Enduring Love

DEVOTION

PSALMS

ENDURING LOVE

Ps 118:25-29

25 O LORD, save us; O 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 upon 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 give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. 29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

NIV

This, like many of the psalms speak about Christ. All the preceding stanzas had something about Jesus within them, and this stanza is no different. The crowds that gathered to see Jesus enter Jerusalem on the donkey quoted the phrase in this psalm. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD”. God saves us through the work of Christ on the cross. So often we see signs alone the road saying, “Jesus saves”. But in reality God saves, but does it through the person of Jesus. God saved Abraham, but then Jesus did say, “Before Abraham was born, I am”. So then did Jesus save Abraham? It was God who declared him righteous because of his faith. However, with all the Old Testament the writers used God because in their humanity they knew nothing of Jesus, even though he is God. When God made his light shine upon them, who is the light? Jesus said, "I am the light of the world.” God caused Jesus to shine upon us, to shine his light into our lives bringing out of the darkness where we were hiding so our sins would not be seen. When an animal was brought to the altar there was no need to bind it, it knew not its fate. But Jesus was bound, he was bound to the cross with nails. The remaining words of verse 27 has this meaning. This is the original language. “Bind the sacrifice with cords onto the horns of the altar” This is Jesus bound and flogged, bound with cords to the cross as he carried it, and then with rope and nails on the cross. We often do not think or the movies show us the ropes, but if there were only nails through his hands his body weight would have torn through them, ripped right through and he would have fallen off that cross. So these cords speak of Jesus as our sacrifice on the cross. He is our God, and we will give him thanks. How can we live without an attitude of thanks? How can we not have a thankful heart? How great is his love for us, he suffered and died for us. God suffered for us. Just imagine a god made by human hands doing that. It would not happen in all eternity. Our God, our creator, came to earth in a human form experiencing all the humanity he created us with, then he suffered the most humiliation of all, being flogged, being made fun of, crowned with thorns, and then hung on a cross like a common criminal. God is so good, to do that for us. Who else would be that good? Only God, he is good, his love endures forever.