(About Eternity)
Psalm 118
Preface: My hometown of Elizabethton was a thriving little community when I was growing up and everyone came out for the parades that marched down Elk Avenue, which is the main street of our town. The Christmas parade was the most exciting because Santa Claus was on the last float and he threw out candy to the crowds that lined the streets. Later when I was in junior high and playing the trombone in the marching band, I became a part of the parade, and nothing made me happier than dressing up in my band uniform and marching in the Christmas parade.
The high school I attended didn’t have a band and I let the trombone slide, so my parade days have been over for decades. But there is a parade I do want to join, and that is the festive celebration of those entering the gates of New Jerusalem. Isaac Watts put it this way:
We’re marching to Zion,
Beautiful, beautiful Zion,
We’re marching upward to Zion,
The beautiful city of God.
We have a foreshadowing of this festive procession in Psalm 118, the final installment in what is known as the Egyptian Hallel—Psalm 113 through 118. Let’s read Psalm 118.
Psalm 118
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
2 Let Israel say:
“His love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say:
“His love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say:
“His love endures forever.”
5 When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
he brought me into a spacious place.
6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
7 The Lord is with me; he is my helper.
I look in triumph on my enemies.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in humans.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
10 All the nations surrounded me,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
11 They surrounded me on every side,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
12 They swarmed around me like bees,
but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
13 I was pushed back and about to fall,
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.
15 Shouts of joy and victory
resound in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
16 The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
17 I will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has chastened me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.
19 Open for me the gates of the righteous;
I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord
through which the righteous may enter.
21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.
22 The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
23 the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 The Lord has done it this very day;
let us rejoice today and be glad.
25 Lord, save us!
Lord, grant us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
From the house of the Lord we bless you.
27 The Lord is God,
and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
up to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Introduction
Psalm 118 was Martin Luther’s favorite Psalm. He said, “This is my own beloved psalm. Although the entire psalter and all of holy Scripture is dear to me as my only comfort and source of life, I fell in love especially with this psalm. Therefore I call it my own. When emperors and kings, the wise and learned, and even saints could not aid me, this psalm proved a friend and helped me out of many great troubles. As a result, it is dearer to me than all the wealth, honor, and power of the pope, the Turk, and the emperor. I am most unwilling to trade this psalm for all of it.”
This is also a Psalm that has strengthened many people during times of persecution. The Scottish Covenanter, Donald Cargill, for example, sang this Psalm as he was set afire and burned at the stake.
This also happens to be the middle chapter of the Bible. There are 594 chapters before Psalm 118, and 594 chapters after it. The more I studied this psalm, the more I realized it should also be in the center of my thoughts. I’ve not given it enough attention in my own life. It is the last of the Egyptian Hallel songs that we’ve been studying. This was the final hymn Jesus sang, to the very best of our knowledge. It was the ending of the songs that were traditionally sung at the Passover meal.
It divides into three parts.
1. Our Call to Thanksgiving (Verses 1 – 4)
Verses 1 through 4 serve as the preamble of this Psalm and are a call to thanksgiving for us. This is also one of the few chapters that begin and end with the same words.
Verse 1 says: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” And the end of the psalm—verse 29—says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” So there’s no doubt about the theme of this Psalm. God’s love is indestructible, so we should be unendingly thankful.
This writer here is exuberant. He has a new vision of God’s love for him. Something has happened to remind him of how much the God of the universe loves him with an enduring, unending, indestructible love. You and I need a fresh awareness of the same thing. What would happen if we really understood this to the depth of our being?
The word “love” here is the Hebrew word hesed, which we saw in Psalm 117. This word occurs almost 250 times in the Old Testament, and over half the occurrences are in the book of Psalms.
This word hesed is used, for example, in Psalm 23:6, which tells us that goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. The word mercy is actually the Hebrew word hesed, which means God’s loyal, unconditional, active, covenant love will be available to us every single day, regardless of what the day brings.
In the book of Ruth, Naomi begs her widowed daughter-in-law Ruth to return to Moab, but Ruth says, “No. Where you go, I will go. Where you live, I will live. Your God shall be my God. Where you die and are buried, there will I die and be buried. I will never leave you.” In Ruth 3:10, Ruth’s loyalty to her mother-in-law is described as hesed. It’s a divine-type of loyalty and love.
Jeremiah used this word in Lamentations 3:22, when he said, “Because of the Lord’s [hesed love for us] we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”
In Psalm 136, the phrase “His [hesed] love endures forever” occurs 26 times in 26 verses! It occupies the last half of every verse in that chapter, which is intended for an antiphonal reading or singing.
This is the attitude John the Apostle had in mind when he said, “Perfect love casts out fear.” The more we grasp God’s hesed love, the less we’ll fear man’s hateful schemes or the devil’s hostile tricks.
It’s impossible to overestimate the significance of God’s hesed love toward us. In fact, it’s impossible even to estimate it, because it is infinite—and our minds are not. All we can truly do is underestimate it, but as we grow in Christ we should underestimate it less and less, and appreciate it more and more.
The Message version puts it like this: “Thank God because He’s good, because His love never quits. Tell the world, Israel, ‘His love never quits.’ And you, clan of Aaron, tell the world, ‘His love never quits.’ And you who fear God, join in, ‘His love never quits.’”
So this man is exuberant because he has a renewed awareness of how much God loves him. Who is he and what has happened to him? What event led to his rediscovery of God’s love for him? Verses 5 through 14 tells us about his deliverance from distress.
2. Our Deliverance from Distress (Verses 5 – 18)
Verse 5 says: When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place. The Hebrew term means a very narrow or confining space. Have you ever seen a movie in which the walls of a room moved inward to squeeze a victim. Or have you read about some of the POW cages, which were too small for the prisoner to stand or to lie down? Or have you read about a battle in which the ground gets smaller and smaller as the enemy advances. The writer here is saying, “I was getting pressed to the wall, and suddenly the Lord reached down, picked me up, and set me down in a spacious place.”
Verse 6 and 7 give us the man’s reaction to God’s deliverance. This man realized something: The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? The Lord is with me; he is my helper. I look in triumph on my enemies.
I especially like the phrase about the Lord being our helper. There is a certain category of verses in the Bible I call my “help” verses. Here in verse 7, the writer says, “The Lord is with me; He is my helper.” And in verse 13 he’s going to say, “I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me.”
Verses 8 and 9 say: It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.
This man was under incredible pressure, but he cried out to the Lord and the Lord caught him up, put him in a spacious place, reassured him of His presence, alleviated his fear, and reminded him that He—the Lord—was there to help him. So now, look at this man’s confidence. Verses 10 through 12 are brimming with courage:
All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I cut them down. They surrounded me on every side, but in the name of the Lord I cut them down. They swarmed around me like bees, but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
Years and years ago, I was mowing the back pasture when I ran into a nest of hornets. It was a hot day, and I was only wearing shorts and shoes. I jumped off the mower and ran for my life, and the hornets were right behind me, attacking me with all the anger they could carry in their little stingers. My whole body was pockmarked with stings. This is the comparison this man makes. His enemies were swarming around him like hornets. Verses 13 and 14 say: I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.
Now, let me pause and ask again. Who is this man? It could have been young David when he was being chased by the Israeli army under the command of King Saul. It could have been King Jehoshaphat when he was invaded by the combined armies of his enemies. It could have been Nehemiah when he was trying to build the walls of Jerusalem in a virtual war zone. It could be you or me.
But is there someone else this could be? That is the greatest question of this Psalm. Whoever it is, there are other people who rejoice in His amazing deliverance. Here was a man who was pressed to the wall. He was running out of room, he was being stung by a swarm of bees, as it were. And God stepped in and pulled him out of his peril. And now everyone who is righteous is celebrating. Look at verse 15: Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
That is the middle verse of the middle chapter of the Bible. Have you ever been in a restaurant with television screens on different ball games, and suddenly in one part of the restaurant a loud chorus of cheers goes up? Well, as far as you can see in this spacious place, there are tents occupied by good and righteous people, and something has happened to make them all cheer and shout and cry and sing at once, and they cry out, “Yahweh’s right hand has done something with unexpected power and momentous consequence.”
This man who has been delivered goes on to say in verses 17: The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!” I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done. The Lord has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.”
I was whipped. The Lord let me be scourged, but I will not die but live. Who is this person? Well, in one sense, of course, it is you and me, those of us who love and follow the Lord and who find that He delivers us from one danger after another because of His undying love. But that’s not the full answer. Let’s look at the last part of this psalm—our parade of victory.
3. Our Parade of Victory (Verses 19 – 29)
Sometimes in our little town we had victory parades. Well, this man, who ran out of room and was scourged but who is alive and victorious invites us to join him for a victory parade. Look at verses 19 and 20:
Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter.
Now we’re marching to Zion. We’re going up to the temple. There are a series of gates, and they open for us as we make our way into the presence of God.
In verse 21, the man again expresses His thanksgiving: I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation. He is so thankful. He was hard pressed. He was surrounded on every side by enemies. He was tortured by stinging and scourging. But he is alive and He is going to live and lead us all in a parade to Zion. Who is He?
Verse 22: He is the stone the builders rejected [who] has become the cornerstone.
In Matthew 21:42, Jesus asked His critics, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
When Peter and John were defending themselves for healing a lame man before the Jewish ruling council in the book of Acts, Peter with boldness and intrepidity, said, “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12).
The apostle Peter wasn’t done. In this first letter, he said, “To you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’” (1 Peter 2:7).
The apostle Paul said, “Christ Jesus Himself [is] the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20).
Continuing with Psalm 118, we now come to one of our favorite verses: “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” In its immediate context, this day is the day God the Father provided for our salvation through Jesus Christ,” although it’s also true for us every single day as people who are living in the glory of that salvation. I very often quote this verse aloud upon awakening in the morning: “This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it!”
This is our parade music. Look at verse 25: “Lord, save us!” The Hebrew word is “Hosanna!” Lord, grant us success. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
The crowds sang this on Palm Sunday, but the leaders crucified Jesus anyway. But now we have won the victory through Jesus Christ, and as we make our way down the parade route to Heaven, we can sing with new reality: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
Verses 26 and 27 say: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you. The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine on us.
Now all of us who know the Lord and share in His victory are invited to join the parade. Verse 27 goes on to way: With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar—that is right up into the presence of God in Heaven. And as we do so, we will sing verses 28 and 29:
You are my God, and I will praise you;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
By the end of the Psalm we are in the Lord’s house. Through Jesus Christ, we are marching toward Heaven and into our glorious experience of eternal life.
Now, remember, this was the final song Jesus sang in the Upper Room before heading out to Gethsemane and Golgotha.
The Scottish preacher, Andrew Bonar, wrote: “When Himself sung His Psalm, would not His eye look onward, not to Resurrection only, but to Ascension, too, when He entered the gates of righteousness above—but not least to His Second Coming and His passing with His ransomed into New Jerusalem, when they together enter in through the gates of the city…. It seems to be the Redeemer Himself, now surrounded by this multitude of ransomed ones, in whom He sees the travail of His soul and is satisfied, who closes this Psalm by a thanksgiving to His Father for these results and by an invitation to all the universe to join in and praise the God of love. He, in the days of His First Coming, sang it as His hymn while rising from the table to go to the garden of Gethsemane; but at His Second Coming, He will sing it with the tone of more than conqueror, having realized the whole. We may entitle a Psalm that contains such stirring incidents, past and prospective, ‘The Redeemers Conflict, Triumph, and Glorification, shared in by His Redeemed.’”
Conclusion
In closing, I have undertaken to do something I don’t know if I should have done. This is such a sacred passage. But if you will give me a bit of patience, I have taken Psalm 118 and tried, with my limited intellect and imagination, to conceive of how Jesus might have interpreted this Psalm as He sang it on that never-to-be forgotten night. To the best of our knowledge, this was the final hymn of His natural life—his deathbed song, as it were. Let’s try to enter into the wonder and passion and glory of it.
My Father, how I thank You for Your goodness to Me. Your love for Me is indestructible. I want all the people of Israel to know Your love is indestructible. I want all the priests of Israel to know Your love for them is indestructible. Oh, may everyone who fears You proclaim Your indestructible love.
Father, I am about to be hard pressed against the jagged wood of the rugged cross. With this song, I am crying out to You in the firm confidence You will raise me up to a spacious place.
Because You are with Me, I will not be afraid of what these mere mortals will do to Me.
You are with Me, and You are My Helper. I will triumph over my enemies. It’s better to lean on You than to lean on My disciples. It’s better to lean on You than to rely on the Jewish leaders or Roman rulers.
The whole world is against Me, but I will overrule it. They are going to surround Me as I hang on the cross, but I am going to overrule them. They are going to attack Me like a swarm of angry hornets, but I will overcome. They will push me to the limits of endurance, but You will help me.
Father, You are My strength, and My song, and My salvation. Yes, there will be cries of anguish; but they will soon be replaced by shouts of joy and victory in the homes of My followers, who will proclaim in amazement, “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
Yes, Your right hand is lifted high and will do mighty things. I will not be overcome by death. I will overcome death and will live and will proclaim Your glory. I may be scourged and whipped, but I will emerge from pain and death, and I will be victorious and ready to go forward.
Go ahead and open the gates of Heaven, because I’m on My way, and I will enter those gates with thanksgiving to You, Father, for those gates are swinging open to every person who finds their righteousness in Me.
I cannot stop thanking You for the way You will hear Me and help Me, and for Your promise to lift Me from the dead. I am the stone the builders rejected, but I will become the cornerstone for My people. You have done this, and it’s marvelous in My eyes.
Hey, everyone! This is the day the Lord has made. Let’s rejoice and be glad in it. Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest! Praise God for His success.
Listen, Father, as Your children amass along the parade route, all the way from here to the Heavenly Temple, they will praise Me, singing: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you. The Lord is God, and He has made His light shine on us.”
I can see them now, Father, with confetti and ticker tape and banners, cheering with joy as they march toward Zion, and as they sing: “You are my God, and I will praise you; You are my God, and I will exalt you.”
My Father, how I thank You for Your goodness to Me. Your love for Me is utterly indestructible.
Maybe that was a bit of what our Lord considered as He sang Psalm 118 that mystic night. This Psalm was for Him and it is also for us. So…
Come, we that love the Lord
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet accord,
And thus surround the throne.
We’re marching to Zion,
Beautiful, beautiful Zion;
We’re marching upward to Zion,
The beautiful city of God.