Psalm 118 (28 of 31 notes)

27. God is the Lord, which hath showed us light, or “God is Jehovah,” the only living and true God. The words may also be rendered, “Mighty is Jehovah.” Only the power of God could have brought us such light and joy as spring from the work of our Champion and King. With the light of knowledge has come the light of joy, for we are delivered from the powers of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. Let us do our best to magnify the great Father of lights from whom our present blessedness has descended. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. Some think that by this we are taught that the king offered so many sacrifices that the whole area of the court was filled, and the sacrifices were bound even up to the altar; but we are included to keep to our own version, and to believe that sometimes restive bullocks were bound to the altar before they were slain. The word rendered cords carries with it the idea of wreaths and boughs, so that it was not a cord of hard, rough rope, but a decorated band; just as in our case, though we are bound to the altar of God, it is with the cords of love and the bands of a man, and not by a compulsion which destroys the freedom of the will. The sacrifice which we would present in honor of the victories of our Lord Jesus Christ is the living sacrifice of our spirit, soul, and body. We bring ourselves to his altar, and desire to offer him all that we have and are. There remains a tendency in our nature to start aside from this; it is not fond of the sacrificial knife. In the warmth of our love we come willingly to the altar, but we need constraining power to keep us there. We are bound to the doctrine of atonement; we are bound to Christ himself, who is both altar and sacrifice; we desire to be more bound to him than ever.