Five "everlastings"

My last post was about enduring love.  In another version, it is translated as "everlasting".  Psalm 118 mentions the everlasting nature of God's love five times.

His lovingkindness is everlasting.

What is connected with these five mentions?

1. "Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good: for His lovingkindness is everlasting."
   Thanks is the right response to the goodness of the character of God.  This is not merely giving thanks for something good that God has done.  Rather, it is thanks for the good that God is in His very nature.
2. "Oh let Israel say, 'His lovingkindness is everlasting.'"
   Israel means, "He has striven with God".  This was the name that Jacob was given after wrestling with God at Peniel.  From this wrestling, there comes a knowledge and experiencing of the everlasting lovingkindness of God that is communicated to others.  It is not just "Let Israel know", but rather, "Let Israel say".
3. "Oh let the house of Aaron say,'His lovingkindness is everlasting.'"
   Aaron was the high priest. He was the one commissioned by God to represent the people to God on the one hand, and to represent the people to God on the other.  What is that representation?  What is the message that Aaron is to bring from God to the people?  "God's heart toward you is one of everlasting lovingkindness."  The Aaronic blessing is this:
   
   
   "The LORD bless you and keep you; 
   the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 
   the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."
   

   What a message of everlasting lovingkindness!
4. "Oh let those who fear the LORD say,'His lovingkindness is everlasting.'"
   The fear of the LORD is a frequent theme in the Bible. It is "the beginning of wisdom". When men of God drew close to God's presence, fear was their response.  Those who have drawn near to God, who have felt the fear of God's might and their own frailty, of God's holiness and their own fallenness. these speak of the everlasting nature of God's lovingkindness.  In Exodos 33, when Moses desired to see God's glory, God told him, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Then God covered Moses and proclaimed His name, His character, His nature, His goodness, His everlasting lovingkindness over Moses.
5. "Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting."
   Here, in the last verse of the Psalm, the same invitation is issued.  Give thanks.  Know God's heart toward you.  It is a heart of everlasting lovingkindness!