If you would turn in your Bibles to Psalm 118 we will take a few of the verses in this Psalm, in particular focusing on probably the most familiar and popular verse in that Psalm, it is one of my favorite in the whole Bible and that is verse 24:
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
It is a great verse; I start a lot of my days with this. It is on a framed plaque in my kitchen so I see it every morning and I love to start my day just looking at that and reading that. But there is a lot of information in this Psalm that gives us some support as to what is the meaning behind that verse 24:
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Because most of us, at least I did earlier, we always think that if it was a nice sunny pleasant day you kind of rejoiced and were glad over a brand new day, you woke up and it was time to go out and live and have a great day. Well there is a lot more to it than that, obviously. The Bible is very deep, there is a lot of spiritual meaning to everything in the Bible and in order for us to get an understanding of what that verse, the ultimate essence of that verse, is to understand some more of the information preceding it. So let me read the first three verses of Psalm 118 and we will see one word keeps popping up over and over:
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever.
There are a few words in there that are repeated but the one I am going to focus on is “mercy.” That word is repeated three different times in those three verses and that is really the theme of the Psalm. This Psalm is really starting off with the theme of mercy which to remind us what the word “mercy” means. It basically means that I should be punished but I am not, I committed a crime I should pay for it but somehow I get let off the hook. And that is really the essence of the word “mercy.” And so the fact that God’s “mercy endureth for ever” is teaching us here that it has no end you are let off the consequences of sin and it is forever that you will enjoy that mercy, so to speak.
Well that being the theme of the Psalm and really the beginning of it, let us now jump to verse 20 which is a lot closer to 24 and try to build up to verse 24 so we understand it a little bit better. So let us go to verses 20-21 of Psalm 118, in these verses we read:
This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter. I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.
Well what is this gate? Well it was referred to actually in a previous verse in verse 19:
Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD:
And then it says again we just read it:
This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter.
So this gate is talking about something spiritual because it is not a gate that really would be literal or physical because it is a gate of righteousness. So there is a metaphor being weaved in here already. This gate of righteousness in verse 19, the Psalmist says, “Open to me” that gate I want to go into it and that is a desire of anyone who is interested in God’s truth in the Bible is to go into this place of righteousness:
… I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter.
So it is only a gate “which the righteous shall enter.” And someone said it earlier up here, what is this gate metaphorically speaking about? I just passed a farm on the ride over here this morning and I saw this beautiful gate in front of where a bunch of sheep were behind on the side of the road and it reminded me of this. It reminds us of course of? Jesus Christ who used a different word in the New Testament, obviously a Greek word is different than a Hebrew word, but it is the same meaning. Does anyone want to tell me what that word is in John 10? It is a door. Let us go to John 10 and look at that real quick. In John 10 we read there in verse 7 Jesus is talking about the sheep gate and the sheep fold. In John 10:7-9 Jesus said:
… Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
So there we have it, do you see the link of being saved is equivalent to what word in Psalm 118 of the gate? What was it a gate of, it began with an “r”? Righteousness, the gate of righteousness and Jesus says here:
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, …
So we know that salvation is equivalent to righteousness. If you are righteous it means there is no sin on your account then you are saved, saved from what? Saved from annihilation, saved from death. Righteousness here, the Psalmist is clamoring for this gate of righteousness to be opened to him and Jesus said, “I am the door.” So Christ has to be the One to open that door of righteousness. He is the One who opens the door to the sheepfold. He is the way in to be saved and we know that and that is pretty simple, it is pretty obvious but it is nice to build on this as we get closer to the verse we are trying to focus on today because then in verse 20, again:
This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter.
And verse 21 says:
I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.
So what happened there? The Psalmist is praising God because God heard him and became his salvation. He had asked for entrance into this way, this gate into which and through which he would enter into a righteous land and he is praising God because God heard him and became his salvation. That salvation is eternal life, it is that green pasture that never goes dry, that never browns or burns out, it is that pasture where there is constant feeding and eternal life with God Himself forever. So that is a beautiful verse there to lock in that the actual attainment of this beautiful state of righteousness. Well then let us go to verse 22 in Psalm 118:
The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
So what stone is this? If the gate was the door which was Jesus Christ, the stone obviously is Jesus Christ. And we know that from Matthew 21 so let us go there and prove it that this “stone which the builders refused” that became “the head of the corner” which is the essence of the building of a structure is the corner stone that is laid. It is the most important stone that is laid in the foundation. In Matthew 21:42 we read there:
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Where is that in the Old Testament? Well we just read it in Psalm 118. So that is what Jesus is telling them. He is challenging the religious leaders that were in front of Him at that moment, did you never read this in Psalm 118? And then He says in verses 43-44:
Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Now what does that mean? Jesus is saying that He is the stone, He is the stone that was refused or rejected by the builders, the builders being the religious leaders. He was refused though, He was cast out. You know when there is a stone that does not fit into the structure what does the mason do? Just tosses it into a heap where it just becomes garbage and it is tossed out. But here Jesus is saying whoever falls on this stone will be broken and what did the Psalmist say in another Psalm?
… a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
So that is what that means. But then He said:
… but on whomsoever it …
Or in other words, this stone shall fall, if I fall on you I am going to grind you to powder, meaning that if you do not become broken before God you will be ground to powder and annihilated ultimately, so here we have it. In Acts 4, the Apostles after Christ had risen from the dead they then quoted this same verse in Acts 4:10-12, Peter said:
Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
So once again this stone is being unequivocally called and said to be related to an analogy for Jesus Christ. And again verse 12 says:
Neither is there salvation in any other: …
So the stone is tantamount to salvation. And that is what the whole essence of Psalm 118 was. Remember, mercy, mercy was being driven home in the first couple of verses in Psalm 118. This gate of righteousness entering into this righteous land in Psalm 118 that was equivalent to being saved that we saw earlier because Jesus said:
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, …
And then we say here once again the stone in Acts 4 that “the builders refused” is then being likened to the fact that because of that stone being made “the head of the corner” there is now salvation through Him. So this same theme is being woven in different ways that this is Jesus Christ because it was refused, likened to that construction analogy when it was tossed aside.
But how did it “become the head of the corner,” someone had to go take it and place it there at “the head of the corner.” That is what happened and that is what they are being challenged here by Peter, that you, like a builder tossing really the “chief corner stone” out into the heap of broken stone, is this tantamount to you crucifying Jesus Christ and Him being taken out of that garbage heap, so to speak, and placed in the corner upon which the rest of the building was erected is equivalent to Him being raised from the dead. So there we see that and that is important to understand that point because that is what is going to lead us into verse 24 of Psalm 118:
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
So what is this day? It is not just talking about this sunny, bright, pleasant day ahead, I am off from work and I can have a wonderful day. That is not really the essence of that verse obviously. It is speaking about something different and I claim that there are two days in view here and one for sure is the Resurrection Sunday of Jesus Christ and that is because of Acts 13. Acts 13 aside from what Peter said in Acts 4:10-12, Acts 13 I think also gives us a clue. Acts 13:33:
God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
So what does it mean to be begotten of God? We see here the definition is to be raised from the dead, to be raised from the dead. That was said earlier in verse 33, “in that he hath raised up Jesus again.” “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” So I think there is a huge focus on the day. And in Psalm 118 the Psalmist said:
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
What had just been spoken? “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.” What did Peter say? That stone that was refused was likened to you crucifying Him. And now all of a sudden it is laid at the corner of the foundation which means that He was raised from the dead. He was crucified and dead but He was raised by God so now we see here that “this day have I begotten thee” is equivalent to Him being raised from the dead and I think that is in view in Psalm 118:24:
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Now how does that relate? Look at Galatians 2:20 because on that day as the Bible says through faith, through His faith that we are somehow related to it and triumph with Him on that day if we are a believer if we have been saved. Galatians 2:20 says:
I am crucified with Christ: …
So now I am related to that same tossing out of the stone being refused by the builders:
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Look at that. I am crucified with Him yet I live. So it is likened to this fact that on this day it was changed, something was changed even though day and night have always continued. What is the spiritual thought there? That that day would never end that there would never be darkness again. Night and darkness though we still have it physically in the earthly realm and the astronomical reality of where we live and the solar system that God has created yet the Bible tells us that there is forever this daylight now because of His resurrection from the dead. Let us go to Isaiah 60 and see why this Psalmist was rejoicing over this day that the Lord has made. That is why he rejoiced and was glad and there are so many beautiful relationships to what that day meant. In Isaiah 60:19-20 we read:
The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
That is the eternal inheritance is it not? “The new heavens and the new earth.” That is when that is going to become the ultimate reality. That language is tied in so many other places in the New Testament too:
Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: …
What is happening? We are getting close to that day when the eternal inheritance of “the new heavens and the new earth” is ushered in. And that is the other day I think is in view in Psalm 118:24:
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
It was the day that God had begotten the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, Resurrection Sunday we call it, Easter Sunday. And I think it is also talking about the day when “the new heavens and the new earth” are ushered in. Why do I say that? That is why we rejoice and are glad that is why the Psalmist rejoiced and was glad because the end has come, the time for the wedding ceremony between the bride and the groom is finally here. And that is where these words, the phrase, “rejoice and be glad” that is not found too many times in the Bible together like that but the other places where it is found remember Psalm 118:
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
And other places in the Bible that say, “rejoice and be glad” the same exact phrase all relates to the “new heavens and a new earth.” Let us go look at that. Isaiah 65:17 look at the preamble here:
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: …
Is that not speaking about the eternal inheritance after this world on October 21, 2011, is burned up in flames and then Christ creates the “new heavens and a new earth”?
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Look at the very next verse:
But be ye glad and rejoice …
It is the same phrase as Psalm 118:24.
But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
Remember He creates “new heavens and a new earth” in verse 17. He says rejoice and be glad over this. Well it is also repeated in Revelation 19 the same phrase “rejoice and be glad.” Let us go to Revelation 19:1-2 to kind of get the setting and then we will jump to the verse where it is:
And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, …
Can you picture the time we are in here, the setting? The church is being judged the end is come:
… which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
Now jump in the same chapter to verses 7-9. Here is our phrase:
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: …
Why?
… for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
So when is this consummation of the marriage? When this “new heavens and the new earth” is created after that final destruction of this world which we now know is October 21, 2011. So we are rejoicing, if you are a believer you are rejoicing and you are glad over that day that is going to come.
What do people say on this earth is the most special day of their life, typically? Their wedding day do they not? Most people say that if they are married, my wedding day was the most exciting day of my life. Now sometimes ladies will say the day I gave birth to my first child or all of my children however many I have that is a day I will never forget too. But typically for men and women the most universally given answer to what is the most special day in your life is your marriage, the wedding day, the wedding night and traditionally which is always been the Biblical way that is when a wedding was consummated. Now today that has lost its special meaning because most people today are engaging in relations well before marriage so that takes away from the specialness of that day. Listen to that young people it takes away from the marriage day when you have relations with your partner and it is against the Bible and the consequences are such that you loose that specialness of that wedding night. But Christ here is stating, rejoice, be glad “the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.”
How did the wife make herself ready? Remember the Psalmist in Psalm 118 said:
Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, …
I want to go in and the righteousness here in verse 8 was what? “The righteousness of saints” was pictured by the clean, white, fine linen that they were wearing. So you see it is all coming together here rejoicing and being glad and it is all because of salvation, having the eternal inheritance of “a new Heaven and a new earth.” Psalm 118:24 said:
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
So not only was there a day that was pointed to in the past when there was the Resurrection of Christ which sealed that eternal inheritance but also the day that will come when the consummation of the marriage finally happens.
But there is one more verse that follows that that I want to lock it in and end this study with. In verse 25 of Psalm 118 says:
Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.
Well we are back to the word “save,” you know righteousness, salvation, Jesus said that in John 10 about being “the door of the sheep,” “Neither is there salvation in any other,” we read that in Acts. So here we see:
Save now, I beseech thee, …
It is tied into the whole meaning of why we rejoice and are glad. Why do you rejoice and are glad? Because you have been saved. Saved from what? Saved from annihilation and instead you are given the eternal inheritance of “a new heaven and a new earth” the marriage with Jesus Christ that great Groom. Psalm 31:7 let me just read that to you because that ties into what we just read here, “Save now, I beseech thee.” Psalm 31:7 says:
I will be glad and rejoice …
There is our phrase again. In what?
… in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; …
And that is this theme of Psalm 118. Remember the first four verses of that Psalm actually all have the word “mercy” in them in Psalm 118 “his mercy endureth for ever,” “his mercy endureth for ever,” “Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever.” That is Psalm 118’s beginning. And we are rejoicing and being glad because His mercy has been extended to you and that is what it means that you are going to be part of that great “marriage supper of the Lamb.”
One more, Psalm 32:11:
Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, …
There it is again, rejoice and be glad, why?
… ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
The words we have been seeing over and over again in this study, righteousness, salvation, remember “the gates of righteousness”? Jesus said, “I am the door of the sheep,” “by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” And we see the word “mercy.” So the words mercy, righteousness, and salvation keep popping up over and over and over again in Psalm 118 and in the meanings behind the stone being rejected by the builders and in the meaning of the word rejoicing and being glad as we tie that word and phrase around the whole Bible Old and New Testaments. We keep seeing the words salvation, mercy, and righteousness popping up over and over again. It all points this rejoicing and being glad has its ultimate pinnacle in the last day when “the new heavens and the new earth” are created and that great wedding night comes it is an unbelievable anticipation for the believer and I hope you are rejoicing today and being glad over that because it is a wonderful thought. It is coming soon and it is something that is going to be greater than anything you ever experienced in your life even your own wedding and your own wedding night when you consummated your marriage with your spouse. A million times more ecstatic and exciting than that.
And it is a good way to close any study when you can find one verse in the Bible that sums it all up and I think in this study we have that one verse that exists that kind of really ties this together and gives us a nice thing to go home with or to leave with and that is Isaiah 25:9. So let me read that in closing. Isaiah 25:9 and this will succinctly put what I have been trying to say today:
And it shall be said in that day, …
There is the day we are anticipating, “the new heavens and the new earth.”
And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Could not put it any better. May God give you a rejoicing and glad heart today if you are truly saved. You have wonderful things to look forward to. Amen.
Q. The world is talking about a thousand year reign of Christ here on this earth but this is better than the thousand year reign of Christ because it is going to be “a new heaven and a new earth.”
A. That is what the first four verses of Psalm 118 said, “his mercy endureth for ever.” And that is an eternity that surpasses a thousand years in our own understanding of time and it is amazing it is something that we cannot fathom in the dimension of time that we live in. Is that not right? That other dimension is just unfathomable. So it is something to look forward to.
Q. There were two areas I would like you to expound on if you could. One is one meaning of that verse 24 would be the worldly meaning which is be cheerful as the day is as you started out in your teaching you mentioned something along that line. Now the other thing is that what about those of us who are not certain that we are saved does that not speak to us there in that Christ is our hope so we can hope for that and enjoy knowing that we have a righteous, just God and that there is a promise that there is going to be many, many that are going to be saved in these last days.
A. I think that is a good point. I think that is what Isaiah 25:9 we ended with, kind of gave us an illusion to. The word “waited” is repeated twice in that verse “we have waited for him.” But also in that verse is “we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” I think that is a good point to bring up that if I do not know that I am saved, or if I am saved, nothing is keeping me from rejoicing and being glad knowing that God is in charge of it anyway and I am hoping for it and I am waiting for it and anticipating it. I think that is a good disposition to have. I would if I was not absolutely certain about salvation but I knew this Book.