Psalm 8 | A Davidic Commentary on the Torah—God Receives Glory in Us by the Son of Man
A Father Exalting His Child
Psalm 8
"To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord our Lord, How excellent [majestic, powerful & glorious] is thy name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings [nursing infants] hast thou ordained strength [praise] Because of thine enemies, That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him [for] a little lower than the angels, And hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet: 7 All sheep and oxen, Yea, and the beasts of the field; 8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, And whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent [majestic, powerful & glorious] is thy name in all the earth!"
#1 God’s majesty and heavenly glory is revealed in His small, needy children who give Him praise that silences and ends His enemies (v1-2).
• Jesus implied that apostate temple rulers should have known that the small children praising Him in the temple was a fulfillment of verse two that results in their end: Matthew 21:14-16.
• Paul alludes to this as being “the least of the saints” preaching the Christ to the praise of God and putting an end to enemy powers in high places: Ephesians 3:8-11.
Q: Have you considered your praise and proclamation of God to be an instrument of God’s rule?
#2 Believers, trust God to give attention and care to us—His small children—because we are in the Son of man (v3-4).
• The title “Son of man” is used 88 times in the New Testament with 87 of them referring directly to Jesus and one (Heb 2:6) alluding indirectly to Jesus and directly to Psalm 8.
• Daniel wrote about the Psalm 8 “Son of man” in Daniel 7:13-14. By using this title most, Jesus made clear that He is the fulfillment of the Son of man in both Psalm 8 and Daniel 7.
• Jesus used this title when describing Himself as the Christ who dies for sinners and raises in glory, bringing salvation and judgment: Mark 8:31, 38.
• If you are in Jesus Christ the Son of man by your faith union to Him, nothing can separate you from the love of God: Romans 8:38-39. God thinks about, cares for, and loves you.
Q: Do you marvel over the depths of God’s knowledge, love, and care for His children who are in Christ Jesus?
#3 Worship and obey God for the glory, honor, and dominion He has entrusted us and for how He brings it to fulfillment in the Son of man (v5-8).
• God commissioned Adam and Eve with these words in Genesis 1:26-28, and Adam failed as our representative. All in him remain cursed for our sin.
• But, God brings this commission to fulfillment in His Son made flesh—the Son of man: Hebrews 2:5-12; 1 Corinthians 15:27-28.
• The crucified and risen Jesus is how God fulfills Genesis 1:28.
• Jesus overcomes the last enemy of death by His resurrection and ours: 1 Corinthians 15:25-26.
Q: Could you imagine a more majestic plan for your life than—in Christ—ruling over all things, including death?
#4 Yahweh our Lord is filling the earth with His power and glory through His good reign over and in us by the Son of man (v9).
SERMON IN A SENTENCE: Desire above all else for God’s power and glory to fill the earth to His praise in us by Jesus Christ —for God is doing this.
• How can we dare argue with the risen, majestic Lord on how to understand the Bible? He said in Luke 24:25-27, 44-48…