Friday, May 08, 2009

It depends upon what the definition of "this" is... (Repost)

First posted here.
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Ps 118:21-26
21 I will praise You,
For You have answered me,
And have become my salvation.

22 The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This was the LORD's doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day the LORD has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Save now, I pray, O LORD;
O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity.
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.

"This" is the day the Lord has made. What is the day the Lord has made? What's being referred to as "this?" Sunday? Each new day?

I've heard many well-meaning people rip this line right out of context. In fact, I've heard some great theological-types, who take great care with the exegesis of the Bible, stand there and proclaim that "today" (whatever new day it may be) is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in "today."

I have NO PROBLEM celebrating today! But is that what this particular scripture is really talking about?

Look at what it says...

"The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone."

"This was the Lord's doing."

"This is the day the Lord has made."

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."

This prophetic Psalm isn't talking about just any other ordinary day. It's pointing to one day in particular. What was the Psalmist thinking? "Hmm, right in the middle of this prophecy, I think I'll just thrown in quick props to God for "today." Not. :)

Remember what the people were shouting when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, a week before His crucifixion?
Matt 21:9
"Hosanna to the Son of David!
'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'
Hosanna in the highest!"
This was in preparation for that great day that the Lord had planned from the beginning.

"This was the Lord's doing." Right in line with another prophecy, this statement tells us that "this day" and its events were planned and executed by God Himself. Isaiah 53 says quite a lot about this great day. Isaiah prophesies of Jesus, "The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6). Isaiah goes on to say, "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He has put Him to grief." (Isaiah 53:10). This was all the Lord's doing. We didn't put Jesus on the cross. God did.

"The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone." Matthew, Mark, Luke and Peter all reference this prophecy. (Matt 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17, Acts 4:11, 1 Peter 2:6). The "stone," of course, is Jesus. I've preached a handful of "sermons" in my life (perhaps one for each finger on one hand), and one of them was around Christmastime, eight or nine years ago. I taught a little bit on the "chief cornerstone" and the "rock of offense." I'll see if I can dig up my notes from that.

What it all boils down to is this. This is the day the Lord has made: The day the stone the builders rejected became the chief cornerstone. The day God became our salvation. The day the sacrifice was bound with cords to the horns of the altar. (Psalm 118:27).

If we're to give praise to God and rejoice and be glad in a certain day... let it be that day! Let it be a continuous celebration of that day!

10 comments:

  1. Joel,

    How about if I rejoice in THIS day because of THAT day? :) Great post!

    In Christ,
    Gary

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  2. Gary... that works for me!

    That was the day
    That was the day
    That the Lord had made
    That the Lord had made
    So I will rejoice
    I will rejoice
    And be glad today
    And be glad today!

    Yeah, really, the reason we have "today" is because of that day.

    During the time period when I originally wrote this post, I was thinking and posting a lot about "rightly dividing the word of truth." That is, reading scriptures in their context rather than ripping them out and applying verses in ways that were never intended. Much of that, of course, has to do with dividing between the Old and New Covenants, but this particular passage is one that has stuck out to me for several years now.

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  3. WOW! Joel, have you ever thought about maybe doing some sort of teaching? Not necessarily a fulltime pastor, but doing some teaching? You seem to have the gift of getting your point across with order and simplicity.

    If I were to get excited and try to explain this to people it would probably translate as so:

    "aspdkfojasdfklwejqrsdfkjsdflksdjfkl"

    Then I would get frustrated because no one gets it!

    But this is awesome. I typically go to the psalms (if I do go) with boredom because I fail to see the prophecies of Jesus in it like this one. Usually the way I hear them taught, they're very boring and I can't relate.

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  4. FYI, I'm gonna e-mail this to some people at my Church. I'm not asking you; I'm telling you. YEAH! haha...

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  5. I definitely need to say that I didn't see this myself... it was a Pastor Mark thing, and Kap has brought it up from time to time on our program too (he heard Mark talk about it too. However, when I broke this apart myself, I didn't remember what Mark had said about it... just that he had said this scripture is taken out of context. And so as I then looked at it, I saw that various parts of it are quoted in the NT, and by putting them together it points to what the "this day" really is. But if not for Mark having pointed it out, I don't think I'd have ever seen it myself.

    As for not getting my permission to email this, you're moving farther away from your goal of being old and having gray hair due to wisdom. LOL ;)

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  6. Watch it, old man. I've got plenty of youth and I'm not afraid to use it! LOL

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  7. As Reagan said about Mondale during a 1984 presidential debate, I won't exploit your youth and inexperience... ;)

    By the way, how old were you in 1984??!! =D

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  8. alexandria knight6/27/2009 5:08 PM

    This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it, although a thousand fall at my side and ten thousand at my right hand, I will not be moved, my Lord, it is He that is my God... He hides me under His wings, also, giving His angels charge over me to keep me in all of His ways, as long as my stay is in Him... It is He who is my protector and provider and my help when I go through a storm... The day of the Lord, is the great day of victory, these days we are in, is a preparation for that day as we put on our full armour of God and continue to put a covering of pslams 91 over us... We are prepared for battle... In rev,12v15 and the seventh angel sounded, there were great voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever...Victory for those of us who have been prepared to fight with the sword of the word along side of Jesus... We are perfected in our sufferings, yet the joy of the Lord comes to us when we to have victory in the Lord... Spoken by a true Knight, thank-you Father in Jesus name A Knight... P.S. it is when a person wins a thing they rejoice...

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