 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? 5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! 6 You make him to rule 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 through the paths of the seas. 9 O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:4-9, NASB
The third question answered by the psalmist in Psalm 8 is this, “What is man?” The context of his question is considering man in light of the heavens - the moon and the stars of the firmament. Think on this for a moment as you get your mind into the right frame to think as the psalmist did. The following is from Jon Courson’s commentary on the Bible. If the sun were hollowed out, one million three hundred thousand earths could fit inside. But the sun is small compared to the star, Anteres, because if Anteres were hollow, it could hold sixty-four million suns. Anteres, however, is nothing compared to the star, Hercules, which, if hollow, could hold one hundred million Anteres. Yet the star, Epsilon, dwarfs Anteres, for if it were hollow, it could hold three million Hercules. The numbers involved in comparing earth to the star Hercules are pretty much beyond our understanding. It would be multiplying 1,300,000 X 64,000,000 X 100,000,000. That number written out is 832,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. That is 832 septillion earths could fit inside the star Antares. I’m afraid we are not capable of honestly assessing how big that number is. But . . . it is something we should consider when thinking about one human on the face of one of those 832 septillion earths that it would take to fill up just 1 star in God’s created universe. Pretty insignificant is what we would have to surmise when thinking about this. That is what the psalmist is thinking - what is man in light of the universe? The God Whose creative genius and power made this earth with only His words - is far greater and more astounding than even Anteres. Yet God does take thought of mankind. Yet, says the psalmist, You, God, have made Him a little lower than God. When we truly consider this, we are left with our mouths hanging open. God made us to be image bearers! We can know Him and respond to Him - and even reflect His glory in our lives. We are truly crowned with glory and majesty. In verses 6 and 7 we see all that God intended for man to do. We were made not just as image bearers, but also as co-regents with God to rule over this earth. All that is no the earth is put under mankind’s feet - with a list of sheep and oxen first as domesticated animals - and then the beasts of the field - birds of the heavens - and all sea creatures as well. That is how we were originally made. It is enough to make the psalmist repeat what He said at the beginning of the psalm about how Jehovah, our ruler has a majestic name in all the earth. If we were not to have the New Testament - this would simply be a song that reminds us to praise God for His person - His creation - and for His wonderful gift of life and dominion to mankind. But even without the New Testament this rings a little hollow to those who live on earth now. It is hard to consider that we rule over the beasts of the field when we are terrified of many of them who are predators. Allow a man to happen on a grizzly bear or one of the huge cats like a lion or tiger - and our thoughts don’t turn to mastery - but rather to terror at what they can do to us. The same is true when we face great whales, killer whales, or sharks in the seas. And let’s not even get started with what nature can do - with things like tornados, hurricanes, lightning, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. It certainly does NOT look like we “rule” over all things. But then we are reminded of sin and the Fall of mankind. We did rule over all things at one time. Then we chose sin rather than obedience and fellowship with God. We decided we could run the earth better than God. We wanted to be our own god - making our own rules and doing things as we see fit to do them. The end of that foolish experiment is the world in which we live today. Psalm 8 - in fact this very part of Psalm 8 is quoted in Hebrews 2:5-8 where we read this: For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. But one has testified somewhere, saying, "WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM? OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM? "YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET." For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. Hebrews 2:5-8 We certainly do not see all things subjected to him - to man. But why does the writer of Hebrews quote Psalm 8 then? It is because he is about to tell us what we DO see at this present time. But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. Hebrews 2:9 What we DO SEE is JESUS! We see Him made a little lower than the angels. Jesus Christ is God - fully God - and yet He was made a little lower than the angels when He came in the incarnation. He is the God-man - perfect God and yet man. He humbled Himself as a man - and subjected Himself to suffering and death. He chose to pay the penalty that we deserved because we had sinned. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that Jesus also “tasted death for everyone.” He faced not just death in general - but death as the punishment for sin. It is because of this that Jesus was crowned with glory and honor. You can read it all in Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 through 10. And it was because of this death that the grace of God was given to us. Salvation from the certainty of God’s wrath poured out in punishment for our sinful rebellion against Him. So we ask again, in light of the second chapter of Hebrews, the question of this psalm - What is man? The answer is both beautiful and majestic as well as horrific and tragic. The answer is both devastating and fear-inducing as well as astounding and that which should cause us to worship our Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity. Man is the special creation of God, crowned with glory and majesty and given wonderful dominion over all God has made in this world. Man is also an infinitely tragic figure as he chose to throw it all away for a lie that he could be as God. Man is encased in a world that now reminds him daily that he has lost his exalted position, as death, destruction, decay, and ultimately damnation is his lot left to himself. But - by the grace of God - and by One Who was made a little lower than the angels, even though He is God - there is the hope of redeeming grace. There is One Who has suffered and died the death man deserves - so that man may by grace receive a life he does not deserve.
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 Psalm 8, as we have already seen, is a wonderful song of praise to God. In it there are answers to some questions that have piqued the interest of humankind since its creation. Last time we looked at the first of those questions, “Who is God?” In this second installment we will look at the second question answered for us. That question is “What is the Universe?”
This second question is answered in the process of asking the third one which is, “What is man?” As the psalmist prepares to pose this question, he does so in the context of the heavens, which he refers to as the moon and the stars. That is where we will camp out for our study today. When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; YOUR HEAVENS The Psalmist, having started with God Himself, sees all things in a God-centric way. The heavens are referred to as “Your heavens.” They belong to God because they are “the work of Your fingers.” This is an anthropomorphism, because God is Spirit and has no fingers. Yet it is a clear statement that God is the maker of the universe - the heavens, the moon and the stars. When we turn to Genesis and the creation of the universe and all that is in it, we see that God spoke and the world came to be. The book of Hebrews reiterates this point when we read there the following: By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. Hebrews 11:3 God made this universe by the authority and power of His word and His command. He created it out of nothing, using no previously known substances. It exists because of His command and His will and desire. The psalmist refers to the “moon and the stars, which You have ordained.” The word “ordain” here means to place and set up, so we see that God has not only made all things - but the place where they are set in the scope and expanse of the universe is His design and handiwork. Another word that should interest us is the word “heavens” which is plural. The idea communicated by the Hebrew here is that the heavens themselves are beyond our ability to see. With the deployment of space telescopes like the Hubble Telescope and the future James Webb Space Telescope we have been and will be able to see deep into the heavens. It seems that the same desire that the psalmist had still exists in the mind of humankind. The only difference is that the psalmist approached such things with a holy awe - modern scientific man has decided there is no God and contemplates his existence on that basis. The psalmist considered the heavens. The word used here means to see something - but also came to mean the process of mental observation and the thinking that was stimulated by it. It is clear, as stated earlier, that the psalmist is God-centric in his thinking. It is His heavens. God made it and we are simply His creation in the midst of it. The psalmists considerations did not produce the arrogance of the current day which denies God - opting instead for blind chance to have led to all that we see and are. His considerations produced humility in his heart. He looked at a vastness in the heavens and began to see how small and insignificant he was in it. Since God created all that there is - and since His splendor is beyond the heavens themselves - the psalmist could only bow in worship and adoration of a God so great and powerful. His response was to wonder at God Who has revealed Himself to us. The creation itself sings His praises - speaking of His greatness, His creativity, His power, His majesty, His glory, and a trillion other worthy things that only touch the fringe of Who He is. Such considerations do not lead the psalmist to think great thoughts of himself, but rather puts him in his place as a tiny, minuscule piece of a universe filled with the moon and the stars. Our knowledge that we’ve gathered today should render us even more amazed at the glory and majesty of our God. We think we know so much more than the primitive man who wrote these glorious words. But our combined knowledge of the universe is such a mere pittance of what can be known. Even our telescopes are blind to certain segments of the universe and cannot even see them. We don’t even know the first part of the small blue orb on which we travel through the heavens. But our knowledge has led us to lift ourselves up - at least enough to deny the existence of our God. We have become educated enough to become fools, exchanging the glory of the incorruptible God for an image of our own making and thinking. We are not humbled or thankful - giving praise to the One Who made all this with His infinite wisdom and power. We even are arrogant enough to reject His ultimate revelation of Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, the God Man. Precious few are those who have taken their knowledge and used it to humble themselves in the sight of God. When I consider such things I have to wonder just who is the primitive one and who is the wise man. The answer to the question, “What is the Universe” is simple. It is His heavens - His moon - His stars. It is the creation of God which when considered in its vastness and glorious majesty should cause us to humble ourselves and wonder why our God would choose to reveal Himself to such sinful, arrogant, and prideful people. The heavens are declaring the glory of God each and every day. The contemplation of them was meant to make us bow before their Creator in humble, self-effacing worship. What about you? When you consider the heavens, the moon and the stars of the universe, what is your response? Do you worship the pride and arrogance of man who sees it all as a random accident - and who then decides he has no one to thank - no one to worship - except himself and his own desires? Or . . . do you see the glorious design - the powerful hand - the infinite wisdom of the God Who made it all - AND - Who for some unimaginable reason has chosen to reveal Himself and His great love for you in this midst of it? |
Pastor John LawrencePsalms for Life . . . God moved on several people to write the Psalms. This is a book of songs and poems written by people who were seeking to be devoted to God as they walked though their lives. This is a collection of songs and poems that express the true, wonderful, and often raw emotions that we have as we journey through life with God. I hope you will be blessed and encouraged as you read. But more than that I hope that these expositions and writings will help you to seek Him in the midst of the life you live in this world. It will be at times comforting and encouraging, while at others it will be challenging and awkward. Regardless of where you find yourself on this spectrum as you read, it will be a reminder that God invites us into His presence to truly walk with Him, know Him, and at times, pour out emotions of joy, sorrow, frustration, anger, and everything else you can imagine. He not only invites you to do this - He delights in it too! Hope you enjoy your journey! Archives
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