“Open to me the gates of righteousness; I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it, I shall give thanks to Thee for Thou hast answered me; and Thou hast become my salvation.”
Psalms 118:19-21
The Psalmist cries out to God “open to me the gates of righteousness,” and so my soul cries out to God “me too Lord, open your gates to me.” The Psalmist seeks the gate, and God answering his plea shows him the gate. It is such a marvelous gate that the Psalmist rejoices and gives thanks to God for answering his cry to open the gates for him.
The Psalmist asked, he got an answer, and he thanked the Lord for such an awesome answer! But in these verses the answer itself is obscured to me. Once the Psalmist received his answer, as he sees the gates, he simply exclaims “this” is the gate of the Lord. No sooner than he has declared that “this” is the gate, he goes on to thank the Lord, not specifying what “this” is, leaving me only with an impersonal pronoun to describe this gate for which he stands giving thanks. But I can’t see what he’s pointing at because I’m only reading a transcript. I want to yell stop! Wait! What is the gate? Describe it to me, I want to enter too. But before I get any detail he’s already thanking God for showing him this amazing gate, and I can’t see it. My desire see this gate is obscured by the word “this.”
Obscured, that is, until I read the next verses. “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes!” This rejected stone that become a cornerstone is the gate. Jesus the stone rejected by men is the cornerstone. “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep,” John 10:7.
Now the scene is completed, the transcript is played out. The Psalmist cries out to God “Open to me the gate” and God shows him Jesus the cornerstone of salvation. The Psalmist looks at Jesus and says “this is the gate… thou hast become my salvation… the Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes!”
O my soul, cry out to God like the Psalmist, “open to me the gates of righteousness” and let Him show you Jesus. Lord you are the gate of righteousness, through you I shall enter; you are my salvation I give thanks to you. Help me to see this vision of Christ my gate, my rock, my salvation and let my spirit say with fullness “it is marvelous in my eyes.” Amen.
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