Read Psalm 118:19-29 19Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. 20This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. 21I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. 22The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. 24This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! 26Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. 27The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! 28You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. 29Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
After surviving the ordeals of the first 18 verses, the psalmist doesn’t go home, he joins the celebration at the temple – Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. At the temple he will give thanks and rejoice, he will bind the festal sacrifice upon the altar. Why? Because the Lord is good and full of unceasing love for his children.
Almost every line of this stanza foreshadows Christ. Christ was the cornerstone that the builders rejected. He was bound to the horns of the altar, the cross, and sacrificed in our place. On the merits of his own righteousness, he entered through the gates of Heaven’s temple, appearing on our behalf before God by the sprinkling of his precious blood (Heb. 9:24). At his return, like on that first Palm Sunday triumphal entry, we will cry out blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
To live is Christ means those gates of righteousness are now open to all who are in him. Access to the Holy of Holies will never be denied again. By the blood of Jesus, we enter boldly with our sacrifice of praise. Every day is now the day that the Lord has made holy. A day to celebrate, rejoice, give thanks, and feast in his presence. Why? Because Christ our cornerstone has grown into a living temple for the Lord, the Church, his body, his building of living stones.
This is the Lord’s doing, it is marvelous in our eyes.
Prayer. Jesus, when I think about it I can see just how marvelous my salvation truly is. And just how marvelous you are. Let every day be a festal day of rejoicing and giving thanks to you for you are good. Amen.
To Live is Christ 