Now it will be clear in a moment to every one of you, that when the expression is thus applied to God Himself, and to His name, it must mean something very different to what it does when it is applied to ourselves. It cannot mean separation unto God, for it is applied to Him who from all eternity has been essentially separate. Nor can it be used in the sense of ‘making holy,’ for perfect and unblemished holiness is the very essence of His Godhead. What then does it mean? It means that the holiness of His name should be known and honoured; and that whenever His name is named, there should be the recognition and exhibition of His holiness. It is a prayer, in fact, that His holiness may be glorified, and that throughout the world He may be obeyed and revered as a holy God. This sanctifying, or hallowing, of the name of God Himself shall be our subject for this morning. And may He Himself grant that His name may be sanctified in this very sermon! Let our prayer be, ‘Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.’ The first point to which I would draw your attention is that He is sanctified in His people. His power is manifest in the world: His holiness in His Church. It is by the Church that is to be known, even to principalities and powers in heavenly places, the manifold wisdom of God. The Church of God is gathered from a rebel world in order that God in it may display His holiness, and so make proof of His character. He manifests himself amongst His people, and this manifestation is witnessed by the world. You see this very clearly in such a passage as Ezek. xxxvi. 23: ‘The heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.’ God would be so sanctified in His people that the heathen should be persuaded of His Godhead. So you read in Levit. x. 3: ‘I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ Now mark what a lesson there is in this for ourselves. In one sense we are all come nigh to God, for we have all been baptized into His name. We all meet in His house as His worshippers; and many of us delight in the sacred privilege of drawing near to Him in His sacramental feast. I hope it may be said of many in the reality of their souls’ salvation, as it may certainly be said of all in the externals of their Christianity,—that they are ‘a people nigh unto Him.’ But if so, He is to be sanctified in us. We who draw nigh unto Him, are to be like the glass reflecting His image: it is in us that His character is to be exhibited, and His holiness made manifest before the world. We are to be changed into His image, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, so that in us ought to be seen that image, and in us the holiness of His name should be exalted amongst men.