The WOW Factor of Creation and Incarnation
Notes
Transcript
Occasionally you will hear people talk abou the “WOW FACTOR.” Although it can mean different things it’s typically something that causes EXCITEMENT in someone. This week while studying Psalm 8 I realized there as a HUGE WOW FACTOR there for me. This Psalm talks about God’s awesome name, His creative power and genuis, His love and consideration for mankind and it even alludes to Christ coming to rescue us!
And we needed to be rescued! We are sinful, broken, idol worshipping human beings that were full of guilt and shame. The image of God that we were created in has been marred by sin, and then Jesus came to restore us, rescue us, and to redeem us!
Let’s look at Psalm 8 together and see this WOW factor. Let’s first begin by looking at...
A Man’s View of God (vv. 1-4, 9)
A Man’s View of God (vv. 1-4, 9)
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
As David opens this psalm, he is writing these words to God Himself. We have access to David’s heart felt prayer as he lifts His voice in praise! He lifts up the name of God and declares God’s majesty and the majesty in His name.
Notice carefully how David begins, “O LORD, our Lord...” Although it appears to be the same word in English, two different Hebrew words are used here.
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Notice the first “LORD” contains all capital letter and the second “Lord” has only the “L” capitalized.
The first “LORD” is the Hebrew word “Yahweh.” Yahweh is God’s “personal covenant name to Israel.”
The second “Lord” is the Hebrew word that conveys the sense of “Master.” David was acknowledging that God is MASTER AND RULER over His life!
David then begins to ascribe MAJESTY to the God and His names. According to the Bible Knowledge Commentary the word “majestic” suggests “splendor and magnificence.” There is a WOW FACTOR in His name!
Not only does David praise God’s name, but he also talks about God’s glory. God’s glory is very difficult to describe. The word could be translated as “splendor” but it could also be translated weight. In other words “God carries a lot of weight.” So much so that His glory is far “weightier” and has far more splendor than the universe He created!
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
The universe is believed to contain over 100 billion galaxies, and within each galaxy may be an average of 100 billion stars! That’s 10 thousand billion billion stars yet to be identified. (AIG)
He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.
Did you get that…there are 10 thousand billion, billion stars yet to be identified and OUR GOD KNOWS THEM ALL BY NAME!
In the midst of the galaxies, you will find a pixel of light known as the Milky Way. Somewhere amidst the billions of stars in our galaxy lies the sun. Circling that yellow dwarf is an invisible dot of cold matter known as earth.
This pale blue dot, floating in the ocean of space, is the apple of God’s eye. He made it “to be inhabited” (Isaiah 45:18). Unlike any other planet discovered in the universe so far, earth has just the right size, weight, constitution, and distance from its star to support life.
The infinity of space is just a backdrop for God’s greatest work. God is working out His plan to dwell with His people forever. (AIG)
Think about
For thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it empty,
he formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
God created the earth to be INHABITED! God created the earth to support life! To think that He created the billions and billions of stars and He knows them all by name, yet He created ONE planet to accomodate the animal kingdom and humanity is almost inconceivable! WOW!
David now turns his attention (v. 2) to another wondrous aspect of God’s creation…babes and infants. Some interpreters see this as an illustration of how God uses the weak and frail to fulfill His purposes and confound His enemies.
Paul alluded to this in
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
The Bible Knowledge Commentary rightly says:
“Mankind, even weak children and infants, represents the strength of God in the earth.”
As David wrote this maybe he thought about the time that God used him, just a shepherd boy, to topple the giant Goliath. Maybe he reflected upon the time that God gave a baby to the barren womb of Sarah. Possibly he thought about baby Moses that God allowed to be raised in Egypt and one day would return as an old man to deliver God’s people!
YES GOD USES THE WEAK IN THE WORLD TO SHAME THE STRONG!
In verse 3 David’s attention goes back to the “heavens.” I can only imagine there were many nights David spent lying on his back, on a hillside somewhere and looking into the night sky. He was amazed and the more we’ve discovered about the universe since that time we should be even more amazed!
To know that it is all the “WORK OF HIS FINGERS.” The Faithlife Study Bible says that the “finger of God” symbolizes His POWER.
With His “finger” He not only created the moon and the stars, but He also has “set them into place.”
As David contemplates God’s power and God’s creative genius, he’s even more amazed at the fact that God even gives mankind the time of day (see v. 4). In comparison to the universe that God created we are mere specks of dust, weak and frail…yet the complex universe, as vast and amazing as it is, was not created in God’s image…we were!
The WOW factor of God’s creative genuis, and power, and glory and majesty should stop us in our tracks and cause us to MAGNIFY and PRAISE and GLORIFY Him with our voice, our song, our lives, OUR EVERYTHING!
He is WORTHY!
Let’s also notice...
God’s View of Man (vv. 5-8)
God’s View of Man (vv. 5-8)
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
In Psalm 8, David echoes the Genesis account of God giving dominion over the whole earth to humankind. This should cause us to reflect on how and why humans were created...Human beings were created to be God’s image bearers in and to creation. (Ministry Pass)
In vv. 6-8 David contemplates all that God has given man responsibility for. He has given mankind dominion (v. 6). He has given mankind the responsibility to be good stewards of the earth and the animal kingdom. What a privilege and an honor we have to be stewards of God’s good creation.
Man was created as God’s own representative on earth, over the Creation, but lower than God. David was amazed that God should exalt finite man to such a place of honor.
With all of the honor and privileges we have, and the beautiful world to live in and the vast universe to explore, mankind has a really, really big PROBLEM. That problem is SIN!
Although God crowned us with “glory and honor” we are filled with GUILT and SHAME. We, as the creature rebelled against the Creator. This plunged the entire human race into death and destruction.
Thankfully the CREATOR also became our REDEEMER!
God Becomes a Man to Redeem & Restore (v. 5)
God Becomes a Man to Redeem & Restore (v. 5)
In this Psalm the immediate context of verse 5 references mankind in general. However, we need to remember when we read and study the Old Testament it is ultimately pointing to the Redeemer, Jesus Christ of the New Covenant. The writer of Hebrews understood this.
Note with me
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.
You see God became a man. Jesus Christ robed Himself in human flesh, and as 100% man and 100% God He was able to “taste death for EVERY man!”
Think about that. When Jesus Christ was DYING on the cross, agonizing in pain and abandonment by His Father He was TASTING the HELL that YOU and YOUR sins had earned!
He was tasting the DEATH that I deserved for my LUST, my SELFISHNESS, my GREED, my BITTERNESS...
He was tasting the DEATH that the ADULTERER deserved, that the THIEF deserved, that the LIAR deserved, that the MURDERER deserved, that the BLASPHEMER deserved, that the FORNICATOR deserved, that the IDOLATER deserved, that the REBELLIOUS deserved.
He tasted death for EVERY MAN.
Say it…JESUS TASTED DEATH FOR ME!
Jesus was crowned with YOUR SHAME and YOUR GUILT, so you could be CROWNED with His honor and glory…so the image of God could be resurrected in your life!
Jesus, now crowned with glory, first humbled himself and became the true human being for us, even bearing an undeserved crown of thorns. Our crown of thorns. The crown of thorns that we deserved. Jesus exchanged his crown of glory for our crown of shame. (Ministry Pass)
What will YOU do with Jesus? Jesus clearly stated that YOU MUST be born again! Dear friend it’s not about being religious, it’s about being in a LIFE GIVING relationship with YOUR Creator!
Yes, the ONE who flung the galaxies in space was MINDFUL of YOU!
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Will you trust Him today as YOUR LORD and SAVIOR!
Will you give Him the WORSHIP and PRAISE and GLORY that He truly is worthy of?
Will you SERVE HIM with your WHOLE heart and LOVE Him with your all your HEART, MIND AND STRENGTH?!
Isn’t He worthy?!