This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome back for day three of this week. We're going to be looking
at Psalm eight today. And let me just begin by reading all of Psalm eight for
you.

Psalm eight, one to nine. Oh, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all
the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens.

From the lips of children and infants, you have ordained praise because of your
enemies to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider the 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, the son of man that you care for him? You
made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and
honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands. You put everything under his
feet, all flocks and herds and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and
the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Oh, Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth.

So when we turn to Psalm eight, we turn from a psalm of lament and a psalm of
judgment to this psalm of purest praise. The heart of this psalm is obvious. He
sings the same phrase at the beginning and the end, how majestic is your name in
all the earth.

So how does David see God's majesty? When I think of God's majesty in all the
earth, I see it in creation. The majesty of the Grand Canyon or the Milky Way as
you look at the stars in an amazing display of God's glory or the Swiss Alps as
you look at those mountains, the majesty of God.

But that's not where David sees God's majesty. David sees it in the way that he
lifts human beings up. You've lifted us up.

To compare us to the glories of heaven, of nature, what God has made, we look
like nothing. But God has raised us up. He has made us even a ruler over those
works of his hands.

So that's the truth of God's glory, God's majesty in Psalm eight. Let's dig into
this 'cause it's an important Psalm to understand when you understand God's
majesty and God's glory and how it's at work in this world. It begins with the
fact that we have been lifted up as human beings to be a little lower than the
angels, the heavenly beings, even a sinful man, lifted up to be a little lower
than the heavenly beings.

But that's not the only truth here. There's a greater story here in Psalm eight.
The New Testament writers recognized that Jesus is all through this Psalm.

In Matthew 21, 15 and 16, when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw
the wonderful things that Jesus did and the children shouting in the temple
area, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant. Do you hear what the
children are saying, they asked him? Yes, replied Jesus.

Have you ever read from the lips of children and infants you have ordained
praise? Jesus turns to this Psalm when the children are praising him and said,
it was ordained. It was ordained in advance because of who I am.

So this Psalm is about the praise of Jesus, but as you read further, you find
out this Psalm is about Jesus. First Corinthians 15, 23 to 27. He, Jesus, must
reign until he's put all enemies under his feet.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death, for he has put everything under his
feet. That's a quote from this Psalm. Put everything under his feet.

So this isn't just about us and how God has made us rule. The New Testament
writers, by the power of the Holy Spirit, saw that this was also about Jesus.
And there's a hidden glory here that's revealed when you recognize that this is
also about Jesus.

This glory is talked about in Hebrews 2, 6 to 9. But there is a place where
someone has testified. What is man that you are mindful of him?

The son of man that you care for him. So the writer of Hebrews is quoting Psalm
8. You made him a little lower than the angels.

You crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet. In
putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet
at present, we do not see everything subject to him.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with
glory and honor because he suffered death. So that by the grace of God, he might
taste death for everyone. Wow.

So this Psalm tells us, it is about us, and it's also about Jesus, that we were
lifted up by God to be a little lower than the angels. But this Psalm also tells
us that Jesus chose to humbly lower himself to be a little lower than the
angels. He's God.

He is higher than any angel. But he lowered himself to be a little lower than
the angels. That doesn't mean that he was less than God when he was on this
earth.

That means he physically limited himself in ways that the angels were not
physically limited. That means that he came to live on this sinful planet in
ways that the angels were not living. He lowered himself in some ways, not in
every way, but in some ways even lower than the angels.

So even as God has lifted us up to be higher than the angels, a little lower
than the angels, Jesus lowered himself so that, you read in Hebrews and in this
Psalm, so that God could exalt Jesus and put everything under his feet. So that
God could crown you with glory and honor as well. So that God could lift you up
to be even above the angels.

Ephesians 2, 6, and 7. God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in
the heavenly realms in Christ in order that in the coming ages, he might show
the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in kindness to us in Christ
Jesus. This is big.

And it's worth going over again what this Psalm is all about. This Psalm tells
us once again that you and I as human beings were lifted up by God to be a
little lower than the angels. This Psalm also reflects the truth that Jesus
chose to humbly lower himself to be a little lower than the angels so that God
could exalt him and put everything under his feet, not only the angels, but
everything, every spiritual power.

And he did that so that God could crown him with glory and honor, so that God
could crown you with glory and honor as well, so that God could lift you up to
be even above the angels. Oh, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all
the earth. Let's take a moment to praise him for that.

Jesus, thank you. Thank you that you humbled yourself. You humbled yourself to
come to this earth and be born, for the baby to lie in a manger, to be dependent
on Joseph and Mary to care for you.

And you humbled yourself to the point of death, even death on a cross. You
tasted death for us so that we did not have to dwell in eternal death, but so
that we could have eternal life. Thank you for the glory of God, the glory of
God in your creation that you made us God, that you put creation under us, that
you gave us responsibility.

And thank you for the glory of your son, that he has come so that we can have
new life in him. Not only the enjoyment of forgiveness and life, but also a
crown of glory and honor, also lifted up even above the angel to sit with Christ
in the heavenly places. We don't deserve this, but we're given it because of
your grace, because of your love and your power.

So we rest in that grace right now. We see ourselves in a new way because of
what you've done for us, Jesus. The glory in that, in your glory, in your name,
amen.

Tomorrow, we're going to be looking at Psalm nine, which is a Psalm of victory.