Psalm 8: Jesus Christ, Son of Man

Dismiss the children if you haven’t already

GREETINGS

Good afternoon again Church! Please grab your Bibles, as we continue in our worship through the preaching of God’s Word...

…we are going through a Series on the Messianic Psalms. Today we will be in Psalm chapter 8, verses 1-9—Psalm 8:1-9

As you make your way there, let me just say that we are glad that you are here this morning. If you are visiting or are new to the church, we encourage you to observe, watch, and listen. If you have any questions about the church, about the Bible, about the gospel—feel free to pull me aside after church to talk about any of those things.

We’re in Psalm 8:1-9.

Psalm 8:1–9 ESV

1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

May God Bless the Reading of His Word

The title of our sermon is “Jesus Christ, Son of Man”

Introduction

I want to take you to a place on the west side of Hawaii, a spot on the Waianae coast on the island of Oahu where you're not really supposed to snorkel. This is the Wild Wild West of the ocean—no lifeguards, no nets, no barriers. Here, the ocean is raw and untamed. You need fins to navigate the strong currents and maybe even webbed gloves for added strength. The fish are bigger, the corals are brighter, and there's always the chance you'll spot a tiger shark.

On one occasion I was snorkeling there when I went over an unseen ridge. Suddenly, the vibrant reef life disappeared, and there was no seafloor in sight. It was just a deep blue emptiness. So I did what any reasonable thinking person would do … I decided to dive down, only to discover that it just kept going, deeper and deeper and deeper. But all I had was a snorkel and I could only take so much in, before I needed to go back to the surface of the water.

The glory of God is like that. The majesty is there, but we can only take so much in. We know it’s big, but how big is incalculable. Even though we are able to enjoy the things we are able to take in, see and understand, there is vastly so much more.

The bookends of our text, verses 1 and 9 speak of the majesty and glory of our God. It is like that canyon of deep blue ocean that is more than the tropical fish and corals we spot on the surface. No our God, is so much more.

Gerardus Van der Leeuw is quoted as saying:

A Theology for the Church Chapter 4: The Nature of God: Being, Attributes, and Acts (Timothy George)

He who says, I believe in God, says more than he can justify, more than he knows, more even than he senses or suspects; he says that God’s reality is more real than his own life, that God is nearer than hands and feet, that he is the most sublime, but also the most common, that he is a God “in heaven above and on earth below,” the furthest away and the closest at hand, the unattainable One.

I hope that as we look at God again and hear about Christ yet again, that you will gain even more.

Last week I introduced this new series on the Messianic Psalms. We looked at Psalm 110 and saw how Jesus is forever our King and Priest. Whereas that Psalm was quoted some 12-14 times in the NT (based on how you group it), Psalm 8 is quoted 3 times. With a text like this, we just want to get a glimpse of God’s glory.

So to do that I want to start with a plain reading of this text, and then because parts of it is quoted in the New Testament, I want to circle back with prophetic insights.

So, to get a glimpse of God's glory, we're going to do two things today. First, we'll take a simple, plain reading of Psalm 8 and gain some insights there that is much like the snorkeling at the surface level. Then, we'll see how this Psalm is a prophecy that points directly to Jesus, the Messiah, taking a deep dive to see how New Testament citations of this text provides for us more insight.

The plain reading of Psalm 8 shows us…

The Glorious Majesty of God In All the Earth

The Sweeping Glory of God (v. 1)

Psalm 8:1 ESV

1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

This verse is reminiscent of Psalm 110 where we saw that the Lord (YHWH) said to my Lord (Adonai), “sit at my right hand.” We see that same construct again when we read O Lord (YHWH), our Lord (Adonai) how majestic is your name in all the earth. The same persons referred to in Psalm 110, is referred to here as well. We see in this text the involvement once again of the Father and the Son, where the Father exalts the Son and the Spirit through David proclaims the Son. Father, Son and Spirit, sweetly here seen in the text before us.

I bring this up about God because at the outset of our text, as it was last week, our subject matter is God who we will never ever fully grasp … we will never fully arrived to an understanding of this infinite One. So many years of being a Christian, so many years of having read our Bible, so many sermons, so many podcasts, so many books, and so many classes, seminars and conferences. Let us not forget, that even though God has allowed us to know Him, we are in over our heads.

Gerardus Van der Leeuw is quoted as saying:

A Theology for the Church Chapter 4: The Nature of God: Being, Attributes, and Acts (Timothy George)

He who says, I believe in God, says more than he can justify, more than he knows, more even than he senses or suspects; he says that God’s reality is more real than his own life, that God is nearer than hands and feet, that he is the most sublime, but also the most common, that he is a God “in heaven above and on earth below,” the furthest away and the closest at hand, the unattainable One, who was already nearby us before we were born.

How great is your God? The psalmist attributes majesty to His name … His renown, His reputation … is magnificent. It is a sweeping kind of glory that He has … in all the earth … above the heavens. This is what missionaries are driven by when they seek to spread the gospel in other parts of the world. They believe that He is worthy of praise … in all the earth … to the ends of the earth. There is a missionary like anthem being stated here at the outset.

Is he not worthy of all our praise? Is he not majestic and glorious above anything and everything? Is he not the creator of all in verse 3 and the ruler of all in verse 6? This is why again in verse 9, the psalmist attributes majesty, magnificence to the Lord.

I would imagine that in the same way that a person who says, I believe in God, says more than he can justify, more than he knows, more even than he senses or suspects, that for the person who attributes sweeping majestic glory to God on high, is saying more than they can justify as well. To the extent and the degree that we are able to attribute glory to God, He’s greater. That’s why the tapestry, the canvas as it were, to display the glory of God is the entire universe itself.

In the Louvre, the famous museum in Paris, France, is a painting called “The Wedding of Cana” by Veronese. It’s out of John 2 where Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding. A typical oil painting will be around the size of 4’x5’ (48”x60”), could be a little bit bigger, or a little bit smaller. Well Veronese painted “The Wedding of Cana” in a canvas that was 32’ wide by 22’ high.

This picture here shows it on display on the floor of the Louvre with people viewing it, which helps to put the size of it in perspective. (https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2021/10/21/veronese-wedding-feast-napoleons-greatest-trophy/). If you look a the painting close enough, then you would notice Jesus at the center, and the eyes above him and below him setting their sights on Jesus at the center.

Now as much as this canvas is trying to put the glory of Jesus on display, wouldn’t it be foolish to think that his glory would be encapsulated and contained within this canvas as if that’s all the glory He had. That which would fit on this canvas.

Imagine now a canvas the size of the universe portraying the sweeping extensive majesty of God. And then to have earth, sun and moon stand in front of this canvas, how small would it look? And then to have glory beyond what this canvas is able to show, this canvas that is the universe, is an amazing thing. Wouldn’t it be foolish to think that his glory would be encapsulated and contained within even this grander canvas that is the universe.

Let us not take lightly the glory being ascribed to God in this verse.

Psalm 8:1 ESV

1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

Now, here's something amazing. As infinitely vast as God's glory is, it's also simple enough for children to praise him

The Simple Praise of God (v. 2)

Psalm 8:2 ESV

2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

Children are found here praising God, and in that simple praise is enough strength to silence even the enemies of God … because … the strength is not in man, but in God to defeat his enemies. And so in this verse we see something of the praise of God and the power of God.

On the one hand, we should praise Him even when we don’t know everything there is to know about His glory. The little that we know of Him, is enough to praise Him now. You don’t need to be a scholar, a skilled musician, or seasoned speaker. These are children for crying out loud, and they’re praising God already.

So what are you waiting for? Even if we only know a little about God, that's enough to praise Him now.

And in this praise, the enemies are silenced. There is something about this kind of praise that makes it clear, that God gets the glory.

And then in verses 3-8 we see …

The Stunning Favor of God (v. 3-8)

SHOW VERSE, BUT DON’T READ VERSE

Psalm 8:3–8 ESV

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

The Psalmist is in awe. He looks at the moon and the stars—the work of God's fingers—and then he looks at tiny, fragile humanity and says, 'What is man that you even think of him?' These verses are teeing off thoughts from the Creation account.

Genesis 1:1 ESV

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And then from there we see him create all that there is in the heavens (the clouds, the skies, the stars, the vast universe) and all that is on the earth ( the land, trees, fruits, vegetation, the animals on land, sea and sky … everything including the sun and the moon).

And then God creates Adam and Eve. When he creates Adam he says in Genesis 1:26, “…let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

And the Psalmist can’t get over this. “What is man that you are mindful of him? … What is man that you have given him dominion over the works of your hands?”

It is on this plain reading of Psalm 8, that the sweeping glory of God, the simple praise of God and the stunning favor of God that the Psalmist, even though he already says it in verse, once again says it here in verse 9

Psalm 8:9 ESV

9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Now, let's look at the prophetic nature of this text. This Psalm points directly to Jesus as the Messiah and the glorious Son of Man. To see that we will revisit verse 2, and then verses 4 through 6.

The Messiah and the Glorious Son of Man

Psalm 8:2 ESV

2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

This gets cited in Matthew 21:16 after Jesus cleanses the temple. Starting in verse 15 it says

Matthew 21:15–16 ESV

15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”

When Jesus quotes Psalm 8:2, he is linking the children's praise to his identity as the Son of David, the prophesied Messiah. It shows us that He is the Son of David. He is the one who will assume David’s throne forever. And so yes, this is a Messianic Psalm.

The sweeping majesty of God is here put in perspective. Verse 2 tells us that Jesus is the object of praise. That the praise that goes to the Father, also goes to the Son. In fact, there is no proper worship of the Father apart from the Son. Speaking of the Son, Jesus says that the Father has given all judgment to the Son, referring to himself, so that in …

John 5:23 ESV

23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

All that to say, Jesus is the Son of David, Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus is the Messiah … therefore Jesus is the proper object of worship.

What we believe in this church is a “Monotheistic Christology.” We believe of course that God the Father is God, but also that God the Son (Jesus Christ) is also God. Not another God because there is only one God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit subsisting as One. We believe in the trinity.

The only reason why Jesus Christ is the proper object of worship is because He is God hence the statement that there is no right worship of the Father apart from the right worship of the Son.

The 2nd prophecy is in verse 4-6 where it says

Psalm 8:4–6 ESV

4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,

This gets cited in Hebrew 2:6-9.

Hebrews 2:6–9 ESV

6 It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? 7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor…

Hebrews 2:9 clearly identifies "son of man" in Psalm 8:4 as Jesus.

For Hebrews to shed light on Psalm 8 in this way, helps us to understand that God through the Psalmist is not formulating merely a better Anthropology for us, a better understanding of Adam and Eve as vice regents over Creation, but because of this insight from Hebrews 2, the light is shining on the second Adam, here identified as son of man. It is building up our Christology that we might understand more fully who Jesus is, who the Messiah is, who our savior is.

Jesus Christ is the Son of Man! In verse 9 of Hebrews 2, we see the son of man both in his humility and his glory. This same son of man is described in Daniel 7:13-14 as One who has been given authority.

Daniel 7:13–14 ESV

13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

That’s the son of man in Psalm 8:4 who Hebrews 2:9 says is Jesus.

RC Sproul points out that “Son of Man" is principally a heavenly role not an earthly role because of Daniel 7. He points out from the verse [see verse 13] that we are mistaken to think that "Son of Man" is a mere designation of His humanity. He states that “son of man” is a designation of "divine authority."  (Sproul, The Difference Between "Son of God" and "Son of Man", YouTube video)

I think he’s right. Consider these verses.

In Luke 6, the disciples were plucking grain on the Sabbath Day when you weren’t supposed to be doing any work. The Pharisees who took the Law seriously called Jesus and His disciples out on this. You’re not supposed to work on the Sabbath. And look at what Jesus says in verse 5…

Luke 6:5 ESV

5 And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

And then in Matthew 9 when Jesus was healing the sick, He says something astonishing in verse 2 after healing a paralytic, “Take heart my son, your sins are forgiven.” To which the scribes were crying out blasphemy.

Matthew 9:4–7 ESV

4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 7 And he rose and went home.

Only God forgives sins and the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins because, guess what? He’s God.

Now going back to Hebrews 2:9 which quotes Psalm 8:4-6, I want us to see one last thing here…

Hebrews 2:9–10 ESV

9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

What’s so glorious about Jesus is that He died for us. He is “…crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death" and his death was a sacrifice that “tasted death for everyone.”

Application

Praise God from where you are now

Praise is not reserved for elite or the mature, but is simple enough for children to offer. The little we know about God is enough to praise Him. Sing out to God … Pray out to God … Be a witness for God …

Acknowledge Jesus as the proper object of worship

There is no proper worship of the Father apart from the Son. Jesus, who is both the Son of David and the Son of God, is the Messiah and therefore the proper object of worship. We are called to honor the Son just as we honor the Father, and whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father. This means our worship should be focused on the entire Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

For example, when I am thanking God for my salvation, I actually address the Trinity in my prayer. I say,

Father, thank you for sending your Son Jesus Christ to die for me and for giving Him freely for my salvation.

Jesus, thank you that you did come … willingly … gladly … sacrificing yourself for my sake.

Holy Spirit, thank you for raising Jesus from the dead (Rom. 8:11), and for the hope in Christ that you will one day raise me too from the dead.”

Find comfort and hope in the suffering of Jesus Christ

Jesus was "crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death". He, the glorious Son of Man, tasted death for everyone. The central glory of Jesus is found in His willingness to die for us. We can find hope and salvation in the fact that He, who is perfect, became the founder of our salvation through His suffering. This is the foundation of our faith and the reason we take communion—to remember that Christ's body and blood bring forgiveness of sins which we will celebrate in a moment.

If you don’t know Jesus Christ today, I want you to know that He really is the Savior of the world. I do believe that He tasted death for everyone, which means the offer of salvation is genuinely extended to you this afternoon. Come to Jesus today and you WILL be saved!

Communion

As the men come up to pass out the elements for communion, we now enter into a time of remembrance. If you are a baptized believer in good standing with your church, we invite you to join us for communion as we celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ in a time of remembrance.

Every now and then we recite the Nicene Creed. Written originally in 325 AD and then expanded to include more on the Holy Spirit in 381 AD, we have this statement which is Trinitarian Gospel that is majestic and glorious. Let’s read this together…

Nicene Creed

PRAY

Christians, eat and drink, knowing Christ forgives our sins though His body by His blood. Go ahead and take the bread and then the juice.