PSALMS 8
We will begin this lesson by giving the Psalm in metre.
THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE
Chapter 8
verse 1 "Lord, our Lord, o'er earth's vast frame, How exalted is thy
name! Who hast set thy glory bright Far above the heavens
height."
verse 2 "From the mouth of children young, From the infant's lisping
tongue, Matchless strength thou hast ordained, Thus, thy
vengeful foes restrained."
verse 3 "When thy heavens I survey, Which thy fingers' work display,
When the moon and stars I see Ordered all by thy decree;"
verse 4 "What is man that in thy mind Him a constant place should
find? What the son of man that he Should be visited by
thee?
verse 5 "Thou his station didst ordain Just below the angel train;
Glory thou hast o'er him shed, And with honor crowned his
head."
verse 6 "Thou hast given him command O'er the creatures of thy hand;
And beneath his feet hast laid All the works which thou hast
made."
verse 7 "Flocks and cattle, every tribe, Beasts that in the field
abide, Birds that through the heavens roam, Fish that make
the sea their home."
verse 8 "Every living thing that strays Through the oceon's secret
ways. Lord, our Lord, o'er earth's vast frame, How exalted
is thy name."
Now, we will begin the verse by verse study of the King James
version of chapter 8 of Psalms. Psalms 8:1 "{To the chief Musician
upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.} O LORD our Lord, how excellent [is]
thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens."
Is it not wonderful to be able to say my God? Sometimes I feel a
warmness that is unexplainable in the human realm when I say, my God.
It is as if He is ours alone. And He is to each individual. He is our
personal God. Christianity is personal. The fact that I am a Christian
is personal between me and Jesus. My Christianity does not depend on
what others think or expect of me. Jesus Christ did not take a vote
to see if I was good enough to become a Christian, or not. He just
said, if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, you
shall be saved. It does not matter what I was before, He will save me.
It really does not matter what my mother and daddy before me believed.
He cares that I believe He is my Saviour, that He rose from the grave,
and that He is coming back for me. Jesus wants to be Lord of everyone,
and is, in fact, the Lord of all. He is the Saviour of those who
believe. The name of Jesus is above all names in the earth. Jesus'
name is in all the world. It matters not whether you are Asiatic,
Caucasian or Negroid. All have heard his name. The name, in verse one
above, is Jehovah. The name, in Philippians chapter 2 verses 9 and 10,
is Jesus. They are one and the same. He is called Mighty God, Prince
of Peace, The Branch, The Bread, The Life, The Light, and many more.
He was the Word of God in heaven, before He came to the earth as our
Saviour. He was called Emmanuel {God with us}. All of these names
refer to the One, the I Am, that you and I refer to as Jesus Christ.
All things that you could think of that are beautiful and good on this
earth are a description of Him. There is no other name that stirs your
soul. A few years ago, I was traveling through the Canadian Rockies
with my husband, brother, and other members of our family. We stopped
at an exceptionally beautiful spot. We all got out of our vehicles and
began to view the overwhelming beauty around us. I began to cry. There
was such an awareness of God and His majesty that all of us were
touched. We stood on the side of the road and prayed a prayer of
thanksgiving to God who was so far above anyone or anything on this
earth. My brother commented that only a fool could look at this
magnificent beauty surrounding us and say, there is no God. We were
all deeply moved by what we had seen. The interesting thing is; the
glory we had seen, paled by comparison to what we will see in heaven.
Psalms 8:2 "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou
ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still
the enemy and the avenger."
The one thing that really stands out, to me in this, is who
stills the enemy. Zechariah 4:6 "Then he answered and spake unto me,
saying, This [is] the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by
might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." It
is not how strong we are, or how many there are of us, that wins the
war. It is how strong is Jesus in me. In the 11th chapter of Isaiah we
read that a little child shall lead them. Matthew 19:14 "But Jesus
said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me:
for of such is the kingdom of heaven." This could even be speaking of
little children in understanding, also. Christians are called little
children. Whichever it means, it is not in our power that we do
anything but rather that we are ordained of God to do the job. In the
following Scripture we can easily see that, it is in His power, and
not ours, that we do the will of God. I John 4:4 "Ye are of God,
little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is
in you, than he that is in the world."
Psalms 8:3 "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;"
Not only mankind is the creation of God, but all the heavenlies
as well. Look into the heavens at night and see the works of God.
Astronomers are, even now, still finding moons and stars they never
knew existed. How could mere man ever try to compare himself with so
great a God?
Psalms 8:4 "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the
son of man, that thou visitest him?"
If you have ever flown in an airplane and looked back to the
earth, you have seen just how insignificant one person looks. The idea
that God would look to this earth and love us as an individual is
almost beyond our comprehension. Why does God love us so much that He
sent His Son to save us? We could give a thousand answers, such as we
are His creation, we are made in His image, or any other reason, but
it does not seem to be enough reason. One of my favorite songs is
{Who Am I}. I would like to share a few statements from that song
here. Who am I that a King would bleed and die for? Who am I that He
would say, not my will thine for? The answer I may never know; why He
ever loved me so; that to an old rugged cross He'd go for who am I?
This is a very big question isn't it? I can truthfully say I do not
know. The love that God had for man will always be a mystery.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life." There is no way to understand it, just accept His
love.
Psalms 8:5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,
and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
My own opinion of this is that man is lower than the angels,
while he is housed in flesh. We do know that the Scripture says that
Jesus was made a little lower than the angels for suffering on the
cross. 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. You see,
Jesus was far above the angels, but took on the form of flesh to
suffer for your sins and my sins. God thought so much of man, that He
created the earth, and the heavens, and everything in it for the use
of man. God had everything prepared for man before He created man. The
spirit of man was breathed into him by God, and man became a living
soul. It was the flesh of man that was made from the dirt of the
earth. This Scripture above is twofold. Mankind was the climax of
God's creation. Man was given dominion over the earth and everything
in it. The part of man that was less than the angels was the flesh of
man. It was the flesh of man that caused him to fall and be driven
from the garden of Eden. Man was to rule over the animals. God even
let Adam name all the animals, showing his authority over them. The
fall of man was brought about by man following his flesh, instead of
his spirit.
We see that Jesus was above the angels in heaven, being the very
Son of God. Jesus took on the flesh of man and its weakness {flesh of
Jesus became less than the angels} to restore mankind to his original
state with God. In fact, the blood of Jesus, was shed to pay the price
for our sin. Jesus took our sin on His body, and we took on His
righteousness. We are now sons of God. Adopted into the family of God.
Jesus bought us for the Father with His precious blood. We are no
longer lower than the angels, but in fact, we are brothers of Jesus.
We will reign with Him when He returns to the earth as King of kings
and Lord of lords. When we are raised in our spiritual body, we shall
reign with Jesus as His subordinates. I will repeat 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."
Psalms 8:6 "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of
thy hands; thou hast put all [things] under his feet:" Psalms 8:7 "All
sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;" Psalms 8:8 "The
fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, [and whatsoever] passeth
through the paths of the seas."
We will see from the following Scripture that, God has always
wanted man to have dominion over all the things in the earth. Genesis
1:26 "And 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 fowl
of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." It was the lust of
the flesh of mankind that caused him to fall. Jesus paid in full the
account of all mankind on the cross. Jesus restored man to his
original state with God on the cross of Calvary. God has always
wanted man to live in the garden of Eden. Heaven is actually
a restoration of the garden of Eden to mankind. Since the garden of
Eden was just a shadow of the garden in heaven, it was not as
beautiful, or as great. It has not entered the heart of man the
wonderful things in store for the Christians in heaven. I Corinthians
2:9 "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared
for them that love him."
Psalms 8:9 "O LORD our Lord, how excellent [is] thy name in all
the earth!"
Here, again, we see David expressing our own feelings about God.
Not only is the name of Jesus Christ above all others, but we
Christians are allowed to share in part of that name. How can we live
as to glorify the name of the Lord in all we do? With everything that
is within me, I glorify His name.
Questions 8
1. What are we saying, when we say, my God?
2. Does my Christianity depend on what others think?
3. What must we believe to be saved?
4. Who is Jesus Lord of?
5. Who can call Jesus Saviour and it be true?
6. In verse 1, what is the word LORD?
7. What name, in Philippians chapter 2 verse 10, is the same person
as in verse 1 here?
8. Give at least 5 names for this same person as in verse 1.
9. What does Emmanuel mean?
10. Out of the mouths of _____ and __________ hast thou ordained
strength because of thine enemies.
11. Quote Zechariah chapter 4 verse 6.
12. It is not how strong I am that wins the war, but by what?
13. In 1 John chapter 4 verse 4, the Christians are called what?
14. Why do so many astronomers believe in God?
15. What is man that thou art mindful __ ___.
16. Why does God love us so much?
17. What are some of the unbelievable things that God has done for us?
18. Who am I that God would do this?
19. Quote John chapter 3 verse 16.
20. Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him
with _____ and ______.
21. In what is man a little lower than the angels?
22. Why was Jesus made a little lower than the angels?
23. Who did God create the earth for?
24. How did man become a living soul?
25. What brought the fall of man?
26. Why did Jesus take on the flesh of man?
27. What paid the price in full for our sin?
28. What is the elevated state of the Christian now?
29. What were some of the things man was made to have dominion over?
30. What is heaven really?
31. How can we glorify the name of the LORD?
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