His Love Endures Forever

God is worthy of our praise because there is no other.

Psalm 136:1–3 NASB95

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the God of gods, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Israel was surrounded by foreign nations who all had their own religions and belief systems. Israel was unique in that they were the only nation around that held to a singular God, though they were not always faithful to him. They faced temptation, and often embraced it, to abandon their fidelity to the one true God and worship the false gods of the cultures around them. Yet, the Bible repeatedly shows us that these other gods do not exist.

We live in an age today that claims truth is relative. What is true for one might not be true for another and yet somehow both can be equally valid. The problem with asserting that truth is relative and not absolute is you have to make an absolute truth claim to deny it. We claim the Bible is true because the one true God has revealed himself to us in it. This means that as the psalmist calls the congregation to worship, he is calling them to give thanks to the only one to whom thanks is due. There is no other. God is the God of gods not because he is the most powerful of the gods, but because he is the only God. He is the Lord of lords because there are no other lords. God stands alone in his supremacy because there exists no other god to rival him. So we give thanks to God because of who he is.

Thank God for his creation of all things.

Psalm 136:4–9 NASB95

To Him who alone does great wonders, For His lovingkindness is everlasting; To Him who made the heavens with skill, For His lovingkindness is everlasting; To Him who spread out the earth above the waters, For His lovingkindness is everlasting; To Him who made the great lights, For His lovingkindness is everlasting: The sun to rule by day, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, The moon and stars to rule by night, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

The next segment in the psalm speaks of God’s great wonders, then proceeds to tell us what wonders he has done. Surely the fact that anything exists at all is a tremendous wonder. In an age where everyone is taught to believe that the natural world is the only thing that exists, it is truly a marvel that it exists at all.

My favorite subjects in school were math and science. These things made sense to me. I had a better grasp of those subjects than language arts and history. So when I studied the marvels of space, the earth, plant life, animals, I was dumbfounded at the beauty of it all. Then later I discovered there is this teleological argument for the existence of God. I know that’s a big complicated word, but let me summarize it for you. The teleological argument for the existence of God says that every design needs a designer. The universe has evidence of design. Therefore, the universe has a designer. We live in what is called the Goldilocks zone of our solar system. You know the story of Goldilocks and the three bears. Goldilocks always found what was just right. The Goldilocks zone is the space in which we live where conditions are just right for life to exist. There are a number of constants that allow us to exist. If the sun’s temperature were warmer or cooler, no life. If the force of gravity were any lesser or greater, no life. If the earth’s axis were a different angle, no life. If the speed of the earth’s rotation were any slower or faster, no life. If the nitrogen levels in the air were lesser or greater, no life. There are a myriad of these that, if changed, would result in our extinction. So we thank him for providing the perfect home for us.

Thank God for his salvation.

Psalm 136:10–26 NASB95

To Him who smote the Egyptians in their firstborn, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, And brought Israel out from their midst, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, With a strong hand and an outstretched arm, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. To Him who divided the Red Sea asunder, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, And made Israel pass through the midst of it, For His lovingkindness is everlasting; But He overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. To Him who led His people through the wilderness, For His lovingkindness is everlasting; To Him who smote great kings, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, And slew mighty kings, For His lovingkindness is everlasting: Sihon, king of the Amorites, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, And Og, king of Bashan, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, And gave their land as a heritage, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, Even a heritage to Israel His servant, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Who remembered us in our low estate, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, And has rescued us from our adversaries, For His lovingkindness is everlasting; Who gives food to all flesh, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the God of heaven, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

The next part of this psalm starting in verse 10 is a revisiting of what God had done for Israel in saving them from the Egyptians. Every year the Jews commemorate the Exodus through the observance of Passover. This is like Israel’s independence day. For the next several verses, they are called to remember various aspects of God’s deliverance. They were delivered from the final plague in Egypt. They were delivered from Pharaoh’s army as they traveled through the Red Sea on dry ground. They were delivered from the kings of the Amorites and Bashan.

These deliverances from the hands of their enemies are a foreshadowing of the greatest deliverance of all through Christ, who has rescued his people from the penalty, power, and eventually the presence of sin. Through our faith in Jesus we are freed from the penalty of sin because he took it on the cross. He died the death we deserve, but emerged from the grave victorious three days later. The penalty of sin has no hold on those who believe.

Through our lives, we are freed from the power of sin as we live righteous lives under the influence of the Holy Spirit. As we surrender ourselves to him daily, we no longer give in to the power that sin once had over us. Yielding to the Holy Spirit’s control over your life means that you sin less as you embrace God’s will for your life.

One day we will be delivered from the presence of sin as we enter into the eternal state. When Christ comes and the final battle is won, the present earth will pass away and a new heaven and new earth will be made. It will be there that we reside forever where sin will not exist. Perfection is all we will know. We are thankful for his salvation.

Thank God for his covenant love to his people.

For 26 verses the phrase, “For his lovingkindness is everlasting” is repeated. That word lovingkindness is the word used for God’s covenant love for his people. As we read through the whole Bible as a church, we looked at covenants, and the key aspect to a covenant was that even when one party failed to deliver on their promises, the other party was still obligated to fulfill theirs. So in the case of God and his people, the people failed to keep their covenantal promises. Abraham was not always faithful to God. Israel was not always faithful to God. We are not always faithful to God. But where we are not faithful, God is always faithful. Are you glad that God is always faithful to his covenants? This is huge! God is changeless. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! You can place your trust in him. You can count on him to fulfill his promises!

This psalm is thousands of years old. It is full of ways God delivered the people of Israel and showed his covenant love to his people. If psalm 136 were written today, what might be written in verses 10-22? How has God shown his covenant love to you?