How Majestic is Your Name
Psalms • Sermon • Submitted
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· 9 viewsThe Lord's name is more majestic than any name in all the earth.
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To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.
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!
Let’s pray.
Pastoral prayer
NW Gospel - Andrew Murch
Missionary - Curt and Bonnie
Pray for a new class in India Sept 2021
Intro:
Intro:
People, love power.
When I was in middle school, I remember every boy wanted to know who was the strongest in our class. And the obvious to find out who was strongest was through arm wrestling.
This fascination with power is taken further. Today, we wonder who is the strongest, fastest, most athletic person in the world. So we watch the olympics to see who will get the gold.
We are also amazed by those who are the richest and most successful people in the world and we wonder how we can get a bit of that power for ourself.
And we even speculate as to which nation has has the strongest military force.
We love power. People always have. Because of this, I imagine that people wondered a similar thing about the gods during David’s day. Which god is the most majestic and powerful, and consequently which god should I serve.
If anyone ever wondered which god was was most majestic, Psalm 8 gives us the answer.
1 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
We don’t need to read any further to discover who is the most majestic. David says, that our Lord’s majesty is unmatched in all the earth. This same sentence in v1 is repeated again at the very end of our psalm. V9,
9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
The first stanza and the last one say the exact same thing. There is no new information that is added, or elaborated. We hear the same praise given. Oh LORD our lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
These two repeated stanzas at the very begging and the very end of the psalm form what we call an inclusio. An inclusio is a literary device that frames a text. This repeated sentence at the beginning and end of Psalm 8 form book ends that tell us what the Psalm is all about. So every stanza between v 1 and v 9 serve to support this main idea, that there is no name as majestic as the Lord’s in all the earth.
So if we are going to understand this psalm, then we need to understand v 1 and 9.
“O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
In the original language, the first line is made up of only three Hebrew words.
And those three words words are’t “O” “Lord” and “our” like we see in our English Bibles.
Rather the three words are “LORD”, “our”, and “Lord”
The first LORD in all caps in our Bibles is the the unique name of God that sets him apart from every other god.
This is why Moses asked of God,
13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
So understand, our God’s name is not God or Lord (although we call him this often). But our God’s unique name is YHWH. And this distinguishes him apart from all the other gods that the nations would have served.
So returning to Psalm 8,
9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
David says, YHWH is our Lord… this means he rules over us.
And the word majestic, can also mean magnificent or mighty.
And note, David isn’t asking a question here - it’s not, “How majestic is your name?(with a question mark at the end)” The interpreters are right to place an exclamation mark at the end of this sentence, for the poet exclaims that which he cannot find the right words to rightly articulate. That is just how marvelous, how magnificent, how mighty, or how majestic the name of our Lord is. Our God is so great, that the finest eloquence cannot accurately capture all that he is. But this won’t keep David from trying to describe the Lord’s majesty.
I have marked out three pilers that I see in Psalm 8 that all support this one idea - God’s majesty is unmatched in the all the earth. Let’s consider them one at a time.
David he says,
1 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
1. God’s majesty is displayed through the works of his hands.
1. God’s majesty is displayed through the works of his hands.
Of course we can look at all the creatures here on the earth…
we can think of the great creatures of the sea,
or the swifts birds in the air,
or even the mighty beasts of the land ,
or even the greatest kings that have ever ruled.
But David notes that God’s majesty is unmatched here on earth.
So, since the Lord’s majesty is cannot be compared to anyone’s on in all the earth, David turns his eyes upward towards to the heavens when he says “You have set your glory above the heavens.”
Now when David was writing this psalm it seems looking up at the night sky. I think it would be profitable if we consider the stars above us as well. So consider for just a moment the vastness of space.
(Put up first picture) According to a quick Google search, it would take 1.3 million planets the size of earth to fill the volume of our sun. - This might not be accurate
(Put up second picture) Again, according to a Google search, our sun, which is actually a star, is only one of 100-400 billion stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. Now, the range between 100 billion and 400 billion is kind of ridiculous. Seems like an arbitrary number to even reference. But I quote this broad estimate so that we might get an idea of vast and mysterious our own galaxy is.
(Put up third picture) And one last time, according to one more Google search, it is estimated that there are two trillion (that’s not million, or billion, but trillion w/ a t) there are two trillion galaxies like our Milky Way in the observable universe. Observable… meaning from our vantage point with our technology we have today.
Now I don’t even know how scientists are able to make these estimates. And at this point these numbers are so far beyond what any of us can even comprehend that it profits us very little to talk about anymore numbers. But I note these estimates because when we look at the heavens, it reminds us of how small we are. One scientist said it well, “A study of the solar system has a tendency to moderate the pride of man and to promote humility.” I would add to this- if the study of the solar system humbles the pride of man, then the study of God should completely flatten our pride. For David said,
1 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Understand what it means for God’s glory to be set above the heavens…
The heavens which are far bigger than we can imagine, cannot contain the glory of our God. The heavens can no more contain the vastness of God’s glory than a fishbowl can contain a whale.
O LORD, our Lord,
How majestic is your name in all the earth!
God’s majesty is displayed through the works of his hands. But this isn’t the only place where God displayed his majesty. David continues,
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
David, after having reached up to the heights of the heavens, returns to earth. Here, down below, David recounts the birth a baby. So while there is a mystery to the scope of the heavens, there is another mystery and that is the creation of human life. Particularly, David is reflecting upon the cries of a baby… out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength. Anyone who has ever held a crying baby knows what he is pondering. How small and human has an unusual strength about them even at their birth. This strength is established by God. The world that tries to explain everything apart from God, and yet the world still calls birth a miracle. This is because there is a mystery to this event. We’ll come back to this verse in a moment, but for now, let’s continue.
David, having considered the vastness of the heavens, and the weakness of a baby harmonizes these two ideas together.
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?
After having considered the vastness of the heavens that cannot contain the glory God, and then having reflecting upon God’s power to sustain the life of a child and give them strength, David finds himself perplexed. But he is not perplexed by the heavens, nor is he amazed by the birth of a baby. But he is amazed by the majesty of God who is mindful of man.
2. God’s majesty is displayed through his watchfulness over us.
2. God’s majesty is displayed through his watchfulness over us.
Now, if we hadn’t first considered the vastness of space, and the insignificant form of man, we might just expect God to be mindful of us. We humans tend to be narcissists who wrongly believe that the world revolves around us.
But if we just get a small idea of how great the majesty of our God is, we will be humbled as we ought to be. And yet we find out something amazing. Though God is infinite in his majesty, he is mindful of us. This means he doesn’t just think about us, but he actually loves us and cares for us.
Now this is perplexing if you know understand how majesty and power works in the economy of man. You see, the greater one’s majesty, or the higher position one has in society, the less they tend care about the small and insignificant matters in the world.
Take for example, the queen of England - she has a kind of majesty
You know she isn’t planting her own flowers or doing a lick of yard work.
You know she isn’t cleaning up her own bathroom or doing her own laundry.
I don’t even imagine she walks her own dogs unless it pleases her to do so.
You see, the queen of England doesn’t do these sorts chores, because
- one she only has so many hours in a day
- and two, she has better things to do with her time due to her high status
She is the queen after all.
But what of our God who is the Lord over all creation - does he have the time or care to be mindful of our petty problems? Does he actually hear our prayers, let alone care to answer our requests?
Yes. - in fact he does more than we might even expect
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
God is so mindful of you, that he knows what you need before you pray.
But more than this, our Lord has so much majesty in his name that he is mindful of the most meaningless and minute matters in your life that you are completely ignorant of.
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
No one knows the number of hair on their own head. But God is so mindful of you that he is always keeping a count of the hairs on your head? What can we say about this other than what David has already said.
9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
But there is more going on this these verses than the Lord being mindful of man. Understand, David is not just saying that God is big and we are small… What David is amazed by is how the Lord has flipped the order of creation on its head… and in doing so, he will demonstrate his infinite majesty in the most magnificent way.
What I think we should see is that -
3. God’s majesty is displayed through weakness.
3. God’s majesty is displayed through weakness.
Let me illustrate what I mean here, and then we will go back to Psalm 8 and see where this is demonstrated.
If someone is strong, the most vivid way they can demonstrate strength it is by restricting their strength. So if someone is really strong, they won’t just do regular push-ups. Rather, if someone is really strong, they will do pushups with one arm behind their back.
Or, take the way Samson demonstrated his own strength. Destroying the Philistines was impressive enough at first. But his strength demonstrated more vividly when let Delilah bind him with ropes.
12 So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.
Majesty, or strength is demonstrated more vividly if one remains majestic and strong through humility and weakness. Let’s see how this is demonstrated in Psalm 8.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
Now God could easily still the enemy or the avenger. He has open the ground to consume the rebels, he has caused the sea to consume his enemies, and he has poured down rain so that no man or beast was left alive in all the earth. We know God is strong, but when he is able to still his foe through the strength of a baby, we get a truer sense of how majestic he is.
We know that there are hardened men who wouldn’t be bothered to murder. But that same men will come to tears at the sound of their child’s cry.
Power shown through weakness is a demonstration of God’s unmatched majesty in all the earth.
We see it again in v3-4
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?
Like I said from the very beginning, people love power. And we are fixated upon gaining more of it however we can. Be it through fame or fortune, position in our job, or our position in society. We want power, and we tend to do all that we can to get it.
The same was so in David’s day. In the ancient world, to reach up to the heavens and get close to the stars would represent climbing to heaven and becoming like God. In fact, thats what ancient people believed the stars were… they believed that the stars were the gods. So they worshiped the sun, the moon and the stars. They believed that if they devoted themselves to the gods, the gods in turn would strengthen them.
But when David looked up at the stars, he recognized that the stars are all created by the Lord who’s glory is set above the heavens. He recognized that the stars all have their origin and position in the heavens, because of the one true God who created them and set them in their place.
And as David looked up at the stars, he was not thinking of how he could become more powerful to become like a god. Instead, David recognized that the creator God was looking down at him in love and consideration. You see, it’s not the powerful stars that God is mindful of. Rather God is mindful of weak people.
David further elaborates on this;
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
Who are the heavenly beings here? Well these two words in English make up one word in Hebrew. The word is elohim… which is translated to God or gods 99% of the time… As you can imagine, this verse can lead to all kinds of problems if we misinterpret it. But it’s rather easy to understand what who David has in mind here, because the writer of Hebrews quotes this verse in its Greek from.
7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
So the word elohim is not referring our God, rather David has in mind is that we are a little lower than the angels who dwell in heavens above.
But understand, when David says we are made a little lower than the heavenly beings, he isn’t saying that we have a lower status than the angels. Rather he is noting that we are lower than the angels in location, for the angels dwell above in the heavens among the stars, while we dwell here on earth down below.
But typically, where one dwells does represents their status.
Dwelling atop the hills often represents wealth while living in the valleys represents poverty.
Those who work atop the sky rises are typically those who are in charge while those who work down below are those who are not.
But this is not the case in God’s economy. While the angels are above man in location, man has been given glory and honor.
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
Listen - you are valuable. But this isn’t because you have climbed to the top or pushed your way ahead. Rather you are valuable in God’s sight has chosen to crown the weak with glory and honor.
So, after having creating the sun, the moon and all the stars, and after having already created all the creatures on the earth God created mankind in a special way.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And 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.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
This status is what David recounts
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.
You see, it isn’t the the powerful angels who God has given dominion to. Rather God saw fit to give dominion to mankind who are small in comparison to the heavens. And in doing so, God demonstrates his strength by giving honor to those who are weak.
But this is where the problem comes in. While God has given us dominion over his creation, we have done a poor job ruling this world. For, one of the heavenly beings who Adam had dominion over crept into the garden. Satan was not satisfied with position in the created order, so sought to turn the order of creation upside down yet again. And he would do so by telling man that we could become like God.
You see, people love power, and ever since the beginning we have been trying to be like God while not realizing that God has already made us in his very image having crowned us with glory and honor. But ever since the fall, we have hardly ruled over the creation, but instead we have been ruled by sin.
And so, God would demonstrate his majesty yet again in a more magnificent way than any of us could have ever imagined.
The Lord, who’s glory is set above the heavens, would step into this world by becoming a helpless baby. And in doing so, he once again would confound the wisdom of the wise and the strength of the strong.
This reversal of the strong and the weak is demonstrated in Matthew 21
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 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’?”
Notice, the position of the Priests and the scribes. They have education. And most notably, they have vision. V15 say that they “saw wonderful things that [Jesus] did.” But these learned men with education and physical vision were not able to recognize Jesus for who he truly is. But it was the weakest who saw with the eyes of faith. It was the blind who saw Jesus through their eyes of faith. And it was the children who were not educated who rightly identified Jesus and gave him praise.
It’s no wonder Christ called us to imitate such children. While the disciples were debating who among them was the greatest Jesus did something incredible.
2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
This is how God in his infinite wisdom has chosen to order his creation
We could go on and trace the many patterns of God demonstrating his power through weakness throughout the Scriptures. But the majesty of God that was demonstrated through weakness is most clearly seen at the cross. For in what looked like defeat, Jesus in turn defeated sin and the grave.
This is why Paul writes
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
People love power. But God loves to demonstrate his power through what is weak so that all glory will be given to him and not to man.
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
So let us learn the way of Christ.
And in Phil 2:4
4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Who does this? Who takes the form of a lowly servant to demonstrate their majesty? It is Jesus Christ, the one who’s majesty is unmatched by those in the world.
May we give praise with David by saying,
Oh LORD, our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth.