The Lord Jesus would, no doubt,have sang this psalm with His disciples as they kept the Passover on the nighthe was betrayed. I would not be surprised if this was the last Psalm that theysang, for in this psalm we have, I believe, a clear reference to the Lordsuffering and his triumphs at His resurrection. We may entitle this Psalm,“Thanksgiving for Messiah’s Humiliation & Exaltation.”

Youmay realise that this psalm begins and ends with a call to “Give thanks untothe LORD.” So this is a thanksgiving psalm. It is a psalm of thanksgiving whichour Saviour gives to the church. It is helpful as we look at this psalm,however, to see the first person singular pronouns as the words of Christ forus to sing in union with him, whereas the plural first person pronouns are thewords of Christ given to us to sing to Him, to the Father and to one another.

It has a simple three-partstructure. From verses 1-4, we have a Call to Thanksgiving. From verse 5-18, wehave the first set of reasons for thanksgiving, namely, the Lord’s victory inHis humiliation. From verse 19-29, we have the second set of reasons forthanksgiving, namely, the Lord’s triumph in His exaltation.

1. Call to Thanksgiving

¹ O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endurethfor ever. ² Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. ³Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. ⁴Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

Gratitude, especially gratitude towards God, is a veryimportant virtue that every believer must cultivate. The Scripture thereforereminds us to give thanks to the LORD over and over again. Our text is among amultitude that we may use to encourage one another in congregational worship togive thanks with a grateful heart.

“O give thanksunto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever” (v. 1).Why give thanks to the LORD? Give thanks because He is good, and does good inHis covenant loving-kindness towards His people down the generations. Whoshould give thanks? Israel, the Israel of God or the Church must give thanks(v. 2). As the Israel of God, we have enjoyed the covenant love of the LORD. Ifwe do not give thanks, who would? If we do not give thanks, we are worst thaninfidel? 

Butwho of Israel should especially give thanks? The house of Aaron (v. 3), thosewhom God has called to serve him officially in the church, must especially givethanks. They are to represent the people, and they are to lead by example.

Whoelse must especially give thank? Those that truly fear the LORD out of love andreverence must especially give thanks. In the church of God, there are wheat and tares, good and bad fishes,and there are those who are backsliding or hardened by the deceitfulness of sin,therefore in congregational praise, there will always be a mixture sincere andinsincere voices. Therefore, such as truly fear the Lord must all the moreraise their voices to praise and thank the Lord with grateful hearts that thevoice of congregational worship may ascend to heaven as a sweet savoursacrifice.

What shall we say in thanksgiving? Let not just say‘Thank you.’ Let us say: “that his mercyendureth for ever!” Let us say it over and over again as we are taught todo in these first 4 verses and in other psalms such as Psalm 136. But let usnot stop there, rather, let us use the materials provided by our Lord to givesubstance for our thanksgiving.

Let us, as a case in point, thank the LORD for thevictory of our Saviour in his humiliation, which is the first set of reasonswhich our Lord supplies for us to join him to thank God for.

2. Victory in Humiliation

⁵ I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me ina large place.  ⁶ The LORD ison my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?  ⁷ The LORD taketh my part withthem that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.

I believethat whoever is the writer of this psalm, he wrote it in the Spirit of Christ.He not only reflected his own experience, but the experience of the Lord Jesusin suffering on our behalf.

We can imagine our Saviour singing these words withHis disciples in the night he was betrayed: “I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answer me… The LORD is onmy side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?”

OurLord was going to the Cross alone. His heart was filled with great distress. Weget a picture of how He must have felt in the way He prayed in the garden ofGethsemane. He knew that He would be falling into the hands of man. It was afearful thing, but He knew that with God on His side, He needed not fear.Though He would be facing God’s punishments for our sins, He need not fear, forGod is holy, just and compassionate; He would not suffer the wicked to tormentHis son unjustly with impunity according to all their false charges.

Sowe are taught to sing with our Saviour:

⁸ It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. ⁹It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.

Whata beautiful confession! Though we do not see God with our physical eyes, let uslearn trust Him by faith rather than to be tempted to put our hope in man. Men,however powerful they may be, will disappoint, but the LORD never disappoints.He does all things well.

Our Saviour was in a dire strait. Surrounded byenemies who hated Him both of Jews and Gentiles, He would, no doubt, have feltlike a king sounded by enemy troops in a time of war; or like bees swarmingaround Him, ready to sting. But our Saviour trusted in the Father that He wouldvindicate and fight for him (v. 10-12). His enemies would be destroyed for Godwill not be mocked.

The battle that our Lord would fight at the Cross ispart of the ancient war between the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of theSerpent (Gen 3:15). The serpent would bite the heel of the Lord, but the Lordwould stomp on his head to crush it. The idea behind the imagery is, no doubt,the same as what prompted our Lord’s Word in verse 13-16—

¹³ Thou hastthrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me. ¹⁴ TheLORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. ¹⁵ Thevoice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: theright hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. ¹⁶ The right hand of theLORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.

Satan would thrust sore at Saviour in the eventsleading up to the Cross and at the Cross itself. But our Saviour wouldexperience the deliverance of the Father. “¹⁴The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.” Note thatthe word ‘salvation’ does not always mean “salvation from sin,” in this contextit is clearly a reference to deliverance from the torment and injusticeinflicted on our Saviour by the devil.

Thedevil and his cohorts would send our Saviour to death. And our Saviour wouldwillingly give up the ghost. Yet He would not remain in the grave for he wasperfectly righteous, and His death would more than pay for the sin of a millionworlds. Therefore, he would rise again for our justification (cf. Rom 4:25).His sacrifice was sufficient. Thus our Saviour declared:

¹⁷ I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. ¹⁸The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death.

Therefore, let us also join Him to thank the Fatherfor His…

3. Triumph in Exaltation

¹⁹ Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I willpraise the LORD: ²⁰ This gate of the LORD, into which the righteousshall enter. ²¹ I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and artbecome my salvation.

Thegates of righteousness is the gates of heaven. Christ came precisely so thatthe gates of heaven might be open for us. When He has finally paid the wages ofsin for us, our Lord rose from the dead, and as it were, brought a multitude,being His elect saints, in His train (Ps 68:18). These are imputed with Hisrighteousness and given the privilege of sitting in heavenly places in ChristJesus (Eph 2:6).

Thesewould join Him to praise the LORD both in this life and for all eternity.Blessed be the LORD. And what will be our song each sabbath when we jointogether with our Saviour to worship the Father? Our song is beautifullysummarised in verses 22-25—

²² The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of thecorner. ²³ This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvellous in oureyes.  ²⁴ This is the daywhich the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

The stone which the builders refuse and was put todeath is now become head stone of the corner (cf. Acts 4:11). He is risen fromthe dead. He is now the chief corner stone of the heavenly temple of God, ofwhich we are lively stones.

Thisday of the resurrection would henceforth be a day of joy and gladness as God’speople commemorate the completion of the work of redemption. In Old Testamentdays, the saints kept the Sabbath on the 7^th day to remember thegreat work of God in Creation. But there remains a sabbath rest for the peopleof God (Heb 4:9), by which we commemorate the redemptive rest of Christ (Heb4:10). Thus God’s people today keep the Sabbath on the first day of the week,the day which the stone which the builders reject is made head corner stone.

Howdoes our Saviour respond to our worship in commemoration of His death andresurrection? His response is in verse 25—

²⁵ Save now, Ibeseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.

Havingpurged our sins, the Lord our Saviour, rose from the dead and is seated at theright hand of the throne of God as our intercessor (Heb 1:3). What does He prayfor us? He prays for our prosperity. He prays for us for victory over sin andSatan. He prays for us that we will make good speed in our Christian race tothe celestial city wherein we will enjoy everlasting rest in him.

Andhow shall we respond? Verse 26-27—

 ²⁶ Blessed be he that cometh in thename of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. ²⁷God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords,even unto the horns of the altar.

Our Saviour refers to verse 26 in Luke 13:35 wheretells the Jews that they would not see Him until they “shall say, Blessed is hethat cometh in the name of the Lord.” (Lk 13:35)

No doubt, our Lord is referringto himself as He that cometh in the name of the Lord. The Jews who were hardenin their hearts would not see Him, but such as would be given faith to be ableto praise God for He who comes in the name of the LORD, will indeed see Himboth with eyes of faith in their lifetime and with eyes of flesh at theresurrection (Job 19:26).

But what does verse 27 mean?What does it mean to “bind the sacrifice with cords.” Now, these words are difficult tounderstand for us, but it would have been no problem for the Jews for theywould have understood that animal sacrifices which were being consecrated forsacrifice were, as it were, tied to the altar. So this is really a call to thechurch to prepare to worship the Lord.

Whenwe sing these words in congregational worship we are calling upon one another toworship the Lord with hearts prepared and ready to offer up the calves of ourlips on the basis of the death and resurrection of Christ our Saviour.

Andwhat shall we offer but the words of our Lord which we sing in union with Him,which closes these beautiful words of affection and gratitude—

²⁸ Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exaltthee. ²⁹ O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercyendureth for ever.

Conclusion

This, beloved brethren and children, is Psalm 118briefly. This a very beautiful and profound psalm which I am quite sure wouldhave move our Lord and His disciples to tears as they sang it together on thenight our Lord was betrayed. But as you can see, though it anticipates thesuffering and death of our Lord, it is not a funerary psalm. It is rather apsalm of victory—victor that was wrought both in the humiliation and exaltationof our Saviour.

Itis a psalm that we can use in all occasions when we are anticipating greatdifficulties and suffering. But it is a psalm particularly for us to rememberour Lord suffering and victories on our behalf. May God the Spirit stir ourhearts to grateful thanksgiving when we sing this psalm together in union withour Saviour? Amen. Ω