Psalms 118:19 - Meaning and Application

Here we have a striking prophecy of the humiliation and exaltation of our Lord Jesus, his suffering, and the glory that would follow. Peter applies it directly to the chief priests and scribes, and none of them could rightly accuse him of misusing it (Acts 4:11). Now notice three things here.

First, the psalmist asks to be admitted into God’s sanctuary so he can celebrate the glory of the one who comes in the name of the Lord: “Open to me the gates of righteousness.” The temple gates are called gates of righteousness because they were shut against the uncircumcised and kept strangers from coming near, just as the sacrifices offered there were called sacrifices of righteousness. Anyone who wants to enter communion with God in holy worship must come humbly, asking God for admission. When the gates of righteousness are opened to us, we must go in and praise the Lord. Our work inside God’s gates is to praise him, so we should long for the gates of heaven to open, that we may live in God’s house above and praise him always.

Second, he sees that admission granted: “This is the gate of the Lord, the gate he has appointed, and the righteous will enter through it” (Psalm 118:20). It is as if he says, “The gate you knocked on is open, and you are welcome. Knock, and it will be opened to you.” Some understand this gate to mean Christ, through whom we are brought into fellowship with God and our praise is accepted. He is the way, and no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6). He is the door for the sheep (John 10:9). He is the gate of the temple, and only through him do the righteous enter, and enter into God’s righteousness (Psalm 69:27). The psalmist rejoices that the gate of righteousness, long shut and long sought after, is now at last opened.

Third, he promises to thank God for this mercy: “I will praise you” (Psalm 118:21). Those who saw Christ’s day from far away had reason to praise God for the promise of it. In Christ they saw that God had heard them, heard the prayers of the Old Testament saints for the Messiah to come, and would become their salvation.

Now comes the prophecy itself (Psalm 118:22, 23). It may also point in some way to David’s rise to honor. He was the stone Saul and his court rejected, yet God’s wonderful providence raised him to be the chief stone in the building. But the main meaning is about Christ.

Christ is the stone the builders rejected. He is the stone cut out of the mountain without human hands (Daniel 2:34). He is a stone not only because he is strong, firm, and lasting, but because he gives life in the building of the spiritual temple. He is also a precious stone (1 Peter 2:6), for the foundation of the gospel church must be laid with sapphires (Isaiah 54:11). Yet this stone was rejected by the builders, by the rulers and people of the Jews (Acts 4:8, Acts 4:10, Acts 4:11). They would not own him as the promised Messiah. They would not build their faith on him or join themselves to him. They would not use him at all, but kept building without him. They denied him before Pilate (Acts 3:13) when they said, “We have no king but Caesar.” They treated this stone as worthless, threw it aside like rubbish, and even stumbled over it. This was shameful for Christ, but it became the ruin of those who despised him. Those who reject Christ are rejected by God.

Yet Christ has become the headstone of the corner, the stone placed at the highest and most important point of the building. He is raised to the highest honor and usefulness, above all and filling all things. He is the chief cornerstone, joining Jew and Gentile in one holy house. He is also the chief top stone, completing the building, and in all things he must have the highest place, as the author and finisher of our faith. God has exalted him so highly because he humbled himself. We, too, must follow God’s purpose and make Christ the foundation of our hope, the center of our unity, and the goal of our lives. “For me, to live is Christ.”

All this is the Lord’s doing. It comes from the Lord, is with the Lord, and flows from his wise plan and design. Both the humiliation and the exaltation of the Lord Jesus were God’s work (Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27, Acts 4:28). God sent him, sealed him, and upheld him through all his work. From first to last, Christ did his Father’s will. This should fill us with wonder. Christ’s name is Wonderful, and the redemption he accomplished is the most amazing of all God’s works. The angels long to look into it and will admire it forever. How much more should we admire it, since we owe everything to it. Without question, great is the mystery of godliness.

This truth is received with joy and with loud praise. Let the day be celebrated for God’s honor with great joy: “This is the day the Lord has made” (Psalm 118:24). This can mean the whole time of the gospel age, the accepted time, the day of salvation. It is a lasting feast, and it should be kept with joy. It can also fit the Christian Sabbath, which we keep in memory of Christ’s resurrection, when the rejected stone began to be exalted. Then we learn the doctrine of the Christian Sabbath, it is the day the Lord has made, made special and holy, and set apart from other days. He made it for man, so it is called the Lord’s day, because it bears his image and mark. We also learn the duty of the Sabbath, what should be done on that day: “We will rejoice and be glad in it.” We rejoice not only because such a day has been given, but because of the reason for it, Christ’s becoming the head of the corner. We should rejoice in that as his honor and our blessing. Sabbath days should be days of joy, and then they are for us like the days of heaven. See what a good Master we serve, who not only gives us a day for his service, but appoints it to be spent in holy joy.

Then let the exalted Redeemer be met and honored with joyful hosannas (Psalm 118:25, 26). Let him have the cheers of the people, as happens when a king is crowned. Let every loyal subject cry out, “Save now, I pray you, O Lord!” This is like saying, “Long live the king,” and it shows full joy over his rule, full approval of his government, and strong devotion to his honor and cause. Hosanna means, “Save now, I pray you.” “Lord, save me, I pray you. Let this Savior be my Savior, and, for that to happen, let him also be my ruler. Let me come under his protection and be counted among his willing subjects. His enemies are my enemies. Lord, I pray you, save me from them.”

“Ask that I may share in the prosperity that his kingdom brings to all who receive it. Let my soul prosper and be healthy in the peace and righteousness that his rule brings (Psalm 72:3). Let me gain victory over the lusts that fight against my soul, and let God’s grace keep going in my heart, winning more and more.”

“Lord, protect him, I beg you, even the Savior himself, and give him success in all he does. Make his gospel powerful through God, tearing down strongholds and bringing souls back under his rule. Let his name be honored, his kingdom come, and his will be done. Let prayer always be offered for him (Psalm 72:15). On the Lord’s day, when we rejoice and are glad in his kingdom, we should also pray for its growth, and for the fall of the devil’s kingdom. When Christ made his public entry into Jerusalem, his supporters greeted him in this way (Matthew 21:9): Hosanna to the Son of David. Long live King Jesus. Let him reign forever.”

Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, also do their part in this great celebration (Psalm 118:26). Let them bless the Prince with their praise: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Jesus Christ is the one who comes, the one who was to come and who will come again (Revelation 1:8). He comes in the Lord’s name, with a commission from the Father to act for him, do his will, and seek his glory. So we should say, “Blessed be he who comes.” We should rejoice that he has come, speak well of him, admire him, and value him as the one we owe everything to. We may call him blessed Jesus, blessed forever (Psalm 45:2). We should welcome him into our hearts: “Come in, you blessed of the Lord. Come in by your grace and Spirit, and take possession of me as your own.”

We should also bless his faithful ministers who come in his name, and receive them for his sake (Isaiah 52:7; John 13:20). We should pray for the growth and strengthening of his church, for the time when all things are ready for his second coming, and then ask that he who has said, “Surely I am coming soon,” would come soon indeed. The ministers should also bless the people with their prayers: “We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.” Christ’s ministers are not only allowed, but appointed, to speak a blessing in his name on all his loyal people who truly love him and his rule (Ephesians 6:24). We assure you that, in and through Jesus Christ, you are blessed, because he came to bless you. You are blessed out of the house of the Lord, that is, with spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). For that reason, you should bless the one who has blessed you so richly.

We should also bring sacrifices of thanksgiving to the honor of the one who offered the great atoning sacrifice for us (Psalm 118:27). Here is the privilege we enjoy through Jesus Christ: God is the Lord who has shown us light. God is Jehovah, known by that name as the one who keeps his promises and finishes what he begins (Exodus 6:3). He has shown us light, meaning he has given us the knowledge of himself and his will. Some understand it as, “He has shined on us.” He has shown us favor and lifted the light of his face upon us. He has also given us reason to rejoice, and joy is light to the soul, because he has given us a view of everlasting light in heaven.

This gift calls for a duty: “Bind the sacrifice with cords.” This may mean that, after the sacrifice was killed, its blood was to be sprinkled on the horns of the altar, according to the law. Or it may have been a custom, though not clearly mentioned elsewhere, to tie the sacrifice to the horns of the altar while the sacrifice was being prepared. It may also have a special meaning here. The sacrifice we should offer to God, in thanks for redeeming love, is ourselves. We are not to be slain on the altar, but offered as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). We are to be bound to the altar in spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise, with our hearts fixed and engaged, just as the sacrifice was tied with cords to the horns of the altar so it would not draw back.

The psalmist then ends with his own thankful praise for God’s grace, and he calls on others to join him (Psalm 118:28, Psalm 118:29). He will praise God himself and try to honor him in his own heart and in the hearts of others, because of his covenant relation to God and his own share in that covenant: “You are my God, the one I depend on and am devoted to, the one who owns me and whom I own. Therefore I will praise you.” He also wants everyone around him to thank God for these glad tidings of great joy for all people, that there is a Redeemer, even Christ the Lord. It is in him that God is good to man, and that his mercy lasts forever. In him the covenant of grace is made, and in him it is made sure, made true, and made everlasting.

He closes this psalm where he began it (Psalm 118:1), because God’s glory must be the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, of all our prayers to him. “Hallowed be your name, and yours is the glory.” This fittingly closes a prophecy of Christ. The angels give thanks for man’s redemption. “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14), because on earth there is peace, and we should answer with our hosannas as they did (Luke 19:38). Peace in heaven comes to us through Christ, and therefore glory belongs to God in the highest.