Hallowed Be Thy Name

In the Bible Room at Whit's End, Connie Kendall finds Whit putting the finishing touches on his newest invention. It introduces itself as BEAVRS, which stands for Bible Education Audio Video Research System - though Connie decides it looks like a souped-up computer, and Whit admits that is more or less what it is. The machine is built to help with Bible questions, complete with pictures and sound, and Whit sits Connie down to try it out. When she can't think of a topic, he suggests one: the names of God. BEAVRS displays a whole list of them, and Connie is amazed. She has always assumed that Lord, God, and Almighty were just different words for the same thing, but Whit explains that names in the Bible mean something, and each of God's names reveals something about who He is.

Connie starts at the top with Elohim. BEAVRS explains that the name expresses God's power over His creation, then plays out the creation account from Genesis - light divided from darkness, sky and sea, animals of every kind, and finally man, made in God's own image. Next comes Adonai, the name of faith and assurance. BEAVRS shows Abram meeting the Lord in a vision, worrying that he has no children, and hearing God's promise that his descendants will outnumber the stars, a covenant sealed with a sacrifice.

Connie notices the names seem to be following the history of Israel, and Whit agrees - the names of God were revealed during the great events in the story of His people. He asks for Elah, the name found during the exile in Babylon, whose root means to fear, and BEAVRS presents the story of Daniel. Jealous officials trick King Darius into decreeing that no one may pray to anyone but the king for thirty days. Daniel prays to God anyway, just as he always has, and Darius, bound by his own law, sorrowfully has him thrown into the lions' den. After a sleepless night the king rushes to the den at dawn and finds Daniel alive - God has sent His angel to shut the lions' mouths - and Darius decrees that all his people must fear and worship the God of Daniel, who rescues and saves.

When Connie asks whether any of God's names appear in the New Testament, BEAVRS shows the angel Gabriel visiting Mary with the news that she will bear a son named Jesus, the Son of the Most High, who will also be called Immanuel, God with us - the one who will save His people from their sins. Connie declares that Jesus must be the most important name of all, but Whit isn't so sure. Even Jesus, he says, knew there was one name of God revered above all others. That name is Yahweh, which BEAVRS says reveals God's nature in the fullest sense possible. From a burning bush, God calls Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, and when Moses asks what name he should give the people, God answers: Yahweh, I am that I am. Whit points out that God gave this most personal name to Moses - not even Abraham had known it.

Then Whit shows Connie why the name matters so much for Jesus. In the Garden of Gethsemane, when the soldiers come to arrest Him and He answers "I am he," the temple guards fall to the ground, for He has spoken the name. And at His trial, when the high priest demands to know whether He is the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus answers simply, "I am." Connie suddenly understands why the religious leaders were so angry - Jesus was claiming to be Yahweh Himself. But Whit presses further: the Jews treated that name with the greatest reverence, while today many people, himself and Connie included, have carelessly misused the names of God. Whatever we are doing, he concludes - singing, praying, or just talking about God - we need to remember what Jesus taught in the Lord's Prayer: hallowed, sacred, revered, holy be thy name.