Blogging the Psalms

Blogging the Psalms -- Psalm 118

Psalm 118

The Day the Lord has made! There are many wonderful days in the history of the earth. There was the day the world was created. Another day when the first humans fell from sin, another day when the population of the first earth were destroyed. For Christians, there was also a Day when humans were redeemed from death and received Life again. For Christians, the day before Christ’s death and the day after are as different as night and day. Before Christ’s death, humans were dead and separated from God. After His death, we received true life again.

All the folklores and cultures speak of  the loss of the original permanent home. All of them speak of a great loss. But they also speak of a great day when all that man lost will be returned to him. They speak of a great book that will show us the Creator’s love, or a great sacrifice which will return the world to its proper order, or of a great day.

This is not something that is understandable to the unspiritual mind, but Christians believe that Adam and Eve the first humans were created to be both spirit and flesh. These first humans were created to have dominion over sickness, the animals, the weather, time, space. They were created to be an entirely unique species that could dwell in the spiritual realm as well as the physical world. But then they lost the spiritual aspect of their lives because they distrusted God’s love. They wanted to understand all the evils in the world although evil had never touched them. Instead of seeking to simply accept good, they wanted to be as God and also understand evil. This required understanding how to judge themselves, others, events, and even God. By choosing to discover evil, they learned to blame, to compare themselves to other, to feel envy. They also died spiritually. No longer could they see by spiritual sight as God saw; their souls now had six senses to enclose their spirit. Humans now only judged life by their six senses — senses which were corrupted and disconnected from God.

But God did not wish humans to live in such lifelessness. He prepared a day! As the English poet, Milton wrote, “Oh happy fault that showed so great and good a God!” By this, he meant that humans would not have known how loving God was if humans had not fallen into sin. God showed humans His love for us by preparing a sacrifice. Christians believe that Jesus is the DAY which the Lord made! 

The Jews believed in a wonderful Jubilee, or fiftieth day, when all sins would be removed. Moses and David also wrote of the Sabbath which is the day of God’s rest — a day humans are invited to enter into. But after the sabbath, after seventh day, and the forty-ninth day is the 8th day, the Pentecost (or fiftieth day) and the wonderful new day of the new creation. This is why most Christians worship on Sunday, the first day of the week. In Hebrews Chapter 4:1-12, a new rest is described.

The Lord’s Day is connected with resting in the power of the work, trusting  and resting in Jesus’ salvation and the power given to us through His spirit.

Christ, the new Adam, has brought a new creation, a new world and a new Sabbath which supersedes the one which the “old Adam” lost. 

This jubilee is connected with the Ancient Jewish Pentecost. The fiftieth day after Passover. It is seven weeks plus ONE, a new day. Fifty days.

The Jubilee was a day of deliverance from slavery, debt, and sin. It is a foreshadowing of the day when God would make all things new and in the Torah, Jews were ordered to free those of their brothers who were enslaved to them or in debt.

But Psalm 118 hints at a new greater day: The stones which the builders rejected is become the head cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing and it is wonderful in our eyes. This is the Day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. And this is what we do. We rejoice and are glad in that day.

Paul and the early church worshiped on “The Lord’s Day,” (the first day of the week) in addition to worshiping on the Sabbath which was the seventh day.