Scripture Daily

Context No. 2343 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Context · Reflection

Ezekiel 39:7-11: in context

7“‘“I will make my holy name known among my people Israel. I won’t allow my holy name to be profaned any more. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. 8Behold, it comes, and it will be done,” says the Lord GOD. “This is the day about which I have spoken. 9“‘“Those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and will make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the war clubs and the spears, and they will make fires with them for seven years; 10so that they will take no wood out of the field, and not cut down any out of the forests; for they will make fires with the weapons. They will plunder those who plundered them, and rob those who robbed them,” says the Lord GOD. 11“‘“It will happen in that day, that I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the valley of those who pass through on the east of the sea; and it will stop those who pass through. They will bury Gog and all his multitude there, and they will call it ‘The valley of Hamon Gog’.

After the defeat of the great enemy Gog, God declares his purpose in it: I will make my holy name known among my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profaned any more; then the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. God's concern, running through his acts, is for the honor of his holy name, that it be known and hallowed among his people and the nations, and no longer profaned. His purposes are aimed at the vindication and glory of his name.

God's stated purpose, I will make my holy name known and will not let it be profaned, reveals his zeal for the honor of his name. God cares deeply that his name, his holiness, his reputation, be honored and known, not profaned or dishonored. His name had been profaned, dishonored among the nations through his people's sin and defeat; and God acts to vindicate his name, to make it known and hallowed, so that all will know that he is the LORD, the Holy One. God's purposes are aimed ultimately at the honor and glory of his name. This reveals something about God's purposes that reorders our understanding. We can think that God's purposes are aimed chiefly at our benefit, our comfort, our happiness. And God is good to us. But his deepest purpose, running through all his acts, is the honor of his name, his own glory, that he be known and hallowed as the Holy One. I act for my holy name's sake, God says elsewhere; for my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, that my name not be profaned. God's zeal is for the honor of his name; and his purposes are aimed at his glory. This is right and fitting, for God's glory is the highest good, and our good is found in it. And this calls us to share God's concern for the honor of his name. If God's zeal is for the honor of his name, then we too are called to care for it, to hallow his name, to honor rather than profane it. The first petition Jesus teaches us to pray is, hallowed be your name; the honoring of God's name is the first concern of prayer, before our own needs. God's people are called to share his zeal for the honor of his name, hallowing it in their lives and desiring its glory. This searches whether we share God's concern for the honor of his name. Do we care, as God cares, for the honor of his name, desiring that it be hallowed and known, honoring rather than profaning it in our lives? Or are we concerned chiefly with our own interests, indifferent to the honor of God's name? God's zeal is for his name; and his people are called to share it. This calls us to hallow and honor God's name, sharing his zeal for its glory. God acts to make his holy name known and not let it be profaned; and we are called to the same concern, hallowing his name, honoring it in our lives, desiring its glory, and praying, hallowed be your name, sharing God's zeal for the honor of his name rather than being indifferent to it or profaning it. Let the honor of God's name be our concern as it is his, that his name be hallowed and known, honored and not profaned, in our lives and in the world.

Do I care, as God cares, for the honor of his holy name, desiring that it be hallowed and known and honoring rather than profaning it in my life, or am I concerned chiefly with my own interests, indifferent to the honor of God's name, and can God's zeal to make his holy name known and not let it be profaned move me to share his concern for the honor of his name, hallowing it in my life, desiring its glory, and praying, hallowed be your name, so that the honor of God's name is my concern as it is his?

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