Humanity of man and Christ.

Reading: Psalm 8.

Psalm 8 is a messianic psalm highlighting the humanity of Christ and His ultimate victory as Man. Messianic psalms are so called because they are quoted in the New Testament in direct reference to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 8 is quoted three times in the New Testament. In fact, the Lord Jesus Himself quoted from this psalm. In Matthew 21:9, 16; the other two are 1 Corinthians 15:27; Hebrews 2:5–8.

Obviously Psalm 8 looks to the future when talking about Jesus. See Hebrews 2:9 “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”

Verse 1. “How excellent is Your name in all the earth, who have set Your glory above the heavens!”

This great messianic psalm begins with the statement: “O Lord our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!” And the psalm closes with “O Lord our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!” This first verse in Psalm 8 is a prophecy. It looks to the future, a glorious future.

It is a messianic psalm in which we see God’s Man, Jesus the God-Man. It emphasizes the humanity of Christ and His ultimate victory as Man. In Psalm 2 we see man in rejection and man’s rebellion against God. Yet in Psalm 8 we see that man finally gains control of this earth, and the day will come when God’s name will be “excellent in all the earth.”

God’s name is not very excellent in the world today. The fact of the matter is that people today are not saying very much about God. I notice on the news broadcasts that God is never mentioned. He makes the news, too, but He is never brought into the picture.

Verse 2. “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger.”

Verse 3. “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained.”

The heavens are the work of His fingers. It is interesting that when the Word speaks of salvation, it refers to the arm of the Lord: “Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” Isaiah 53:1. But when it speaks of the creation of the heavens and the earth, it calls it His finger-work. Creation was God’s finger-work.

God put His glory above His creation. It is great to us, and there is a glory in creation, but we do not worship His creation. We worship the Creator. His finger-work tells out His glory and His power.

Verse 4. “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?”

They are still working on the question “What is man?” Man is a complex creature. He is a human being. He belongs to the human race, and there are people still trying to figure out how he got here. The Bible says that God created us and put us on the earth. Then man went wrong, he turned aside, he disbelieved God, and he disobeyed Him. Why would God be mindful of man? Why did not God just wipe man off the earth?

Man is a great failure. We do not like to hear that. We want to hear about success. Man does not have a success story; he is really a miserable failure. He has gotten this world into a mess. The psalmist asks, “What is man that You are mindful of him?” I will tell you why man is important. Some two thousand years ago the Lord Jesus Christ visited him. He made a trip to earth and died on a cross to let us know that He loved us.

He did not save us by love alone; He saved us by grace because we did not have anything to offer—we were not worth saving. Yet God the Son came to this earth.

Verse 5. “For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honour.”

When the Lord Jesus made an Old Testament appearances, He came as the Angel of the Lord; but when He came to Bethlehem, He came much lower than that—He came as a level of man.

Verse 6. “You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.”

Man was given dominion over the works of God’s hands, but man lost that. Man does not control this universe today. Science thought it had things under control, but now we find that science has infested this earth; and it looks as if our earth will become a big rubbish bin.

Science is responsible for polluting this earth. If you have been worshiping science and want to get out of the rubbish bin, you need a God who can help you. But they have not been put there yet, and will not be until Jesus returns.

Verse 7-8. “All sheep and oxen-- Even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.”

Verse 9. “O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!”

In our time, we live in a universe that is groaning, travailing in pain, waiting for the redemption (Romans 8:22). But God is above all creation. He has set His glory above the heavens. And is seated now in glory at God’s right hand. Seated in the heavenly places.

Only by faith will we be able to see Him. “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” 1 John 3:2. What a glorious outlook this is for the child of God!