The Passion Translation | Study | Dr. Brian Simmons

Lesson 8 Reading: Psalm 8 with study notes ​

Psalm 8 God’s Splendor

For the Pure and Shining One A Psalm Set to the Melody of “For the Feast of Harvest,” by King ​ ​

In David’s inscription of this psalm we read, “According to gittith” or “winepress.” This relates to the Feast of Harvest or Tabernacles. Along with & 84, this chapter is meant to go along with the harvest of the Feast of Tabernacles. It reveals the truths of the Most Holy Place as God mingles with man, His new creation (Heb. 2:6-13). Furthermore, was a Gittite. It is possible that this Psalm was written around the time David slew Goliath. A psalm of praise and outbreaking of glory filled young David’s heart as he experienced a great victory in the history of Israel. Perhaps the night of that miracle David gazed up into the heavens and wrote this psalm to magnify God. He felt like an “infant” but his prophetic words of praise defeated the enemy. The song of praise from your lips will defeat the giants in your life! God’s new creation day is upon us with a new creation people who will be crowned with glory and honor!

Psalm 8 is a beautiful poetic description of the worthiness of God, His transcendent glory, and the power released when we praise Him. It is like an octave in the musical keys, bringing us to a higher octave and a more glorious tune. The number 8 is the number of a new beginning. The new creation man will come forth as God’s glory touches the earth. Psalm 8 is a continuation of Genesis 1. It could be called the “echo” of creation. The emphasis is new creation life coming to the earth. It begins and ends with a declaration of the Majestic Name of the Lord.

God’s goodness to man is His glory. When God promised to reveal His glory to , He made all His goodness pass before him. So, when God invites us into His glory, He will do so through the invitation of His goodness.

The Christ of Psalm 8 was incarnated as a man. Psalm 8 is quoted four times in the and each time it clearly refers to Christ (Matt.21:16, 1 Cor.15:27, Eph.1:20-22, Heb.2:6-9). Both David and Jesus were shepherds. Both were born in Bethlehem. Both were rejected by their brothers. Both faced an enemy in the wilderness,

and both were exiled before being crowned king. Yes, even their names are linked, for Jesus is our Beloved, and one of the meanings of “David” is beloved.

All of the Psalms point to Christ, but many are considered Messianic by the Jewish community, in that they point to the Messiah. How true this is for ! It is quoted and explained for us in Hebrews. Without , it would be difficult to discover the glorious key unlocking this treasure chest. The Son of Man by becoming a man was placed a little lower than the angels, yet was crowned in glory and given authority over all things.

“What is man that you would even think about him, or care about Adam’s race. You made him lower than the angels for a little while. You placed your glory and honor upon his head as a crown. And you have given him dominion over the works of your hands, For you have placed everything under his authority. This means that God has left nothing outside the control of his Son, even if presently we have yet to see this accomplished. But we see Jesus, who as a man, lived for a short time lower than the angels and has now been crowned with glorious honor because of what he suffered in his death. For it was by God’s grace that he experienced death’s bitterness on behalf of everyone!” Hebrews 2:6-9 ​ ​

Psalm 8 marks a turning point in the book. The tone changes the mood shifts. In the first … seven Psalms the earth is a mess, but in Psalm 8, something majestic is revealed, the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. The glorified Name is so great, even man can be transformed by the power released through Him!

Outline:

V. 1 – 2 God’s Majesty

v. 1 His Name v. 2 His Power

V. 3 – 9 Man’s Dignity

v. 3-4 Man’s Insignificance v. 5-8 Man’s Exaltation v. 9 Man’s Response to God’s Majesty

God’s Majesty (v.1-2)

V. 1) Yahweh, our Sovereign God, your glory streams from the heavens, filling the ​ ​ ​ earth with the majesty of​ your name! People everywhere see your splendor. ​ ​ ​

Verse one links heaven and earth by the excellent Name of the Lord. The majesty of heaven is now pouring forth on earth! We know His name is majestic in all the heavens, but we

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want to see this Majestic Name released throughout the entire world (Numbers 14:21)! How kind for God to make His Name known to you and I!

The Psalmist has a focus of the glorious majesty of God’s name filling the earth. It already fills the heavens, but David is longing that God’s excellent name fills the earth! Nor did he say in this psalm, ‘What is an angel that you are mindful of him.’ It is man, God’s new ​ creation man on the earth that is in view. The Psalm concludes with praise to God for the excellence of His name in all the earth. God’s deep desire is to be expressed and ​ ​ represented through man, God manifesting Himself in the flesh on earth in the new creation vessels He has redeemed. Earth becomes the theatre of the glory of God.

‘O Yahweh, our Adonai.’ These are two Hebrew names for God. Yahweh is the faithful Friend, the Covenant Keeper who can deliver us and bring us into our inheritance. Adonai is the word for Lord or Master, the One who is be obeyed. The meaning of this statement in verse one is this: ‘O, Covenant-Keeping God, You are the One we will follow! Your Name is majestic in all the earth.

The revelation of God’s name will make us all follow Him in loving obedience. If His Name is majestic in all the earth then it is majestic over all our pressures and disappointments. When God becomes Friend and Lord you begin to see His majesty and glory above the heavens. You are able to discern what God wants done on earth. The Name of Jesus becomes greater than your reputation and ministry. We become His servants, not His advisors.

Your glory streams from the heavens above. Who is it that has been exalted over everything? Jesus Christ is the Glory who is now above the heavens. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and seated in the heavenly places (Eph.1:20-2:6). He is the glory of God! This same Glory dwells in us - and we too have been seated together with Him above the heavens! This is Jesus in His people being raised up on high! Christ in the midst of His people ​ is the glory of God that reaches past the heavens. Psalm 8 speaks of Christ and it speaks of you and I . It is Christ in the midst of His new creation people that is the theme of this … sacred song.

V. 2) You have built a stronghold by the songs of infants. Strength rises up with the ​ chorus of singing children. This kind of praise has power to silence the enemy. Childlike worship will silence the madness of those who oppose you.

One of the ways the Name of Jesus is made majestic is through the way He loves to use children and infants (the frailest and weakest of all, i.e. I Cor.1:27). Jesus quoted this verse in Matthew 21:16. The Father has appointed and perfected the praises of children. We hear His praises on their lips. The infants are “sucklings, nursing ones.” These are the ones who feed on the breast of El Shaddai (‘The Nurturing God’). The majesty of God can flow through His “children” when we praise Him. There is no need to beg, only praise.

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In the kingdom of God there are no old persons (Matt.18:3). Notice we move from being children to infants. Our walk in Christ brings us to Divine weakness where we only have ​ God as our boast and strength. In a sense, we do not grow stronger, we grow weaker and more dependent upon the Name of the Lord to sustain us. If we are content to be young, small and weak God will perfect His strength in us and release us to praise Him with … ordained worship.

This kind of praise has power to shuts Satan’s mouth. Power in spiritual warfare is found in ​ the worship of God-dependent children. David, the giant killer, was only a boy who through the worship of Yahweh, silenced the foe of Israel (I Sam.17). It is not the praise out of the mouths of giants, but from children and infants that will conquer silence the giants! It is not moaning about our foes and accuser, it is praising God that will silence them.

There is a conflict over this new creation life. At the first creation, there was no conflict, only nothingness. God spoke and it was so. But in the new creation life springing forth on earth, there is a foe to be silenced and an avenger to be defeated. The enemies are those ​ who are within us in conflict with God. The foe is the one thing that keeps you back from ​ wholehearted obedience to Adonai. The avenger is the prince of darkness who rages ​ against you in every advance you make in the kingdom of God.

Worship from a childlike heart can silence your enemies! In the heavens there is glory and on earth the Lord’s Name is majestic, but in between there are foes who are stopped and silenced by the praises of little ones before the Lord. This is the consummation of the new creation strength comes out of their praises. The voice of the Overcoming Christ silences … the voice of the opposing powers.

New creation life comes forth on the wings of worship. From our lips victory comes forth. Strength comes out of our mouths. To cry or weep does not require strength, but to praise does. It is strength when you praise the Lord out of pain or heartache. It is strength perfected when you praise Him feeling the pressure of human limitation and weakness. God’s strength is to come out your praises (Matt. 21:14-16).

The One who delights in the songs of angels also delights in the praises of little children, making their chorus into walls of fire around you, keeping you safe from your enemies. There may be a vast difference between the glory of the heavens and the little mouths of children and babes, yet by both the Majestic Name of the Lord is revealed. Isn’t it amazing that perfected praises do not rise to God from the cherubim or seraphim, but from the children and nursing ones.

Man’s Dignity (v. 3-9)

V. 3) Look at the splendor of your skies, your creative genius glowing in the ​ heavens! When I gaze at your moon and your stars, mounted like jewels in their ​ ​ settings, I know you are the fascinating artist who fashioned it all! But I have to ask this question:

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David saw the Divine order in the universe. Redemption is meant to turn us from the messy earth to the marvelous heavens. To contemplate the heavens (spiritual realm) and to view God’s creative genius (He has Genesis 1 on His resume!) we are only seeing the work of His fingers! We are the work of His hands (Eph. 2:10 “workmanship, or handiwork”). The sky is God’s minister to point us to the Maker, the Fascinating Artist who formed it all. Could you place a star in the sky? Could you make it twinkle and shine thousands of light years away from earth? Are you able to set in place the moon filled with craters and shadows? How humbling it is to look over our heads into the sky!

The moon is often seen as a picture of the church, the night-light on earth. Stars are compared to ministries and lights that God places in the church to point us to Him and teach us of His ways (I Cor.15:41-42). He is One who sets us in the place of His choosing (Acts 17:26, I Cor.12:18, 28). You can be content with both your giftings and your limitations. Because of our giftings we get proud, because of our limitations we get humbled.

V. 4) Why would you bother with puny, mortal man or care about human beings? ​

How small we are in this vast, endless cosmic setting! The first word for man in the Hebrew is “enosh,” fragile, weak, or mortal man. The son of man is “the son of adam” - Jesus is the ​ ​ Second Man or the Last Adam (Heb.2:5-8, I Cor.15:45)! It is a wonder how God is mindful of every human being. All are loved by God our Father. How thankful we can be that God was made the Son of Man, the virgin born Christ of God. Jesus took to Himself this very title while on earth – “The Son of Man.” Joseph was not His father, so He was not called, ‘The son of a man,’ but rather, “The Son of Man.” Jesus Christ is the Firstborn of many who are called ‘new creations.’ Jesus is the First New Creation Man.

Read verses 3 and 4 again and consider how great is God’s love and kindness to us. We are but a speck of dust. Compared to the cosmic glory what an insignificant being—what a mere atom, indeed, man appears! Though we are objects of the paternal care and mercy of the Most High, yet we are but grains of sand, grass that grows so quickly but soon cut down. Mortal, feeble, weak is our humanity when compared to the countless myriads of angels and beings that populate the heavens!

Yes, He does care about human beings! What grace is ours, a grace the angels know ​ nothing about. This also can be translated, He remembers mankind, or He is mindful of us, embedded into His memory. He cannot forget you, and what touches you touches Him.

V. 5) Yet what honor you have given to men, created only a little lower than Elohim, ​ crowned with glory and magnificence.

Looking up to the heavens or looking down to the earth we can see the glory of God! As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ appears in humiliation before His creation, a little lower than the angels, to taste death for every man. But now, He is exalted and “crowned with glory and

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honor.” Man has a natural crown of glory and honor upon him, for we were made in the image of our Creator. But the glory and honor that Jesus crowns us with can only be found in Him - we become sharers of this glory (Heb.2:6-13)!

Man is made (“diminished”) a “little lower” or “for a little while lower (Heb. 2) than the ​ heavenly beings.” But in the Resurrection, we will be ruling over angels! The word here is not really angels but a title used for God Himself (Elohim). Man was made but a little lower than divine. Only a king wears a crown. God has made man a king! We were destined to be kings with Him, ruling over creation. Kingly priests that worship the exalted name night and day this is our calling and our delight. …

Jesus is bringing many sons into this glory (Rom.8:17-21) who will have the royal right to take dominion over all that God has made. Perhaps the words, “heavenly beings” really conveys the concept of ‘sons of God,’ a little less than Divine (Zech.12:8)! Our Forerunner is already crowned with glory and honor (I Cor.15:20-28). Restored by the Last Adam, redeemed man will receive the crowning of glory and honor .

Glory and honor (magnificence) is a phrase almost always associated with God’s majesty. The word crown can also mean “surround, wrap around” - God will clothe man with His Shekinah Glory! The glory that has been set above the heavens is now set upon the believer, for we are seated with Christ wearing crowns (Eph.2:6, Rev.5:8-10).

V.6) You have delegated to them mastery over all you have made, making ​ everything subservient to their authority, placing earth itself under the feet of your image-bearers.

This refers to Genesis 1:26 - God placed man over all that He had made. God has given man the responsibility to take dominion over the created order. This authority to rule was surrendered at fall. Redeemed man is to take back what has been lost by the fall and become an OVERCOMER!

The word “ruler” is something usually ascribed to God alone (I Tim.6:15). Yet we have been made rulers in Christ. As governors, we are to rule and reign in the person of Jesus. But that dominion was only to be as high as the birds can fly and as deep as the fish can swim. The authority and dominion that we share with the Last Adam is even greater than that! [See Rom.8:14-19, Heb.1:2, Rom.16:20.] All things are now under our authority, for the church is His Body having his FEET! …

V.7-8) All the created order and every living thing of​ the earth, sky, and sea—the ​ ​ wildest beasts and all that move in the paths of the sea—everything is in submission to Adam’s sons. ​

The dominion of all things will one day be given to God’s New Creation Man. We have been placed somewhere between the angels above and the beasts below. What honor and dignity has been placed upon you and I! All the levels of created order will be subservient

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to man in the day of his glory with Jesus Christ the Lord. We will be CO-HEIRS, co-signers of the title deed of the earth!

The “paths of the seas” speaks of God’s way of deliverance (Isa.11:15-16) for He was the One who walked on the water (Job 9:8, Ps.77:19)!

V.9) Yahweh, our Sovereign God, your glory streams from the heavens above, filling ​ the earth with the majesty of your name. People everywhere see your splendor! ​

The Psalm ends as it begins - praising the majesty of our God! The goal of Psalm 8 is to join heaven to the earth, until earth is full of the excellency of the name of Christ Jesus. With the coming of Christ into humanity, this was accomplished. Each one who walks in Christ brings forth the same grace to the earth. With Christians, heaven is always here.

This entire Psalm reveals that the NEW CREATION MAN is made up of many members, each of whom is invested with His majesty, glory, and honor! All who are a part of the New Creation Man will have dominion over all things with our Head, Christ Jesus. As this new creation life overcomes the realm of death, it will grow into a Bridal City called the New Jerusalem. This community of God and man mingled as one will release His majestic Name in all the earth!

Use of Psalm 8 for the Tabernacle of David:

❖ This is a wonderful song of delight and praise to God. One of the alternate readings of the inscription is, ‘To the tune of the treaders of the winepress.’ This may refer to the joyful nature in which the workers sung the song of worship (Psalm 81 and 84 also have this inscription). It brings the glory of the heavens down to the earth. The winepresses are His churches where the work of God moves forward with joy! …

❖ What scope is covered in this Psalm! It takes us above the heavens and throughout the skies. It touches on the creation of man and the re-creation of our inner being through praise and worship of the Majestic Name. This great song of worship opens and ends with the same words of praise. This is the theme of this psalm - the Majesty of God in creation and upon man.

❖ Psalm 8 is pure poetry. It is one of the most lovely pieces of literature contained in the Bible. It is worthy of the most lovely songs It blends worship and wonder, … mystery and majesty, contemplation and celebration. The world will be touched by awesome worship flowing from the themes of this song!

❖ A Psalm for the night watch perhaps the Tabernacle of David singers went outside … the tent to sing and rejoice in the God who placed the stars in the sky. It is a Psalm to

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be sung after a great victory, even as David likely composed this masterpiece after killing Goliath.

❖ Psalm 8 completes the octave. There is a progression from the Blessed Man of to the New Creation Man of Psalm 8 …

❖ From stars to sea creatures, God’s majesty is over all and someday we will be too! … One day our Glorious Head will be seen in every member of the Body of Christ with heaven’s original intent being fulfilled on earth.

❖ There is an overwhelming sense of man’s littleness conveyed through the lyric. Each of us are merely one human among billions like a star in the sky surrounded by … infinity.

❖ The last phrase of this Psalm is to be sung with fresh understanding in the full revelation that God is going to anoint, crown, and dignify His New Creation people. Perhaps the first and last verse could be sung throughout the Psalm in the background as the power of the verses between them are stacked one upon the other!

❖ How sweeter does this last verse sound than when we first sang it in verse 1!

❖ 1,000 years after this was written shepherds on a hillside in Bethlehem could have been meditating on this text when suddenly the glory of God shined around them and the angels appeared to announce the birth of the New Creation Man and the … beginning of our destiny!

❖ Although much is seen here about God’s plan for you and I, the central theme will always be the Majestic Name that is exalted over the earth.

Let’s Go Deeper! Questions:

1. Psalm 8 shows the goodness of God to each one of His lovers. Read back through Psalm 8 and note all of the ways God shows His goodness to you.

● He takes the weakest (children and babies) and uses them to destroy the enemy's schemes.

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● He gives us dominion over the works of His hands.

● He describes us as being created just a little lower than Elohim!

● This Psalm beautifully applied to the life of Christ in us as found in Hebrews 2.

● If David had reason to praise God for his position and his victory, how much more should we praise Him. Who are we that God should visit us? Who are we that Christ should die for us and lift us with Him above the heavens? ●

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2. In this Psalm the Majesty of the Name of the Lord is expressed. Consider a few of His Names revealed in these scriptures and describe what they speak to your heart about His nature and heart towards you:

● Yahweh (derived from “I Am”)—Ex. 3:13-14

● Abba (Daddy)—Gal. 4:6

● El Elyon (God Most High)—Ps. 7:17

● El Roi (The God Who Sees)—Gen. 16:13

● El Shaddai (God Almighty)—Ps 91:1

● Yahweh Yireh (The Lord Will Provide) —Gen. 22:14

● Yahweh Rapha (Healer, The Lord Who Heals You)—Ex. 15:26

● Yahweh Shalom (The Lord Is Peace)—Judges 6:24

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Face to Face Activations:

David expressed a beautiful question to the Lord in Psalm 8: Why would you bother to care about me? He looked at the vast expanse of the glorious creation and felt so unworthy of His attention and love. Pose your own question to Him, and listen for His loving response. (ie Why do You care for me? What do you love about me? Who am I to You? Etc.)

This Psalm teaches us how our simple, pure, childlike worship actually vanquishes the enemy. In the New Testament, the word “worship” (proskuneo) means “to fall down before” or “bow down before.” The picture is complete surrender and honor to God. Spend some time in worship and magnify Him as you meditate on His names! As you do, know that your own “Gittites”, your own “Goliaths” are being demolished.

Notes: ______

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