Sunday, October 19, 2014

Psalm 8


What a great Psalm of praise we have before us today.  In it we see God exalted through a meditation on His works of creation, both those in the heavens and those on earth.  Consider a few notes but not without reflecting on where we personally fit in this Psalm. 

·        v1a, 9: The Psalm begins and ends with the same refrain.  Don’t overlook the two uses of the term “Lord” … LORD (all caps) to speak of the self-proclaimed name of the one true God (YAHWEH or Jehovah, the self-existent One) and Lord (Adonai, Master).  God’s name is “excellent” or great in all the earth.  This is the context of this Psalm, how great God is on earth. Yet …

·        v1b: He has set His glory above the heavens, “as if earth were too small a theater for it’s display” (JFB). 

·        v2: Yet even on earth God’s glory is on display in the way He uses the smallest and weakest of things to silence those who deny His glory.  Perhaps David is reminded of how he, as a young man, was enables by God to kill the giant.  The greatest Son of David referred to these words as He rode into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:16).  The small children got it right while the enemies of Messiah missed the point of that eventful day.

·        v3-8: Having established the premise, that the greatness and excellence of the “LORD our Lord” wherever you look in the universe, he now reflects on the place of man in the mind and heart of the Creator.

·        v3: Who has not had this experience?  You step outside on a dark, clear night and see the magnificent display of stars visible to the naked eye.  Or perhaps you magnify it with a telescope.  Maybe you have seen some of those amazing pictures from the Hubble telescope of not only our galaxy but the neighboring galaxies.  

·        v4: If you “consider” (observe with some thought) what you are seeing does it not make you feel somewhat small?  You might wonder why God would give man a thought (remember him, given all the great things in creation that must occupy His attention) or even “visit” him (pay attention, a more involved term of the two synonyms).  Whether or not David understands this as involving the incarnation, he is saying that his God has not gone off and forgotten about what He made; He is a God closely involved. 

·        v5: Vs. 3-4 have parallel lines that are synonymous; v6 has parallel lines that contrast.  The point is that Man was made lower than the angels (Elohim, mighty ones, used of God but also of angels and of mighty ones on earth) in the sense of not being as powerful; and yet Man, not angels, are crowned with glory and honor. 

·        v6-8: Man is in the prominent position on earth, being the only being created in God’s image and given dominion over the rest (Gen. 1:27f).  The point is emphasized by the listing of the various living things.

This Psalm takes on great significance in the New Testament, not only in the triumphal entry quoting of v2 but in the way that it anticipates our Lord, Jesus Christ.  In Christ God’s greatest “visitation” of mankind took place.  Zecharias used this term in referring to the coming of Messiah (Luke 1:68) as did Christ of His offering of Himself to Israel (Lk. 19:44).  When Christ returns it will again be a great “visitation” (1 Peter 2:12).

But perhaps the greatest use of this Psalm in the New Testament is in Heb. 2:5-9 where the writer seeks to make clear that Jesus was not an angel who came to earth to do God’s will but was fully human.  In fact He is “Man” in the fullest sense of Psalm 8:5.  The first Adam failed in the task of “dominion” because of his prideful sin.  And since then mankind has struggled with the God-given task.  Man even seeks to exalt himself by suppressing the truth about the Creator (Rom. 1:18ff).  But Jesus became man, the lowest of men who are lower than the angels; He bore our sins in His body on the tree.  But His humiliation is now being followed by His exaltation which will conclude when He rules over all.

When we consider Creation AND Christ, truly we must say, “Oh LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Thy Name in all the earth.”

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