I love words. I love them because they are an expression of one’s soul. Among all the words in the scriptures, Psalms is the book that offers such words; words of beauty, praise, comfort, and faith…..to give peace for turbulence and a salve to the troubled heart. They also do something greater….they praise God. The most touching way Psalms were ever used for such a purpose was by Christ himself at the most soul crushing time of His life.
Imagine the Saviour travelling with His disciples to Jerusalem for the last time for the Passover and explaining to them His forthcoming death and they…..”understood none of these things” (Luke 18:31-34). He knew that road to Jerusalem well, He had travelled it many times but that day when He travelled it would have been the loneliest and most excruciating of all. He was alone in what He was about to face…and nobody understood.
How gracious and kind He was to His disciples for their lack of understanding even under strain of profound emotion. The Sacrificial Lamb of God would for His last meal partake of the pascal lamb to commemorate His own death at the Last Supper. Imagine the irony of this also that escaped His disciples.
So oblivious were they of the Saviour’s anguish and advancing stress of the Atonement and so pre-occupied with selfish ambition that they fell into “muttering dispute among themselves over the matter of individual precedence, possibly as to the order in which they should take their places at table, over which triviality scribes and Pharisees as well as the Gentiles often quarrelled” (Luke 14:7-11; 22:24-30).
With sorrowful earnestness yet loving kindness, Jesus proceeded to teach them that the greatest among them is he that serves and so He washed their feet, even the feet of him who would betray him (John 13:1-20). The burden of this betrayal played on the Saviour’s heart so much that He quoted Psalms in fulfilment of this act: “He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.” (Psalm 41:9)
Yet as heavy hearted as He was at the end of the Last Supper, Jesus sang. Psalms were sung anciently at the Passover, in particular 116, 117 and 118. It goes without saying that the Saviour would have sung these particular Psalms with His disciples. Psalm 118 is a Messianic Psalm with a powerful theme of “His mercy endureth forever” which is repeated five times (vs 1, 2, 3, 4, 29). But that is not all. Upon closer reading, this Psalm testifies of the Saviour’s sacrifice. In verse 16 we read: ‘The right hand of the Lord is exalted.”
Imagine Jesus rising to His feet and singing this about himself and His ultimate sacrifice:
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord: O lord I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee. O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.” (Psalms 118:24-29)
The latter part of verse 27 testifies of the Saviour’s Atonement further. The ‘horns of the altar’ in Moses’ tabernacle symbolised Jehovah’s might and power to save. When the officiating priest put sacrificial blood on the horns, it signified that forgiveness can only come through Him and His power.
Often a person accused of wrongdoing would flee to the tabernacle and hold onto the horns claiming asylum until he was tried and found guilty. The horns powerfully symbolised salvation. ‘Binding the sacrifice with cords’ can only mean the Saviour’s sacrifice was bound to the horns of the altar and did indeed symbolise that salvation comes only through Him. Likewise, the sacrificial lamb would have been bound with cords as it was being sacrificed upon the altar. Imagine the Saviour singing this Psalm about himself prior to going to His death as the sacrificial lamb of God. It makes you want to weep…..
Matthew records the end of the Last Supper as such: “And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives” (Matthew 26:30). I wonder if the words of these Psalms rang in the Saviour’s mind as He proceeded to His death.
Those of us who have in the depths of our
souls gratitude for His merciful sacrifice will shout from the rooftops this
praise of His name: “O PRAISE THE LORD; all ye nations: PRAISE HIM, all ye
people. For His merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord
endureth for ever. PRAISE YE THE LORD.” (Psalm 117)
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
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