For the joy your advent gave me, For your gospel’s great reward, For your baptism which has saved me, For your supper and your Word, For your death, the bitter scorn, For your resurrection morn: Lord, we thank you and extol you, And in heav’n we shall behold you. Amen.

The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: “The LORD’S right hand has done mighty things! The LORD’S right hand is lifted high; the LORD’S right hand has done mighty things!” I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done. The LORD has hastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death. Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter. I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation. The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:14-24)

In Christ’s name and to his glory, dear friends: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” We find it very easy to say these words on good days - your wedding day, a day a new baby arrives, the day you win a big game, the day you get a good report card, the day you get a promotion, etc. We find it harder to say, “this is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad,” on not-so-good days - the day you loose your job, the day you find out you or someone you love is very sick, the day you get an F, stormy days, the day you stand around a grave with unmatched sorrow in your heart. I say we find it hard to say, “this is the day…,” but it is not impossible. On a horrendous day old Job said: The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised (1:22); so it is possible. But how? How can we have such confidence, hope, optimism, faith? We will find it the same place Job did. He could be so confident because he knew, come what may, this was true: I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end he shall stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. I myself will see him with my own eyes - I and not another (19:25). Since we have Easter Day, all the rest of our days - good or bad - are days of victory. That we might believe this with all our hearts, let us look at this psalm. Here the Lord kindles in us the courage to say every day THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE FOR ME.

Easter Day makes all my days ones of life instead of death. This Psalm is one of the “Hallel” psalms. We have heard that Hebrew word a few times this morning and rightly so! Halleluiah! - “praise the Lord!” The Praise-the-Lord psalms are numbered 113-118 in our Bibles. The Israelites sang these psalms at their Passover meals. This particular psalm may very well have been the last one that Jesus sang with his disciples before they left the upper room for Gethsemane.

Do you remember the meaning of the Passover for old Israel - remember how the Lord rescued you with his mighty power, his right arm as the psalm says, from evil Pharaoh and brought you into the land flowing with milk and honey. The Lord saved Israel and put a song in their hearts when he sent the plagues that broke Pharaoh’s grip. In the last plague, the frightening angel of death passed through the land of Egypt. But, the Lord saved his children from death through the Passover lamb whose blood marked their doors. How beautifully this psalm captures the facts and feelings of the saved! The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. (We’re alive and free!) Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: (our homes are full of smiles and laughter) “The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things! The LORD’s right hand is lifted high; the LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!” (It was all God’s doing) I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done. The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death. (Our lives were tough, and our sins deserve such trouble. But, now I see that the Lord had not forgotten about us. Now our lives are truly worth living!) They sang: this is the day the Lord has made for us!

The Psalm did not just speak of that one-time rescue of a few but also of the eternal rescue of the world. A greater death threatens everyone and us. A greater enemy than old pharaoh has a strangle hold on us. The old evil foe seduces us, our weakness and sin have caught us, and the eternal death is the result. When the Lord pictures heaven, the true Promised Land, he says that nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful and deceitful (Rev. 21:27). We do not have to go very far back in our memories before we come to times when we were impure in our deeds, if not that then in our words, and if not that then in our hearts. We have not and cannot attain the love that God demands and that makes us fit for heaven. The sting of death is sin we just heard. The fact that there is a judgment day and that we are not ready for that day as we are is what makes thoughts of death so frightening and painful. But suddenly, out of the blue of heaven, comes our rescue. The Lord’s true Passover Lamb sheds his blood for our sins. Satan can no longer accuse us so we are free from his clutches. His sacrifice washes away our impurity, and we are pure in God’s sight through faith in Jesus. Now we will not die but live. We hear laughter in our homes; now we live in hope.

But, you say, “We still die; no one has put Harry Will, Harris, or any other funeral homes out of business.” Yes, but that death will not hurt you. Nor will trouble or heart ache, sadness, or difficulty. Such things are only chastening from a kind and gracious Lord. Troubles, even earthly death, do not mean that the Lord is angry. He has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death. He has rescued us and brought us into the kingdom of his Son and now every day for the rest of our lives and forever in heaven are days in which we say: This is the day the Lord has made for me!

Easter Day makes all my days ones of righteousness instead of sin. For our comfort, the psalm repeats the message in another way. When Israel started out from Egypt Pharaoh mustered his courage and his soldiers and hounded Israel on the move. In short, they were between the devil and the deep blue sea, Pharaoh behind and the impassable Red sea ahead. But,they cried out to him who was stronger and whose love for them gave courage and hope. And the Lord opened for them the gates of righteousness. They passed through the sea on dry land.

Our way to heaven is blocked as well. Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart (Psalm 24). All seems hopeless; surrounded by devil and sin. But, the Lord helps the helpless. He provides a way. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter. Jesus himself says to us. “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep…whoever enters through me will be saved (John 10). But you say, “I am still sinful; my conscience tells me so.” Yes, we still do sin in many ways daily. But, Jesus says: I am your righteousness so take courage. The Lord has forgiven you so now I want you to forgive yourself. The Lord has forgiven those around you and I want you to forgive others as well. This is the day the Lord has made for you!

Easter Day makes all our days ones of victory in Christ. For our comfort, the psalmist gives one more way of saying we have wonderful days now and forever. Moses may have seemed the unlikely, incapable leader. He did the opposite of what the world would do in pursuing power and influence. He left behind his status as prince of Egypt and identified himself with the Israelite slaves. The book of Hebrews says: by faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward (11:24-26). The Lord graced this unlikely man to lead Israel to freedom.

Another seemed an unlikely Savior. He cared nothing about worldly influence or treasures. He was despised and esteemed not, a stone rejected. And yet, he has become the capstone, the key stone of the arch, without which the ancient arch falls. He is the Christ, Lord and Savior, who makes the Christian Church holy, who makes the dead live, who conquers all enemies and saves his people. The heavenly Father was pleased with his work and so raised him to life to show us that our salvation is complete. As he carries us and accompanies us toward heaven, can any day be frightening, unbearable, hopeless. Praise the Lord, no! Rather, every day is one in which the saved can say: this is the day the Lord has made for me. I will rejoice and be glad in it.    Amen.