Scripture
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Psalm 118:1 NIV
Question
How might you need God's light today?
Psalm 118
He Has Made His Light Shine on Us
I was reading through Psalm 118 recently and at about verse 10 I began to think how powerful these words must have been for Jesus as he learned the songs that his own Spirit had inspired in the lyrics of the psalmists.
The psalms are, as Tim Keller has said, the “songs of Jesus.” They are about and for him first and foremost.
Psalm 118 would have been the climactic psalm sung during a traditional Passover meal. It’s possible that Psalm 118 was the final song that Jesus sang with his disciples before he descended into the garden at Gethsemane (Matthew 26:30).
Read through Psalm 118 and try to imagine it being sung by Jesus and the disciples in the lamplight of the upper room, with the cross less than 12 hours before him.
In this light, some of the verses are staggeringly moving.
The psalms are, as Tim Keller has said, the “songs of Jesus.” They are about and for him first and foremost.
Psalm 118 would have been the climactic psalm sung during a traditional Passover meal. It’s possible that Psalm 118 was the final song that Jesus sang with his disciples before he descended into the garden at Gethsemane (Matthew 26:30).
Read through Psalm 118 and try to imagine it being sung by Jesus and the disciples in the lamplight of the upper room, with the cross less than 12 hours before him.
In this light, some of the verses are staggeringly moving.
Look back for a moment at verse 27. Coming near the end of the psalm, the psalmist rejoices that God has made “his light to shine upon us.” This is a reference to Aaron’s priestly blessing, and in its original context (Numbers 6:25), the “light” is the light of God’s
face.
This celebration of the light of the Lord is followed up by a call to “Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!” Being sung at Passover, these lines would likely have been applied to the Passover sacrifice, but what must Jesus have thought and felt as he recited these words?
He was about to become the true and final sacrifice, a sacrifice who would, in his death and resurrection, cause the gracious light of the face of God to shine on all who would receive him.
Where do we see the light of the glory of God? In the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). And nowhere does the light of God shine more brightly on his people than when Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, ascended to the altar of Calvary (John 13:31-32).
Hallowed be his name!
face.
This celebration of the light of the Lord is followed up by a call to “Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!” Being sung at Passover, these lines would likely have been applied to the Passover sacrifice, but what must Jesus have thought and felt as he recited these words?
He was about to become the true and final sacrifice, a sacrifice who would, in his death and resurrection, cause the gracious light of the face of God to shine on all who would receive him.
Where do we see the light of the glory of God? In the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). And nowhere does the light of God shine more brightly on his people than when Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, ascended to the altar of Calvary (John 13:31-32).
Hallowed be his name!
Prayer