Praising Scripture - Dec 26

Introduction...

Psalm 118:19-29 Messianic Psalms
（Memorization Scripture: vv.22-24）
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I will go through them,
And I will praise the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord,
Through which the righteous shall enter.
21 I will praise You,
For You have answered me,
And have become my salvation.

22 The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This was the Lord’s doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Save now, I pray, O Lord;
O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity.
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.
27 God is the Lord,
And He has given us light;
Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise You;
You are my God, I will exalt You.
29 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.


[Sharing] Are there any words truer than these - You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I will exalt You. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. This psalm is rich in Messianic imagery and many of the lines are familiar to us from Jesus using these words about Himself and the people’s shouts of joy at His triumphal entry taken from this very psalm. As many consider Psalms 113-118 are the six “Hellel” psalms recited in the three major festivals (Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles), Psalm 118 could have even been the final psalm in the mind of Jesus as He celebrated Passover with His disciples (Mark 14:26).

Surrounding this psalm is the history of the Passover - God delivering His people from the slavery of Egypt to bring them into His presence so that they could worship Him. Praise for this salvation is sung out in the refrain, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” We too can sing this today because in such great faithfulness God has answered our deepest need in the ultimate Exodus. Jesus has delivered us not from just enemies our hard times but from sin within through His once and for all atoning sacrifice.

And today this should be truly marvelous in all of our eyes. Though we deserved nothing and while mankind rejected Jesus, in amazing grace by God’s great doing Christ’s victory has transformed our lives of despair into ones of rejoicing worship before the Lord. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.