Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.We generally take these words to be words of respect, giving homage to God. At the start of the prayer we hallow, honor, and reverence the name of God.
These words are actually a petition, a prayer for God to act in hallowing God's own name. God hallowing God's name marks the end of Israel's exile as God gathers the scattered sheep of Israel. God hallows God's name by restoring Israel:
Ezekiel 39.7-8, 25-29The Lord's Prayer is a petition for God to hallow God's name before the nations by restoring Israel, making the kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven through the reign of the Messiah.
"And my holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it is coming and it will be brought about, declares the Lord God. That is the day of which I have spoken.
“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. They shall forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid, when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies' lands, and through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore. And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”
