Scripture Reading: Psa. 8; Heb. 2:5-9
Ⅰ
Psalm 8 shows that God's purpose and plan for man to express Him with His image and to represent Him with His dominion have never changed—Gen. 1:26-28:
A
The man prophesied in Psalm 8 is the second man, the Lord Jesus, who has recovered man's lost ordination and has fulfilled God's original purpose—Heb. 2:5-9.
B
This second man is also a corporate man, the new man, the corporate Christ, who expresses God in His image and represents God to have dominion over all things for the fulfillment of God's purpose—Eph. 2:15; Col. 3:10-11; Acts 9:4-5; Eph. 1:22-23; Heb. 2:10-11.
Ⅱ
Psalm 8 is David's inspired praise of the excellency of Christ:
A
The Lord's name is excellent (majestic) in all the earth, and His splendor (glory) has been set above the heavens—v. 1:
１
In Psalms 3—7 it was a mess on the earth according to David's human concept.
２
Here in Psalm 8 something, that is, the Lord's name, is excellent (majestic) in all the earth according to the divine revelation.
３
And the Lord's splendor (glory) is above the heavens in the sight of David.
４
This psalm joins the earth to the heavens and brings the heavens down to the earth, making the earth and the heavens one—John 1:51.
B
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings the Lord has established strength (praise—Matt. 21:16) because of His adversaries, to stop the enemy and the avenger—Psa.8:2:
１
Babes and sucklings are the youngest, smallest, and weakest among men, indicating the highest consummation of the Lord's work in His redemption.
２
Because of His adversaries (within), for the stopping of the enemy and the avenger (without).
C
David saw the heavens, the works of the Lord's fingers, the moon and the stars which the Lord has ordained—v. 3:
１
The moon and the stars indicate that David had this view—a view turned from looking at the earth to contemplating the heavens in the night.
２
In this view David had a pure vision to see the pure work in God's creation and ordination.
３
The aim in the Lord's redemption is to turn us from the messy earth to the bright heaven.
D
What is man, that the Lord remembers him, and the son of man, that He visits him?—v. 4:
１
In his view in the heavens, David turned his consideration to man on the earth.
２
Man is the central object of God in His creation for the accomplishment of His economy to fulfill His heart's desire.
３
The first "man" in the verse is enosh in Hebrew, and the second "man" is adam in Hebrew, both referring to:
ａ
The God-created man in God's creation in Genesis 1:26.
ｂ
The Satan-captured man in man's fall in Psalm 8:4.
ｃ
Christ as a man in His incarnation for the accomplishment of God's redemption in Hebrews 2:6.
４
Such a man God remembers in His economy and visits in His incarnation—John 1:14; Phil. 2:7.
E
The Lord has made man somewhat lower than the angels—Psa:5a; Heb. 2:7a:
１
This refers to Christ's incarnation with His human living for His all-inclusive death—John 1:14; Heb. 2:9a.
２
In His incarnation Christ was made somewhat lower than the angels, physically not positionally, in the sense of being in the flesh.
F
God has crowned man (Christ) with glory and honor—Psa. 8:5b; Heb. 2:7:
１
This refers to Christ's resurrection in His glory (John 7:39b; Luke 24:26) and His ascension in His honor (Acts 2:33-36; 5:31a).
２
This was through His all-inclusive death—Heb. 2:9.
G
God has caused man (Christ) to rule over the works of God's hands and has put all things under His feet: all sheep and oxen, the beasts of the field, the birds of heaven, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the sea—Psa. 8:6-8; Heb. 2:7b-8a:
１
This word was fulfilled in Adam (Gen. 1:26-28) but was broken by man's fall.
２
In Christ's ascension God subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body—Eph. 1:22-23; Rom. 16:20.
３
This word will be fulfilled in full in the millennium, the age of restoration—Rev. 20:4-6; Matt. 19:28; Isa. 11:6-9; 65:25.
H
O Jehovah our Lord, how excellent (majestic) is Your name in all the earth!—Psa. 8:9:
１
This is to repeat the first part of verse 1 to strengthen the thought concerning the excellency of the Lord's name in all the earth.
２
This makes the earth as excellent as the heavens, as indicated in the first part of the Lord's prayer: "Our Father who is in the heavens, Your name be sanctified; Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth"—Matt. 6:9-10.