"Holy, Holy, Holy Is Jehovah" - Holy Name, Holy Spirit

What about God's own name? As we saw in Chapter 1, that name is no mere title or label. It represents Jehovah God, embracing all his qualities. Hence, the Bible tells us that his "Name is holy."  (Isaiah 57:15)  The Mosaic Law made it a capital offense to profane God's name.  (Leviticus 24:16)  And note what Jesus  made the first priority in prayer:  "Our Father who art in heaven, let thy name be sanctified."  (Matthew 6:9)  To sanctify something means to set it apart as sacred and to revere it, to uphold it as holy.  But why would something as intrinsically pure as God's own name need to be sanctified?

God's holy  name has been impugned, besmirched with lies and slander.  In Eden, Satan lie about Jehovah and implied that He is an unjust Sovereign.  (Genesis 3:1-5)  Since then, Satan-the ruler of this unholy world-has made sure that lies about God have proliferated. (John 8:44; 12:31; Revelation 12:9)  Religions have painted God as arbitrary, remote, or cruel.  They have claimed to have h is backing in their bloodthirsty wars.  The credit for God's marvelous acts of creation has often been given to blind chance, or evolution.  Yes, God's name has been viciously maligned. It must be sanctified; its rightful glory must be restored.  We long for the sanctification of his name and the vindication of his sovereignty, and we delight to play any part in that grand purpose.  

There is something else intimately associated with Jehovah that is almost invariably called holy-his spirit, or active force.  (Genesis 1:2) Jehovah uses this irresistible force to accomplish his purposes. All that God does, he carries out in a holy, pure, and clean way, so that his active force is well named holy spirit, or spirit of holiness. (Luke 11:13; Romans 1:4)  Blaspheming the holy spirit, which involves working against Jehovah's purposes, constitutes an unforgivable sin. -Mark 3:29. 

Next time: "Holy, Holy, Holy Is Jehovah" - Why Jehovah's Holiness Draws Us to Him

From the book: Draw Close to Jehovah