THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE - What “day” is Psalm 118:24 referring to? Psalm 118 is talking about the work of God in Christ and the future day when God will lay the foundation Stone that will bring salvation.

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“This is the day the Lord has made”

What “day” is Psalm 118:24 referring to?

This is a good illustration how people use verses from the Bible totally out of context and with the wrong application,

There is the popular chorus, “This is the Day.” It is usually understood as referring to the new day, i.e. today, that God has given us, and so we should rejoice in it.

That is true, but Psalm 118 is talking about the work of God in Christ and the future day when God will lay the foundation Stone that will bring salvation.

Please note the comments on this Psalm from The Bible Knowledge Commentary.

C. Significance of the triumph (Psalm 118:22-29)

Psalm 118:22-24. The psalmist explained that the Lord had taken the stone that the builders rejected and had marvelously made it the capstone of the nation. Therefore the people should rejoice.

In those days great empires easily set up and removed kings. Perhaps those great nations discounted Israel as a nation. Yet the Lord took that “stone” and made it “the capstone” of His rule on earth.

The image of the stone may have suggested itself from the temple construction work going on in the postexilic community. The psalmist, perhaps the congregation’s leader, may have thought of his king as the stone, for in Israel kings often represented the nation.

Certainly in Jesus’ Parable of the Landowner and the Tenants He applied the psalm in that way (Matthew 21:33-44).

Jesus is the Stone and the Jewish leaders, the builders of the nation, had rejected Him. But God made Him the Capstone.

Thus the kingdom would be taken from them and given to others (Matthew 21:43).

The fact that this psalm was probably popular at the Passover festival made Jesus’ use of it all the more forceful.

Psalm 118:25-29. The psalmist prayed then for his people’s

salvation and prosperity.

The words save us (v. 25) and Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord (v. 26) were proclaimed at Jesus’ Triumphal Entry (Matthew 21:9; (“Hosanna” translates the Hebrew for “save”).

The people believed that Jesus was the Coming Savior. In fact the phrase with boughs in hand (Psalm118:27) may have prompted their putting the branches down for Jesus (Matthew 21:8).

The second half of Psalm 118:27, though difficult in the Hebrew, refers to the custom at the Feast of Tabernacles of waving branches before the Lord.

Then later, when the psalm was used in all the feasts, this part of verse 27 became simply an expression in the hymn without boughs literally being in people’s hands.

But the people in Jesus’ day knew that He claimed to be the Messiah, and that this psalm spoke of the Coming One.

So they appropriated its message for the occasion. Fittingly Jesus identified Himself as the Stone who would bring salvation to those who prayed to Him, “Save us.”

Because the psalm is typically prophetic of the Messiah, the earlier references to “cut off” may also have a higher significance in relation to the work of Christ. (vv. 10-12)

   In the Old Testament, circumcision was the means by which a male Israelite was identified with the covenant, but circumcision came to signify “inner circumcision” (cf. Deuteronomy 30:6), belief that set one apart to God. Paul wrote that a true Jew is one whose heart is circumcised (Romans 2:29).

Perhaps Psalm 118 anticipated the time when the Stone, Jesus, would turn to the nations who would receive Him (cf. John 1:12).

If so, His triumph is in a sense different from its meaning when it was historically recorded in Israel.

For the psalmist, Psalm 118:25-29 spoke of the procession coming to the temple to worship, and the one coming “in the name of the Lord” was the worshiper.

At the altar the worshiper would give…thanks (cf. vv. 19, 21) and acknowledge the Lord God for His goodness and loyal love.

In Jesus’ Triumphal Entry this psalm, sung by the people as they moved in the procession to the temple, was most appropriate as He entered Jerusalem to begin His work of salvation for those who would believe.

“This Is The Day”

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cccJhMVFrLskaW

1
This is the day, this is the day.
That the Lord has made, that the Lord has made.
We will rejoice, we will rejoice,
And be glad in it, and be glad in it.
This is the day that the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the day, this is the day
That the Lord has made.

2

We are the sons, we are the sons,
Of the living God, of the living God.
We will rejoice, we will rejoice,
And be glad in Him, and be glad in Him.
We are the sons of the living God.
We will rejoice and be glad in Him.
We are the sons, we are the sons
    Of the living God.