This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter.
The gate of the Lord is the gate of righteousness and light, the entrance through which the righteous shall enter in thanksgiving for His saving goodness and lovingkindness. It belongs to the psalms sung on paschal occasions, the Passover song sung as Jesus and the disciples went out to Gethsemane after the supper, sung by Him just before His betrayal and the agony and darkness of the cross as praise expressing faith in the Father. It is prophetic of Christ, giving a view of His inner experience in His struggles with the enemy beyond what is seen in His outward actions. The day around it is not a twenty-four-hour day or any day of the week, but a season of Christ's appearing and the triumph of His work and the salvation of the church, secured through His grace as the day of salvation and rest prepared from the foundation of the world, and it gives no warrant for a transfer of the Sabbath or a first-day Sabbath. The entry was formally made when Christ came up from the gates of death at His resurrection and entered by the gates of righteousness at His ascension from Olivet, when His mediatorial righteousness was approved by the Father and heaven's door was visibly opened to all true believers, and the righteous enter there as a people purified by affliction to dwell in a purified world.
Passover Setting and Wording
Psalms 113 to 118 were sung on paschal occasions, and Psalm 118 was the usual Passover song sung as Jesus and the disciples went out to Gethsemane after the Lord's Supper. It was therefore sung by Jesus just before his betrayal, the agony of Gethsemane, and the darkness of the cross. He sang it though he knew those sufferings lay before him. His singing was praise expressing faith in the Father who is too wise to err and too good to be unkind.
The psalm is a psalm of thanksgiving for Jehovah's saving goodness. It expresses thanksgiving for God's loving kindness. The Lord's gate named in the verse is the gate of righteousness and light. It is the entrance into which the righteous shall enter.
Christ's Triumph and Entry
This gate of the Lord is prophetic of Christ, opening a view into his inner experience in his struggles with the enemy and showing how he suffered when tempted, beyond what the Gospel accounts reveal of his outward actions and triumph. It is the gate of righteousness and thanksgiving for God's loving kindness, into which the righteous shall enter.
He came up from the gates of death on the day of his resurrection, but he did not formally enter by the gates of righteousness until the day he ascended from Mount Olivet, which was not the first day of the week. On that ascension day his mediatorial righteousness was formally approved by the Father, and it was visibly manifested before the universe that heaven's door was opened to all true believers amid the rejoicing of heaven. That day of entry is the day which the Lord made.
The day described in the surrounding verses is not a twenty-four-hour day and has no reference to any day of the week, but is a season or period, the time of Christ's appearance and the triumph of his work. It is the day of triumph by Jesus Christ and of the salvation of the church, one great long lifetime Gospel-day whose gladness and fruits are appropriate and operative every day of the week, as much on the fourth day as on the first. Satan's seeming day of triumph was when Christ was betrayed into the hands of his enemies and locked in the stone sepulcher by the Roman seal, but Christ's day of triumph came when he was demonstrated to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. The surrounding passage mentions no Sabbath day and gives no warrant for a transfer of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, and the apostles' preaching on the psalm contains no mention of a first-day Sabbath or a change of the Sabbath.
The day is secured through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ as the day of salvation granted so that the rest lost through transgression can still be entered. It is the same day spoken of in Psalm 95:7 and the same day Abraham saw that caused him to rejoice. The rest is rest in the earth when freed from the curse, the possession of the whole earth as a kingdom pure from the Creator's hand, prepared on the seventh day when God rested and prepared from the foundation of the world. In this day of grace all who will may become children of Abraham through faith, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, to whom Christ sitting upon the throne of his glory at his coming will say to inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. The entrance connects with being chastened but not given over to death and with entering the gates of righteousness in thanksgiving, and the righteous enter as a purified people after affliction has burned sin out of them, to dwell in a purified world where righteousness abides.
The gate of the Lord is the gate of righteousness and light, the entrance through which the righteous shall enter in thanksgiving for His saving goodness and lovingkindness. It belongs to the psalms sung on paschal occasions, the Passover song sung as Jesus and the disciples went out to Gethsemane after the supper, sung by Him just before His betrayal and the agony and darkness of the cross as praise expressing faith in the Father. It is prophetic of Christ, giving a view of His inner experience in His struggles with the enemy beyond what is seen in His outward actions. The day around it is not a twenty-four-hour day or any day of the week, but a season of Christ's appearing and the triumph of His work and the salvation of the church, secured through His grace as the day of salvation and rest prepared from the foundation of the world, and it gives no warrant for a transfer of the Sabbath or a first-day Sabbath. The entry was formally made when Christ came up from the gates of death at His resurrection and entered by the gates of righteousness at His ascension from Olivet, when His mediatorial righteousness was approved by the Father and heaven's door was visibly opened to all true believers, and the righteous enter there as a people purified by affliction to dwell in a purified world.
Passover Setting and Wording
Psalms 113 to 118 were sung on paschal occasions, and Psalm 118 was the usual Passover song sung as Jesus and the disciples went out to Gethsemane after the Lord's Supper. It was therefore sung by Jesus just before his betrayal, the agony of Gethsemane, and the darkness of the cross. He sang it though he knew those sufferings lay before him. His singing was praise expressing faith in the Father who is too wise to err and too good to be unkind.
The psalm is a psalm of thanksgiving for Jehovah's saving goodness. It expresses thanksgiving for God's loving kindness. The Lord's gate named in the verse is the gate of righteousness and light. It is the entrance into which the righteous shall enter.
Christ's Triumph and Entry
This gate of the Lord is prophetic of Christ, opening a view into his inner experience in his struggles with the enemy and showing how he suffered when tempted, beyond what the Gospel accounts reveal of his outward actions and triumph. It is the gate of righteousness and thanksgiving for God's loving kindness, into which the righteous shall enter.
He came up from the gates of death on the day of his resurrection, but he did not formally enter by the gates of righteousness until the day he ascended from Mount Olivet, which was not the first day of the week. On that ascension day his mediatorial righteousness was formally approved by the Father, and it was visibly manifested before the universe that heaven's door was opened to all true believers amid the rejoicing of heaven. That day of entry is the day which the Lord made.
The day described in the surrounding verses is not a twenty-four-hour day and has no reference to any day of the week, but is a season or period, the time of Christ's appearance and the triumph of his work. It is the day of triumph by Jesus Christ and of the salvation of the church, one great long lifetime Gospel-day whose gladness and fruits are appropriate and operative every day of the week, as much on the fourth day as on the first. Satan's seeming day of triumph was when Christ was betrayed into the hands of his enemies and locked in the stone sepulcher by the Roman seal, but Christ's day of triumph came when he was demonstrated to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. The surrounding passage mentions no Sabbath day and gives no warrant for a transfer of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, and the apostles' preaching on the psalm contains no mention of a first-day Sabbath or a change of the Sabbath.
The day is secured through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ as the day of salvation granted so that the rest lost through transgression can still be entered. It is the same day spoken of in Psalm 95:7 and the same day Abraham saw that caused him to rejoice. The rest is rest in the earth when freed from the curse, the possession of the whole earth as a kingdom pure from the Creator's hand, prepared on the seventh day when God rested and prepared from the foundation of the world. In this day of grace all who will may become children of Abraham through faith, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, to whom Christ sitting upon the throne of his glory at his coming will say to inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. The entrance connects with being chastened but not given over to death and with entering the gates of righteousness in thanksgiving, and the righteous enter as a purified people after affliction has burned sin out of them, to dwell in a purified world where righteousness abides.