His Steadfast Love Endures Forever!

This evening we are going to do something a little different. It was not uncommon in Israelite worship to have the congregation respond to the truth of God’s Word in song. We just experienced that in Psalm 136. Originally, this psalm was sung, not read in worship. Psalm 136 is deceptively simple, but highly profound.

The Psalm itself begins and in ends with summary statements about God’s uniqueness in His goodness. It is unique because God is in a class all by Himself—He is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. He alone is the God of heaven.

Then, in between these summary statements are four sections in which the psalmist highlights God’s unique goodness:

His Creation

His Salvation

His Inheritance

His Provision

Repeated throughout this Psalm is the most important part: “the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever”!

God’s steadfast love is not His general love that He has for all of His creatures. According to Jesus, the Father “makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rains on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5:45). This general love of God is wondrous and worthy of our highest praise and thanksgiving. However, this is not what this psalm is about; it is about God’s steadfast love.

What is God’s steadfast love you ask? It is God’s special love for His elect. It is His covenantal love. A covenant is a solemn promise, and God has promised to love His people forever! What this Psalm does is it reminds us that God’s steadfast love can be seen in His creation, salvation, inheritance and provision. Let us begin with creation:

His Steadfast Love in Creation (vss. 4-9)

Creation reveals many things about God, “namely his eternal power and divine nature” according to the Apostle Paul (Rom 1:19). One of the most well-known Psalms is Psalm 19, it begins this way, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Ps 19:1).

I remember watching a show about several individuals and families living in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. One of the few people who has a right to live there made the comment as he points to the vast wilderness, “This is my church”. He is not alone. There is something special about Creation that draws us close to God. However, there is more being revealed by creation than simply God’s power—creation, according to Psalm 136 is revealing God’s steadfast love for His elect.

How does creation do this?

It does it by pointing us to something greater and eternal—God’s New Creation!

Beginning in Genesis and continuing until Revelation there is a promise of a New Creation. As beautiful as this present Creation is, it has been cursed by the Fall. It is in decay, and unless God intervenes supernaturally, all is destined to perish someday. The Green Movement offers a false hope.

God however, offers us a firm hope. In Christ, there is the promise of a New Heaven and New Earth. Creation will not simply be restored; it will be perfected. As beautiful and awe inspiring the present Creation is, this present Creation is but a shadow compared to the New Heaven and New Earth. When we see this present Creation, we are seeing a token of God’s steadfast love for His elect people.

This is why we have so much to be thankful for, not only has God provided for us through this present Creation, but He will provide for us in the New Creation, because His steadfast love endures forever!

Let us celebrate God’s steadfast love in Creation by singing together Hymn #59 (vs. 1-2).

His Steadfast Love in Salvation (vss. 10-16)

This present creation is not what it should be. The reason for this is because of sin. The great salvation event in the Old Testament was the Exodus from Egypt.

Israel’s enslavement in Egypt is a picture of all humanities enslavement to sin and Satan. The Exodus narrative, is written in such a way, that it is clear that the Exodus was not simply a struggle of Moses against Pharaoh, but rather the True God of Israel against the false gods of Egypt. It ultimately points to the great struggle of Christ on the cross.

As with Creation, the Exodus is not a picture of God’s general love towards sinners. God, Scripture teaches, “desires all to come to repentance” (2 Pt 3:9), however, this general love is not what we see in the Exodus. It was God’s covenant faithfulness and steadfast love that motivated Him to deliver Israel from Egypt,

The same is true for the Cross. Christ, went to the cross, to save not the whole world, but His elect. The proof of this is that the whole world is not saved, but each and every one of His elect are saved infallibly.

At the cross, Christ did not simply stand on the shore and throw out a life-line into the stormy sea of sin, hoping someone would grab it. No, He jumped into that sea and dragged each and every one of His elect out, He did not simply make salvation possible, He secured it!

God’s grace to us in Christ is truly Amazing. With that thought, let us give God thanks for His Amazing Grace by singing verses 1 and 2 of Hymn #202.

His Steadfast Love in Our Inheritance (vss. 17-22)

We are not simply saved “from something”, but “to something”, namely, God’s Promised Land. In vss 17-22, the Psalmist praises God for displacing Israel’s enemies and giving them the Promised Land. This is a picture of how Christ even now is fighting for His people to secure for them their eternal inheritance. However, under the New Covenant. Our inheritance is not a small piece of land of the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, but the New Heaven and New Earth we spoke of earlier. This is given to us because of God’s steadfast love.

In the book of Hebrews, we learn that even under the Old Covenant, Israel looked towards a “better” inheritance. What a help this is in times like these. Because the West, including the United States, have abandoned a biblical worldview, we are in steep decline. Unless people repent and turn to God, American’s best days are behind us. While this is a sad thing to see, we are not without hope. In fact, our ultimate hope must always be in the inheritance God has promised us in His steadfast love.

Each time you said the words, “His steadfast love”, you also said “endures forever”. Unlike the things of this world that do not endure forever, the inheritance God gives us does! Peter puts it this way:

1 Peter 1:3–5 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Let us now give God thanks for this inheritance by singing Hymn #543, verses 1- 2.

His Steadfast Love in His Provision (vss. 23-25)

In my previous point, I mentioned the uncertainties of this present age. As great as our future inheritance will be, we need a secure provision now. We cannot wait for our future inheritance.

The psalmist understands this, and turns towards God’s steadfast love in His provision for his elect people.

First of all, the psalmist tells us that God remembers our low estate. Because this world is not our home and because this world will hate us, just as it hated Christ. The estate of a believer in this present age will always be low. Moreover, we will have many foes.

Paul writes of God’s steadfast love towards His elect people in Romans 8:

Romans 8:35–39 ESV

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Finally, God gives us our “daily bread”. This final item is closest to what we think of as Thanksgiving. On the cover of our bulletin is a picture of food, and rightly so. Food, clothing and shelter are not small things. These are the things that God provides to sustain our lives.

Psalm 136, calls us to look around us and see more than just examples of God’s general love towards all people. It calls us to see God’s steadfast love towards His people. We of all people have a multitude of reasons to thank God on Thanksgiving Day. Let us close our worship tonight by singing Hymn # 556 in its entirety: “Now Thank We All Our God”.