 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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 Question #1 - Who is God?
Psalm 8 is one of the psalms that just rises above others. This is not because it is more important than others, but probably because the economy of language which it uses to express the greatness of God. This psalm is such a blessing as it helps us to answer three important questions. Who is God? O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! The first question the Psalmist addresses is the one, “Who is God?” He answers it by addressing God Himself. O Jehovah, our Lord, is how he begins. Jehovah of course is the name by which God made Himself known to Moses and to Israel. The name is actually the statement, “I am that I am.” It is a statement of self-existence that is dependent on nothing or no one. God is! He has always been and He will always be. He is the self-existent One Who reveals Himself. When we speak in theological terms - and seek to describe an infinite (limitless) and eternal (timeless or outside of time) God, we almost instantly become a little uncomfortable. Ours is the day of self-expression and the ultimate autonomy of the self. One might even say the deification of the self. But there is a huge problem with our enthroning of self over ourselves. We are utterly dependent on other things. Our autonomy is an infinite overstatement. Take away air - we die. Take away water - we die. Take away food - we die. Alter the placement of earth either a little closer to the sun - we burn up. Alter it further away - we freeze. Allow something as microscopically minute as a virus (invisible to the naked eye) - we die. We are anything but autonomous. But our arrogance boasts of an imaginary independence. Would we like to know true autonomy? Jehovah, the self-existent One comes to mind. He has always been - and indeed is completely outside of time. He made time - and then chose to step into time (though utterly unaffected by it) so that we could grasp what He was doing as He created all that there is. He does not require anything to exist and to thrive. He is life and existence. Consider any of the millions of things we need to exist and thrive - and none of them apply to Jehovah. He exists in an infinite present tense viewing all of time and space as He is in it, through it, and unaffected by it. But He is referred to as more than just Jehovah in this passage. He is Jehovah our Lord. The word used here is Adonai. Adonai means Lord, Master, Maker, Owner. The self-existent God is also our maker, master, and owner. Here is where an understanding of God definitely will separate from how our culture views things today. It is hard to declare your own autonomy when you are just a creature made by God - owned by God - and in rebellion against the fact that you are ruled by Him as well. I can hear the howls, “I am not ruled by anyone! I am my own person, and I make my own choices!” Such as statement is as ridiculous as the claims made by the Jews to Jesus when He said if they sinned, they were slaves of sin. They cried then (as we do now), “We are Abraham’s children and not slaves to anyone!” If I were making of movie of this, I’d have a small contingent of the occupying Roman military walk by. They had been slaves to just about everyone! Babylon, Assyria, Persia, Greece, and now Rome. The fact is that we are owned by God. We should submit to His rule and reign - but we continue in Adamic rebellion even to this very day. What we may perceive as God’s inaction as to His rule and reign is actually mercy. We should be consumed for our rebellion - and yet mercy reigns daily - as well as grace, which is given so that rebellious sinners may come to repentance and faith and be delivered from the current status as “children of wrath.” The psalmist exclaims, “Oh Jehovah, our Master, Maker, and Ruler, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!” Saying that God’s name is majestic means that He is excellent, lofty, and above any other. There is no other name on earth - nor will there ever be one - that can match His name. They all fall infinitely short. His majesty is not even completely describable by appealing to the vastness and power of the heavens themselves. God has displayed His splendor above the heavens themselves. The word displayed means to set something somewhere - to place it. God, being the creator of all things, set the heavens and all their contents in place. But His own splendor (Hebrew word “hod” meaning vigor, authority, and majesty) is above the heavens. But this is not a stretch as the maker of something is always far greater than the thing made. Thus God’s vigor (physical power), His authority to set things where and how He commands, and the majesty, excellence, loftiness of it all is beyond the heavens themselves. The heavens are the scene where His splendor is seen - because earth is not a sufficient gallery for such things to be displayed. 2 From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength Because of Your adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease. Another way that the question, “Who is God?” is answered is by examining His strength. When you are omnipotent (all-powerful), which God is, you can display your strength any way you want. Yet, according to the psalmist, God manifests His strength through one of the weakest things on earth. Consider the following scenario. A battle royal is set between God and the greatest champions the world can gather. All the enemies of God, as well as all who desire revenge against Him for some perceived wrong are gathered. From the midst of this sea of earthly greatness and power the most muscular, the most powerful, and the most gifted of all fighters emerge - all ready for the ultimate fight of their lives. What an astounding crew of humanity stands before us. That is the corner of the enemies of God and those seeking revenge against Him. Then we turn our eyes to God’s corner. We can only imagine the colossus that will greet our eyes that is representative of God’s power. Then in shock we see a group of infants and nursing babies. They lie on the canvass and wiggle their hands and feet - unable to even get themselves upright. Yet what will shock us even more is the beat down that will be imposed upon the champions of mankind. God has established strength from the mouths of infants and nursing babes. Their dependence upon God is total and absolute. Yet it is this very weakness and utter dependence that will win the day. God will make the enemy and revengeful cease via the power He will display through absolute weakness. For God chooses the weak things of the world to shame the wise. He chooses the things that are not to shame the things that are. In the end when the bell rings - it will be the babes and nursing infants who will prevail. Why? Because God’s power is infinite - and He can and will win the day with the very weakest of things imaginable. This answers another aspect of the question, “Who is God?” He is the mighty and powerful one - infinitely mighty and powerful. There are none who can stand before Him. They are like chaff, which His wind blows away. All of mankind gathered together with all their strength and might are nothing - in fact - less than nothing before Him. Good to remember when we take flight into the fancies of our own autonomy and ability to establish our own will opposed to His. This is why later in the Psalm the writer seems to be gazing into the night sky and suddenly realizing how very small he is in light of this incredible God. Who is God? That is actually the most important question that we will ever ask. As A. W. Tozer so eloquently stated, the most important thing about us is what we believe about God. The psalmist in this 8th Psalm has not be exhaustive on such matters, but his brief praise of God goes a long way to dispel many false concepts and notions of just Who God is. |
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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