(Psalm 8:1) “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.”

First, King David acknowledged that Jehovah is his Head, Master, and Authority in saying, “O LORD our Lord.” This was discussed in the previous devotion, “The Headship of the Creator.”

Secondly, King David says, “how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.”

The word “excellent” “connotates, ‘addı̂yr; ad-deer’; (From H142; wide or (generally) large; figuratively powerful: – excellent, famous, gallant, glorious, goodly, lordly, mighty (-ier, one), noble, principal, worthy.”

It appears that King David is issuing a praise of all that the Names Jehovah (LORD – The Self-Existent One) and Adon (Lord – Master, Ruler) represent. The Name of Jehovah represents Who God is in His Redemptive Nature; The Perfect Sacrifice that is the Redeemer of His people. The primary focus of David is in the word “glory” in defining the word “excellent.” David is saying, ‘how goodly, how honorable; how powerful; how worthy is Jehovah; My Savior: and my Head, Ruler, Master and Authority.’ It is by the Names of Jehovah and Adon that God is made known.

Question: How was the nature of God made known in the Old Testament?

Answer: God revealed Himself as the Creator, the Controller, and the Consummator of His Creation. The specific ways in which God revealed Himself are as follows:

• By Direct Revelation (that is, by a voice; see Gen. 2 – 3);
• By Creation (see Rom. 1:18-20);
• Through Signs and Wonders (miracles – the opening of the Red Sea, etc.);
• Through the Law (The Ten Commandments),
• Through the Tabernacle (Sacrifices and Offerings);
• Through the Priesthood;
• Through the Prophets; and
• Through His Written Word.

The people of God learned Who God was, and is, by these things; called types and shadows of things to come, even of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Law and all its facets were a “schoolmaster” to point the Old Testament saints to God. Then, as the Creator, Controller and Consummator; God revealed that there is only one True and Living God. Therefore, He was The Savior and The Sovereign.

In the New Testament, God became flesh, yet without sin, and was revealed in the Person of Jesus Christ:

(1Ti 3:16) “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

(2Co 4:6) “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

(John 1:1-3) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  (2)  The same was in the beginning with God.  (3)  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

(John 1:14) “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

(Rom. 1:16-17) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  (17)  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”

Therefore, it is in the proclaiming of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that Christ, The Messiah, The I AM THAT I AM, is made known to those who have eyes to see, and ears to hear, the Good News of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Gospel of Jesus Christ presents the love, mercy, and grace of God in the life and works of Jesus Christ as the Sacrifice, Substitute, and Savior of all that believe (Rom. 3:24-25); as well as, the wisdom, power, truth and faithfulness of God. (John 17:6) “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.”  

Jesus Christ is the Righteousness of God; and He is the Sum, Substance and Circumference of the Promises of God, and of the Blessings of God. Yes, David said, “…how excellent is thy name in all the earth.”

Thank God, that not only is the Name of God glorious in Israel (Ps. 78:1); but, “in all the earth.”  Yes, thank God, this includes the Gentile world (Mal. 1:11; Gal. 3:26-29; Acts 13:46-48).

Thirdly, David says, “who hast set thy glory above the heavens:” “Meaning, the Lord Jesus Christ, the brightness of his glory (Heb. 1:3); in whom is all the fulness of the Godhead (Col. 2:9), the glory of all the divine perfections, (Ps. 63:2). The setting of Him above the heavens designs the exaltation of Him at the right hand of God; where angels, principalities, and powers, became subject to him, and he was made higher than the heavens, (Heb. 7:26).”  David knew that Jehovah and Adon (his Savior and Sovereign), being the Creator of all things, should be exalted to the Preeminence of all; for He is God; the One, True, and Living God, and there is none else; the Author of all life. And Salvation is in Him, and in Him alone.

Notice what the Holy Spirit had the Apostle Paul write of Jesus Christ “O LORD and our Lord” in (Col 1:11-22):

(11) “Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

(12)  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

(13)  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

(14)  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

(15)  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

(16)  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

(17)  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

(18)  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

(19)  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

(20)  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

(21)  And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

(22)  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:”

Hallelujah! May Christ have all the Preeminence!    

“…how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.”