1 Psalm 8 The Majesty of God Displayed in the Creation of Man Probably the biggest question people have on this earth is this: Why are we here? What is our purpose on this earth? Is it merely to be born and live and get married and work a job and take care of our families and be good citizens and take care of the earth? Is it simply to do what we can to bring happiness to ourselves and those around us, maybe throw in a little morality? And then finally die? What is it? If this is all there is to our existence, then why not eat, drink, be merry, fill our lives with the most pleasures and live for our own purposes? I have talked with so many people who feel this way, and practically live like I m describing. But, down deep, there is something missing and they still ask, What is my purpose on this earth? Well, the answer to this question is found in Psalm 8. Our purpose is to display the majesty and glory of God our creator! Let me read the Psalm. As I do, pay particular attention to vv. 4-6 for the answer as David asks this same question in a different way. 1. We see the majesty of God displayed in creation. This Psalm was written by David. It begins with the words O Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. And, it ends with the same words, O Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! This is why I believe the theme of the Psalm is to praise the wonderful majesty and glory of God. David considers the name of God. Now, he doesn t simply mean that God has a name like Yahweh or Jehovah or Elohim. He is called by these names in the Bible. But, David is thinking about what is behind his name. His name is EVERYTHING He is! And when he thinks about the greatness of God, He thinks of majesty and glory. I remember my first time to Australia and Kristen and her friends took me to Australia s highest peak: Mt. Kosciusko (sp). I remember after hiking (not very long) to the top and thinking, Is that it? Now, it was beautiful in its own right. It had its own glory. But, It was nothing compared to the view I had as I flew over the Alps. I remember thinking, Wow, how majestic are these mountains! In the same kind of way, when David considered the name of God he was overwhelmed with praise for the majesty of God. In v. 2 he says, Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. Here, he probably remembered all the miracles of God to help Israel overthrow her more powerful enemies. They were like infants among giants. David knew if God were on his side, this was all that mattered. But then in v. 3 David considered God s creation. He said, When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place... And in v. 2 he says you are greater than your creation, for: You have set your glory above the heavens. Now, David saw the earth and the moon and the stars and he couldn t help but think of the majesty of God. In our own time, let me try and put the universe into perspective. (I have shared these facts before.) If you were to start at our sun, which is not a very big star, and travel outward at the speed of light, here is sketch of what you might see. Traveling at the speed of light (186,000 mil/sec), you would pass earth (93 million miles away) in just 8 minutes 19 seconds. In just 5 hours and 31 seconds you would pass Pluto around 3.5 billion miles away. Then we continue, year 1, year 2, year 3, year 4, and finally in the 5 th year of our travel we come to the closest star (after our sun) to our solar system Alpha Centauri A 25 trillion miles away. As we
2 continue traveling 100 light years from our sun, we still can t see yet our galaxy (milky way) fully. At 1000 light years, we still can t see the Milky Way fully. Not until 100,000 light years are we able to see the Milky Way and all its spirals. After 5 million years of travel, we can barely see the Milky Way and 30 other known galaxies known to mankind. At this point, each of these galaxies is ONE dot (like a star). The best estimate is that we have 70 thousand million, million, million stars in the universe. This is 7 X 10 (22 nd power). As we continue 50 million light years, we then encounter the Burger Cluster which is said to have 2000 galaxies. After a billion more years of travel we encounter countless galaxies and then stop, pause and consider how much further we can go. This is majesty! God s creation declares his majesty. And David says in v. 2 God is above such a creation. 2. We see the majesty of God displayed in the creation of man. After considering the majesty of God in creation, David considers his creation of man. And he thinks, Why man? He was saying, Of all your glorious works, why create man? Look at v. 3: 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? Mankind, we are but dust and clay. Our bodies are made up of the elements of this world. And of ALL the creatures of the earth and of the heavens including the angels and the cherubim, etc., God has chosen man as the pinnacle of his creation. It is as if He stoops down from his majesty and glory and creates man. And, He doesn t simply create man. He also CARES FOR man in a special way. I care for our cat. I care for our frog (no thanks to the Stienbarger family). I even care for Abigail s hermit crabs. But, they do not compare to my care for my children. Just this week, Lee was coming to the elder meeting. And, he was looking forward to coming. But, a few hours before the meeting he called and said he couldn t make it. He said, Rebecca s car is broken down in Monroe. I need to go fix her up. As parents we give special care and priority to our kids. We will move heaven and earth for their protection and care. In the same kind of way, we are God s special creation. He is mindful of us. And, he cares for us. And this is the basis for one of my favorite verses. 1 Pet. 5:7: Cast your anxieties on him. For he cares for you. But, we can t stop here when we think of God creating us. If we stop with simply God taking care of us, we can t quite answer life s big question: What is our purpose on this earth? Why did God create us? We aren t simply God s pets to be cared for. There is so much more! Just being able to answer this ONE SIMPLE QUESTION brings purpose to our life. Look at v. 5. David says: Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. Though we are lower than the angels in some aspects, He has crowned us with greater glory and honor then them. How? Look at v. 6: You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. And because of this David again says in v. 9, O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! With this in mind, what is our purpose? First and foremost, our purpose is to bring glory to God. When we consider our creation, we must first praise God. But, there is more. And this is SO COOL! We were created to have dominion over the rest of God s creation; the work of his hands.
3 David is simply recalling Gen. 1:26-28. God told Adam and Eve: Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. We are special because God created us in his image. This has 2 main meanings. 1) We are like God in his being (ontological). In other words, there are some characteristics we are given as God s special creation that make us LIKE HIM. We can think. We can determine between good and evil. We are religious people. We relate in intelligent ways one with another. We feel shame when we don t adhere to our culture s moral norms. We feel guilty when we have done wrong. We are governed by laws that give us order. We can love. In these ways, we are like God. But, there is more. 2) We have a special task unlike the animals in the way we function (functionality). We have been given dominion over all the works of God s hands. Why do you think the cows serve us by giving us milk, or the sheep give us their wool for clothing, or the hens lay eggs for us to eat? How is it that we can catch great quantities of fish for food? Why do the McNeils kill chickens about 5 times a week? It is not because of atheistic evolution. Today, you are created to be LIKE God and to ACT LIKE God in your dominion over the earth. What a wonderful task? And when you do this properly, you bring glory and majesty to his name. When you love him, you bring glory to him. When you pray to him, you bring glory to him because you are showing how much you need him. When you praise Him, you tell of his greatness. When you live your life in the right way, following the commands of God, people see your life. And when they ask, Why do you not laugh at our crude jokes? Why are you faithful in marriage? Why do you not abuse your bodies with different substances? Why do you care about obeying the traffic laws so strictly? Why do you treat every person with respect and dignity? Why do you not join in our gossip? Kids, why do you obey your parents? Why do you care if marriage is between a man and woman? Why do you work so hard in school to make good grades? Why do you get up on your only day off and meet with other people to sing and pray and listen to the Bible? It is because you have answered the question: What is my purpose? And you have declared, I will bring glory to God with my life! It is pretty simply when you look at it like this. Like makes sense! As Jesus said, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16). Here are a couple applications: As mankind, YOU ARE SPECIAL. You aren t like the animals. You have purpose. You have reason to live. Also, when you contemplate and get a glimpse of the majesty of God you know what happens? Adoration and praise and thanksgiving and humility come from your heart. And you say from the depths of your being, What is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him... O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! OH, what purpose for living!
4 3. We see the majesty of God displayed in Christ. You might say, I don t see Christ in this passage. David didn t mention Jesus in this Psalm. Hmmm! You are right, at least in the words. But, this Bible does not make sense unless we understand it through the lens of Christ. As I get older I cannot read the words of my books. But, when I use a magnifying glass, everything becomes clear. In the same way, Christ is our lens to understanding the will of God. You see, we have a problem! When I look at the world, I don t see great hordes of people doing the will of God by spreading his image throughout the earth. Yes, I see dominion. But, it is not the kind of dominion God requires. God is holy! And when I look around, I do not see holiness in this world. But instead (from Psalm 2) I see the nations raging. I see the rulers of the earth and the peoples of this world scheming together to cast off the rule of God through his special Son. I see sickness. I see chaos. I see natural disasters. I see heartache. I see death. I see many of these things in our own families. And so do you! In fact, the world may read these verses and wonder, What is man that you are mindful of him? And they may be guilty of saying, God does not care about me! He is not mindful of me. But he does! You see, God s purpose in the end is that righteousness will reign. Holiness will prevail. What we see around us, will not continue forever. God will put an end to sin and unrighteousness. God s goal is for his glory to spread throughout the universe. And this cannot happen if sin remains. If sin remains, there is no perfect man to spread the glory of God. There is no perfect man like the one we see in Psalm 1: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. But Isaiah says, Behold, a king will reign in righteousness... (32:1). Jeremiah says, Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land (23:5). In Dan. 7:13-14 God gave Daniel a vision of the future. We read: I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. And, in Is. 9:6: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. You see, these verses and David s words, Who is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him, and 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 and have put all things under his feet, point to the perfect man, Jesus Christ. David was like us. He too was a sinner, an unholy man. And he died. And his sons followed. So are we. We are sinners. We will die. By ourselves, we CANNOT carry out God s command to have dominion over all the earth. If left to us, sin will reign on this earth. But, God will not allow unrighteousness to rule forever. His eternal will must be done on earth as it is in heaven. And this plan must be carried out by a man, a perfect man. Therefore, when the fullness of time had
5 come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman... (Gal. 4:4). And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). You see, Jesus is the perfect man. And he came to do the will of the Father, namely to set things right in this universe and to carry out God s rule and domino of the earth and the universe. God, set forth in Christ a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth (Eph. 1:10). And Jesus established God s rule by undoing what we messed up with our sin. He was born into this world and on our flesh; became a man (just as we are). And he was the perfect man, the ONE of Psalm one who kept the law of God perfectly. He did not sin. He lived out PERFECTLY God s plan as he walked on this earth. He did what Adam could not do! And then he died. And God punished Jesus instead of us. He did not deserve it! We did! But, it pleased God to bruise his Son. And then, he reigned by conquering death. He rose again. For death could not hold him! And now he sits at the right hand of God. And those who believe in him, trust in him for forgiveness, are ruling with him now on this earth by the Spirit. And the glory of God is spreading throughout the nations. And this must continue until All God s enemies are put under his feet. So what is your purpose this morning? Why are you here? Your purpose is to display the majesty of God in being like God, spreading his image throughout the earth. And you are able to do this by living as a Christian, by the Spirit. In this way, God s majesty is displayed in his Son! So today, we see the majesty of God in creation. We see the majesty of God in the creation of man. We see the majesty of God in the perfect man, Jesus Christ!