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Well, please turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 8. Psalm 8. We're approached the book of Psalms as a primary reference to our Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly there's David in the Psalms, and certainly the church is in the Psalms, but Jesus is the subject, He is the author, He is the composer, He is the prayer, And he is the singer of the Psalms. And I believe that Psalm 8, not just I believe, but Psalm 8 certainly does show forth the incarnation of the Son. And so I'll read beginning in verse 1. To the chief musician on the instrument of Gath, a psalm of David.

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth, who have set your glory above the heavens! 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. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him? For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, 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.

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you very much for your word. We thank you for this man of Psalm 8, this one that rules and reigns from the right hand of God most high even now. We thank you for his universal empire, his dominion, his all authority in heaven and on earth. And may the church hear that blessed Savior and respond in kind to worship and to proclaim the greatness of your name. We thank you for your mercy to us. We thank you for the salvation of our souls, of our bodies. We thank you for all of your many benefits given to us through your son.

We ask now that he would be glorified, that you would give us ears to hear and hearts to receive and a desire to express our praise and worship and adoration. to our great and living and true God. Do forgive us now for all of our sins. Guide us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Open the ears and hearts of dead sinners that they may receive the gospel of free and sovereign grace. May they by grace look unto the Lord Jesus Christ for so great a salvation. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, thus far in the Psalms, we saw the introduction in Psalms 1 and 2. Psalm 1 begins with a presentation of a holy, harmless, and undefiled man who is the Son of God by nature, according to Psalm 2, 7. And then in Psalms 3 to 7, we get, as it were, into the mind of Christ with reference to His earthly ministry and the opposition that is given to Him in that earthly ministry. And, here in Psalm 8, under the foil of God as Creator, we also see God's glory in the incarnation of the Son. I'm not making that up. We have divine commentary. The Spirit tells us that Psalm 8 applies specifically to our Lord Jesus, composed by David, but foreshadowing David's greater Son.

So, we're going to look first at the glory of God in creation, verses 1 to 9, and then, the glory of God in the incarnation, specifically verses 2 and then verses 4 to 8. But with reference to the glory of God in creation, note first the declaration of praise to God in verses 1 and 2. Secondly, the revelation of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God in verses three to eight, and then the repetition of praise to God in verse nine.

So that's where we're going in this first point. So the declaration, there's a brief superscription to the chief musician, presented by David to the chief musician for corporate worship, for corporate singing. And then notice as well in verse one, O Lord, our Lord, this is an invitation to the people of God to sing praise to God for his glory revealed in creation. and for His glory revealed in the incarnation. Psalms 3 to 7 is the personal pronoun, me and my, again it's the mind of Christ with reference to what He'll go through in terms of His earthly ministry and the opposition that He faces. So then we see on the instrument of Gath, this appears in Psalms 81 and 84. and then Psalm of David.

So there's this general statement in verse one, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth. It's a blessed reality. The name of God, as we understand it in scripture, stands for his nature, stands for his perfections, and stands for his works. So when we say the name of God, essentially we are saying God himself and what he is and who he is. So there is this invitation to praise God with this, oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth.

So the earth is the theater of God's glory. And then the psalmist says, who have set your glory above the heavens. In other words, a Dan to Beersheba sort of a thing. God's glory above the heavens manifested and radiated throughout the created order that He Himself has put together.

Psalm 7, 17 ends on the name of God. You can see that. I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High." So it's not accidental that we start out of the gate in Psalm 8 with this inscription of praise to the great and excellent name of our blessed God, who have set your glory above the heavens.

And in this declaration of praise to God, notice then in 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. So I think what David is doing here, he makes this general statement concerning the entirety of creation, blessing God for the excellence of His name.

And then he looks specifically upon the feeble. He looks specifically upon the weak. He looks specifically upon the lowly and he acknowledges that through them this God is praised and glorified. 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.

So this declaration from babes literally we'll see in a few minutes from Matthew chapter 21. Again, I'm not making up the application to Christ. Christ tells us specifically that this psalm refers to Him. And then Christ's apostle tells us specifically that this psalm refers to Christ. We'll look at that when we get to the glory of God in the incarnation.

But out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, literally, it really happened. At the triumphal entry, children were singing, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They ascribed to him the status of son of David. And then what we see as well is there's a metaphorical use.

Remember in Matthew 11 at verse 25, Jesus says, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and you did reveal them unto babes. And so what I think the psalmist is getting at here is that God's majesty, God's glory, God's excellence, and God's power is seen, demonstrated, and manifested, and owned, and confessed by the weak among us. In other words, when the weak acknowledge this great God, they manifest this dependence upon this great God.

Martin Luther rightly connects 1 Corinthians 1.27 to this verse.

1 Corinthians 1.27, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. When we drop down in a few minutes and we look at Matthew chapter 21, the religious leaders are indignant at the response of the crowd, which leaves us wondering, how could these children How could these young ones, how could these little ones see Jesus as He triumphantly enters into the city of Jerusalem and praise Him as the very Davidic King? And yet the religious leaders did not see that, but it angered them.

And I think what we see here is that out of the mouths of these infants, out of the mouths of these sucking babes, what you have is the declaration or manifestation of the glory, majesty, and power of God Almighty. And he goes on to say, not only is it the case that these babes confess His glory, but he says, you have ordained strength. Again, I think he manifests it through these weak ones.

Because of your enemies, that you may silence the enemy and the avenger. The destruction of enemies, we'll see that when we get to the apostles' explanation of Psalm 8 with reference to Jesus. The primary reference is to the devil. The devil, the world, the flesh, everything in opposition to God Most High. Again, not something that should surprise us, having come out of Psalms 3 to 7, where the Lord Christ, in His earthly ministry, is oppressed, where He is a man of sorrows, where He is acquainted with grief, where it was the case that we, as it were, hid our faces from Him. Or in the language of the prologue in John 1, he came to his own and his own received him not. The Lord Most High has enemies. The Lord Most High will silence the enemy and the avenger.

In the foolishness of the gospel preached according to 1 Corinthians 1.18, what the world calls foolishness is a manifestation of the power of God. with reference to the Corinthians who confessed faith in our Lord and became the excellent of the earth. We see God's power in the folly of the salvation of the Corinthians. We see God's power, we see the ordination of strength, we see the silencing of the enemies owned by the mouths of babes and nursing infants. They see it, they praise him for it, while the religious leaders in Jesus' time want to crucify our Lord Jesus Christ.

So the declaration of praise to God in verses 1 and 2 gives way then to the revelation of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God in verses 3 to 8. Notice, he muses on the majesty of creation. Verse 3, when I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained.

David most likely wrote this at night. He doesn't refer to the sun. David most likely wrote this at night while he was tending to his flock. He references sheep, he references oxen, he references the beasts of the field. He references the created order. In other words, at night, as he's tending the flock, as he looks upon the starry heaven, he muses on the glory of God and on the God who has revealed himself in the created order. So when I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained. Notice as well, he speaks of the work of his fingers. Now this is metaphorical.

God doesn't have fingers. He's a spirit. Jesus teaches us that in John 4, verse 24. God is spirit, the children's catechism says, and does not have a body like men. This is what we call an anthropomorphism, predicating physical features of humans onto God to teach us truth about God.

If it were the case that we were writing the metaphor, we might say, when I consider the works of your biceps, when I consider the works of your chest, when I consider the works of your quadriceps, something strong, something powerful, when I consider the work of your fingers, You don't think of a man going to pick up a 400-pound deadlift and using his fingers. No, he needs strength. He needs to activate all of his muscles. He needs to employ himself fully.

Basically, what David is saying, the construction of the cosmos is by the fingers of God. As well, I think it highlights the dexterity, the attention to detail, the precision involved. I mean, just consider the created order. Consider the amount of stars. Consider the way the sun is up there. Consider the human body. Consider this function. What separates us from the animal? Well, opposable thumbs. That's a great thing. That's a great digit that we've been given. The human eye. It speaks of God's attention to detail with reference to the created order.

And so David is musing upon this. He affirms as well in this statement, and following, the Genesis account. What's in the backdrop of David's mind and heart? Genesis 1 to 3. This is where we go for information about God the Creator. Bonar says, it has been said that this psalm might be called Genesis 1 turned into a prayer, but it is more truly the Genesis 1 of the new earth. And we'll see that in a few minutes. But it is a prayer concerning Genesis 1, but it has a foreshadowing element to the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he moves on from the majesty of creation to the dominion of man. Notice what he says in verses 4 to 8.

What is man that you are mindful of him? A question similarly asked by Job in Job 7, 17. What is man when we consider this God? who with his fingers put this entire star universe together, hung the moon in its place, will cause the sun to rise tomorrow, put these sheep in the field, put these oxen in the field, put these birds in the air, put these fish in the sea.

What is man that you are mindful of him? It's a mind-blowing moment for David as he's musing with reference to the glory of God as revealed in creation. What is man that you are mindful of him? In other words, a God who's able to construct this, a God who's able to put this together, what is man that you're actually mindful of us? What is man that you visit us?

It's a good question. So notice in verse 4, so the majesty of creation, verse 3, leads him to the dominion of man, but as well the lowliness of man. In sort of comparison with God, man is lowly. Even though he's got this position of authority in God's created order, when it comes to man and God, there's no comparison.

So he says, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him? For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, 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. So he contemplates man in God's creation. He investigates God's condescension. Now this isn't the only place that the Psalms visits that theme. So again, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you visit him? This idea of visit I think is explained well in the margin. The idea is simple. Let me see here if I can find my notes. Yes, it simply means to give attention to or care for.

It's used this way in Luke 1, 68. Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people. But look at Psalm 113, another passage that illustrates for us what theologians call the condescension of God. Again, that's a human passion. It's a human sort of an event or a sort of thing that we predicate of God.

It doesn't mean that he goes from some high state to then a low state. There's no movement in God. He's impassable. He doesn't change. He doesn't get better. He doesn't get worse. He's as good as he gets with no possibility of increase, with no possibility of decrease, with no betterment, no diminishment, but condescension describes the reality that this high and lofty one who populated the sky with the stars, the ocean with the fish, and the earth with man amongst other animals, this God actually is mindful of us.

This God actually visits us to do us good. Again, if you get who God is, you'll understand the appropriateness of this question. Why us? Why me? When Paul says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, at some point or another in the convert's life, he probably ponders, why me? Why was I made to taste and see that the Lord is good?

There was nothing owing in me. I didn't deserve it. I didn't work for it. I didn't earn it. Why me, God? And not in the sense of in a bad way, but just to highlight the glory and absolute majesty of God and the fact that He's mindful and He visits the likes of us.

Notice in Psalm 113, verse 1, praise the Lord. Praise, O servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to its going down, the Lord's name is to be praised. Verses one to three serve as a basic invitation to praise God. And then in verses 4 to 9, there's reasons why we should praise God. And note that first one, verse 4, the Lord is high above all nations. His glory above the heavens.

Who is like the Lord our God who dwells on high, who humbles himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth? See, the psalmist gives us this bird's eye view of how glorious God is. For God, as it were, to even look upon this creation is a humbling act. And so in Psalm 8, as David is musing in his field with the sheep under the stars, musing on the glory of God, he says, What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him?

For you have made him a little lower than the angels. The margin says God or Elohim. There's a difference in the manuscripts. The apostle states it as angels in Hebrews 2.7. Most likely he's working from the Septuagint here from Psalm 8, so I'm gonna translate it here as angels. For you have made him a little lower than the angels and you have crowned him with glory and honor. The position of man. He's made a little lower than the angels in terms of the scale of being.

You've got worm. Even before worm, there's things that aren't, that maybe they aspire to be worms. Then you got worm, and then as I like to bring out to my brother Cam, you've got cat, and then dog. Never dog and then cat. Just the thought is kind of horrifying. And then you've got man, and then you've got angel.

Do not say, and then you've got God, because you'll be excommunicated for heresy. I joke, but you can't do that. God's not us writ large. God's not a bigger, better version of us. God's not the supercharged version of what He made in His image. We are made in His image. He is not made. He is in a different chain of being. He's in a category by Himself. To say that God is special is kind of assuming that there's a class of gods and the one we happen to like is special among them. God just is. From everlasting to everlasting. That's our God.

But with reference to man's station as created being, a little lower than the angels. He's musing. What is man that you are mindful of him? And the son of man that you visit him. The old boys point out, this can't be referring to Adam. He wasn't the son of man. He wasn't the son of man at all. He didn't have a dad. He didn't have a father. In fact, in Luke's genealogy, he tells us Adam was the son of God. When David's writing Psalm 8, yeah, he's looking back to Genesis 1. He's interpreting the created order in light of Genesis 1. But make no mistake about it, David is writing about his greater son and greater Lord.

So he says, for you have made him a little lower than the angels and you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You put all things under his feet, 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 sea. Again, Genesis 1, 26 to 28. Genesis 1 to 3, God made man in his image and then he gave him a specific charge. Be fruitful, multiply, and exercise dominion over the animals.

Very simple, very clear, and very much a reason for David to muse on the glory of God as revealed in the created order. And then notice, he ends with this repetition to praise in verse 9. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth. I think this is important for David. I think this is important for us as the church, is to hear what he says in this passage and to respond in kind, to sing, how excellent is your name in all the earth.

I would suggest, just before we move on to the glory of God in the incarnation, the harmony in the revelation of God. What God reveals in the created order, what we call general revelation, is not at odds with special revelation. They perfectly coexist. In fact, the psalmist is going to say that the heavens declare what? The righteousness of God.

In fact, listen to Psalm 19.1, specifically a comment by C.H. Spurgeon.

Psalm 19.1, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork. Spurgeon says, he who looks up to the firmament and then writes himself down an atheist, brands himself at the same moment as an idiot or a liar. He's right, absolutely right. General revelation and special revelation are in harmony.

What you learn of God, through His revelation of Himself, the effects that we see, according to Romans 1, 19 and 20, lead us to God the cause, His eternal power, His Godhead, and the fact that it's righteous with God to punish sinners against Him, Romans 1, 32.

I would suggest as well the content of the general revelation of God, and this is why I titled this point, The Revelation of the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God. That's from our Confession of Faith. Our Confession, Chapter 4, Paragraph 1 says, In the beginning it pleased God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for the manifestation of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom, and goodness, to create or make the world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good. That's a lot that we learn from general revelation, specifically concerning the created order. We learn of God's power. We learn of God's wisdom. We learn of God's goodness. It's beautiful.

And then I would suggest as well, the doxological, that means the praise, the worship, the adoration that should be brought out of our hearts when we, like David, muse on the created order. Next time you're looking up into the starry heavens, next time you're laying under the blazing sun, next time you see the beauties of God's creation, it ought to evoke from us praise and worship and adoration. William Plummer said, astronomy is a sublime science. It always was so.

It carries our contemplations far out into the boundless fields of space and shows us creation. But theology is a still sublimer science. It takes the honest inquirer far beyond the remotest star up to God. The one shows us nature. The other, nature's author. The former, creation. The latter, the creator.

I'm not saying general revelation is all. Special revelation tells us of the triunity of God. Special revelation highlights the atoning work of the Savior for us. It highlights a lot of things that we wouldn't know by gazing into the starry heavens. But they're not at odds with each other. There's a beautiful harmony that exists. It reveals to us the glory of God Most High.

In the created order and in the providential order, we see that power. We see that wisdom. We see that goodness. We see that in the redemptive order as well, but I would subset that goodness as grace, as mercy, as forgiveness, as an imputed righteousness, as the sending of the Son of God to function as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You see these works of God, external to God, manifest for us who God is.

We see Him through these things, and for David, amongst his sheep, it led him to that place of worship and glory to God. Now then, let's look at the glory of God in the incarnation. 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.

So basically what we have in the glory of God in the Incarnation from Psalm 8 is the application of Psalm 8 by Christ to Himself in Matthew 21, and then we have the explanation of Psalm 8 with reference to Christ by the Apostle in Hebrews 2, but turn first to Matthew 21. Matthew chapter 21. Perhaps you've been with us since we started Psalm 1 and you're saying, you know, I kind of see Jesus as the subject, the author, the topic, the object of these psalms, but I'm not sure I'm convinced Well, you're going to be convinced here because the convincers are Jesus and the Apostle. Notice in Matthew 21, the scene is simple. We've got the triumphal entry. Notice in verse 9, this is on the Passion Week, Jesus enters into the city of Jerusalem.

And there he's going to go toe-to-toe with the religious leaders, and there he's going to be ultimately delivered up. He's going to have to appear before the Sanhedrin. He's going to be shuffled off to Pilate. Pilate's going to give the kill order, and then Jesus is going to be crucified and died.

So remember, this all takes place in a week. So this is Jesus' triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem. Notice in verse 9, And then in verse 12, Jesus enters into the temple and he cleanses it. He does what he'd get kicked out of churches today for doing. That's not nice, Jesus. You can't go to that temple and turn over tables and drive out money changers and beasts. Don't you know we don't live like that? We have to be nice. Nice, nice has replaced holy, holy, holy. If you're not nice, you're just not anything in this world. Jesus, you need to be more tolerant. Jesus cleanses the temple. Notice in verse 12, then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.

And he said to them, it is written, my house, again, God's word applies to Jesus. When he says in John 5 39, you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, but these are they which testify of me. Or when Jesus with the disciples in Luke 24, from the law, from the prophets, from the Psalms, shows how all of it terminates on Him. Brethren, the Old Testament is about the Lord Jesus.

So it is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. When the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying out in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant and said to him, do you hear what these are saying? And Jesus said to them, yes, have you never read out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, you have perfected praise.

You want divine commentary, spirit rock commentary on Psalm 8, Matthew 21. The Spirit speaking elsewhere in Scripture is the best interpreter of other Scripture. We listen to the Spirit as He guides and leads us in a course on hermeneutics. Look, the Spirit dictate what is written concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. And according to the Spirit, and Jesus here in His incarnate state, He says that Saul made is about Me.

Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany and He lodged there. This is that moment. Remember on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit comes in power and they think that they've been tippling, they've been drinking. Simon Peter stands up, it's not even nine o'clock yet, and he says, I mean that's kind of an interesting argument. I've always found it's not even nine yet. But then he says, this is that which was spoken by the prophet.

What does he do? He reaches back to Joel 2, and he says everything that Joel was writing about, the spirit coming down, the spirit coming upon, and the men servants and the maid servants prophesying in the name of Christ. This is that. That's what Jesus is doing here. in the temple before people that hate him, to religious leaders that are indignant.

Just think about that a moment. He's, you know, facing hostile people, indignant people. You might, if you were his life coach or his public relations manager, say, you know, don't throw any, you know, kerosene on this fire. Just, you know, back it down. Jesus doubles down.

Haven't you ever read? Which when Jesus says that, it's holy, it's harmless, and it's undefiled, but man, is it a dig at these guys. You think that men trained as rabbis, men that wrote scripture and put it in little boxes on their arms and on their foreheads, hadn't ever read Psalm 8? Have you never read? Obviously means, have you never understood?

Have you missed it? Are you that dense? Are you that dull? Are you that ignorant? It's like in Matthew 9, go and learn what this means. I desire mercy before sacrifice, Hosea 6, 6. Of course they had read Hosea 6.6. Of course they had memorized it. And as, you know, little Jews in their synagogue school would have recited it. They didn't understand it. They didn't understand its messianic application. You know, the same statement I referenced earlier.

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but these are they which testify of me. Brethren, don't forget John 5 is another one of those very hot climate sort of situations. John 5 starts off with them wanting to kill him because he, being a man, made himself equal to God. So for Jesus to say, you search the scriptures, he acknowledges that, and he acknowledges the reason why. For in them you think you have eternal life.

They're able to nod with that. They're able to go along with that. But when he says, these are they which testify of me, I doubt they went along with that. Well, I know they didn't because they crucified the Lord of glory. So notice what we have here in this statement.

Jesus acknowledges that he is the proper object of praise. Jesus confirms that Psalm 8 is spoken prophetically by David concerning Jesus as the Messiah. He is the son of David. All those lines of messianic proof in the Old Testament converge upon and terminate in the fullness of the time when God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. Son of Abraham, Son of David, Messiah, Christ, all titles for the same function of the one who came to save us from our sin.

And as I mentioned previously, the implication, if children recognize this, why don't these guys? If children recognize these things, why don't the religious leaders? Knox Chamberlain says there, Psalm 8, children ascribe strength to Yahweh for the wonders of his creation. Here they praise him for the re-creative power he has vested in the son of David. And then Chamberlain goes on to say, the cry of the children both assaults and condemns the religious leader's unbelief. That's Psalm 8 too. He establishes strength. Think about this. Maybe you saw that really encouraging, pleasant video this past week if you're on social media at all. I think it's in China, they trained robot dogs to shoot people with AR-15. Actually, were they robot dogs? No, dogs were probably six months ago. Now they got actual robot human looking things that shoot automatic weapons.

That's gonna end well, I'm sure. See, that's how you impose force. That's how you demonstrate strength if you're in the world. How does God demonstrate strength? How does God show force? He could have opened the heavens and robot dogs and their robot masters could have come down and gun us all down. But in the fullness of the time, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law in humble, lowly conditions.

See, brethren, I think at times we are just waiting for this top-down imposition of the kingdom of God on the earth to obliterate all our enemies. I'm not suggesting that's not coming, but it's not coming in this age. We need to wait for the return of our blessed Lord Jesus. The kingdom age that we're in now looks more like that fellow who has a mustard seed, the smallest of all the seeds, and he plants it. How does it grow? Immediately? Just profuse? No, it's gradual.

Bit by bit, year by year, month by month, decade by decade, century by century, millennium by millennium, God has purpose to show forth his strength to demonstrate his glory and his power through babes and infants. Through a man who suffered, a man who was a man of sorrows. A man who only ever went about doing good, not robot dogs, not robot dog masters, but the Son of Man come to save His people from their sins in a very lowly and humble state. In fact, theologians refer to that as the state of humiliation of our Lord, His incarnation, His earthly ministry, His sorrows, His sufferings, His death. It's the state of humiliation. See, we want that state of exaltation. I'm not saying you guys are all messed up. You want that state of exaltation. I want it. But the state of humiliation always comes first. And I'm not saying we're like Jesus in that way. But when the disciples are jockeying for position with our Lord, you know, grant that we may sit on your right and on your left when you come in your kingdom.

What does Jesus say? What does he say to them? He says, you don't know what I'm about to go through. I've got a cup to drink and I've got a baptism to undergo that you guys just don't get at this point. What's Jesus saying? The cross precedes the crown. What's Jesus saying to his disciples? The cross precedes the crown.

We're gonna get the crown. We're gonna see the obliteration of God's enemies too. We're going to be like those righteous in Psalm 58 that dance in their blood. I know that's probably offensive to this modern age, but the psalmist says that's what's going to happen. Psalm 7, God is a just judge. God is angry with the wicked every day. It's not that He's not angry. It's not that He's not wrathful.

It's that His timing is not our timing. We want the crown right now. we're gonna get the crown, but the kingdom and the movement with reference to the church, there's gonna be ebbs and flows. There's gonna be ground gained and ground lost. There's gonna be great encouragements and great discouragements. There's gonna be Paul in Philippians 4, I know how to abound and I know how to be abased.

That's just the reality of this kingdom age. So Jesus is probably not what anybody expected. Well, if we understand the Jewish expectation in the first century, this kind of Messiah, you kidding us? We want Messiah to come with his robot dogs and their guns so we can gun down the Roman authorities and subjugate them and have that geopolitical prestige that we read of in Deuteronomy chapter 28.

That's what we want. Never forget when Jesus feeds the multitudes in John 6, it says they tried to take him by force and make him king. Remember that? Why would they try to take him by force? Because they wanted that kind of king. They wanted the kind of king that could make bread. They wanted the kind of king that could satisfy temporal desire and need. They wanted the sort of king that would be armed to the teeth and ready to gun down all opposition. They didn't want that king when he started preaching Reformed theology. They didn't want that king when he started preaching the doctrine of God's glory and the sinfulness of man. They didn't want that king when he's in Nazareth.

Remember, he goes, he starts to teach, he takes the prophet Isaiah, he reads it, he sits down, and he says, this is fulfilled in your hearing. What do they do? They marvel because it's like honey's dripping out of his mouth. And then he changes directions and preaches sovereignty. And that same group of people want to capture him and throw him off of a hill. It's amazing. I mean, imagine going from that, the honey's dripping from his mouth.

Oh, we don't like this reference to the widow at Zarephath. We don't like the thought that God bypassed all these Israel widows and went to this pagan at the time of Elijah and healed her. They don't like that. So of course they wanted to dispatch him at that point. We don't expect, or they didn't expect, a messianic expectation that was Jesus. It's truly incredible. And they still don't, which is truly sad.

Let's then look at Hebrews 2. If I say Paul, I have a personal conviction that Paul wrote Hebrews. If you do not share that conviction, that's okay, but for the sake of brevity, Paul is easier to say than Apostle. Notice the appeal by the Apostle in Hebrews 2.5. We won't read the whole section, but I wanna make various observations on this section.

For he has not put the world to come, and by that I think he means the age of the incarnation. In other words, the age of Messiah, the latter days foretold by the prophets, or as our brothers would say in the past, the gospel church state. He's talking about the fullness of the time when God sent forth his son. So he has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels.

But one testified in a certain place saying, what is man that you are mindful of him? Or the son of man that you take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, and have set him over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet.

For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. I think that's what I was trying to say, probably way too long. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.

When you see the abortion industry, when you see euthanasia, I think I just read that the highest cause of death in Canada last year was made. Can you imagine 40 million people in a massive, you know, naturally blessed piece of land, and we gotta kill them? The highest cause of death? It's ghoulish or the sexual perversion.

You might just think, I don't see it in subjection. I think the apostle is telling us, you may not see it, but that doesn't mean it isn't. You may not see it, but that doesn't mean it isn't. In other words, when that mustard seed is thrown out into the field, you don't see the germination, you don't see the whatever you brothers in the greenhouse world could teach me better on this. Whatever happens that you can't see, you don't see it. But you see it when it's a big massive tree.

Again, this gradual going forth of the kingdom of Christ from his rule at the right hand of his father. He left nothing that is not put under Him, but now we do not yet see all things put under Him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels. See the invocation of the psalm, the explanation of the psalm, the application of the psalm to our Lord Jesus Christ. For the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. So you've got the incarnation of the Son. Notice, we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels. The margin has, for a little while, lower than the angels.

John Owen says, for although from his incarnation and birth the angels adored his person as their Lord, yet in the outward condition of his human nature he was made exceedingly beneath that state of glory and excellency which the angels are in a constant enjoyment of.

And then notice again the reference to the incarnation of the Son, not just there in verse 9, but look at verse 14, and as much then as the children had partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same. See, the apostle doesn't just state the fact of the incarnation. He roots it in what was prophesied concerning the incarnation by David in Psalm 8. But then he even describes the manner of the incarnation, not the nuts and bolts and the specific details, things that angels themselves can't even look into, but notice what he says in verse 15. And release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Now notice in verse 16, this is incarnation language. This is what Jesus did.

This is John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was God, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And then John 1.14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So God, the Son, Word became flesh and dwelt among us." That's verse 16.

Now, unfortunately, you've got to look at the margin in the New King James to get that reading, but notice, for, indeed, he does not give aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Better than giving aid is take on. Take on. He doesn't take on the nature of angels. He takes on or assumes to Himself at the incarnation the seed of Abraham. He takes on our humanity. This is the word became flesh and dwelt among us. This is Philippians 2, 6 and 7. He took the form of a servant.

So verse 16, for indeed He does not take on angels, but He does take on the seed of Abraham. Again, Owen, this then the apostle teaches us that the Lord Christ, the Son of God, according to the promise, took to himself the nature of man, coming of the seed of Abraham, that is, into personal union with himself, but took not the nature of angels, no such thing being spoken of him or concerning him anywhere in the scripture.

So Psalm 8 David rehearses the glory of God in the created order. But Psalm 8, David is preaching the glory of God in the incarnate order. He's speaking of Messiah. He's speaking of the Lord Christ. Notice as well, you've got the passion of the Son all throughout this. Notice in Hebrews 2, 9, we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. Notice in 10b. 10b, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. And then again in verse 14, in as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil.

Paul gets a lot out of Psalm 8, brethren. We need to learn to read the Psalms the way that Paul read the Psalms. We need to learn to read the Psalms the way that Jesus interpreted the Psalms. When we sing these Psalms of praise to our God, we ought to be thinking Christ. We ought to be thinking that Messiah. Notice the work of the psalm. The psalmist in Psalm 8 puts it in terms of dominion, puts it in terms of authority, puts it in terms of power, which Paul will do.

But as well, the psalmist and the apostle cause us to reflect upon the specific focus, the specific nature of his work. Here, the destruction of the devil. Verse 14, in as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same that through death, again, we don't think of achieving victory through death.

We don't think of achieving peace through the blood of crosses, Colossians 1.20. Psalm 82 makes a lot of sense when you start thinking gospelly, when you start thinking about what the world calls foolishness and what God demonstrates as wisdom and power.

So that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil. And then the salvation of his people. Look at verse 10, for it was fitting for him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory. That's what he does in the incarnation. Look at verse 15, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Look at verses 17 and 18, therefore in all things he had to be made like his brethren.

Again, incarnation. the assumption of our humanity, the taking on the form of a servant. Therefore, in all things, he had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."

I always loved the definiteness of that language. I love the word propitiation. Propitiation means or presupposes that God is angry with the wicked every day. Propitiation presupposes Psalm 711. Yeah, Psalm 711, for God is a just judge. God is angry with the wicked every day.

Propitiation has to do with the Son taking God's wrath for us. Isn't that beautiful? The Son takes the wrath that is due for those who believe in Him. The Son exhausts the wrath of God for all those whom the Father had given Him. That's that word propitiation. It's a beautiful gospel word.

But then notice the particularity, the sins of the people. Not some vague notion of sin out there that hopefully in a general way we can just make some amends to. No, it's the sins of the people. the sins of the people. If you're the people, it's your sins.

So whatever transgression, whatever infirmity, whatever lack of conformity under God's law, Christ propitiated the wrath, vengeance, anger, and fury of His Father. That's the cup of wrath, or that's the cup that He was given to drink when He went to Golgotha. And then notice in verse 18, for in that he himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted. So in Hebrews 2, as the apostle invokes or brings to the forefront Psalm 8, he shows the incarnation of the Son. It's fact, it's manner, the passion of the Son, the work of the Son, but then the exaltation of the Son, because Psalm 8 ends on that high note, right?

What is man that you're mindful of him? Why would you give him dominion over the sheep, over the oxen, over the birds that fly, over the fish in the sea? I was thinking about this. One of the older commentators says, you know, when Psalm 8 talks about sheep, all we like sheep have gone astray. It's Christ and His sheep. Oxen are compared to pastors, faithful ministers by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians, I think it's around chapter nine. And I almost thought it myself, well, we can't compare ourselves, why? Why can we compare the devil to the lion in Psalm 7, but not see us as the sheep and the oxen in Psalm 8?

Seems like the same hermeneutical application. You see what the apostle is doing? We're going to come to an end here. The messianic son of David. David's greater son and greater Lord. This one has universal empire. This was purposed for man in the garden. Remember? Tend my garden, protect it, guard it, keep all enemy invaders out. It's temple language.

Genesis 2.15 is later used, the language there of guarding, keeping, tending. We just see it as a farmer and his farm. It's interesting because later on, that language is used of tabernacle and temple. Protect it, guard it. Night watchmen, don't let anybody shimmy their way into the Holy of Holies. Adam in the Garden was to exercise dominion. Adam in the Garden was to exercise a kingly position under God. Adam in the Garden failed. Adam in the Garden forfeit.

The last Adam, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who took on our humanity, he didn't fail. got everything that was promised him. Verse 9, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, notice, crowned with glory and honor.

Notice in 10 and 11, for it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. for both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren."

And as well, we've got 1 Corinthians 15, 27. That's another passage in the New Testament where Paul specifically quotes Psalm 8. And, of course, 1 Corinthians 15, all about resurrection from the dead. First, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and then that's promissory to the revelation of all those in union with Him. But in 20 to 28, he gives a snapshot view of what's going to happen when Jesus comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead. And he says from Psalm 8 in 1 Corinthians 15, 27, for he has put all things under his feet. But when he says all things are put under him, it is evident that he who put all things under him is accepted.

So again, this constant back to Psalm 8 as yes, musings on the glory of God in the creation. Man, prophecy concerning the glory of God in the incarnation, the holy harmless man of Psalm 1, the Son of God by nature who assumed our humanity of Psalm 2, the suffering servant in Psalms 3 to 7. It's almost as if Psalm 8 is just a step back to ground ourselves once again and to appreciate what God Most High is doing in the saving of His people from their sins through the man who is the subject and object of the entirety of the Psalter. Samuel Pierce says we have in this psalm a revelation of Christ as God-man, in His headship, in His empire and dominion over all things, in His most excellent name, in His glory, royalty and excellent majesty, in His having all things put under His feet, in His glory which is above the heavens, in His union, relation, interest and communion with His church.

He's right, brethren. Theodore Beza, this psalm gives thanks to God for creation in Adam and restoration in Christ. Although Adam by his own fault tarnished that preeminence in which he was created, still vestiges of that dignity survive in that he is preeminent over all beasts and has a certain power of life and death over them.

And also in that special providence by which God embraces mankind. But in that second state, the eternal Son of God has exalted human nature, having been assumed in the unity of His person, after all human infirmity had been laid on Him, so that He would make all believers partakers of His dignity. Amen for psalm 8. Bless God for psalm 8. Bless God for this man who has universal empire.

This man, notice man. C.S. Lewis, who I've actually, you know, had some objections to. I don't think he handles the imprecatory psalms well at all, but in this one he made the observation, at Christmas time we celebrate the humanity of Jesus, or the human nature of Jesus. We should. and at Easter we celebrate the divinity, and we should. But let us never forget, the hypostatic union is not dissolved. It's not rendered inoperative after the work of redemption. Your eyes and my eyes are going to see the man Christ Jesus. The man Christ Jesus is enthroned at the right hand of God most high, the God-man to be sure, but there is a man ruling, reigning, and governing all things for his glory.

That is a blessed thought, because if you give it to men that we're aware of, they botch it. They ruin it. They mess it up over and over again. God-man is perfectly suited and fitted by his Father for that regal work. to administer the kingdom of the Most High for His glory, for His honor, for the manifestation of His excellent name in creation and in recreation through the proclamation of the gospel and the salvation of sinners in the church of the Lord.

Blessed be God for this Psalm 8 man. I just want to end with one quick thought with reference to this situation. The destruction of the enemies of God. Some of you might think, oh, of course he'd go there. He seems to celebrate that theme in Psalms 3-7. Where do we get to Psalm 9? Spoiler alert, there's more of those sorts of things coming. But by way of destruction of the enemies, I could go one of two ways.

I could address the enemies of Christ right now and say, you need to come, and you need to believe, and you need to be saved. And I'll do that. If you're not a believer here this morning, you need to come to Jesus. You need to believe on the Lord Jesus. You need to look from yourself, look from your sin, look from your good works, look from whatever religious pretense you have to that one in whom alone there is forgiveness. But I want to encourage the people of God with this concept of the destruction of His enemies. What does it say in Psalm 8, 2? He silences the enemy. He silences the enemy.

We need that as believers, don't we? We need that in what we call assurance of salvation. We need that in what we call perseverance of the saints. Because there are those times, if you're like anybody else that's in Christ, you get these whisperings, not audibly, I'm not, you know, a mystic Pentecostal that says the devil comes to you while you're shaving. You get these whisperings. How could you call yourself a Christian? How could you suit up Sit amongst others who have suited up on a Sunday and try to pass yourself off. I know exactly what you're like. Do you know there's two passages, probably a lot more, that speak specifically to this and the silencing of the enemy that does that? Zechariah 3, Zechariah chapter 3.

What do we have? We got a picture of the high priest, Joshua, and he's filthy before God. Filthy, disgusting, and vile. And what's the devil do? The devil wants to get him. The devil wants to tear him down. God doesn't even let him open his mouth. The Lord rebuked you. You don't need to tell me that he's filthy. I can see that. You don't need to advise me on his ethical status. I got it. The Lord rebuke you. What's the Lord's response from the throne with reference to Joshua the high priest? Now, Joshua the high priest is there as a public person. He's there as a representative of Judah. What does God do?

Get those filthy clothes off of him and put on new garments. God, to silence the accusation of the enemy, gives us Westminster Confession or Catechism number 33. What is justification? Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. You want to silence the enemy, brethren? Invoke the name of Jesus, his blood and his righteousness. Where's the other place? Romans 8, 31 to 39. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is Christ who died.

Paul knows how to silence enemies. Paul knows how to deal with enemies. And so does John in Revelation chapter 12. The devil is called there an accuser of the brethren. How do they overcome him? By the testimony of the blood of the lamb. Brethren, for assurance, for perseverance, for whatever it is you need in your Christian life, the blood and righteousness of Christ is sufficient, and blessedly so. That's how the Lord Most High silenced the enemy. He made peace through the blood of his cross. He silenced the devil and his claims against us when he washed us, when he purged our sins away, and when he gave us that blessed righteousness. by which now we can stand in the presence of a holy God.

So I hope that Psalm 2.8, those babes and nursing infants, you'll join chorus with them and praise God for silencing the enemy. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for Psalm 8. We thank you for the application of it by our Lord to our Lord. Matthew 21 and by the Apostle in Hebrews 2 and for the good things it holds forth to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Encourage us, build us up in our most holy faith and God open hearts and cause sinners to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and we pray in his most blessed name. Amen.