DUNCAN/Loving kindness, forever
If you have your Bible, I'd invite you to turn with me to Psalm 118. I want to look at three things today. First, I want us to see that this psalm teaches about the love which will not let us go — The reason that the psalmist exhorts all of us to thank God, to be grateful to God, and to praise God. Next, I want to contemplate the fact that this is the last song Jesus sang before He was crucified. And lastly, I want to ponder the encouragement that Jesus Himself drew from the singing of this song before He went to Calvary.
The Love That Will Not Let Us Go
Let's look at the first thing — The love that will not let us go. The psalm begins, “O give thanks to the LORD,” — Why? “For He is good.” The Lord's goodness is the reason that moves the psalmist to exhort his fellow worshipers to give thanks to God, but he is not satisfied with declaring the general goodness of the Lord. He wants to specifically zero-in on a special kind of goodness and so he says in verse 1, “For His steadfast love endures forever.” And you will notice that he then exhorts all of Israel, all the house of Aaron, all the priesthood, and all who fear Him to say the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.
Now what does he mean by the steadfast love of the Lord? This is the Old Testament word, hesed. Modern translators wrestle with how to express it. Is it God's covenant love? Is it loyal love? Is it steadfast love? Is it lovingkindness? Put simply, it’s the love that will not let us go. The psalmist is celebrating the fact that God remains steadfast and immovable in His love for us despite our wanderings and our failings and our stumbling. This is the steadfast love of God to Israel that despite Israel's failings God kept His promises to her. His persistent love refuses to wash His hands of you and me, and we need that. Don't you feel your need for that? Don't you know your need for that? You need a love that will not let you go, and this is what makes the psalmist sing — That we have such a love from our heavenly Father. So, there's the first thing I want you to see — The love that will not let us go.
The Last Song Sung Before The Cross
But the second thing I want us to contemplate is that this is the last song that Jesus sang before He went to the cross. Psalms 113 to 118 are a group of praise songs that were sung around festivals, some of which remembered the deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt. They were commonly sung as the last part of the Passover meal celebration. So, in your gospels when you are told that when they had taken the Passover and taken the Lord's Supper that they sang a hymn and went out into the Garden, this is the set of long hymns that they sang — Psalm 113, 114, 115, the little Psalm 117, and then this psalm, 118. Now just think about that. When you’re reading this psalm, you’re hearing the words that your Savior sang after the last Passover, after the first Lord's Supper prior to the Garden of Gethsemane, prior to the betrayal and prior to the crucifixion.
This psalm also contains the words that had been sung to Jesus by a crowd of His disciples when He entered Jerusalem at the beginning of Passover week, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Hosanna means “save us, we pray; save, we pray!” He had been acknowledged as the one blessed of the Lord who had come to save and now, He was being mocked as the one who claimed to come to save but could not save Himself. And do you know why He could not save Himself? He was acting on our behalf. You see, God's lovingkindness, His grace and mercy towards us, His unfailing love, His steadfast love is always just. And the only way that we could partake of that steadfast love, being unjust, was through the death of the only one who was ever just. He was acting for you and me so that we could receive a steadfast love that is not conditioned by our faithfulness and righteousness, but by His.
Encouragements For The Lord As He Goes to Calvary
But there are also encouragements from this psalm for the Lord even as He goes to Calvary. Look at verses 5 to 9. Though the task before Him was daunting, the author of Hebrews tells us “He endured the cross despising the shame for the joy that was set before Him.” His trust in the Lord remained steadfast. If He had to strengthen Himself with the Word of God before He went into the darkness of Calvary, how much more do we need to strengthen ourselves with the Word of God when we enter the dark providences of our lives? The Savior is drawing encouragement from God's Word.
And then you look at the language of verses 10 to 12. He's surrounded by the nations; He's surrounded on every side; He's surrounded like bees; He's pushed hard to the point of falling. David is celebrating the fact that the Lord did not allow his enemies ultimately to triumph against him, but he ultimately cut off his enemies. And the language of verse 17 and 18 may speak of that. Just as David was spared, so the Savior was spared in an even more dramatic way. He does die but He does live. He is given over to death, but He is not conquered by death. The Savior died and rose again triumphant over the grave and Jesus is reminding Himself of this truth as He prepares to go out into dark Gethsemane.
And then again, the words of verse 22 and following, the very people who should have been rejoicing over the presence of the cornerstone have rejected Him. And then the bold declaration of verse 28 — “You are my God; I will give thanks to You. O give thanks to the LORD for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.” You see, the steadfast love of the Lord is the costliest love ever given. True love considers the best interest of another before your own interests. True love is self-denying and so all true love is costly. But this is the costliest true love ever given. For you to receive the lovingkindness of the Lord, it cost the Father His own Son. But here's this — The Father gladly gave Him, and the Son willingly accepted because they loved you. You have never been loved by anyone like that, and that is why this psalmist says, “O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good; His lovingkindness lasts forever!”
The Rev. Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III is the Chancellor/CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary and the John E. Richards Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology. He is also currently serving as President of RTS Jackson.