Psalms 118:24-26 This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD.
Matthew 23:37-39 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
Psalm 118:24 is not merely about enjoying a new day — it is a prophetic declaration of a divinely appointed moment. “This is the day the LORD has made” speaks of a kairos moment in history when heaven and earth converge. It points to the day when Messiah would be revealed, salvation would walk into Jerusalem, and God’s covenant plan would take a dramatic step forward. This is not the casual celebration of a sunrise — it is the joyful response to God’s redemptive unfolding.
Verse 25, “Save us, we pray, O LORD!” — Hoshiana na! — is the cry that echoed through the streets of Jerusalem as Yeshua (Jesus) rode in on a donkey. The people cried out for deliverance, quoting this very verse, though many did not realize that salvation had already come to them in the flesh. That same cry is lifted every year on Hoshana Rabbah, the final day of Sukkot, when worshipers encircle the altar pleading for salvation, rain, and revival. It is followed by Simchat Torah, the rejoicing in the Word of God — a celebration Yeshua embodied as the Word made flesh.
Tragically and prophetically, on October 7, 2023, as Jews around the world danced with the Torah scroll on Simchat Torah, Israel was struck by war. And before the IDF entered Gaza, soldiers were praying Psalm 118:25: “Hoshiana na — Save us, we pray, O LORD! Grant us success!” The cry of the ancient psalm became a modern wartime prayer. It was not staged — it was spiritual. The plea of the people of Israel in their hour of need echoed the same cry once shouted before Yeshua in Jerusalem.
But the story is not over. Yeshua’s words in Matthew 23:37–39 reveal a prophecy yet to be fulfilled. After weeping over Jerusalem’s rejection of Him, He declared: “You shall not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” That’s Psalm 118:26 — the very next verse. The world has heard Israel cry out verse 25. Now, all creation groans, waiting for her to declare verse 26 — the key that unlocks His second coming. When Israel cries out in recognition of Yeshua as the One sent by the Father, heaven will respond, and the King will come.
We are standing between verses — between the cry of “Save us, O LORD” and the declaration “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!” The first has already been spoken. The second is coming — and it will shake the heavens. This is not a time for passive faith. This is the day the LORD has made — not just for rejoicing, but for revelation. The gates are open. The cries are rising. The King is near. Join the cry. Prepare the way. And pray with urgency that Israel will finish the song she began. When she sings verse 26, the sky will split, and Yeshua will come — not as the rejected cornerstone, but as the crowned King. Maranatha!
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.
How to display the above article within the Worthy Suite WordPress Plugin.
[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]
F.B. Meyer once said, “The education of our faith is incomplete [till] we learn that God’s providence works through loss…that there’s a ministry to us through the failure and fading of things. The dwindling brook where Elijah sat is a picture of our lives.
Most people reading this passage tend to focus in on the fruit that is produced. Okay…But a closer look will reveal that the Lord is really focusing on the tree. The fruit merely demonstrates the quality of the tree. We have all encountered this: there are trees whose fruit is healthy and delicious, and there are trees whose fruit is scarcely edible, or even useless.
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on in every person. He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’. One is evil — it is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good…
There’s an interesting story about the great English actor, Macready. A respected preacher once asked him, “I wish you would explain something to me.”
We live in a day and age that everywhere we turn, there’s a “self-help” theory. Books, videos and dvds, websites, world-renown speakers, you name it — all dedicated to helping us “feel good about ourselves”. Yet somehow, still many of us struggle with self-consciousness, even as Christians!
Early in the last century, sculptor Gutzon Borglum gazed at the cliffs of South Dakota’s Black Hills. As any great artist would, He saw what no one else could the sculpted faces of US presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. After 14 years, he finally completed his project — Mount Rushmore.
Counselors, encouragers, and people who offer care to others often encounter those whose past failures threaten to define them and hinder their development, healing, and sanctification. Our enemy capitalizes on our failures and regrets, pressing home the current influence of what we could have, would have, or should have done, if only we were wiser, more courageous, honest, or godly.