Monthly Archives: July 2020

Give Thanks

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Aleph: Psalm 9:1-2

David speaks in the first person to God, giving Him praise and thanksgiving for every creative act He has done. God’s works are described in the previous Psalms.  Psalms 7:17, all of Psalm 8 and the first two verses of Psalm 9, are a song of thanksgiving for the intimate relationship and the evidence of His love for David and the person for whom David is speaking, Jesus, the Son of God. Psalm 8 is found between two verses that exult in God with thanksgiving and praise.

“I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness,and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD,the Most High” (Psalm 7:17) I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart;I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.I will be glad and exult in you;I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. (Psalm 9:1-2)

Give Thanks

I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; 
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. 
I will be glad and exult in you; 
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.  (Psalm 9:1-2 ESV)

Jesus, speaking through David, announces God’s greatness, knowing God defeated their enemies. “If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts” (Psalm 7:12-13 ESV). God renders righteous judgment against all who rebel and for this the writer sings his gratitude. Though David wrote many of the Psalms, we attribute his words to Jesus, the Son of God throughout the Psalms.

Jesus gives thanks with his whole heart to YHWH, God the Father. Conversely, everyone is seen by God as only and always wicked (Genesis 6:5-6). Jesus’ whole heart, every minuscule aspect and inclination, all of His mind, His emotions, His thinking and reflection, His soul and spirit, every part of Him, gives thanks to YHWH, God the Father, for all that He does, has done and will do.

Not only does Jesus give thanks to God, He remembers and recounts all of God’s wonderful deeds. Everything God has done, from creation through the end of the space-time universe, is known by Jesus. He is God, the Son, and is omniscient, knowing all things. People are not omniscient and can barely remember what happened in their lives the previous day. Throughout Scripture, God commands those who are His to remember Him and what He does for them and to tell their children so the generations will not forget.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.(Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ESV)

Jesus, through David, continues to praise God with a gladness and joy that springs from His inner being in song about who God is and what He has done. He is glad, which means to rejoice, and exult in God, which means to have great pride in God’s triumph over sin and suggests a jumping for joy. Jesus is so glad He sings God’s praises, worshipping God with every ounce of His being. Rarely are people so consumed in worship and abandoned to God that they abandon themselves in Him. Yet, this is the picture we see in these opening verses of Psalm 9, as well as the closing verses of Psalm 7, and the entirety of Psalm 8.

God has vanquished His enemies, as described in Psalm 7. God has made Himself known as the absolute power and benevolent authority in Psalm 8. Now, in Psalm 9 and 10, Jesus describes the ways of the wicked that fail because of the supremacy of God. God is the Most High. Though His enemies, and the enemies of Jesus, and the enemies of those who find refuge and sanctuary in God and His Son, believe and act as if God is impotent, they lie to themselves and suffer the consequences of their faulty thinking. God’s mighty deeds include the work of His Son in the redemption of those who are His. 

God’s Majesty

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O LORD, our Lord,  
how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:9 ESV)

Psalm 8 opens and closes with this chorus. God is YHWH, the Everlasting One and the Creator of all. He is the only One who sustains all by His will and presence. He governs all, directing His creation and all it contains, whether in heaven or on the earth, to fulfill His purpose. Therefore, He is the giver of purpose to all, whether in eternity or in the space-time universe. According to Paul, though the earth is filled with people created in God’s image, the heavens contain rulers, authorities, cosmic powersand spiritual forces (Ephesian 6:12). Everything God creates and sustains exists according to the natural or spiritual laws He has set in place. God is over all, setting His glory in the heavens and above the heavens. “You have set your glory above the heavens” (Psalm 8:1 ESV).

He created people, those who inhabit the earth, in His image, as His servants. Yet, beginning with Adam, all people rebel against God. In the heavens, in eternity with God, are beings who are also His servants. Many of them have also rebelled against Him. People who belong to God, through the sacrifice of His Son, are the battlefield of those heavenly beings who war against God. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 ESV). People, God’s chosen, are those who will stop, through God’s power both the “enemy and the avenger” (Psalm 8:2 ESV).

God created the magnificence of the heavens, setting the earth in its place in the universe. The earth is the smallest speck of cosmic dust floating in an unimaginable expanse of created matter. Upon this tiny speck God set up His servants, those physical beings created in His image. People were given the task of making the earth into a place that would delight both God and people.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:27-28 ESV)

Within the population of the earth, among the people given dominion and who then rebelled, God sent His Son, who had the form of God and of a Servant and came in the likeness of a man (Philippians 2:6-8). God’s Son, Jesus Christ, is the only person who has ever lived or ever will live who did not rebel against God. The Psalmist asks the question “what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4 ESV). Compared to the vastness of the universe and the limitless place of eternity, people are insignificant. Yet, God loves these rebellious people and has given them significance.

Concerning His Son, God divested Himself of His glory and place, for a short time, and took His place among men. Paul’s song in Philippians parallels the Psalmist’s words in Psalm 8.

Psalm 8:5-8Philippians 2:5-11
3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
5Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 
and crowned him with glory and honor. 9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
6You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Who is YHWH, the Lord of heaven and earth? It is He who created the heavens and the earth, and all those who exist. As Creator, He is Owner, Governor, and Giver of Purpose. God is above all Creation. He is worthy of all praise and honor and worship. “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

All Things

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all sheep and oxen, 
and also the beasts of the field, 
the birds of the heavens, 
and the fish of the sea, 
whatever passes along the paths of the seas. (Psalm 8:7-8 ESV)

Part of the image of God given all people is dominion, or the authority to direct, the privilege to use, and the responsibility to care for. Adam and Eve were given authority and responsibility over the earth. Neither they nor their progeny own the earth and though all people still carry the image of God none have actual dominion. The earth and all that is in it, is in rebellion against Man. Just as all are in rebellion against God so all of the earth is in rebellion against Man. Yet, parts of the earth are under the control and in submission to Man. Just as some people are under God’s control and in submission to Him.

Domesticated animals are, for the most part, under the control and authority of Man. The wild beasts are not under Man’s control, and either run away from Man or fight against Man. With very few exceptions, the birds and the fish, flee when Man approaches.

God owns all things and has ultimate dominion over all creation. All living things whose home is the Earth are under the feet of Jesus, the Son of God. To us, in our sinful condition, placing anything under someone’s feet suggests malevolent intent. God is not malevolent but benevolent. His intent is to care for all things He has created. Everything that is alive which He created is under the feet of Jesus, the Son of God.

However, sinful people want to be in control.

Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger? Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you? Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor? Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor? (Job 39:9-12 ESV)

Throughout history, people have tried to conquer nature and wild animals. Some try to make pets of animals like snakes, big or little cats, birds and lizards. Or, people try to use wild animals as entertainment, in circuses and street shows. Many cities have zoos, so people can watch animals they may never see in the wild. Though people still have the image of God, which includes dominion, the vessel is damaged and corrupted but the image is not. Consequently, there is an internal desire and natural tendency to want control. With a nature corrupted by sin the craving to control springs from malevolent intent, not benevolent authority.

God, in placing all things under the feet of Jesus, drives home the truth and reality that He owns all creation. Under His dominion wild animals do not become domesticated but do inherently recognize Him as the Alpha leader and submit to His direction. So too, the birds and fish and all that lives in the waterways and seas, know instinctively His authority and place over them in the natural scheme of things. The Psalmist is speaking about the natural world. When the Psalmist says whatever passes along the paths of the seas the interpretation is not man-made ships but sea mammals such as whales and dolphins. All earthly creatures naturally submit to the authority of God given to His Son. He will not put leashes on them, make them entertain the masses or take them out of their natural habitat for all to see.Eventually, in God’s plan and purpose, all things will be made new and eternally adhere to the natural laws He determined. 

The Beginning and the Ending

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You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; 
you have put all things under his feet (Psalm 8:6 ESV)

Physical creation exists in space and time. Both space and time have boundaries, a beginning and an ending. Eternity is existence outside of space and time. Eternity has neither a beginning nor an ending. We cannot imagine eternity because of the limitations placed on us by the laws of creation. We know we have a beginning. Each person who lives began their life at a specific point in time, knowing that their physical life will also end at a specific yet unknown point in time.

Jesus, the Creator God, is omniscient and omnipotent, knowing the beginning and the ending of all things and controlling the direction, purpose and outcome of all things. This does not negate the responsibility of those created in His image to willfully obey His direction. Having foreknowledge does not necessarily mean predetermining the outcome. One of the most poignant examples in the Hebrew Scripture is the story of David saving the city of Keilah from the Philistines. Saul, who was pursuing David to kill him, advanced to besiege the city of Keilah. Through the priest Abiathar, David asks God if the people of the city would give him to Saul. “Then David said, ‘Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?’ And the LORD said, ‘They will surrender you’” (1 Samuel 23:12 ESV). David and his men left the city. God foreknew what would happen and told David. What God foreknew He did not predetermine. Omniscience and foreknowledge know what would happen as well as what does happen.

God knows from eternity and determines what will happen at the end of time. There is rebellion against God by the creatures God made for relationship with Him. These creatures, whether people or angels or other powers and authorities in the heavenly places, will ultimately recognize the eternal authority of God and His Son. Those who have rebelled against Him are cast away from His life-giving presence. According to Paul, they are destroyed.

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15:24-26 ESV).

Paul uses the word destroy twice in these verses. Destroy means to make idle or ineffective, to cause to cease or put an end to, to terminate all discussion, and to sever or separate. All who rebel against God are ultimately severed from Him and will no longer cause sin to flourish. God will destroy every authority and power, stopping and silencing every rebel. The last enemy destroyed is death. None who are chosen by God and eternally live in His presence will spiritually die. He will complete His decree of separating the unrighteous from the righteous, according to the justice of His Son. 

God enthroned His Son as King of all creation, whether in the physical or spiritual realm. His Son’s authority is described as having all things under his feet. Not only is Jesus the King, but He is also the head of the Church, the Body of Christ. “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church” (Ephesians 1:22 ESV). Peter tells us that His power and authority extend to all in heaven. “Who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him” (1 Peter 3:22 ESV). Nothing that exists, either physically in the created universe, or spiritually in eternity will remain outside of His control. “Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control” (Hebrews 2:8 ESV).God owns everything He created and will not allow anything, especially those creatures given His image, to rebel against Him. God knows what would have happened and what will happen.