Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Psalm 8 | Date: July 30, 2023 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Welcome. We continue this morning our series on the Psalms, so we’re looking today at Psalm 8. Psalm 8. If I were asked to name what is my favorite Psalm, I don’t know what I’d do. If I were asked to give a short list of favorite Psalms, Psalm 8 would certainly be on it. It’s a marvelous Psalm, both in what it has to say for us in itself, but also in how it points forward and how it’s picked up in the New Testament and points to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 8: The majesty of God and the glory of the King. You’ll notice in the superscript it is a Psalm of David.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your 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 and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

And then you’ll notice the postscript: “To the choir master.” Let’s bow for prayer.

Our Father, we’re thankful for this wonderful psalm, a reminder of your greatness, and also your goodness to us, and also of your great purposes in world history, and how that will all be fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ. Give us eyes to see it, and strengthen the hearts of your people in it, we pray, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Psalm 8 is the first praise psalm in the Psalter. It’s not the first expression of praise, but remember we’ve been saying that there are different genres of psalms. Some are given to lament and some are given to praise. Even the lament psalms have praise, but they’re given to lament first of all. This is the first psalm that’s given in its entirety to praise—the first praise psalm.

Now it differs, if you remember from our Sunday evening series looking at the forms of praise psalms. This differs from the usual just a little bit in that there is no initial call to praise at the beginning. Usually there’s that call to praise in a praise psalm: “Come, let us worship the Lord. Come, let us praise the Lord.” Something like that. Rather, what we have here in this praise psalm at the beginning is just a declaration of praise. So rather than calling the earth to praise, he’s giving praise himself to God. And that, with a direct address at the beginning, “O Lord our Lord,” which usually is the mark of a lament psalm, but here in a praise psalm, he directs his remarks, his praise, directly to God.

Now, of course, as I’ve mentioned, lament psalms give praise also, and we saw that in Psalm 7 last time, and we will see it next time in Psalm 9. But these three psalms—Psalm 7, 8, and 9—it seems were linked together, placed together in the Psalter by the editors because of the common theme of the praise to God’s name. If you look at Psalm 7, verse 17, at the very end: “I will give to the Lord the thanks due his righteousness, I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.” Then Psalm 8, verse 1: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.” And then Psalm 8 ends the same way: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.” And then Psalm 9 begins—look at verse 2: “I will sing praise to your name, O Most High,” echoing what we had in Psalm 7. So we have a lament psalm, a praise psalm, and a lament psalm linked together evidently because of the common theme of the praise of God’s name.

The specific focus of praise in Psalm 8, however, is unique in the Psalter. He is praising God for his greatness; that we find everywhere. He praises God for his activity in world history and ruling over it. We see that everywhere in the Psalms. But he has another take of praise that is a bit different.

God’s Splendor and the Created Order

Psalm 8 then, verse 1, he praises God for his splendor and the created order. “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You’ve set your glory above the heavens.” Verse 2, he praises God for his rule over the affairs of world history and the elimination of his enemies. “Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the avenger.” None of that is unique in the Psalter as a sustained point of reference.

But the focus of Psalm 8 we find in verses 3 to 8, and here he has a unique dimension of praise. And the praise that’s given in these verses is God’s glory, but it’s God’s glory in his delegated rule that he’s given to humanity. And that’s where the focus of the message will be then. This is the focus of these verses. Verse 5, for example: “For you have made him,” that is man, “a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You’ve given him dominion over the works of your hands. You’ve put all things under his feet.” And then verse 9, he returns to the larger theme of praise to God for his greatness: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.”

So the specific praise in the bulk of the psalm is a unique focus, and there’s a little bit of a touch of irony. He’s praising God, but he’s praising God for the dignity and the nobility that he’s given to humanity. And that’s the unique thing about this psalm that we’ll see. Now let’s work our way through it.

Verse 1: “O Lord, our Lord,” that is, O Yahweh (that’s the covenant name of God), our Lord (Adonai, our master). “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.” Then we have it again in verse 9: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.” Now, as I’ve already mentioned, as we’ll see as we work through, the focus of the psalm is the dignity and the greatness given to humanity. Humanity is made a little lower than the angels. He’s crowned with dignity and honor. David himself here is the king who is writing. And yet, the beginning and the end of the psalm is, “O Lord, our Lord,” our master. And so he positions himself—the king even positions himself—as subservient to the greater king, the Lord God who made Israel and who made all things.

And then verse 1: “how majestic is your name.” The way that this word is used in the Old Testament, in the Psalter in particular, has the connotations of not just exaltation and majesty generally, but exalted power that is recognized because of the works that he has done. So for example, in Exodus, his majesty is displayed in destroying the armies of Pharaoh and such. In Job, his majesty is displayed in his ruling over the storms and over the elements. In Psalm 45, again, God’s majesty is displayed in his rule over even his enemies. So it has to do with God’s exceeding power, his majesty, as it’s displayed in the works that he has done.

And so what he says here in verse 1 is: “you have set your glory above the heavens.” Now that preposition, “above”—the Hebrew preposition there can be translated a number of ways. I think the NIV translates it “in the heavens.” “You set your glory in the heavens.” Because of verse 3, we know that the point of reference is the planets, the stars, the moon, the sun, things like that. So he’s speaking of the heavenly bodies which display the glory of God. So perhaps it’s best to say you’ve set your glory on the heavens or whatever. But the point is that God’s glory is on display in the things that he has made in the heavenly realms. We’ll see more of that when we get to verse 3.

God’s Rule Over His Enemies

Verse 2 continues the praise for God’s majesty. And this is the least appreciated verse of the psalm. This is the verse that’s always ignored in this psalm. But it praises God’s majesty, but here with respect to his rule over his enemies and his rule over history and human affairs. “Out of the mouth of babies”—and the idea of infants here is nursing infants, it’s tiny babies—”out of the mouth of babies and nursing infants, not toddlers, you have established strength because of your foes to still or to eliminate the enemy and the avenger.”

So the establishing of God’s kingdom in the earth entails the elimination of his enemies. And what David finds fascinating here, as a display of God’s majesty, is the means by which those enemies will be eliminated. Verse 2 again: “Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants.” “Mouth” in the Psalms almost certainly entails the idea of praise. Nursing infants, they can’t speak praise. So it’s a metaphor speaking of the comparative weakness of humanity. God’s people who, like babies, are otherwise helpless, find their help in God alone. And it is through these helpless baby-like people that God eliminates his enemies.

Fascinating statement. God will advance his rule over his enemies by means of the humble praises of his otherwise helpless people. Now, this verse just might ring a bell, even though it is one of the most—it is the most ignored verse in the psalm, usually. It just might ring a bell. This is the verse Jesus picked up, you remember, at the triumphal entry. Jesus makes his way into Jerusalem. The people are shouting. You remember they’re citing Psalm 118: “Hosanna, God save us.” And you remember they’re singing his praises as he makes his way. And it’s the children who are singing those praises. And you remember the Jewish leaders come to Jesus and they object to this—this is too much, you can’t have them talking to you like this. And Jesus goes back to Psalm 8 and he says, “Have you never read? Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have prepared praise.”

In other words, these children, these little ones here singing my praises, are like the men and women of my kingdom who helplessly have thrown themselves on my mercy and have come to me. And it’s through their praise that God will establish his kingdom. So here is the supreme majesty and the glory of God. It’s a marvelous irony. Who would have thought that this great majestic God, who shows his majesty, as we’ll see in verse 3, who shows his majesty in the heavens in all that he has made—who would have thought that this great God would establish his rule on the earth by means of such humble people?

And yet he does. Men and women who, according to Jesus now, men and women who, full of sin, cast themselves on Jesus for mercy, and through their praises, as they make their way telling everyone about him, God brings his enemies under subjection, and men and women come to bow. This is not far from 1 Corinthians chapter one. Remember where Paul talks about the pride of natural man who thinks he’s got it all figured out, and this gospel stuff is foolish, it makes no sense, and they’re so blind they can’t see the glory of God in the face of Jesus or in the gospel? And yet our marching orders for this whole age is to sing his praise and to tell the message of Jesus, to proclaim this message that the world thinks is foolish. And by that proclamation of praise, one by one, men and women are brought to bow before God and his enemies are subdued.

Well, this is verse 2 here: “Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants, you have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the avenger.” And now in verses 3 and following, he expands on the glory of God, but in particular the glory of God as it’s displayed in the rule that he has given to humanity.

A Striking Contrast

Verse 3:

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You’ve put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, all of the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes along the paths of the sea.

So he begins with observing a striking contrast in verses 3 and 4. “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, 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?” I think probably we have all experienced verse 3. You sit beneath the great expanse of the heavens, perhaps at night, and you see the brilliant display of the stars and the planets, the planetary system, how it all comes together, the brilliant lights, or in the daytime, the powerful rays of the sun. And you look at it all, and you think, what a magnificent display—not of nature, what a magnificent display of the glory of God. If these things are so vast and so great and so brilliant, what does it say about the one who has made them?

Everything that is, everything that is, is stamped with—it’s like it’s been given its signature. Everything that is is stamped with the label “made.” This pulpit—no one, no one would come and say this pulpit just grew that way. It was made. Your wristwatch—no one would say, “Look at that, it just happened.” Everything is stamped with the word “made.” And if that’s true of things like this, then what of the created order generally and broadly? And David is thinking like that, but he’s thinking on the grandest scale in terms of the galaxies and the planetary system and their orderly arrangement and the brilliance of the lights and the powerful rays of the sun and all of it. And he says, if all of this is so vast and so great, what does it say about the maker? What majesty, what kind of majesty is this that can make all that? This didn’t just come into being on its own. Who is the maker of such a thing? What kind of majesty is it?

And so we look at the heavens on the one hand, we look back at ourselves on the other, and there’s the contrast. We look at the heavens and we see God, majestic, transcendent, ruling over all. And we look back at ourselves and we seem so insignificant and small. And notice here, this is not, as this psalm is often quoted or referred to—David is not quite comparing himself to the vastness of the created order. He’s comparing himself to the God who made this vast created order. That’s the point of contrast. And the contrast is staggering. If you are the one who made all of this, what in the world are we? As one man, one commentator remarked in this context, there’s no pantheism here. No confusing of the distinction between creator and creation. There’s God and there’s everything else. And all the “everything else” is what God has made. And this is a display of the majesty of God. And in comparison, we seem like such a small and insignificant thing.

The Dignity and Nobility of Humanity

And yet, verses 5 to 8, David glories in the dignity, the nobility that God has given to humanity. It’s just unparalleled in all the created order. Look at verse 5: “You have made him,” that is mankind, “you’ve made him a little lower than the heavenly beings. You’ve crowned him with glory and honor.” In what way? Verse 6: “You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You’ve put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the seas.”

So he’s glorying now in the fact that this great God has delegated his rule over all of this marvelous created order to weak humanity. He’s put all things under our feet. He’s given it to us to rule over it all. Verse 5: “you’ve made us just a little lower than the heavenly beings.” That is the angelic world. Just a trifle beneath them is all we are. That’s the exalted status of mankind. Verses 6 to 8 then itemize the areas of dominion: the works of your hands, the sheep, oxen, beasts, birds, fish, everything that swims in the sea. You’ve put all things under his feet.

Now this ought to ring a bell for you as well. This is simply a devotional exposition of Genesis chapter one, verses 26 to 28. God says, “Let’s make man in our image and let him have dominion over all things.” He makes man in his image, gives him dominion over all things—the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the same thing. This is just a devotional exposition of the creation mandate. God creates man and says, “Now have dominion over it all, rule over it.” And so in verses 5 and following then, David is saying God manifests his royal splendor in the heavens, but in the created order, he mediates his royal rule through man created in his image.

That’s an amazing thought. The great vastness and glory of the created order that he’s been talking about in verse 3, staggering as it is, the marvelous intricacies of it all, the brilliant ordering of it all—and yet the glory of the vast created order does not exceed the glory and the dignity and the nobility given to man. Vast and incomprehensible as it is and small as we may seem in comparison, all of it, verse 6, has been placed under our feet. That’s the dignity of humanity. Mankind is the king of creation. Again, that’s just an exposition of Genesis 1 and 2. David would never be content to explain humanity in terms of evolutionary origins, random selectivity. There’s a particular dignity that’s given to man. He’s created in God’s image, set apart from the rest of the created order in that he’s the king over it. Again, there’s no pantheism here. But there’s still this creator-creature distinction; God is transcendent and we’re the small ones. And yet, he has given unprecedented nobility to humanity in creating man in his image and giving him rule over all things. And that now is the focus of David’s praise.

Now, we have to keep in mind here as well that the dominion that is envisioned here is God’s kingdom established on the earth by means of his mediating rule through man. Say it again: his dominion that’s envisioned here is God’s kingdom established on the earth by means of the mediating rule of man. Now that becomes important the way this is picked up in the New Testament. But this looks back simply to Genesis 1 and 2. God creates man. He creates man in his image. God is the great king. He has established his kingdom, but he creates man as a vice-regent. Puts him in rule over it. He gives him dominion over all things. “Here you are. I put you here. Now you extend the rule over the whole earth. Take dominion over it all and extend it faithfully for my glory, but you extend my rule throughout the world.” Genesis 1, Genesis 2.

Genesis 3: fail. That rule is not carried out faithfully. And now the whole situation changes. God is still God. God is still great king over all things. He rules over all things sovereignly. But now his rule is contested. Humanity is in rebellion. The earth is reeling from a curse. And now the creation mandate takes on an eschatological perspective. What God has commanded man to do, man has failed in doing. And the rest of the Bible, the rest of Bible history, is an outworking of God’s purpose to reestablish his kingdom in the earth. David is king over Israel. This is God moving in. This is God’s kingdom on earth. And David is to rule over it, and he’s to rule over it faithfully. And his sons are to rule over it faithfully. But we see one after another fails again and fails again and fails again. This is what we mean when we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God, reestablish your rule in this earth.

What Psalm 8 tells us is that the rule of God’s kingdom in the earth is given to man to do. Now the kingdom of God given to man entails dominion over more than the animals, the fish, and the physical creation. There’s a spiritual dimension to it as well. That’s precisely where Adam failed. And in a fallen world now, God’s righteous kingdom will not come apart from struggle. And that’s why verse 2 makes reference particularly to his enemies. They must be subdued. Verse 6: they must be put under his feet and made to bow. And so now we find that reading with the big picture in view—Genesis 1 and 2, Genesis 3, Psalm 8—they anticipate a restored kingdom of God on the earth. The goal of history will not be realized until our assigned role is fulfilled. And so it’s left undone. It’s left undone.

Now, you here at RBC, of course, you know how the New Testament writers like to look back at the Old Testament and see how it’s pointing forward to Jesus and how the hopes that were dashed in so many ways in the Old Testament are made alive again in Jesus. That’s precisely what we have here in Psalm 8. We find the New Testament writers referring back here, particularly to this language of the enemies being put under his feet and referring it to as fulfilled in Jesus. And let me go through a couple of examples for you, the main ones. Look at Hebrews chapter one and two.

Book of Hebrews, and we’ll see how he picks that up. We have just begun reading through Hebrews in our Wednesday evening prayer group. And a couple of weeks ago, we read through Hebrews 1. This past week, we read through Hebrews 2, and we noted the connection between them. In Hebrews 1, we have the writer’s exposition of the glories of the eternal son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the eternal son. He is the supreme revelation of God because he is the eternal son. He’s greater than the angels and greater than all, and he gives the Psalms which make reference to him throughout Hebrews 1.

And then we have Hebrews chapter two, where we have this marvelous exposition of the incarnation of Jesus. So the question is: the glorious son that you’re talking about in Hebrews chapter one, someone might object and say, “Well, wait a minute, how can you say all that about him when he died? He was a man.” And Hebrews 2 is given then to answer that question and to show that this glorious son—chapter 1, and catch this the way I’m going to say it—this glorious son of chapter 1 stooped to our exalted status of “a little lower than the angels.” Our exalted status of being just a trifle beneath the angels is that to which the eternal son has stooped to become one of us in order to accomplish God’s purpose in history for us. So, as our representative head now, the new Adam will do the work in Adam’s place. And notice how in verses five and following, he makes reference to Psalm 8:

It was not to angels that God subjected the world to come.

Notice there’s the pointing forward. Creation mandate, Psalm 8—this points forward now to a renewed world.

It was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now, in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not see everything in subjection to him, but we see him who for a little while was made a little lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Now verse 14:

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

That is, in his incarnation, God the Son condescended to become one of us in order to accomplish redemption for us and restore God’s purpose for us. He did this (later verses of the chapter) he did this by offering himself in sacrifice to God, making propitiation for our sins. And now as the representative head of humanity, as our representative, the incarnate son, the man Christ Jesus, stands in our place as our leader to fulfill for us what we have lost in Adam. Having accomplished his mission now, he’s been exalted; he’s ascended to the right hand of God. Notice that language here. His mission has been accomplished. Verse 9: he’s now crowned with glory and honor. He’s ascended, he is enthroned as universal king. In the language of Ephesians 1 and other places in the New Testament, all things have been put under his feet.

The Lord Jesus has come, done the saving work. In reward of that, he’s ascended, taken his place at the throne of God, and now all authority belongs to him. He rules over all. But, verse 8, at present we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. Well, we certainly don’t. An easier statement was never made. All things are placed under the feet of Jesus already, but we don’t yet see it. This fallen world is in its fits of rebellion. Our great enemy, death, still remains. The world is in rebellion. There is sin everywhere. There’s brokenness and fallenness. We don’t yet see everything in subjection to him. Satan is still the god of this world, prince and power of the air. Death itself is still our dreaded enemy.

But as the representative man, Christ will restore human dominion over all things. And this is picked up for us in one other passage I want you to see: 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. As you know, this is the great resurrection chapter. Paul expounds the truth of the resurrection in Jesus, the nature of the resurrection body in verses 35 and following, and so on. But the point here overall is that Christ, as the representative man, will restore human dominion over all things. And so, let’s pick it up with verse 22, where as in Adam—here he’s going to tell us that at last now, in his glorious return, the Lord Jesus will restore that dominion:

As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign [and here’s Psalm 8] until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

In the return of Christ, the creation mandate is finally and climactically realized. He is ruling over all his enemies. Every one of them is finally subdued, including, finally, that last great enemy, the enemy of death.

Psalm 8 then is a praise psalm. It praises God as the creator, God as ruler over the affairs of human history. On one level, we can see his kingdom advance through the ever inadequate and yet effectual praise of his people. One by one, they come to bow before him. But ultimately, his rule will be seen only through the work of the Lord Jesus himself personally when he returns in glory and takes the reins of the world to himself and exercises it in a way that all will see. Humanity’s rule over all things and over all of God’s enemies will finally be achieved through the work of the incarnate Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I’ve mentioned that Psalm 8 is also a devotional commentary on Genesis 1 and 2. It’s, in effect, Genesis 1:26-28 offered in prayer and praise. But it also anticipates a time when it’ll be finally realized. You don’t have to turn there, I’ll read this for you, but the prophets often speak of this. And I’ll read from Isaiah chapter 11:

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and lion and the fatted calf together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze. Their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra. The weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day, the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples, of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

That is, under the rule of the returned Lord Jesus, all the world and all the world order will be transformed and order will be restored. And so with this big picture in mind, Psalm 8 concludes with a restatement of his opening theme: God’s majestic rule in creation and in redemption. “O Lord, our Lord,” verse 9, “how majestic is your name in all the earth.”

Bruce Waltke likens Psalm 8 to a play. I think this is wonderfully insightful. He likens Psalm 8 to a play and he says the playwright and the director is the triune God. The prologue, verse one: praise to the triune God. The cast: God, his people, his enemies. The plot: the plot is the struggle for universal dominion. The antagonist: Satan and the world. The protagonist: the weak people of God. The hero of the play: that’s Jesus. And the epilogue, verse nine: praise to the triune God.

And then you’ll notice, finally, we have the postscript: “to the choir master.” David hands his psalm to the choir master for all of us to sing. We, the people of God, have been singing this psalm for all of the centuries since, and we sing it now with great anticipation. One day, one day the Lord Jesus will be seen to reign over all things. And when he does, all the world will sing, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.” I’ll say it again: I can’t wait. So the church’s great hope—it’s the world’s only hope—the prayer of the church remains: Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen. Let’s pray.