How Majestic is Your Name | Psalm 8

INTRODUCTION

Church, today we come to Psalm 8. This is a psalm of David. Psalm 8 is the first praise song in the book of Psalms. The praise is entirely addressed to the Lord. Psalm 8 begins and ends with the same worship line, like bookends.

Psalm 8

¹Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory

in the heavens.

²Through the praise of children and infants

you have established a stronghold against your enemies,

to silence the foe and the avenger.

³When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

⁴what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

human beings that you care for them?

⁵You have made them a little lower than the angels

and crowned them with glory and honor.

⁶You made them rulers over the works of your hands;

you put everything under their feet:

⁷all flocks and herds,

and the animals of the wild,

⁸the birds in the sky,

and the fish in the sea,

all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

OUTLINE

v1, 9: God the ultimate ruler of heaven and earth.

v1, 3: The order of creation

v2, 4-5: The order of redemption

v6-8: Man as the sub-ruler of the creation

Psalm 8 enables us to look up, look within, and then in our context look to Jesus.

1. Look Up: God’s Majesty in Creation; v1, 3

David starts with the greatness of God: The Glory of YAHWEH in creation.

Psalm 8:1

¹Lord, our Lord

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory

in the heavens.

LORD – YAHWEH, is the covenant name of God.

Lord – Adonai means master.

Means: The LORD is our master.

YAHWEH is the Lord of Israel, but he is also the Lord of the whole earth and heavens. Earth is not big enough to hold all the glory. His glory extends even above the heavens.

How majestic is your name..

It means mighty, or splendour and power. It’s used of God’s dominion over the storm and sea. It’s used of His right hand that shattered the Egyptian troops in the Red Sea. God’s name is powerful at defeating His enemies.

His Name is majestic. Today we can say His Name is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Psalm 8:3

³When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

David is doing what many of us forget to do. He pauses, looks up, and lets creation preach to his heart. look up to the heavens, you see the splendour; you see this awesomeness of God. In our time, with all the knowledge we have, we understand even more how vast and ordered creation is.

The Hubble telescope has picked up some pictures that are utterly beyond all comprehension. We learn with the Hubble telescope there are more galaxies than there are sand on our seashores. There are billions of galaxies.

Now think about our little houses? Then think about us in the house, a dot that cannot be seen.

Romans 1:20

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

So the Psalm begins with worship: Lord You are majestic, Your glory fills the heavens.

2. Look In – God’s Mindful Care of Humanity; v4

Psalm 8:4-5

⁴what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

human beings that you care for them?

⁵You have made them a little lower than the angels

and crowned them with glory and honor.

Let’s reflect on this: What is man?

God made man and he crowned humanity with dignity and purpose. But now this great God over the whole creation, stoops down to help mere mortals. He cares for mankind. He looks down to meet the petitions of His people. God who rules the galaxies is not too great to care about you.

When I look in, I know that there is a God who understands my condition and cares for me.

And then he says: “You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.” That “glory” means social weight. “And with honor.”

God’s Creative order:

• God
• Angels
• Humans
• Animals, birds, and sea creatures.

Friends, we must hear this. You are not an accident. You are not worthless. We are not forgotten. We are crowned with dignity and honour.

3. Look Around – God’s Purpose for Humanity; v6-8

Psalm 8:6-8

⁶You made them rulers over the works of your hands;

you put everything under their feet:

⁷all flocks and herds,

and the animals of the wild,

⁸the birds in the sky,

and the fish in the sea,

all that swim the paths of the seas.

God committed the rule of creation to man. We are not owners, we are stewards. We are not kings, we serve the King. Man as the sub-ruler of the creation.

All that swim (singular) the path of the seas, I think is Leviathan (representative of chaos and evil) the symbol of evil. So it’s a way of saying we are to rule over the forces of life and the forces of death.

David is narrating the creation order.

Genesis 1:26

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Just like in the garden, God visits humans. He understands the situation, and He comes to enable man to do what we were commissioned to do.

There are two parts to the cultural mandate, as I would see it:

Subdue the physical world—the fish, the oxen, everything.

Subdue the spiritual world. In Genesis 3 we meet the serpent, and they should have brought the serpent under their feet. But what happened is the serpent brought them under his feet. It was a spiritual war that they lost.

When humanity walked away from God, our rule and dominion became broken. Now, man must struggle to win dominion over the earth.

So in the physical realm, it’s utterly amazing what we have achieved. Man has grown in science, technology, AI, energy, medicine, travel etc. But in every of this advancement there is evil. We use all this for wars and destruction.

So the result is: physically, we have done the mandate, but spiritually, we have failed miserably. So all of our good boomerangs against us.

So, Psalm 8 shows us both truths:

• Humanity is dignified, crowned by God
• Humanity is fallen, unable to fulfil that calling in our own strength.

That is why David includes a beautiful twist as to how we can fulfil our mandate:

4. Look to God’s Way: Strength Through Childlike Praise; v2

Psalm 8:2

²Through the praise of children and infants

you have established a stronghold against your enemies,

to silence the foe and the avenger.

David is not saying babies are doing warfare. He is using picture-language. God silences the enemy, the devil through the praise of the weak, humble, and dependent. It is through weak people praising God that God establish a stronghold and silence the foe and the avenger.

It is necessary that we praise the Name of God.

Luke 19:37-40

³⁷When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

³⁸“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

³⁹Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

⁴⁰“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Matthew 21:15-16

¹⁵But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.

¹⁶“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.

“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,

“‘From the lips of children and infants

you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”

If humans didn’t praise Him, the stones will praise Him. God will always be praised but we have the privilege to be His praising people.

I say that God’s rule over the heavens is immediate, but God’s rule over the earth is mediated through His people. He rules through us and he subdues the enemy through our praise. We may not be strong, but our God is strong. The praise of God’s people is strong, and they eliminate the foe and the self-avenger.

So we’re in a spiritual battle, and God is the Victor. We are going to win through faith and praise of our God. We are being thrown at us the darts of unbelief today. Satan is strong, but we know Christ is stronger.

Transition: But humanity failed—so where is our hope?

Psalm 8 lifts humanity up, but our experience reminds us: we failed. We did not rule rightly. We did not keep evil under our feet. Sin broke our fellowship with God.

So how can Psalm 8 ever be fulfilled? This is where we must see Jesus.

5. Look to Jesus – Psalm 8 fulfilled in Jesus; Heb. 2:9-11

Humanity’s Failure Restored in Christ

Psalm 8:5

You have made them a little lower than the angels

and crowned them with glory and honor.

Jesus took on that lower position and left his glory and became a man.

Hebrews 2:9-11

⁹But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

¹⁰In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. ¹¹Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

Jesus did what Adam failed to do:

1 Corinthians 15: 22, 45

²²For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

⁴⁵So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

Jesus came into our weakness.

He entered our battle.

Jesus tasted death for everyone.

This majestic Creator became a man, a servant.

The One made lower rose in victory and is crowned forever.

So we end where David ends:

Psalm 8:9

⁹Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

LIFE APPLICATION

1. Worship the Lord for His Majesty.

2. We Have God Given Dignity. Don’t sell yourself short.

3. Live as God’s Steward.

4. Face Your Battles with Child-like Faith. Let praise rise before fear speaks.

5. Fix Your Hope in Jesus.

If you are tired, afraid, attacked, or confused—do what David did:

Look up. Look to the Lord. And let praise rise.

And if you have never surrendered your life to Jesus: Today, come to Him. The One who was made lower for a little while is now crowned with glory, and He calls you “brother” and “sister.” (Hebrews 2:11)

Let us stand and worship the Lord—our Lord. His Name is majestic in all the earth.