What does it mean that "blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" (Psalm 118:26 and others)?

"Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity" (v.25). This is a prayer that cannot but be fully answered, for the time will have come for it to be completely appropriate. And the One who comes in the name of the Lord (that is, Christ Jesus) will be both welcome and blessed (v. 26). For the

There can be no doubt therefore that the intention of this statement of the Holy Ghost by Peter was to let the Jews know that their repentance and conversion, that their sins might be blotted out as a nation, is an antecedent condition of the great revolution yet to take place for this world. When the heart of Israel as Israel is touched, when they turn to the Lord — it may be but tremblingly and with very partial understanding of His grace, but when it is a real work in their heart, God shall send Jesus from heaven. Our Lord Himself uttered similar truth in the close of Matthew 23, which passage was before us a short time ago. He left their house unto them desolate, "till" — not for ever, but "till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of Jehovah." When they so say, He is to come. Jehovah sends Him; for their hearts call Him "blessed" as He comes in Jehovah's name. This answers to their conversion in Acts 3. They judge themselves before God, acknowledge their sins, and find them blotted out by divine grace in the blood of their own Messiah. There is no other way; but oh, how unspeakably affecting for them above all men! But again, whatever may be the precious power of the blood of Christ, there is no real blessing to any soul at any time save through the judgment of sin — of self — in the conscience. And so we find in the case of Israel: it is strongly enforced upon them, however it may be of grace; for Jesus is a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins. In Matthew the point is rather the heart turning to Christ. In the Acts of the Apostles it is rather the conscience clearing itself, as it were, or rather clearing God, — vindicating Him against themselves. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Such is the absolute principle flowing from God's nature, said of us, no doubt, but ever true. Both are united, and always, more or less, united; and when they are verified in Israel, God will send Jesus, their before-appointed Messiah, and then the times of restitution of all things will begin to run their blessed and blessing course upon the earth.

Here we have the condition of blessing to the Jews. Seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord are vainly sought for them as a people, till they repent and turn again for the blotting out of their sins. So the Lord had intimated when He bowed to their rejection of Him, and declared their house left to them desolate: 'Ye shall not see Me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord' — of Jehovah. Whensoever their heart shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away. They will be converted for the blotting out of their sins. They will in heart welcome their long-despised Messiah, and Jehovah will send Him. There will be at least a remnant converted and awaiting His advent, and He will appear to their deliverance and the discomfiture of their enemies, as many scriptures bear witness. Of that godly remnant not a few will be put to death, and these, whether earlier or later sufferers, shall be raised in time to join the saints already glorified, so that they all may reign with Christ during the thousand years according to Rev. 20:4. Those who escape and survive will become the first and most honoured nucleus for the kingdom on earth, when heaven no longer has within it the Christ foreappointed for them, Jesus, and times for restoring all things dawn on earth.

When the Lord Jesus entered Jerusalem riding upon the colt of an ass, the multitudes cried, "Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord," (Matt. 21:9). But that was the result of a sudden gust of enthusiasm, and had no permanent significance, as the sequel showed. Within a week He was crucified. The Lord knew the worthlessness of their excited cry, and hence a little later He said, "Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord" (Matt. 23:39). The Psalm speaks of the moment when they will see Him again, and utter the cry of welcome with full truth and sincerity.

And what or whose faith is this? Of Christians now? or of Jews by and by? "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!" The Christian faith is, that He has come, that He has died, and is now risen and glorified. Not so does the Lord speak of the shape which the faith in question is to take. I say not that they will not identify their coming Messiah with Him who suffered on the cross, but that distinctly and unmistakeably our Saviour carries them back to the ancient oracles, and applies that word to them written in the 118th Psalm, which looks for Israel to be blessed, but Israel blessed in the coming of Him who was rejected by the builders, the masterbuilders. The despised Messiah is no longer refused, but on the contrary most welcome to their hearts, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!" The passage therefore is equally definite in showing that, if the present Jerusalem and her temple were to be left desolate, all that was her distinctive glory being taken from her, and this at the word of the Saviour Himself, yet the time would come when their hearts would desire Him, saying, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of Jehovah." Jerusalem is not forsaken for ever. He who left her to herself, to her sin and shame in refusing Him, even He is our warrant for knowing that the self-same people and city will look for Him, hail Him, and have provided for their song in the utterance of their faith the great Hallel.* What a proof that God has in no wise abandoned His people; that He will make good every word He has uttered about them; that, although for a time there is a painful gap, and Israel is forsaken of her Lord apparently, and in a sense really too, yet in truth, as His heart yearned over her in the midst and in spite of her sin, so her heart will turn to Him in that blessed day when His people shall be "willing in the day of his power." (Ps. 110)

But the nation — Jerusalem, God's beloved city — is guilty and is judged. Christ, as we have seen, since the cure of the blind man near Jericho, presents Himself as Jehovah the King of Israel. How often would He have gathered the children of Jerusalem, but they would not! And now their house should be desolate, until (their hearts being converted) they should use the language of Psalm 118, and, in desire, hail His arrival who came in the name of Jehovah, looking for deliverance at His hands, and praying to Him for it — in a word, until they should cry Hosanna to Him that should come. They would see Jesus no more until, humbled in heart, they should pronounce Him blessed whom they were expecting, and whom they now rejected — in short, until they were prepared in heart. Peace should follow, desire precede, His appearing.

I will just recall to your memories my previous division of Matthew 24. We must keep in mind the occasion of the reply of our Lord to His disciples. He had passed judgment on the Jewish people at the end of chapter 23. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, etc. … for I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Here is a positive judgment passed, and upon the nation as such. There is no question of individuals, for He does not say to individuals "ye shall not see me." And so it must be the nation, or a remnant of it at least, and at a time yet to come, who will say to Jesus, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." The high priests themselves have never said it; on the contrary, their language was, "Away with him, crucify him." The Lord had previously pronounced their judgment; but it is of the nation that He says, "Ye shall not see me henceforth until," etc. It is a quotation from Psalm 118 remarkable for its prophetic announcement of the rejection of Him who was to be acknowledged at a later time.

For the time of real and full return of heart to God is now reached, in which that will be accomplished of which the Lord spoke in the hour of His rejection as that which would bring Him to them once again. "Ye shall not see Me henceforth," He says, "until ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord." Here we have the decisive word: "Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord" (Jehovah); and this is the indication of their spiritual condition: He had had to say of them: "I have come in my Father's name, and ye receive Me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." (John 5:43.) For alas, it was against God Himself that they were in hostility: with the desperate implacability of a heart set upon its own lusts, they both saw and hated "Him and His Father." (John 15:24.)

Now that which He had declared they would do, they have done. At the standpoint of the psalm; Antichrist has come in his own name, and been received; but a remnant wrought upon by divine grace has been turned to God; and in these is found the revival of the national life. Theirs is the cry, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of Jehovah," and "out of the house of Jehovah" — the sign; as we have seen; of restored favor — they are saluted with blessing. The last part of the verse is evidently a responsive greeting from within, as the worshipers approach Jehovah's dwelling.

At the close of that long strain of awful denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees, which we find in Matt. 23, our Lord declares, that upon Jerusalem should come all the righteous blood which had been shed upon the earth; and then He utters the well-known words quoted in our last, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth" — does He say, "for ever?" no — "Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord." Do not these words imply, that the time will yet arrive when Israel shall say, "Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord," and that then, when they do say this, they shall again behold their, till then, rejected and absent Lord? These words, it must be admitted, do not absolutely declare that Israel will say, "Blessed is he that comes;" but, surely, if there were not another passage on the subject in the whole of God's word, the one before us holds out encouragement sufficient to keep alive in the heart the hope of Israel's final restoration. But we shall find passages in abundance which do absolutely predict that which is here conditionally expressed.

(Vv. 7-11). Entering Jerusalem, the Lord is surrounded by a crowd who praise Him as the King, quoting Psalm 118:25-26, "save now … Blessed is He that comes in the name of the LORD." Such will be the cry of the nation in a day to come, when a remnant awakened to repentance will look to the LORD for salvation. That time had not yet come. But though the leaders of the nation reject the Lord, the babes and sucklings may render a testimony to His glory (Ps. 8:2). Having entered the city and the temple, everything passes under the searching gaze of the Lord, only to make evident the signs of rebellion, corruption and unbelief — a condition that the Lord refuses to sanction by His presence; thus, at eventide, He returns to Bethany where there were a few by whom He was loved and owned.