THE GREATNESS OF OUR GOD

 

Hebrews 2:5-9

 

            It is impossible for us to form a proper estimate of ourselves, until we see something of the greatness of God. Neither can we form any proper estimate of God’s wondrous works, until we know something of his greatness. It was the realization of God’s greatness which caused David to cry, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?

 

Psalm 8

 

                The quotation found in Hebrews 2:6 is taken from the 8th Psalm. In that inspired song of praise, the psalmist extols the greatness of God in five distinct ways. First, he extols the excellency of God’s name (v. 1). “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” Our great God is Jehovah, the God who saves! Second, David sang about the glorious supremacy and solitariness of God our Savior. The second line of verse one speaks of the exaltation of Christ, as our covenant Surety and Mediator. “Thou hast set thy glory (the Lord Jesus) above the heavens.

 

                Third, the psalm exhibits God’s purpose of grace (v. 2). “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.” Read 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, and you cannot miss the meaning of David’s words.

 

                Fourth, so great is our God that the whole of his vast creation is set before us as the work of his fingers! I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained” (v. 3). Finger work is work which requires no strength, but great skill, and detail. So great is our God that the vast universe is his finger work!

 

                Then, fifth, in verses 4-9, the psalmist extols the greatness of God by humbly rejoicing in God’s universal providence, describing the whole machinery of providence as God’s gracious visitations. David knew what the Holy Spirit tells us all believers know (Rom. 8:28), -- “that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

 

Ever entertain great thoughts of God. Anything that lowers God’s character or lessens his greatness is a lie of Satan. Do not tolerate it. Let no doctrine be believed, no sermon be heard, no song be sung, and no thought be received which in anyway detracts from the greatness of God. In all things, at all times, “ascribe ye greatness unto our God” (Deut. 32:3) “Behold your God,” and know that he is great (Isa. 40:10-31).

 

Isaiah 40

 

Read Isaiah 40:10-31 and rejoice in God’s greatness. Isaiah did. It is the greatness of God that inspires our confidence in him. He who is God our

 

 Savior is great! -- Greater than all the works he performs (vv. 12-14). -- Greater than all the nations he has made (vv. 15-17). -- Greater than all the gods men have invented (vv. 18-21). -- Greater than the world he created (v. 22). -- Greater than the greatest men the world ever produced (vv. 23-24). -- Greater than the heavens above (vv. 25-26). -- Greater far than all our troubles (vv. 27-31). Great beyond description, great beyond imagination, great beyond our loftiest praise is the Lord our God!

 

What is man?

 

In the light of God’s greatness and glory as God, it is an astonishing thing that God should be mindful of man, especially when we see the answer given in the Bible to the question -- “What is man?” Man is set before us in the Word of God as the peculiar, distinct object of God’s mercy, love, and grace. -- But what is he?

 

Anyone who knows and acknowledges the greatness of God, will also freely acknowledge the utter insignificance of man. As soon as David looked up to heaven and spoke to God of his greatness, his heart was humbled, his pride was withered, and he cried, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?”

 

                It is impossible for anyone to have both great views of God and great views of man. Those who imagine that man is great think God is insignificant. Those who know that God is great know that man is insignificant.

 

                “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” Here is greatness and littleness, grandeur and nothingness, excellence and corruption, majesty and meanness, God and man.

 

                “What is man?” The Word of God tells us plainly. -- “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof  is as the flower of the field” (Isa. 40:6). -- “Verily, every man at his best estate is altogether vanity” (Psa. 39:5). -- “Men are a lie” (Psa. 62:9).

 

                “What is man?” Don’t ask philosophers what they imagine, educators what they read in books, scientists what they see in microscopes, psychologists what they see in asylums, or sociologists what they learn from tests. Ask God who made us. He declares in his Word that man is fallen, depraved, sinning, sinful, cursed, condemned, helpless, dying flesh. Men are grasshoppers before him. Men are the dust of the earth, nothing more. Man is a lump of clay. Man is a puff of smoke, a mist of vapor, the small dust of the balance, a drop in a bucket. Man is insignificant! All the nations of all men in all the world are less than nothing before the great and infinite God.

 

Man is nothing. Man has nothing. Man can do nothing. You are nothing; and I am nothing. No matter how many of us nothings you put together, nothing added to nothing is still just nothing. God, teach us to know our nothingness, that we may look to Christ for everything!