Psalm 118 was the last in a group of Psalms (113-118) traditionally sung at Passover time. As you read Psalm 118, consider what it must have meant for Jesus as He sang it on the night before He would lay down His life for us.
Jesus began encouraging his disciples to help Him remember the love of God (v1-4), he summons them as representatives of the Israel to say “His steadfast love endure forever.” Jesus heading to the cross is the only way that God’s steadfast love can endure towards His people.
Think of the agony and confidence for Jesus in singing v5-7. The distress He would face would be the cross, facing the rejection of man, the agony of crucifixion and worse, the full force of the wrath of God at our sin. He knew the Lord would set Him free, He would rise again, but Jesus must still face the agony of a death He did not deserve. He knew the Lord was on His side, but man could still kill Him, and He would face what it was like to not have the Lord on His side as He endured hell for us. And yet, He knew He would look in triumph on those who hated him. He will rise, He will ascend, one day He will return to judge.
If you belong to Jesus, then these words belong to you as well. The world may hate you for following Jesus, but you will triumph, “it is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.” (See also Romans 8:31-39).
In v10 the king speaks, all nations surrounded him. So fierce is his battle that he feels surrounded on every side. He was pushed so hard (and the footnote to v13 tells us it was the enemy who pushed him), here is the battle with Satan. The battle that began in Genesis 3:15, the serpent is striking Jesus’ heel, but Jesus will crush Him. God will bring salvation, but Jesus must face death. Death will not defeat him, He will defeat death!
As a result of His death, the gates of righteousness will be opened to Him. The gates stopped wickedness from entering the temple, a shadow of the heavenly temple. The gates shut out sinful people, yet at the cross, when Jesus died the curtain in the temple was ripped in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). The curtain that stopped people from entering the holy of holies was torn and the way was open. Through Jesus, we can enter God’s presence! He has paid for sin! So we can enter in (Psalm 118:20).
Jesus is the stone that was rejected, that has become the most important cornerstone, the stone everything else depends on (118:22). No wonder His people praise Him, “This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” – this day is the day of Jesus’ death, the day that opened the way for us to God. We can now know God’s favour, his light shining on us (118:27), because Jesus was bound and led away to be crucified (Matthew 27:2). It is mind-blowing to think of Jesus singing the words “bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar” (118:27). Jesus knew he would be bound to the altar of the cross, he willingly sang this about himself, he was willingly bound to the cross so that we can join in the close of the Psalm “you are my God”. We can know God as our God, because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we can know “his steadfast love endures forever.”
What a psalm, and what a God!
Light and Momentary Troubles 
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