"How Majestic is Your Name" (Psalm 8)

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: 

“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8:1).

 

The year 2025 has ended. Welcome to 2026! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

With a new year, often comes renewed hope and positive thinking. Fitness clubs thrive on hope and positive thinking these first days and weeks of January. They advertise deals in their hope that you would join their club, pay the fees, and maybe actually exercise.

 

There is something about a new year. It is a renewal. It feels like a fresh start. And each newly arrived year reminds us that we have arrived to another year of our Lord. And that “Year of Our Lord” – that A.D. “Anno Domini – comes with peace, hope, certainty and joy. The Year of Our Lord 2026 is truly in the hands of our Lord!

 

You see, your future is not in the hands of fate, or chance, or any random occurrence. Your future is in the hands of the Lord! You know, the One who was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, who was placed in a manger, who was nailed to a cross for you, who died and rose for you to give you forgiveness, life and salvation! He reigns for you as everything is under His feet!

 

Today’s reading from Psalm 8 is fitting for a New Year as it speaks how majestic God’s Name is in all the earth. The triune God is certainly majestic! He showed “His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

 

We spoke together earlier: “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens” (Psalm 8:1). As we spoke those words, we are calling on Yahweh, the very personal name of God as our King, our Ruler. We are confessing the name of the only true God as our Ruler.

 

And His Name is majestic! Yahweh alone is, and always has been, and always will be the One who exists and, by extension, is always present to act on our behalf for us and for our salvation!

 

God’s majesty is also found all throughout the created order. Yahweh is praised by huge galaxies and by tiny babies. The sun, the moon, and the stars testify to the majesty, power, and wisdom of God. But their testimony is without words. Their testimony is without love. But more precious than the testimony of huge galaxies are the simple prayers and songs of a little child. Even infants, who cannot communicate without crying, can praise God in ways that we do not understand.

 

The Psalmist writes: “When I look at your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the Son of Man that you care for Him?” (Psalm 8:3-4).

 

For our majestic God, His work of creating galaxies was detailed handiwork, like fine needlepoint. But man? What is man compared to the sun, moon, and stars? Man is but a speck compared to just one of God’s stars!

 

Yet, God created Adam and Eve to have dominion over the universe. He created the sun, moon, and stars to serve them.

 

God created man and woman in His very image, so that humanity could be righteous and holy and live in happy fellowship with Him. In the grand scheme of created things, man appears to be insignificant, but God created everything for you and me.

 

But through Adam’s Fall into sin, humanity’s fellowship with God was broken – it was completely split apart. And because of the Fall, man’s dominion over the universe was gone. Now, we can still use our intelligence that God has given us to maintain partial control of things, but in the grand scheme of things, we no longer have uncontested dominion over the world God gave us to steward.

 

Now animals kill human beings. Human beings kill animals. Human beings slaughter other human beings. Earthquakes, floods, tornados, hurricanes can wipe us out. Even the tiniest of viruses can kill us. We now live in a hostile environment. And one day, unless Christ returns first, we must return to the ground from which we were all created.

 

The Psalmist writes: “Yet You have made Him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned Him with glory and honor. You have given Him dominion over the works of Your hands; you have put all things under His feet” (Psalm 8:5-6).

 

 

Psalm 8 is quoted twice in the New Testament as a messianic prophecy that was fulfilled when Jesus Christ came and regained dominion over the world for us.

 

Certainly, as true God, Jesus already had dominion over the whole universe. But when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, He took on a human nature like ours, though without sin. In this state, the Second Person of the Trinity undertook the work of regaining our lost dominion for us.

 

As how puny humanity may seem in the grand scheme of things of the entire universe, God created humanity in His image. God created the sun, moon, and stars, and all of creation for us humans. God loves humanity so much that He took upon Himself our flesh to save us.

 

As God became man for us, Jesus made Himself lower than the heavenly beings – the angels. (Hebrews 2:6-8)

 

And during His ministry on earth, Jesus did not appear to look like God or even an angel, but like an ordinary man.

 

Psalm 8 was fulfilled throughout Jesus’ ministry on earth when He assumed the form of a humble servant. Jesus was “made a little lower than the heavenly beings” when He was helped by angels at the time of His temptation and in Gethsemane. Psalm 8 was fulfilled when Jesus’ enemies refused to recognize Him as God and instead ridiculed Him as a lowly carpenter and when they mocked Him while crucified on the cross. Psalm 8 was fulfilled at Calvary when Jesus cried out: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).

 

But Jesus would not stay in this humble condition. You see, when He had finished His work of defeating sin, death and the power of the devil, He ascended to heaven and was seated at the right hand of God. He now has all power in heaven and on earth. He is crowned with honor and glory. St. Paul quotes Psalm 8 in 1 Corinthians 15:27 saying: “For God has put all things in subjection under His feet.” Paul writes this to remind us that Jesus rules over all things – in heaven and on earth – for us!

 

So, just as Adam brought death to all people, so Christ, the second Adam, won life for all people. Adam lost the dominion that had been entrusted to him, but Christ is now ruling the world for the benefit of His people. And by faith in Him, we are given the reward of Christ’s victory as we are now heirs of His kingdom, including the new heaven and new earth.

On this New Year’s Day – the eighth day of Christmas, the day we remember the circumcision and naming of our Lord, the Second Person of the Trinity received His name: “Jesus,” which means “the Lord saves.” 

 

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is the name of Jesus, who has come to save us! Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Sermon for Epiphany 2: "Did God Really Say?" (Isaiah 49)

 

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!

 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

 

[Intro]

 

It’s kind of hard to hear with fruit stuck in your ears. Now, how do I know that? Have I ever had fruit stuck in my ears? I imagine you think that you have never had fruit stuck in your ears. But, I assure you, it’s in there, and it’s stuck.

 

Humankind has had fruit stuck in our ears for a long time. The serpent said to Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1) “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” (Genesis 3:6).

 

She stopped up her ears with it so that she couldn’t quite hear the Word of the Lord anymore. For God had said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).

 

But Eve heard, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5).

 

Now, let’s not forget about Adam for he is the one ultimately to be blamed. For he should have stopped Eve, but he didn’t. Instead, he stuffed fruit in his ears, too. The serpent’s suggestion slipped in like an earworm out of one apple and settled in to command their consciousness. That is why to this very day, Adam and Eve’s offspring still ask one another: “Did God really say?”

 

[Did God Really Say: Part One]

 

Our text from Isaiah this morning has remained unchanged for centuries. Yet, plenty of voices continue asking: “Did God really say?”

 

Did God really say, “[He] called me from the womb”? (Isaiah 49:1b) “Did God really say that He “knitted me together in my mother’s womb”? (Psalm 139:13) Did God really say He “created [us] in His own image”? (Genesis 1:27)

 

Probably He meant: He “called me a parasite, a tumor, a clump of cells, a blob of tissue.” Or, He meant: “my body, my choice, a private medical decision,” didn’t He? Or possibly: “as soon as the baby forms memories, or whenever the baby reaches viability,” don’t you think? Or maybe: “as long as they planned for the child, as long as they can afford the child,” wouldn’t you agree? Or: “unless deformities and disabilities show up,” am I right?

 

And, did God really say, “a light for the nations”? God says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

 

Surely, He doesn’t mean that. He must mean: “a light for most of the nations” or “a light for some of the nations.” Perhaps He means: “a light for those who can communicate” or “a light for the prosperous ones.”

 

We have already filled every available space in our consciousness with the fruits of indulgence and luxury. We have already jammed our heads all these millennia up with the fruits of accumulating and uniformity.

 

It seems the fruit has made its way into our veins. In fact, you could say it’s slowly choking our very hearts. Did God really say: “I kill and I make alive”? (Deuteronomy 32:39)

 

You see, what we hear is: “we can use death as a solution to difficulty and distress.”

 

What makes more sense to our fruit-stuffed ears and hearts is: “Don’t legislate your morality”… and “Keep your religion to yourself.” What we prefer is: “As long as you’re not hurting anyone, do whatever makes you happy.”

 

What we’re quite sure God should have said is: “Love yourself, take care of yourself and accept yourself as you are.”

 

[Did God Really Say: Part Two]

 

With our fruit-stuffed ears, we ask did God really say: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) Did God really say: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves”? (1 John 1:8)

 

No, the problem must be ignorance, inequality, patriarchy, toxic masculinity!

 

Did God really say: “Apart from me you can do nothing”? (John 15:5) Did God really say: “Slave to sin” (John 8:34), “dead in the trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), and “the wages of sin is death”? (Romans 6:23)

 

Even with the fruit in our ears, we can hear the hearts breaking. Our eyes still can clearly behold the grief and guilt. Since January 22, 1973 with Roe v. Wade, abortion access hasn’t solved any problems. Instead, it has multiplied suffering. And more recently, assisted suicide hasn’t made any pain go away.

 

This trauma has raised rates of depression and caused relationship breakdowns.

 

All this has left is 1.5 billion human beings dead worldwide and more than 60 million Americans. Untold others walk among us wounded and haunted. None of these acts has spared one single soul from the misery and mortality that besets us all. Isn’t it time that we take the fruit out and listen to God’s Word?

 

[God Really Did Say…]

 

Now, God the Father has the perfect implement for getting the forbidden fruit out of our ears – His only begotten Son Jesus Christ.

 

You see, Jesus turns up the volume of what His fingers formed and His heart’s will brought forth. He takes away the bad fruit and in turn, gives us His love.

 

God really did say “in and from the mother’s womb.” The Son of God Himself inhabited the belly of the virgin Mary. Jesus was “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary” (Apostles’ Creed).

 

God created every human being in His image and after His likeness, you and me. Here, God means all humans – age, appearance and ability cannot impair our worth and purpose.

 

God really did say: “reconciling the world, the ends of the earth, all creation, and whole of mankind.” Jesus – as fully man – was like us in every way. Although He knew no sin, He took on our sin – every single sin of thought, word, and deed – big and little – including abortion – to “make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17). Jesus – the very Lamb of God – humbled Himself to the form of a servant and our human likeness, subject to death, “even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8).

 

Jesus as fully man and fully God bled for our sin. He died for our sin. He paid for our sin. He did this, so that we would be declared justified, righteous, innocent and holy.

 

Jesus is the Lord of death and the Lord of life. Through His life, death and resurrection, He proves that every human being is precious in His sight.

 

[The Good Fruit]

 

Jesus puts the good fruit where it belongs – not in our ears – but in our mouth. Truth tastes sweetest when properly ingested. Here in the Divine Service, Christ is revealed and we receive God’s good fruit!

 

We hear God’s Word proclaimed and taught as we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest His Word.

 

We rinse our ears with Baptism’s assurance that we are indeed, a child of God. We irrigate our very being with Holy Communion’s affirmations – eat, drink Christ’s true body and true blood that gives us forgiveness of sins, life, salvation and strength for our weak faith.

 

We swallow and savor this comfort, hope and joy, knowing that through Christ, we truly hear God speaking. He is speaking of forgiveness, life and salvation for He has chosen you and me! Amen.

 

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

T SOLI DEO GLORIA T