We live in a day, not unlike any other, where the reality of sin may be most clearly seen in the appearance that a great number of people in this world seem to have a greater partnership with death than with one another. Instead of seeing death as an enemy that will one day be destroyed and our fellow man (especially those unable to care for themselves) as those whom we need to care for and uphold, many seem to have reversed the roles. In fact, Margaret Sanger, who founded Planned Parenthood (and who is herself now dead) wrote in a book Women and the New Race, “The most merciful thing a large family can do to one of its infant members is to kill it.”¹ And though she may be one of only a few daring enough to write such a disturbing thought, we must admit that such is the thought of many in our world.

There are a number of things can do to fight against such thought and action even as we support ministries like Birth Choice with our finances and time so that they might be equipped to counsel women not to have abortions, counsel with those who have had abortions that they might not do it again, and a myriad of other services they offer. However, one of the most important things we can do as a church is to return again and again to the Scripture so that we might renew our minds to what is true and right so that we ourselves might not succumb to the logic of our day and so that we might instruct the next generation rightly in how they should view the world and their fellow man.

One text we can turn to as we hope to renew our minds to these truths is Psalm 8. Among those texts which demonstrate the dignity of mankind, Psalm 8 probably rises to the top of the list. Parts of the psalm appear to be David’s reflections after having meditated on the first chapter of Genesis, considering all of God’s creation, climaxing in the creation of man. Therefore, my aim for us this morning is to understand what it is that David wanted to communicate to us in this psalm, how this psalm should affect our practice, and ultimately how this psalm reminds us to look longingly for the return of Christ.

David begins and ends the psalm with the same message. He wants us to know that our God’s name is majestic in all the earth.

Our God’s name is majestic in all the earth (1-2, 9)

David writes in verses 1-2 and 9, “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. … O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.”

Though at first it might seem a bit redundant for the psalmist to write, “O LORD, our Lord …” we need to realize that the first “LORD” in all capital letters was the name of God revealed to his people: Yahweh. Therefore, David is saying that Yahweh, our Lord has a name that is majestic in all the earth. And in the Scripture it is clear that God’s name is more than just a word upon people’s lips. When God says that his name would be in a certain place, it means that God himself would be there. Thus the psalmist is declaring that God himself is majestic throughout all of creation. His greatness is seen everywhere.

He first points out that God’s glory is even above the heavens. That is, when we look up at the sky and see all we can see, God’s glory is seen even more broadly than that. His glory is above the heavens. Just to give us an idea of the vastness of the heavens, if you consider our galaxy alone, it is 587,000 trillion miles in diameter. It contains around 200 billion stars, and one of those stars (which is only medium-sized), our sun produces enough heat to warm the entire earth and enough light that if you star long enough at it, you’ll go blind. And that’s just our galaxy. So, is our galaxy then just one of a handful? No. Our galaxy is only one of around one million galaxies within range of our most powerful telescopes.²

And God made all of that with his voice. He calls out the stars by name. God’s glory is so apparent and humbling when you look outside on a clear night and that is just a spec of God’s glory above the heavens. As Psalm 19 declares, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” These things are just his handiwork. As we will see in verse 3, these things are just the work of his fingers. We can see enough of God’s glory in creation to know that we cannot begin to comprehend how infinitely glorious our God is.

In fact, the psalmist goes on to demonstrate God’s majesty by turning to newborns and small children, pointing out that he has established enough strength in them to still his foes and enemies. That is, there is enough of a demonstration of God’s glory in the mouths of infants to demonstrate that he is too great for anyone who might oppose him.

When we begin to try to grasp how babies are formed in their mothers’ wombs, how they come out with an understanding that they need to suck, how they cry when they are hungry, and how they can begin to make sounds even at the earliest of ages is a demonstration of more of God’s might than all of God’s enemies throughout the world could muster if they wanted to come against him. The cry of infants is enough to tell them they better stop still in their tracks and consider what they are doing. God’s glory, greatness, might, and majesty are displayed throughout all of creation so that we can see clearly our God is majestic.

Yet let me pause for a second before moving on to the psalmist’s next thought and ask, “Why does a psalm which (as we have said) speaks more profoundly about mankind than any other begin not talking first about man but begins and ends talking about how majestic God is?” I think the reason the psalm does this is so that we might be reminded again that everything begins with God and that everything is defined in relation to God. He is inescapable. So whether we want to define something or show the worth of something it must be done with our minds first realizing that there is indeed a God and he is glorious. Now, with that said, let’s continue through the psalm.

If God’s glory is displayed throughout all of creation, who are we that God pays attention to us and cares for us (3-4)

When we look at the sky and consider that though many generations have come and gone we still see stars and the moon above us and see how much more impressive they are to our eyes than whatever else we see around us, isn’t it tempting for us to ask, “Then who are we in this world? What importance could we possibly have? And how could God really care for us?” It’s easy for us to think that if God has made all of that then surely he can’t care about one person in this earth that seems to have as little significance as I have.

Maybe some of you here this morning are freshman, having come to college leaving your parents and friends behind with much distance in between, and everything is new and you are anxious. And you’re wondering if God cares about your struggle.

I remember my first night at Union, lying in my small bed in my small room praying and reminding myself that the God whom I knew in Kentucky the first eighteen years of my life was the same God I knew at that moment and that the God who was with me there would be with me here. I reminded myself again and again of his care in light of my anxieties.

And I know that for many of us all it takes is some struggle or hardship in life to tempt us to think that God can’t care for us, especially in light of how insignificant we seem, even compared to others around us (besides the stars). However, I want you to note that the question, “Does God care for us?” is not the psalmist’s question. He knows God is mindful of his people and that he cares for them. That is not an issue. He knows this cannot be doubted. So, if you struggle with that this morning, realize that Scripture leaves you no room to doubt that God is mindful of you and cares for you. That is a fact. The question David asks is why God is mindful of us and cares for us.

He writes in verses 3-4, “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?”

If God can demonstrate his glory in over 1,000,000 galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars, then why in the world is he mindful of us and why does he care for us? Why does God concern himself at all with the details of our lives?

The answer is given in verses 5-8. It is this: Man is the chief demonstration of God’s glory among his creation. Man is the crowning work of God’s creation.

Man is God’s chief demonstration of his glory among his creation (5-8)

There is a reason that the creation account in Genesis builds up to the creation of mankind, as God made them male and female. It is to show that God’s greatest demonstration of glory was in his creation of man. After pointing out that mankind might seem so insignificant in comparison to the heavens the psalmist writes, “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” (vv. 5-8).

When God placed Adam in the garden, it wasn’t so that he could simply roam alongside the animals. Adam was to be the king of creation under God himself. In Genesis 1:27-28 we read, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 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.”

Man and woman alone were created in God’s image. And to be in God’s image means that they were to resemble and represent God himself in this world. To see mankind and watch him function was to see one representing God on the earth. He alone was crowned with the very glory of God. God’s glory, even as it is displayed above the heavens crowned man’s head. And Adam was to rule over the creation. All things were under his feet and under his dominion. Adam reigned over the earth, being himself under God. It was a beautiful scene.

So, when we ask what is the worth of man our answer must be that man is worth more than anything else in all of creation. Man cannot be seen as a creature that carries little dignity. As one to represent God on the earth, to murder man is to assault God, for (again) man is God’s representative on the earth. For this reason if we only had psalm 8 alone it should be clear to us that abortion, euthanasia, racism and other sins against our fellow man are disgusting in nature and cannot be accepted and tolerated in our lives. Man is a glorious creature.

And if all we had was Psalm 8 alone, it would be enough to show us very clearly that if God has endowed man with such authority and dominion over his creation, then he also treats man as a responsible creature. He is one whom God treats as responsible for his actions. “What then,” we might ask, “would happen were man to rebel against his Creator, not rightly resembling and representing him in the earth?”

Well, we know that this is not simply a hypothetical question. Genesis 3 tells us that the serpent entered the garden and tempted the woman to eat the fruit that God had commanded them not to eat, that the woman passed it along to the man, that he sinned as well, and that this had disastrous effects. Whereas man was created in God’s image, God’s image in man was now marred. As one looked at man after the fall he did not see a beautiful picture of what God is like but murder, envy, and sin of every kind. And whereas Adam had reigned over the earth under God, now Adam had submitted himself to another, the serpent, so that death itself reigned over the earth. Then, the earth itself was subjected to futility (even as we read in Romans 8) so that whereas all had been at rest under Adam’s reign, now earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornadoes ravage our cities and homes. In fact, even as we recently passed the anniversary of Katrina, which ravaged much of Louisiana and Mississippi it is a reminder to us that the earth itself is continually crying out, “Where is Adam? Where is our king? Where is the one to subdue the earth? Where is man?”

And yet man himself was hopeless because man himself had put himself under the power of Satan, sin, and death. Therefore, man’s disobedience to God and rebellion against him is no hypothetical question but a reality that occurred in Genesis 3 and one that affects everyone so that everyone born into the world is born tainted with sin and under God’s judgment for sin.

So, what then is our hope, for if Adam himself cannot undo what has been done, and if man is the crowning work of God’s creation, then can some greater man come and undo Adam’s work? Indeed he can, and he has come. For as Jesus was born into Bethlehem we had the birth of one who was completely God and yet completely man. He was the perfect man. And whereas we are created in the image of God, he was and is the image of God, the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. One who upholds the entire universe by the word of his power (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3). And he perfectly represented and reflected his Father in everything that he did so that he could say to Philip in John 14:9-10, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

But how does his life help us? Well, just as Adam brought sin into the world and sin marred God’s image in us and put us under his wrath, Jesus came to redeem his people. Therefore, he lived a perfect life, died on the cross, paying the penalty for our sins, rose from the dead three days later, and accomplished what is necessary for our redemption. And as we place our faith in Jesus Christ, Jesus begins in us a redemption that ultimately will spread to the earth itself. We are in need of having the image of God completely restored in us, well Romans 8:29 tells us that God has predestined his people to be conformed to the image of his Son. Therefore, in this life, as we behold the glory of Christ (through his Word being preached, meditated upon, etc.) we are being changed into his image one degree of glory at a time. And what will happen one day when he returns and we see him in all his glory? John writes in 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we will be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” One day those who believe in Christ will be completely conformed to his image so that we will be like him. We will through all eternity beautifully reflect and represent God.

In fact, the earth itself that was subjected to futility will be made new, and we will reign over the earth under our Christ. As the earth cries out, “Where is Adam? Where is man?” with every earthquake, groaning for man to exercise the dominion we were created to have, we can be reminded that there is a man who is reigning over the earth. But his name isn’t Adam, it is Jesus of Nazareth. In fact the author of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 2:5-9 that Psalm 8:5-8 is perfectly fulfilled in Jesus Christ who for a little while was made lower than the angels but was crowned with glory and honor because of his death in his resurrection now reigns at the right hand of God and everything is indeed in subjection to him. And even though it’s not clearly apparent now as death still seems to reign all around us, one day Christ will return and we and this earth will be changed. And death itself will be defeated so as to reign no more.

So what then must we do in light of the authority which Jesus demonstrates as he reigns as the man over the earth? He told us as he told his disciples about the authority he possessed after his resurrection as we said to them in Matthew 28:18-20, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.\"

Even as we were commanded to represent God over the earth, under his authority, having been commissioned by God for that task, Christ has all control, having defeated death and so sends us out into enemy-occupied territory to regain that which is his. He has all authority, and he sends us out as those who speak on his behalf as he calls his people (through our words) to himself. And, finally, Christ himself goes with us to the end of the earth and his Spirit dwells within the one who repents and believes, beginning this process of conforming that one into the image of Christ who is the image of God.

So, not only do we see an improved reality for the new creation occurring even in the midst of this old creation in ourselves, but we have the task of going forth and expanding it, even as Adam was meant to go forth on behalf of God, having been created in his image, so we, Paul says, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). What a blessing. May the Lord come quickly! Amen.

¹Quoted in a sermon by John Piper titled, “What is Man? Reflections on Abortion and Racial Reconciliation” preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on January 16, 1994 (Minneapolis: DGM). http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByTopic/47/860_What_is_Man.

²This information was given in John Piper's book Let the Nations Be Glad (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), 13.

THE MAJESTY OF GOD AND THE GLORY OF MAN