Psalm 8:1-9 O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth! who have set your glory above the heavens.… I. THIS PSALM IS — 1. A hymn of praise to the Creator, giving glory to "Jehovah our Lord." By His "Name" we understand His revealed nature, as made manifest in His — (1) works of creation (vers. 3, 6, 7, 8); (2) acts of salvation (vers. 4, 5). 2. A Messianic hymn — (1) referred by Christ to Himself (Matthew 21:16); (2) quoted of Him (Hebrews 2:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:27). 3. A hymn of the Ascension. This seems the special thought (Hebrews 2:9, where ver. 5 is alluded to, and Acts 2:33). II. THE TEXT IN PARTICULAR IS EXPRESSIVE OF THE GREAT DOCTRINE OF THE ASCENSION. 1. "Our Lord" Jesus Christ is "the LORD," i.e. JEHOVAH. His "Name" is indeed the Divine Name, for Jesus signifies "JEHOVAH-SAVIOUR" (Hebrews 1:4;-see its lengthened form in Numbers 13:16). 2. "The earth" is the sphere in which the "excellence" of His Name is manifested. (1) In the past, by the marvellous revelation of His sinless human life, by His mighty words and works, by His sacrifice for sin, and by His "glorious resurrection and ascension." (2) In the present, by the power of His gospel, subduing, as it is, all things under His feet." 3. "All the earth" shall one day be brought to own that His "Name" is "excellent." 4. Yet His chiefest "glory" is now "set" "above the heavens," to be revealed in its full excellence only when He shall come again to take to Him His power and reign. III. THE "NAME" OF JESUS SHOULD BE PROVED "EXCELLENT" IN OUR EXPERIENCE. 1. As a power to salvation (Acts 4:12). He is ascended up on high to perpetually plead the merits of His saving Name. And it is in that Name alone that there is hope for sinners. That Name, "Jehovah-Saviour," means one able and willing to save; and it is the only "excellent" one to which all must look (Isaiah 45:22). 2. As a power to holiness (Acts 2:33). The ascended Saviour has given to the Church the grace of His Holy Spirit, to be implored in His "Name," and sent forth in His "Name" (John 14:26; John 16:24). The Holy Ghost teaches us the "things of Christ," and makes us so realise the excellence of His name, that for it we "count all things but loss." (T. H. Barnett.) Parallel Verses KJV: {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. |
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