Christ in the Old Testament

Psalm 8:1

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (NIV)

Today’s Reading: Psalm 8 and Hebrews 2:5-18

Psalm 8 is a song written by King David. It’s profoundly prophetic. However, it’s a beautiful psalm even if you ignore the prophetic elements.

The opening line reads, “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!“ David takes an immediate posture of worship. He continues poetically, “Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.”

Jesus actually referenced this verse a week before he was crucified. While he was healing on the Sabbath, the children began praising Jesus.

“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “ ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?” (Matt‬ ‭21‬:‭16‬)‬‬.

But then we get into the crux of the matter. David turns to mankind. He marvels that God is even mindful of us and cares for us. But even more than that, God made man “a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet:” (Psalms‬ ‭8‬:‭5‬-‭6‬)‬‬

Some scholars believe these verses are about Jesus. If you read the footnotes in your Bible, the alternate translations of them is him. So it’s a possible translation that Jesus was made a little lower than the angels to rule over the works of Creation. But I don’t think so. It really doesn’t matter and the author of Hebrews tells us why.

In verses 8 and 9, Hebrews chapter two explains that God put everything under mankind to rule over. And He made Jesus a man “for a little while.” He did this for the following reasons:

1. He might taste death for everyone (Heb 2:9)
2. To bring many sons and daughters to glory (Heb 2:10)
3. To make Jesus perfect through what he suffered (Heb 2:10)
4. To share in our humanity (Heb 2:14)
5. To break the devil’s power over death (Heb 2:14)
6. To free us from the fear of death (Heb 2:15)
7. So Jesus could become a merciful and faithful high priest (Heb 2:17)
8. To make atonement for our sins (Heb 2:17)
9. To help those who are being tempted (Heb 2:18)

That’s quite the list! But my favorite part of this chapter of Hebrews is right in the middle.

“Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says, ‘I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.’” (Heb 2‬:‭11‬-‭12‬)

I hope you see what I see. Jesus is our brother because he was in our skin for a while. We are from the same family. He came to earth to declare God’s name to us and die for us so that we could live with him in eternity. That’s what our brother did for us!

Today’s Prayer: I praise you Jesus because you are worthy!