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| | Psalm
8:5-9
The
following is a Bible study posted on our Bible Study Group.
Happy Thursday! :-) Today we're going to
finish our quick peek of Psalm 8. If any of you have been memorizing one
verse per week, you still until April 22. Keep up the good work!
Last week we talked about how great our God is, that He loves us. Today
we're going to look at our position in Christ, as well as some of the jobs God
has for us here on this earth.
Let's begin by reading verse 5:
"You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor."
The Bible's teaching about angels is scattered all throughout its pages.
Sometimes I've thought it would be nice if we could just open up Scripture to
one passage and learn about angels. However, their existence is mentioned
in at least 34 books of the Bible and from Genesis to Revelation. Angels, like
as, are very personable beings. They are intelligent (1 Peter 1:12), they
have feelings (Luke 2:13), and they have will power (Jude 6). Hebrews 1:14 says
that they are spirit beings. They have limitations to their power, but
they have more power than mankind has, which is probably why Psalm 8:5 says that
God created man a little lower than the angels.
Angels have important duties. Some are guardian angels (Hebrews 1:14 and
Matthew 18:10), sent to protect us. Some worship God (see Isaiah 6:1-3)
and guard God's holiness (Genesis 3:22-24). When Christ was on earth,
angels announced His birth (Luke 1:26-33 and 2:13), they protected Him as a baby
(Matthew 2:13), they ministered to Him after His temptation by Satan (Matthew
4:11), and much, more more. Today, they minister to us as believers (see
Hebrews 1:14, Acts 12:7, Acts 27:23-24, Luke 16:22, Jude 9). Some angels are
guardians over specific nations (for instance, Daniel 12:1 and Daniel 10:21).
I'm sure this is a very short list of some of their jobs.
We have been created "lower" than the angels, with fewer powers,
although like them we have also been made in the image of God, with
personalities and spirits. It simply amazes me that when Jesus left heaven
to become a man, He willingly went down so far in rank. (See Philippians
2.)
The Bible predicts that someday we'll be higher in rank than the angels.
In fact, Paul told the Corinthians that in Christ they were wise enough to judge
each other and sort out their problems because someday Christians would even
judge the angels (1 Corinthians 6:3).
We often feel that we have no responsibilities, that our main purpose in life is
to pursue happiness. Let someone else fix the problems in this world, we
think. Yet the Bible is clear that this life is just a short prelude to
the everlasting life to come. God wants us to be faithful in the small
things now, and in return, He will reward us with larger responsibilities then.
What are some of the responsibilities of mankind? Psalm 8 continues:
"You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas."
God first ordained that we should have dominion over the earth in Genesis 1:
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them
rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over
all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and
female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be
fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over
the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that
moves on the ground."
God brought all the animals to Adam in Genesis 2. Adam's responsibility
was to name the animals and to tend the garden. After the fall, Adam had
to work especially hard to till the ground because of the thorns and thistles
that now grew. Yet our responsibility as a member of humanity is still to
have "dominion" over the earth and to rule over all the living
creatures God has made.
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I would love to get some feedback
from all of you...
1) Obviously, ruling over the "works of God's hands" means that
we need to take good care of them. How is this agenda similar to that of
environmentalists? How is it different?
2) Has our responsibility changed any because of Adam's fall? Has
anything changed because of Christ's work for us on the cross?
3) What additional responsibilities has God given to mankind since Adam?
Which ones apply directly to us today?
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Today's Bible study has been a little different, and I'm hoping to inspire you
to take your Bible and dig deeply for answers. As we conclude our study of
Psalm 8, I want to encourage you to meditate on the words of verse 9:
O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Revelation 4:11 says, "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor
and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were
created." One of our greatest purposes in life is to bring glory and
honor to God in all that we do. Even if we did not believe in Jesus
Christ, God would still ultimately receive glory from our lives, for "at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on
earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians
2:10-11).
Is your life bringing glory to God? What things need to change?
If you would
like to participate in our current study, click
here to join.
Next - Psalm
15:1
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