This is the Day
with a little Spurgeon thrown in for good measure
Scripture Reading: Psalm 118:22-29
Years ago, not long after my conversion to Christ, I was enlisted to lead children’s church services. We were in a fairly large church at the time and the group of children we led was first and second graders. So, we would sing songs and I would teach a Bible lesson while the parents were in “big church.” One of the songs we taught the kids and sang often was, “This is the day.” It goes like this:
This is the day; this is the day.
That the Lord has made; that the Lord has made.
We will rejoice; we will rejoice.
And be glad in it; and be glad in it.
For, this is the day that the Lord has made,
And we will rejoice and be glad in it…
At the time, and for many years after I never gave much thought to the Scripture on which that song was based or what it might actually mean. I took it to mean that God created this day (whatever day it was) and allowed you to rejoice in that day. That’s not a bad thing to do, but the actual text means so much more.
Psalm 118:24 is the basis for that song. When it is pulled out of its context it loses some of the richness of its meaning. It has a more specific reason for rejoicing than God made this day. It is a Messianic text. When you read the whole chapter, and therefore the verse in its context, it is easy to see that. Those familiar with the New Testament will hear its echoes in Psalm 118. You will hear the sounds of the Triumphal Entry and faint hints of Golgotha. The resurrection of Christ is there too. And that seems to be the day verse 24 is talking about.
Spurgeon remarked on this verse:
A new era has commenced…the day of our Lord’s resurrection is a new day of God’s own making, for it is the dawn of a blessed dispensation…We observe the Lord’s Day as a perpetual remembrance of the achievements of our Redeemer. Whenever the soft light of the first day of the week breaks upon the earth, let sing, “This is the day the Lord hath made…” We by no means wish to confine the reference of the passage to the Sabbath for the whole gospel day is the day of God’s making, and its blessings come to us through our Lord’s being placed as the head of the corner…What else can we do? Having obtained so great a deliverance through our illustrious leader and having seen the eternal mercy of God so brilliantly displayed, it would ill become us to mourn and murmur. Rather will we exhibit a double joy, rejoice in heart and be glad in face, rejoice in secret and be glad in public, for we have more than a double reason for being glad in the Lord.
Reading and understanding this verse in its context adds more to the meaning but it also aids us in obeying its exhortation. There are days in which we find life hard and even heartbreaking. Even those days are days the Lord has made. So, for what reason do we have to rejoice on those days beyond just a recognition that God made that day? When we read the verse in the context, we understand we aren’t being told to rejoice merely because the day was made by God. We are being told to rejoice as we reflect on that day, the day Christ rose from the grave, the day He conquered death for us, the Day when a new and living way was opened for us into eternal life by Him.
Jesus' resurrection is the reason we can sing, “This is the day…we will rejoice and be glad in him.”
