Psalm 8 - The Majesty of Jesus
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To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.
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?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
The Majesty of Jesus
The Majesty of Jesus
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
The Name of God
The Name of God
The LORD
The LORD
Jesus
Jesus
How majestic is the name of God?
David begins and ends with the statement O LORD, Our Lord, how majestic is your name.
Whenever a Jew would have read or heard this Psalm the name of the Lord YAHWEH would have caused them to think on how God had revealed Himself initially to them in the Exodus from Egypt.
This is not some hidden invisible being.
This is the God of the universe who puts himself on full display so that he might be seen in and by all of his creation.
It is his will to be known not only by humanity but by all of creation as well.
This is the “name” of God that is put on full display within our Psalm.
And wherever God chooses to place his name - in the land, in the temple, or upon his people - that place becomes the residence of God Almighty the Creator of the Heavens and Earth.
HOW MAJESTIC!
In Psalm 2 last week we heard about how it is that we should approach God in both fear and trembling.
None of that is present here.
Rather there is nothing but adoration and amazement of our God, of our Lord, of of our Yahweh, our Lord.
There is a sense in this Psalm that is so impressed by the power that our God has put on display in creation that it is almost intimidating.
And our God has chosen to put this power of full display for all to see.
David writes of the Glory of God that has been set above the heavens. This word in Hebrew has the sense of that inward defining essence of a being. Divine or human.
And so David is saying that to see the Glory of God is to know Him as he truly is at the very core of his being.
It is this reason that to see the Glory of God is both dangerous and significant beyond imagination.
For a sinful human to stand before and know in an intimate way the Holy, perfectly righteous God is to invite destruction of their very being. Because our being stands in such contradiction to the very divine essence that is Jesus.
And yet God puts on full display his Majesty. All that he is can be seen. His majesty in creation is God on full display.
And David find God’s Majesty before him in creation to be impressive, awe-inspiring, intimidating even. And it is this great inspiration that causes him to rejoice at the presence of the glory and majesty of our Lord.
Often times we become so focused on Gods disgust and wrath towards sin that it can become difficult to live in a relationship with God that is one of true love and joy. We are so fearful of his judgment that we miss his mercy. We are so fearful of our sin that we lose focus on our savior.
Today I want to try to help us return our focus to the awe-inspiring, Glory and Majesty of Our Lord, Our Savior, Our Friend, Our Jesus.
So, Let’s look at Psalm chapter 2
In the first two verses David is focused on the creative power of Yahweh.
The Creative Power of Yahweh
The Creative Power of Yahweh
We read
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.
The Glory of God
The Glory of God
I said earlier that the word Glory refers to the inward defining essence of a being. That thing for instance that uniquely makes you, well you. This is what this word glory speaks of here in our Psalm.
In the first verse we read that God has set his Glory above the heavens. David begins with this majestic image of God’s glory being set above all things for all to gaze upon. How many times have you looked upon a sunrise or a sunset and been awestruck by the sheer beauty. This is the glory of God being seen in His creation.
This next phrase then in our Psalm in verse two reads,
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
This phrase “out of the mouth of babies and infants you have established strength” is saying that the greats display of the greatest of God’s majesty and glory is seen when he takes weak and feeble human beings causes them to stand in a strength that comes form Him and Him alone.
And God strengthens us to oppose the enemies of God. God strengthens the frailty of infants into a powerful defense.
The Psalmist writes that God establishes his strength within us to bring our enemies to bring the avenger to a stand still, to nothing. In the midst of the struggles and frailty of this life. We need to lean upon the power of Jesus within us so that He might be the strength in which we stand daily. When we do we will be overcomers, we will find victory in the face of human defeat.
One of the hardest things often times for us to do is to see ourselves clearly and as God does. To see frail human beings who are affected and afflicted every day by the fall of humanity into sin.
And that sin affects everything. Not only our thoughts and our actions, but all that we are, all that defines us has been touched by sin.
And it is this human frailty that God is now going to address.
Human Frailty
Human Frailty
Our Psalmist began in the highest of heights and placed the glory of God on full display for all to see. Now our Psalmist descends from the heavens and plants himself firmly on earth. And he looks and he sees himself clearly and he writes in verses three and four.
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?
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
David looks to the sky and finds awe and wonder. As he gazes into the starlit sky he sees the precise clockwork dance of the moon and the stars. The movement unalterable. The precision of which is unimaginable. Generations will come and Generations will go and yet the Sun, the moon, and the stars will continue.
All of this wondrous display is the creative artwork of our God, our Yahweh. David says when I look at YOUR heavens. They are owned and possessed by God alone. No one else lays claim to them but he who has created them. They are the works of HIS fingers.
When we gaze into the majesty and glory of the night sky. We have to ask ourselves, What is man?
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
David looks into the night sky and finds himself overcome with insignificance at the vastness that stands before him. And science hasn’t shown him yet just how vast the universe truly is.
In contrast to the enduring natural elements of the world all around us, what are we? We live fragile and troubled lives. And it seems in comparison to the sun, and the moon, and the stars as soon as we come on to the scene our time has come and we are gone. What are we?
And yet God has taken a special interest in our lives. What is man the you O Yahweh our Lord are mindful of us. And yet you are.
The son of man. Probably best the son of adam, humanity as a whole. That you actually care for us. But you do.
Though we are these weak fragile beings Oh Yahweh our lord you have created us. You have empowered us. And you have laid responsibility upon us.
Empowerment and Responsibility
Empowerment and Responsibility
I hope that one of the things that we can clearly see through out our looking at the first part of the bible so far is that we are no accident. We are not an afterthought for God. All of creation found it’s culmination and majesty in the creation of humanity in the very image of God. And as such we empowered by him and given responsibility towards him for His creation.
And we see this come to play in the next several verses.
In psalm 8:5 we read.
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
The phrase heavenly beings is actually gods in Hebrew. I don’t know what Davids original intent was for using this word. However, I do believe that what God did placing this word in Davids brain to be used was to state that we are above everything in creation except for Yahweh. Only the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit have greater standing in creation than that of mankind. We have been crowned with glory and with honor. God has created us with a position of distinct honor within the created order of things.
He continues and writes
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
This is a simple reminder of how God has created humanity. We read in Gen 1:28
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.”
And in the following verses in Genesis one we see why it is that we are giving this very distinct position within creation. We carry the very image of God within our very being. This position that we have been given means that we have been created to exercise authority over all of creation. What we need to see is that this authority does not come from us. But rather it flows the authority of our creator who placed us in this awesome position. This also means that our authority is limited and it stands responsible to God our creator.
Finally, our Psalmist wraps everything up in verse nine and writes.
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Our Psalmist ends with praise towards God, O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Our psalmist recognizes that the name of God invades and permeates all that he has created. At the beginning of our Psalm we are found praising God by affirming the magnificence of the creator as it is found in all of creation. Now by the end of the Psalm we are left standing in awe at the grace and mercy of our creator as he has elevated his creation of humanity to heights of glory, honor, and responsibility as we share in the image of our creator, Yahweh. We have been called to share in his love and care for his creation. It is this part of the image of God that causes us to stand in awe and wonder as the son first peeks through in the morning or appears to wrap itself in warmth as the night comes. These truths should change how we look at the world around us. We are all at once integral parts of creation and yet but strangers the scripture says simply passing through.
So What?
So What?
The Image of God
The Image of God
It is from Davids close and sensitive understanding of Genesis one that causes him to reflect on creation the way he does here in Psalm 8.
We have been created and placed fully within the created order, and we share an absolute dependence upon the gracious mercy of our God for life and sustenance along with the rest of creation. And yet. Because we carry the image of God that He himself placed within and upon us we share a unique relationship with our creator that binds us together with our creator and this empowers us to exercise dominion and places upon us responsibility for His creation.
A Divine Name
A Divine Name
A Divine Gift
A Divine Gift
In the Old Testament names were very important. They were meant to convey and to reveal something of the character of the person named. For instance in Genesis chapter thirty-two Jacob physically wrestles with Jesus. And as a result God renames him “Israel” which means one who wrestles with or holds on to God.
In the same way God gave Israel and us a gift in the book of Exodus when he revealed to Moses his one true name. In English due to the greek understanding and translation of the words we have come to the understanding of his name to simply mean “I am” Actually a better understanding of the Hebrew that was revealed to the Jewish people would be “I will be what I will be.” We have come up with the shorthand for this as simply “I am” There are several implications for us that come from God’s majestic name.
First, His name offers for us a promise. And this promise is his continued divine presence in our lives. “I will be!” says Yahweh. When we think back on when God first revealed His name this truth was paramount. He Promised to be with Moses when he stood before Pharaoh as his representative, ambassador, or as the greeks would call him an apostle. God also promised to be with the people when they fled Egypt. So when of the most important things that is revealed by God’s majestic name Yahweh is that we will be with his people forever and in every situation.
Second, when we look at this fuller understanding of the name of God, Yahweh, I will be what I will be. We can expect that God is going to continue to reveal himself to his people in an ever expanding manner. God didn’t print a manual that was titled, “Knowing God in Seven Days” or the Dummies Guid to God. Instead, he has invited Moses, Israel, and us on a lifelong adventure of discovery. And this adventure as we have seen from Israels history is not typically very neat and tidy. It comes through many experiences freedom, bondage, and deliverance. And it comes through both joy and pain, peace and anxiety. Today we continue that adventure with our Yahweh. With the hope to one day fully know God. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:12
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
A Divine Gift
A Divine Gift
Finally, we need to see that the gift to know the name of God means that we are granted special access that others are not. Yahweh gave his name freely and with the gift came free and open access to the creator.
The very name Yahweh, I will be what I will be conjures with it both mystery and revelation about the nature of our God. And it is for this reason that our Psalmist David calls this great name “Majestic” Our majestic God carries with him a majestic name. And our majestic God promises to be with us, to continue to reveal himself to us.
Next I want us to see the importance of the image of God.
Just a Name
Just a Name
What do you think it would be like to have a name that reflect your innermost being? What would that name be? Would it be “Strength for Others” Would it be “Trustworthy and True”? Would it be “Courage of a Lion” perhaps. Or perhaps it would be “Anxious One,” or perhaps “Untrustworthy” or maybe “The Cowardly Lion” Imagine with me just a moment that whatever this name might be this is what you were to be called by everyone around you all the time.Might not be so much fun. Could we bear the weight of such a statement concerning us over-and-over every day of our lives.
It would be an interesting exercise to think back over ones life and think upon what name would you receive. Each of us throughout our lives grow and change and so I guess our names would need to shift and change with the seasons as well. However, I would encourage you to think through your lives and ask the question what name would I have been given at that time in my life. Because it is all of those names who have helped or hindered to make you who you are today. And there are more names yet to come. How will you respond to the names that are yet to be given. That is what will define whom you will truly become. It’s not a disability, or lifes struggles, or even titles that are given that define who we are.
Now listen to me clearly because this is where this becomes important for each and every one of us. What name do you want to have remembered of you five, ten, twenty years from now of you? What would that name be? Now as you look at who you are today and who you would like to be tomorrow the distance between the two may seem vast and impossible to attain to. In fact usually the chasm that we ourselves see is typically caused because of guilt, pain, and despair. We struggle at becoming whom we would like to be because of the sin and the fall that works against us. But I believe that God is a God who gives dreams. So make this new name your dream. Because today i believe that this name you desire was placed within you by your creator, by your Yahwheh. And if that is so. Draw near to Him and allow him to guide and direct your life to that new name. Just as he did with everyone in scripture to whom he gave a new name. It was His destiny, His story to wrote upon their lives. All Him to do the same for you. And trust in Yahweh to do so.
This is just how majestic the name of our God is. It stands above all of creation. And yet steps down into creation and lifts each and everyone of us up from the names of the past to the names of the future. And His hope, His dream, Is glory and honor for each of us. We simply need to submit our lives to Jesus and allow our Jesus, whose name means Savior for he has saved his people from their sin. Give yourself fully to Jesus as revealed in the Scripture and allow Him to write your story. It might be a twisty turning upsy downy kind of story. But, if you allow Jesus to write the story. You will always be able to find peace in the midst of the story. Because you will bear his name upon your life.
Amen.