Behind Psalm 8, the second “song of majesty” is Psalm 145, where we also find “two modes” of divine majesty. The fourth stanza praises God’s regal highness in the more typical terms: glory and power, mighty deeds, situated in “his kingdom,” under his kingly dominion. This is the stuff of natural majesty. Then the fifth stanza unfolds this peculiar majesty for the enlightened eyes of his covenant people — the people to which God, amazingly, is kind, or literally loyal (verses 13b and 17) by his gracious covenant. Psalm 138 also contains a parallel, at least in showing the surprising majesty of God, and the global advance of his renown, his name.

Mention something “majestic” in nature, and many of us would think of mountains.
We might call to mind some great range of mountains, or a towering waterfall, or an expansive body of water with no end in sight. Majestic features are both imposing and attractive, both impressive and beautiful, both intimidating and inviting. They have a strange pull on the human soul, drawing on us to draw near, but with reverence and care.
In our language, as in biblical terms, the word majesty captures not only bigness but also beauty, awesome power combined with pleasant admiration, both great height or size and yet potential safety. Majesty brings together both greatness and goodness, both strength and splendor (Psalm 96:6). It’s not only a fitting descriptor for mountain majesties but also for God, who is, above all, “the Majestic One” (Isaiah 10:34). Psalm 76:4 declares in praise to him, “Glorious are you,” and then adds, “more majestic than the mountains.”
How Majestic His Name
Such divine majesty pulses with an expansive, evangelistic force. God is not only majestic in fact but also in renown. His greatness, his power, his glory are not to be hidden and kept secret, but to spread through sight and word far and wide, attaching his name to such greatness and glory. His majesty is to be known, and he to be known, by name.
In a song of high praise, Psalm 148 bids both kings and commoners, young men and maidens, old and young alike to praise God’s exalted name as an extension of his majesty:
Let them praise the name of the Lord,for his name alone is exalted;his majesty is above earth and heaven. (Psalm 148:13)
So also Micah’s famous Bethlehem prophecy speaks of a great ruler arising, from the little town, who “shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth” (Micah 5:4).
Of course, nowhere is God’s majesty accented as memorably as in the first line of Psalm 8 and its refrain in the last. This is Scripture’s signature celebration of divine majesty. Yet here, God’s majesty is not like the renown of mere human splendor, whether of ancient Egypt or Babylon or Rome, or like the renown of a Washington or Napoleon, a Lincoln or Churchill. This psalm, perhaps surprisingly, largely assumes God’s natural majesty (as we might call it), equally visible to unbelieving eyes, while accenting his peculiar majesty — the summit of his beauty requiring a miracle of his grace to see and enjoy.
Two Modes of Majesty
Psalm 8 manifestly sings of glory — God’s glory, set above the heavens (verse 1), and man’s glory, appointed by God, as one he has “crowned . . . with glory and honor” (verse 5). And so, that memorable opening line, reprised as the final note, hails the majesty of God’s name:
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Here, under the banner of God’s majesty and excellence as his glory, we find two levels, or modes. First is what we might call a natural mode: the heavens (verses 1 and 3), the moon and the stars (verse 3), and we might presume the quintessential natural majesties like mountains and waterfalls and oceans, vast physical expanses that remind us of our smallness and the awe-inspiring bigness and authority and power of the one who made such majesties.
But then, second, is what we might call a special mode of his majesty, which is the particular emphasis of Psalm 8: verse 2 mentions the mouths of babies and infants (that is, the weak) testifying to his strength in the face of foes and the enemy and avenger. Then, at the heart of the psalm, verses 3–8 marvel at his grace toward mankind. In view of such natural majesties as the heavens (“your heavens”!) and moon and stars, and mountains, “What is man that you are mindful of him?”
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 We possess the greatest thing in life, and the only thing that truly matters is a saving relationship with God through Christ. Despite the suffering, brokenness, pain, and problems that we experience, we still have God and His amazing love for us. This amazing love preserves us until the very end; until we experience it full in all eternity – where sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Rom. 8:18) 

Have you ever felt defeated in life? Do you feel like the only thing that you experience is just losing so much in life? Do troubles and problems drown you to the point of giving up? Does your sickness weaken you to the point that you do not want to live anymore?
If we try to set our minds on the problems we have in life then we would really feel discouraged and defeated. But Paul says in Romans 8:37 that “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” How on earth are we more than conquerors despite the pain and brokenness that we experience in this sin-stained and sin-scarred world? We are more than conquerors through Christ. Christ is the one who loved us and He showed His unfathomable and heart-gripping love when He died on behalf of us on the cross.
In Romans 8:37, Paul wrote there: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” What are these things that Paul is talking about? In verses 35 and 36, He asked: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” These are the things Paul wrote about. We are more than conquerors despite these things. Despite tribulation. Despite distress. Despite persecution. Despite famine. Despite nakedness. Despite danger. Despite sword. Why? Because these things are not strong enough to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Peace is, first of all, a reconciled relationship with God through Christ, and second, a life lived in continual dependence on God in the power of the Spirit. In the spirit of Paul’s words to the Galatians, we can lead our people in living in an orbit of grace, freedom, and loving service: “You were called to freedom, brothers. … through love serve one another” (5:13).

Our world is full of strife yet desperate for peace. There are volatile international conflicts. There are student protests, political dissensions, and challenges in our churches and families. Is there any way out? “But the fruit of the Spirit is … peace” (Gal. 5:22).
Strife in Galatia
Slightly earlier in the Galatian letter, Paul exhorts, “But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit …” (5:15).
The apostle pens the entire letter in the context of strife and division. He starts out, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” (1:6) and twice calls down a curse on his opponents (1:8, 9).
He even recounts a sharp conflict with Peter, whom he “opposed … to his face, because he stood condemned,” having briefly followed that other gospel (2:11).
Paul, for his part, asserts that he lives “by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” and does not “nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose” (2:20–21).
Any effort at self-justification—any human striving and moral living apart from the enabling grace of God and the power of the Spirit—will miserably fail. Such a misguided disposition can lead only to strife and division.
The fruit of the Spirit, on the other hand, is peace.
Peace Comes Only through the Gospel
As pastors, we have the privilege of extolling the radical and liberating message of the gospel. Without any contribution on our part, Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that God can justify us—declare us righteous—on the basis of what Jesus, the Son of God, did for us.
The answer to all global, local, and internal conflict lies only in the gospel.
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