Psalm 118--His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

Psalm 118
English Standard Version

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever
118 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
    for his steadfast love endures forever!

2 Let Israel say,
    “His steadfast love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say,
    “His steadfast love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the LORD say,
    “His steadfast love endures forever.”

5 Out of my distress I called on the LORD;
    the LORD answered me and set me free.
6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.
    What can man do to me?
7 The LORD is on my side as my helper;
    I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
    than to trust in man.
9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
    than to trust in princes.

10 All nations surrounded me;
    in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
11 They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
    in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
12 They surrounded me like bees;
    they went out like a fire among thorns;
    in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
    but the LORD helped me.

14 The LORD is my strength and my song;
    he has become my salvation.
15 Glad songs of salvation
    are in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,
16     the right hand of the LORD exalts,
    the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!”

17 I shall not die, but I shall live,
    and recount the deeds of the LORD.
18 The LORD has disciplined me severely,
    but he has not given me over to death.

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness,
    that I may enter through them
    and give thanks to the LORD.
20 This is the gate of the LORD;
    the righteous shall enter through it.
21 I thank you that you have answered me
    and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone.
23 This is the LORD's doing;
    it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the LORD has made;
    let us rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Save us, we pray, O LORD!
    O LORD, we pray, give us success!

26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
    We bless you from the house of the LORD.
27 The LORD is God,
    and he has made his light to shine upon us.
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,
    up to the horns of the altar!

​28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
    you are my God; I will extol you.
29 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
    for his steadfast love endures forever!

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By most people's definition, this is the "middle chapter" in the Bible and while I have a hard time saying that was God's intent as the Psalms were towards the end of the TNK (the Jewish Scriptures with three divisions--the Torah or Law (T), the Prophets (N), and the Writings (K), it is interesting to have this Psalm at the center of our bibles, but the steadfast love (hased​) of the LORD is a central theme from Genesis to Revelation.  Some even focus on verse 8 as the "central verse," " It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man."  It may or may not be at the center of our Bibles, but that's a good verse for all of us to memorize alongside the main theme of this chapter, "His steadfast love endures forever"--in fact, that has been the refrain for many of the psalms and were the words the people would respond with as the priests called out all the reasons why the LORD was greatly to be praised.  It was a call for the people to participate in the exaltation of the LORD as they came to offer sacrifices before Him.  Why did they do that?  It wasn't just because of their sin that needed atonement, but they came to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to the LORD as well.

That is why the psalm starts off with calling the House of Israel (those in the congregation in the Tabernacle or Temple) and the House of Aaron (those leading worship in the Tabernacle or Temple) and all God-fearing people, including God-fearing Gentiles who would be worshiping in the outer court to lift up their voices and praise the LORD with this song.  

The psalmist (probably David) says that he gives praise to the LORD for His deliverance, especially in times where the situation looked impossible from man's perspective.  The psalmist was in distress and cried out to the LORD for help, and the LORD set him free.  The psalmist is confident to say "The LORD is on my side" and then concludes, "What can man do to me?" (That's a rhetorical question with the assumed answer of "Only what the LORD allows").  "The LORD is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me."  That is to say, the LORD's victory is sure, and no one can take the things away from us that the LORD has promised to us.  Even death cannot separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (see Romans 8).

Then a lesson that I wish the kings of Israel and Judah would have paid attention to.  It would have saved them and their citizens from so much trouble--it is better to trust in the LORD (and the promises that He has made and must fulfil to His people) than to trust in the size of your army or the size of the armies of other nations that you ally with to try to make a stronger army than that of your enemies.  In the last days, all the armies of the world will march against the Lord and His people, but it will be the Lord Himself that will destroy all of them.  The Son of God against all of His enemies, and He will (and must) be victorious over all of them.  By the word of His mouth, they will be dashed to pieces before Him.

Though the Gentile nations of the world surround Israel to try to take the Land and other blessings that that the LORD gives to them that only belong to them, the psalmist (again, probably David) says he will stand firm and fight the battle that the LORD has given him.  Even though from worldly standards, he looks outnumbered and has weaker weapons of war, he has the LORD on his side and can't possibly lose if the LORD fights for His people.  The enemies of the LORD will be cut off.  It may take all of the psalmist's physical strength to fight, but he will obey the LORD and trust the LORD to give him the strength necessary to do what He has commanded.

This leads us to praise the LORD for who He is and what He has done, "The LORD is my strength and my [victory] song.  He has become my salvation."  The encampments of the armies of Israel break out in song when the LORD delivers them with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.  The LORD is mighty to save.

We also know the LORD loves us, because He disciplines His children, though not in the same way that He pours out His wrath on HIs enemies.  We know his correction is not for our destruction, but for our good.  The LORD corrects and disciplines His children because He loves them.

Even when we look death in the face, we need not fear because our salvation is not just from the men of this world, but the LORD provides salvation from our spiritual enemies of sin and death, and He will deliver us to an even better Promised Land of the New Heavens and the New Earth that are being prepared for all of us.  The psalmist (again, probably David) asks the LORD to keep the gates open for him because he knows that death is on the horizon.  Then there is Messianic prophecy slipped in about the stone that the builders rejected becoming the chief cornerstone which refers to how our ultimate salvation would be provided through a Messian that Hsi own people would reject.  Salvation is found in no other name for Jews and Gentiles alike, and there is but one Way to the Father, and that is through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

​21 I thank you that you have answered me
    and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone.
23 This is the LORD's doing;
    it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the LORD has made;
    let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Amen to that!  The salvation of our souls is the greatest thing that we give thanks for, and it is all the LORD's doing.  It is marvelous (and mysterious) in our eyes.  It is foolishness to those who have not experienced it, yet it is His perfect plan to redeem a people to Himself for His good pleasure and to the praise of His glory.  The "day" being referred to is the day that our faith becomes sight.  We will rejoice and be glad even in that day when we leave the world behind.  For the psalmist, that was by way of death and entering into Paradise to await a future day of even better blessing.  For us today, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and some of us may not even have to taste death if the Lord returns for His people soon in what we call "The Rapture" (The "Catching Up" of the saints that is described in several places in the Scriptures).

The psalmist is in a desperate situation.  Everything he just said is true, and he therefore cries out, "Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success!"

Then comes another Messianic portion of the psalm.  The Messiah will come and defeat all His enemies as we've described.  The psalm points to this when it says, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!"  These are the words used by the people to welcome Jesus on His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, for they believed that the words of this psalm were being fulfilled, that He was bringing salvation to them.  He was, but not the kind they expected.  They expected the first half of the psalm to be fulfilled which spoke of a military victory won by a king who led his people into battle against the Gentile nations.  However, they missed the part in the middle about salvation from sin and death and delivering His people to eternal life.  This was the better salvation that the LORD Himself provided by giving us the Son of God.  He is the festival sacrifice (the Passover Lamb) that would be bound with cords and offered on an altar of the cross of crucifixion.  At the very time that the Passover Lambs were being offered in the Temple, He gave us His life for us and said, "It is finished."  (The debt was paid in full, and all that was necessary for our salvation had been accomplished).

For this reason, we will praise and extol Him forever and ever!  The psalm then finishes with the same line it started with, "Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!"  We thought we had reason to sing to him in the beginning of the psalm because of the ways in which He physically saved them during military campaigns fought in this real, but we have even better reasons to praise Him for the victory He has secured for us in the heavenly places!  He will deliver His people to a new and better Promised Land where the Curse will be reversed, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4).  If that doesn't give you reason to praise Him, then I don't know what will!