He has crowned us

 

As believers, we often hear about crowns.

In the Old Testament we read about kings and queens who wore crowns. In the New Testament, we read about crowns, too.

Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (II Timothy 4:8)

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12)

When I was growing up, our minister of music had a favorite joke he loved to tell. He said in his home town there were churches on many of the street corners downtown. In the summer, the windows would be open to catch any breeze as the services or singing went on. He said if you walked down the street, you could hear the singing easily - the Methodist church would be singing, "Will there be any stars in my crown?" and the Baptists would be singing, "No, not one." (Grin)

But I digress.

The Bible reveals that it's true: we will have crowns in heaven. I'm not certain if David knew that when he wrote this song, but let's look at our next verses:

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 

 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? 

 (Psalm 8:3-5)

All of us have had the experience, I believe, of looking up into the vastness of the night sky and feeling awfully small. David did - he saw the moon and the stars and said they were the work of God's fingers. Then David thought of how small he was. How teeny-tiny! Can we say "puny"? How about "insignificant"?  I'm not being mean . . . the Hebrew word used here for "man" emphasizes the frailty (ie., mortality) of man:

You turn man back into dust
And say, “Return, O children of men.” (Psalm 90:3)

As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. (Psalm 103:15)

Our earth is located within a solar system that includes a sun, other planets, and dozens of moons.  All of this is within an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way, one of perhaps 100 billion galaxies in the universe. The Andromeda galaxy, which appears in our sky as a fuzzy, cigar-shaped "smudge" in the fall, is actually 2.5 million light years away. That may sound incredibly far away, but it makes Andromeda so close that we can see it in the night sky. What we can't see is the galaxy's "halo" around it, which actually is nudging against our own galaxy! 

Compared to the vastness of the universe, as David says, what is mankind that God thinks of us, much less that He cares for us!

In spite of our insignificance, though, God has crowned us with glory and majesty - He has assigned to us the role of ruling over His creation. 

Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! 

 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, 

 All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field, 

 The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas. (v. 5-8)

David is referring back to Genesis, where God created man in His image and likeness. In the same book of our Bible, God assigned to man the task of ruling over the rest of creation, which David takes the time to list. I guess David could have simply pointed out that we were created by God, just like the animals were created, but instead, he points out that we were made a little lower than God. I think he was pondering the fact that we are created in God's image. At least, before the fall.

The writer of Hebrews used much the same language, after quoting from the psalm:

But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:9)

He was making the point that for a time, Jesus had been made lower than the angels, so that through His death He could accomplish our salvation. 

Psalm 8 is fulfilled in Jesus, Who restored to us what Adam had lost.

Since the fall, mankind has accomplished remarkable feats in gaining dominion over God's creation. Just think about the wonders of modern medicine, and the conditions and diseases that can now be cured. Think about the wonders of modern astronomy, and the telescopes and satellites that allow man to peer far beyond the borders of our own galaxy.

But all of these accomplishments are marred by sin. In our pride, we humans boast about them and we do not acknowledge that the abilities to think, to reason, to explore, and to discover are all given to us by God. One would think that we would have learned from the builders of the Tower of Babel! But no, modern man uses science to proclaim his independence from God. With a few more breakthroughs, we will know just how our universe "came to be." With a few more advances, we can cure all our diseases and live forever.

Oy vey.

But science can't reconcile us to God. So God sent His own Son to provide the sacrifice for our sins. So David tells us to worship our holy God because even though we are puny and insignificant, He has graciously thought of us and cared for us.

Even though we marred His image and likeness through sin, God has restored us in Jesus Christ. Through Him we are again crowned with dignity and glory.

No wonder David ends the psalm with a triumphant, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"