesus, on the other hand, while wanting them to respect their Father ‘in Heaven', intended His disciples to know how dear they were to God). The references are few and sparse. In the Qumran literature we find a depiction of Joseph as addressing God as, ‘my Father and my God'. This lacks quite the personal note found here and is on the lips of a patriarch. In the Wisdom of Solomon Matthew 14:3 the writer can say, ‘your providence, O Father, guides it (a seagoing vessel) along'. The thought is thus fairly austere as of One Who watches over the world as its Creator. And in 1 Chronicles 29:10 in LXX David is portrayed as blessing the Lord before the congregation, and saying, “Blessed are You, O Lord God of Israel, our Father, from everlasting and to everlasting.” But the translators would have had an exalted view of David (probably considering that he could pray what others could not) and there is even then a suggestion of remoteness about an ‘everlasting Father', and it is based on the fact that He is ‘the Lord God of Israel'. Certainly nothing in all this tempted Israel to address God as ‘our Father' in the personal way intended here by Jesus. The address of ‘Father' also occurs in the fourth and sixth of the eighteen benedictions regularly repeated in the synagogues (of uncertain date), but both times connected with the address ‘O Lord'. There is nothing in all this of the intimacy portrayed by Jesus, and the idea was almost always accompanied by exalted titles.

So Jesus is calling on His disciples to recognise that because the time of restoration is here (Jeremiah 3:19), and they have responded to it, they can call on God as ‘our Father in Heaven', and the personal nature of the reference comes out throughout the Sermon (‘Your Father' occurs nine times in Matthew 6:1 alone. See also Matthew 5:26; Matthew 5:45; Matthew 5:48; Matthew 6:26; Matthew 6:32; Matthew 7:11). But it is very much because they are living as His sons (Matthew 5:9; Matthew 5:45). Because of His working in their hearts He has a people fitted to be His sons.

Paul brings out the intimacy of the way in which Jesus calls on His disciples to address God as ‘our Father in Heaven' when he tells us that because we have received the Spirit of sonship we can call Him ‘Abba, Father' (Romans 8:15). And this is because the Spirit Himself testifies within us that we are children of God (Matthew 6:16). But he too would have insisted that we should remember that He is our ‘holy Father' (John 17:11).

We should perhaps again draw attention here to the fact that Jesus never speaks of God as ‘ our  Father' as if He was including Himself. This was a prayer for the disciples. Jesus always addresses God or speaks of God as ‘My Father' or the equivalent, or, when speaking of the disciples, as ‘your Father' (note Matthew 6:14) and even speaks of ‘My Father and your Father' (John 20:17), but He never speaks of ‘our Father' as including Himself (notice especially Matthew 7:21). This use is consistent throughout the Gospels demonstrating Jesus' view of Himself as unique. But it does also serve to bring home the wonder of the privilege that is ours, that He is our Father too.

So this approach puts us in mind of the wonder of Who it is to Whom we are coming. He is in Heaven, He is our Creator, and yet He is also our personal Father, for He has called us into a personal relationship with Himself through His Son (John 1:12), and by the working of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:15). This is not the ‘fatherhood of God' as a universal Father. It is the personal Fatherhood of those who have, by believing in Jesus, become His Messianic children.

We can compare with this opening to the prayer here how Jesus approached His Father in John 17:1. He calls Him ‘Father' and makes the relationship between them quite clear before continuing His prayer, stressing the part He has played in Their plan of salvation, and seeking restoration as the One Who had been the possessor of His Father's own glory (John 17:5). Thus He too opens His prayer by making clear His relationship with His Father, even though in His case it is an exalted one. He does not just race into His Father's presence.

“May Your Name be set apart as holy.”

This and the following petition closely parallel, but in a far more succint form, the words of an ancient synagogue prayer, “Exalted and hallowed be His great name in the world which He created according to his will. May He rule his kingdom in your lifetime and in your days and in the lifetime of the whole house of Israel, speedily and soon. And to this, say, ‘Amen'.” This too is seeking to ‘hallow' God's Name, and is seeking for God to intervene in order to establish His Kingly Rule. But we must remember in making the comparison that Jesus saw things very differently from His contemporaries. Jesus possibly took over the pattern but not necessarily the ideas. They looked to a remote future. He saw God's Kingly Rule as already breaking in upon men.

So in order that we might consider carefully the fact that although He is our Father we must not be presumptious, our attention is now drawn to His holiness, that is, to the fact that He is distinct from us and ‘set apart' from all things by what He is, so that to approach Him is a great and exalted privilege which can only be ours when our hearts are right. He is ‘the high and exalted One Who inhabits eternity, Whose Name is holy, Who dwells in the high and holy place, with those who are of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart on the contrite one' (Isaiah 57:15).

And our first concern and prayer is therefore to be that both in Heaven and earth His holiness be recognised. It is to long that all creation should know Who and What He is, and honour Him accordingly.

This idea of God's Name being made holy is found in the Old Testament, from which no doubt Jesus was taking it. The purpose of God's deliverance of His people was so that they might hallow His Name by obeying His commandments (Leviticus 22:32), and He ‘proclaimed His Name' before Moses in order to hallow it (Exodus 33:19; compare Deuteronomy 32:3). His holiness was further revealed by His judgment on Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:3); and the whole purpose of the Tabernacle ritual was in order to keep holy His Name (Leviticus 22:2; Leviticus 22:32). Indeed their failure to maintain the holiness of God was the cause of the downfall of Moses and Aaron (Numbers 20:12; Numbers 27:14; Deuteronomy 32:51).

In Isaiah 29:23 we are told that Israel will ‘sanctify His Name' and will thus ‘stand in awe' of Him when He brings about His deliverance of them, and the result will be that they will come to understanding and will listen to His Instruction. So the prayer ‘may your Name be made holy' includes this desire that God's Name might be held in awe, and honoured and worshipped because His people are in awe of Him as a result of what He has done for them. For as we have seen the Name of a person indicates what he essentially is. Thus to ‘set God's Name apart as holy' (hallow Him) means to honour what He is fully and without reserve.

It is, however, in Ezekiel that the ‘sanctifying' (setting apart as holy) of God's Name by His own action receives a major emphasis (Ezekiel 20:41; Ezekiel 28:22; Ezekiel 28:25; Ezekiel 36:23; Ezekiel 39:27). In Ezekiel the idea is again that God will be ‘sanctified' (totally justified in all eyes and seen to be unique in the goodness, mercy and power), by the deliverance of His people. But this is then especially connected with Him as acting to sanctify His Name. In Ezekiel 36:23 God is seen as declaring, “And I will sanctify (make holy) My great Name which has been profaned among the nations, --- and the nations will know that I am YHWH, says the Lord YHWH, when I will be sanctified (made holy) in you before their eyes --- and I will take you from among the nations --- and I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean -- a new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:23). So God is to be ‘made holy' in the eyes of men by what He accomplishes in salvation and deliverance, in the bringing of righteousness to His people This confirms therefore that ‘hallowed be your Name' is partly to be seen as a prayer for the pouring out of the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:27; Isaiah 44:1; Joel 2:28) and the renewing of the new covenant (Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 31:33) so that God's unique holiness might be made known. It will be praying that the work that has taken place in the disciples will spread more widely and will take in many more people so that through it God's Name, as He acts in gracious sovereignty, might be seen to be holy. It is praying that Matthew 3:11 might be fulfilled for many.

And finally His name will be hallowed at the final judgment when all sin is done away and the perfect everlasting Kingdom is established. Then God will be fully known for what He is. Men may see God's day of judgment as a time of terror and horror. But that is because of what they are. To Heaven it is the time when all will be set right, when wickedness and selfishness will be done away, and when God will become all in all. And that is why His people pray for it and look forward to it (2 Peter 3:12; Revelation 6:10). So by praying ‘may your Name be made holy' we have these three things in mind, a desire that men may be in awe of Him and give Him the praise due to His Name, a cry that God will act to bring honour to His Name by pouring forth His Holy Spirit in the cleansing and transformation of a people for Himself, and a longing for that day when God will bring about His judgment and will set all to rights (compare Revelation 6:10).