Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 102:28

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 102:28. The children of thy servants shall continue — Thy Church shall be permanent, because founded on thee; it shall live throughout all the revolutions of time. And as thy followers are made partakers of the Divine nature, they shall live in union with God in the other world, deriving eternal duration from the inexhaustible Fountain of being. Nothing can be permanent but by God's supporting and renewing influence.

ANALYSIS OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND SECOND PSALM

There are two general parts in this Psalm: -

I. A description of the calamities of the Church, under the person of an afflicted man, Psalms 102:1-11.

II. The consolation afforded in these calamities, and the ground of it, Psalms 102:12-28.

I. The description, c., is formed into a prayer proposed in the two first verses: -

1. "Hear my prayer."

2. "Hide not thy face."

In this prayer he complains, and shows his wretched state by various metaphors or figures.

1. A consumption of strength: "My days are consumed."

2. From continual weeping: "My bones cleave to my skin."

3. From his solitude: "Like a pelican in the wilderness."

4. From his continual watching: "I watch, and am like a sparrow," c.

5. From the reproach of his enemies. "Mine enemies reproach me."

6. From his sadness: "I have eaten ashes like bread."

All these increased, from a sense of God's displeasure.

1. "Because of thine indignation."

2. Because of his sufferings: "Thou hast lifted me up, and hast cast me down."

3. And the effect produced: "My days are as a shadow."

II. He comforts himself in the promises of God: -

1. "I am withered like grass: but thou shalt endure for ever."

2. I shall soon be forgotten "but thy remembrance is unto all generations."

3. Thou seemest to take no heed: but "thou wilt arise."

He was the more confident, -

1. Because the set time to favour Zion was come.

2. This he saw more clearly from the concern with which God had filled the hearts of the people: "Thy servants take pleasure in her stones."

3. He consoled himself in the prospect of the conversion of the heathen themselves: "So the heathen shall fear thy name."

4. For this he gives a particular reason: Because "the Lord shall build up Zion."

5. And he will do this, because of the prayers of the people: "He will regard the prayer," c.

This should be done in such a manner, that, -

1. Record should be made of it: "This shall be written."

2. And it should be a blessing to those that were unborn: "The people which shall be created shall praise the Lord."

And for this he assigns the proper reasons.

1. "The Lord looked down from heaven."

2. "He heard the groans of the prisoners."

These mercies call for gratitude and obedience: -

1. They should "declare the name of the Lord."

2. And this will take place "when the people are gathered together," &c.

The psalmist fears that he shall not live to see this deliverance: -

1. "For he weakened my strength in the way, - he shortened my days."

2. Yet he earnestly desires to see it: "Take me not away."

To strengthen this petition, he pleads God's unchangeableness and he proves God to be eternal, because he is immutable.

1. Not so the earth, for it had a beginning: "Of old thou hast laid," c.

2. Not so the heavens for they are "the work of thy hands."

3. Neither shall they continue: "They shall perish," c.

But God is always the same. Every thing that is mutable acquires by its change some property, quality, form or accident, which it had not before: but God, being an infinite Spirit, and infinitely perfect, can suffer no loss, can have no addition. For as he wants nothing, nothing can be added to him as he inhabits eternity, nothing can be taken from him. In him, therefore, there is no possibility of change and, consequently, none of decay or perishing.

From these considerations the psalmist draws this comfortable conclusion: -

1. His Church and servants shall continue also: "The children of thy servants," - the apostles, with the patriarchs, shall dwell in thy kingdom - in the new Jerusalem.

2. "And their seed;" as many as are begotten by the Gospel, if they remain in the faith that works by love, "shall be established," - persevere, remain, continue before thee - live in thy presence for ever. As thou art eternal, so thou wilt unite them to thyself and make them eternally happy.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 102:0 The changeless God

Jerusalem is in ruins, God’s people are in captivity, and a weary sufferer pours out his complaint to God (see heading to the psalm; also v. 13-17). The opening part of the prayer describes the psalmist’s afflictions in a style similar to that of many psalms in the early part of the book. The writer is ill and dying, partly because he is unable to eat (1-5). He is lonely and cannot sleep (6-7). He is persecuted by his enemies and feels he has been deserted by God (8-11).
But how could God desert him? God is still Lord; he does not change (12). He is always faithful to his people. For example, he sees their love for their broken-down city, he hears their prayers, and he will rebuild their city for them. Israel will triumph over its enemies as of old (13-17). All who are oppressed and discouraged should take note of this and praise God. He will hear the cries of his captive people, release them from bondage and bring them back to their beloved Jerusalem (18-22).
There is no need to doubt God. Life is full of troubles and uncertainties (23-24), and even the natural world suffers from wear and tear (25-26), but God is changeless. His troubled people, from one generation to the next, can depend on him to rescue them and bless them (27-28).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE GLORY OF THE MESSIAH

"He weakened my strength in the way; He shortened my days. I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: Thy years are throughout all generations. Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. The children of thy servants shall continue, And their seed shall be established before thee."

Psalms 102:23-24 a appear in this version to have been the words of the psalmist; but in the LXX, we have the following:

"He (God) answered him in the way of his strength: tell me the fewness of my days. Take me not away in the midst of my days."LXX, p. 759.

The significance of this rendition is that it makes God the speaker of this whole passage, indicating that the Messiah is the only person to whom such language from God could be applied. Without passing any judgment at all upon the Septuagint (LXX) rendition, one thing is certain: "Every word of Psalms 102:24 bff is indeed and truth a reference to Jesus Christ." This does not deny that the passage, as it appears here, is most certainly addressed to Jehovah. Note the following quotation from Heb. 1:20-12.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The children of thy servants shall continue - The descendants of those that serve and obey thee. This represents the confident expectation of the psalmist that, as God was unchangeable, all his promises toward his people would be fulfilled, even though the heavens and the earth should pass away. God was the same. His word would not fail. His promises were sure. Compare Matthew 5:18; Matthew 24:35. The word rendered “continue,” means to dwell, as in a habitation; then, to abide. It stands opposed to a wandering, nomadic life, and indicates permanency.

And their seed shall be established before thee - The word used here means properly to stand erect; then to set up, to erect, to place, to found, to make firm, as a city, Psalms 107:36; the earth, Psalms 24:2; the heavens, Proverbs 3:19. It means here that they would be firmly and permanently established: that is, the church of God would be permanent in the earth. It would not be like the generations of people that pass away. It would not be like the nomadic tribes of the desert that have no fixed habitation, and that wander from place to place. It would not be even like the heavens that might put on new forms, or wholly pass away: it would be as enduring and changeless as God himself; it would, in its proper form, endure forever. As God is eternal and unchangeable, so would the safety and welfare of his people be.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

28.The children of thy servants shall dwell. By these words the prophet intimates that he does not ask the preservation of the Church, because it is a part of the human race, but because God has raised it above the revolutions of the world. And undoubtedly, when He adopted us as his children, his design was to cherish us as it were in his own bosom. The inference of the inspired bard is not, therefore, far-fetched, when, amidst innumerable storms, each of which might carry us away, he hopes that the Church will have a permanent existence. It is true, that when through our own fault we become estranged from God, we are also as it were cut off from the fountain of life; but no sooner are we reconciled to Him than he begins again to pour down his blessings upon us. Whence it follows that true believers, as they are regenerated by the incorruptible seed, shall continue to live after death, because God continues unchangeably the same. By the word dwell, is to be understood an abiding and everlasting inheritance.

When it is said that the seed of God’s servants shall be established before his face, the meaning is, that it is not after the manner of the world, or according to the way in which the heavens and the earth are established, that the salvation of true believers is made steadfast, but because of the holy union which exists between them and God. By the seed andchildren of the godly, is to be understood not all their descendants without exception — for many who spring from them according to the flesh become degenerate — but those who do not turn aside from the faith of their parents. Successive generations are expressly pointed out, because the covenant extends even to future ages, as we shall again find in the subsequent psalm. If we firmly keep the treasure of life intrusted to us, let us not hesitate, although we may be environed with innumerable deaths, to cast the anchor of our faith in heaven, that the stability of our welfare may rest in God.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 102:1-28

In Psalms 102:1-28 , David begins with a prayer asking God to hear his prayer.

Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline your ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily ( Psalms 102:1-2 ).

How impatient we are with God, and yet, how important it is to us that God is patient with us. Yet it seems that whenever I pray I want speedy answers from God. I, again, I can identify with David. I want judgment on my enemies and I want speedy answers when I cry unto the Lord. I don't like to wait on the Lord. I don't like to wait for His answers to come. When I snap my fingers I want action, you know. I want God to move now in this case. And I don't want to have to wait for God to answer my prayers. I guess, again, it is something that is just very natural. And yet, turn the thing around, and when God is desiring something from me, I like Him to just be patient with me and give me a chance to work it out, and I'll get there when I have opportunity, you know. And it something that I want God to extend His patience towards me in a very liberal sense. But yet, I want speedy answers to my prayers.

For my days are consumed as smoke, and my bones are burned as a hearth. My heart is smitten and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread ( Psalms 102:3-4 ).

That's pretty bad, when you get so smitten that you don't eat any more.

By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin. I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop. Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me. For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with tears, Because of your indignation and your wrath: for you have lifted me up, and cast me down. My days are like a shadow that declineth ( Psalms 102:5-11 );

Now he is referring actually to the sundial. The method by which they kept time in those days. And the declining shadow on a sundial, the day is about over. "My days are about over. My day is like the shadow that declineth."

and I am withered like grass. But ( Psalms 102:11 )

In contrast,

Thou, O LORD, shall endure forever; and thy remembrance to all generations ( Psalms 102:12 ).

I am about ready to pass off from the scene. I am withered like grass; my days are like a declining shadow, but God, You go on forever and ever.

Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favor her, yea, the set time, is come ( Psalms 102:13 ).

So he looks forward now, prophetically, to that time when God is going to work again in Israel among the people. Before they came into the land, while still in the wilderness, Moses gave to them God's covenant whereby they would inherit the land. The covenant of God's blessings that would rest upon them if they would walk with God, and if they would serve the Lord. "Then," God said, "I will bless your crops. I will bless your children. I'll bless your families." And all of the blessings that God had promised if they would walk with Him. "But if you turn," God said, "and walk after other gods, and bow down, and worship them and sacrifice your children unto them, then," God said, "I will turn against thee, and I will bring plagues upon the land. I will bring thee enemies in upon the land, and finally," God said, "and I will give you over to captivity and you will be scattered throughout all of the earth and you'll become a curse and a byword among the nations upon the earth."

And so God promised even before they came into the land, the dispersion that would take place if they turned against God. They would be scattered throughout all the world. We only have to look at their history to see the confirmation of God's Word to them. As long as they sought the Lord, God made them to prosper. When they turned from the Lord, the curses that God declared came upon them. Their land was smitten with drought and with famine. And the enemies came in and they were taken captive, and ultimately they were dispersed and scattered throughout the whole world.

But even in Deuteronomy, before they came into the land, God promised that the day would come when He would gather them together again, from all the parts of the earth, wherever they had been scattered, and He would bring them back and establish them in the land once again. Now this is the thread that runs through the prophecies of the Old Testament. God's faithfulness to His covenant to Abraham that the land would belong to him and to his seed.

And it is wrong to make that a spiritual analogy to the church and say, "Well, God has rejected now Israel forever and the church is spiritual Israel, and thus, the promises apply now to the church in a spiritual sense." It is true that we are all the children of Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ and that we all now can partake of God's covenant to Abraham. That is, that God will impute righteousness to us by faith. And yet, God is still going to deal with the nation Israel.

The Lord said to Daniel, "There are seventy sevens that are determined upon the nation Israel. Sixty-nine of those sevens would transpire between the time the commandment went forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, to the coming of the Messiah the Prince. But," he said, "The Messiah will be cut off, with nothing for Himself. And the people will be dispersed." But then God speaks of the prince of the people that will come who will make a covenant with the nation Israel and in the midst of the final seven-year cycle will break the covenant as he establishes the abomination which causes desolation. The sixty-nine sevens that God had appointed upon the nation Israel were fulfilled from the time that Artaxerxes gave the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, to the coming of Jesus Christ was 483 years in the Babylonian calendar.

There is a final seven-year period that is yet to take place. It is yet future. Jesus, making reference to the abomination of desolation as was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, refers it to yet a future event, an event that will precede His second coming. Jesus, in referring to the abomination of desolation, said, "When you see the abomination of desolation that was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let him who reads, understand. Then flee to the wilderness." So the seventieth seven-year cycle of Daniel according to Jesus is still a future event. Which event will be marked in the middle of it by the European leader that shall arise, coming to Jerusalem, and standing in the holy of holies of the rebuilt temple and declaring that he is God, and demanding that he be worshipped as God. Now, the appointed time of God upon the nation Israel, when God will once again pour out His Spirit upon her. And as is declared, "The heathen shall reverence the name of the Lord and all of the kings of the earth, thy glory."

It would seem that this is a reference to that time, I feel, in the very near future, when Russia invades Israel and is destroyed by the power of God. In the thirty-eighth chapter of Ezekiel where the Lord records this momentous event, in verse Psalms 102:23 , God said, "Thus will I magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself. And I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am Jehovah." So if you put that together with the fifteenth verse, "So the heathen shall reverence the name of Jehovah, and the kings of the earth, thy glory."

Now that is referred to as a relationship to God's set time to show favor upon Israel. And so if you will then go over to the thirty-ninth chapter of Ezekiel, verse Psalms 102:27 , "When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations." Now put that together with verse Psalms 102:23 of chapter 38, "I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself and be known in the eyes of many nations. When I've gathered them out of their enemies' lands and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations, then shall they know that I am Jehovah their God, which cause them to be led into captivity among the heathen. But I have gathered them into their own land and have left none of them anymore there, neither will I hide my face anymore from them, for I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith Jehovah God." So the Lord has promised... or, "saith the Lord God," not Jehovah God there.

So God has promised that in the day in which He is sanctified before in them in the eyes of the heathen, or the nations of the world, that in that day, He is going to remove the blindness. "I will no longer be hid." Now Paul tells us that blindness has happened to Israel during this period of the Gentiles. Blindness has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. But this national blindness that is taken, that God has placed upon Israel, will be removed. He'll no longer be hid from them. He will pour out His Spirit upon them. Which means that God will then have taken His church out of the earth's scene. So we are talking about God's set time for the nation of Israel. The time to favor her.

For [the psalm says,] Thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof ( Psalms 102:14 ).

We received a letter from our guide in Israel who was planning to come over and visit us this summer. And he said, "Dear Chuck and Kay, I write to you and trust that everything is well with you, and all. I want you to know that I won't be coming over this summer because the Lord has given to us the blessed privilege of buying property in this beautiful, holy city. The city that God has set His eye upon. The city that is blessed of the Lord. And we are going to build a home in this beautiful city of God." And, oh, he goes on, raving about the dust and the stones of the city of Jerusalem. He is so excited that he is going to have a house of his own right in Jerusalem. "Surely the people do favor the stones and even the dust thereof. For thy servants take pleasure in the stones."

For the heathen shall reverence the name of the LORD [or Jehovah], and all the kings of the earth thy glory. When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory ( Psalms 102:15-16 ).

Now, God is going to work for another seven-year cycle with the nation Israel. It will be God's primary work upon the earth during this final seven-year cycle. It will be a time in the scripture that is known as the time of Jacob's trouble, Jacob travailing. It will be a time of religious confusion. For at the beginning, the antichrist will make a covenant with the nation Israel. Many of their leaders will declare that he is the Messiah, and he will be acclaimed generally as their Messiah. However, there will be a couple of witnesses of God that will be telling them the truth and warning them against him. There will be those that are sealed of God, and they also will be bearing witness against him. But the religious leaders will be acclaiming him. The religious leaders who crucified our Lord and are still holding the people in blindness will be deceived and will be acclaiming this man as Messiah.

But after three and a half years, when the temple is rebuilt, and they are again worshipping, when he comes and stands in the temple, in the holy of holies, and declares that he is God and demands to be worshipped as God, then they will all realize their error. They will flee to the wilderness, a place that God has prepared for them. During the final 1,290-day period, which 1,290 days will be a time of great trouble, the Great Tribulation. A time of God's wrath, a time of greater bloodshed and horror than the world has ever seen at any time in its history. People are saying, "Good days are ahead, you know. We've got a new administration." Don't believe it. The worst is yet to come. Evil days, the scripture says, are going to wax worse and worse.

I would like to think that a change of administration is going to change the whole complexion of our society, but I cannot believe that from a scriptural standpoint. Like the nation Israel, there may be moments of sort of a national revival and a turning to God and a forestalling, but we are generally going downhill so rapidly that there is nothing that can stop our decline short of a miracle of God, which I do not anticipate. Because I believe we are out at the end of the line, and I think that we are plunging into that abyss of which God spoke. As far as world history is concerned.

But immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall they see the sign of the Son of man coming with clouds and great glory. Even as we read, "When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory." He appeared the first time in shame and humiliation to take upon Himself the sins of mankind and to die an ignominious death upon the cross. To be despised and rejected, smitten, pierced, scourged, bruised, crucified. But He is coming again, in power and in glory, to reign over the earth in righteousness, in peace, from henceforth, even forever.

And so God has set the time and when the Lord shall build up Zion. We know that the time is coming for Him to appear in His glory. The nation Israel has been restored. God kept His promise. He gathered the people that were scattered throughout all the world and He placed them again in the land, and they have their government, they have the possession of Jerusalem. And now we are just waiting for the final sequence of events. At this moment, we are waiting for Russia to attack the Middle East and Israel, which is going to be the key event triggering the final sequence of events. That will lead the church out of this mess.

God will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. For this shall be written for the generation to come ( Psalms 102:17 , Psalms 102:18 ):

In other words, the psalmist says, "I am not writing this for you people; I am writing this for a generation that is going to come." Our generation. The generation that sees the Lord building up Zion. It is just like when Daniel was writing of the same events, this final seven-year period when God was working again in Israel having removed the blindness, and now working again. Daniel said, "How long, O Lord, until the end of these things?" And the Lord said, "Seal up all of these things up in a book, Daniel. And in the last days, knowledge will be increased." In other words, Daniel, you don't understand it. Daniel was crying for understanding, and the Lord said, "You aren't going to understand it, Daniel. Just seal it up in a book. But in the last days knowledge will be increased." And God will give the understanding of these things. And as we read the book of Daniel now, we see how God has opened up the book of Daniel, and how clear it is now as we have the advantage of history. We can see now, and understand now the things of which Daniel was writing, things that he didn't understand himself. And so this is written for the generation to come. It's for their benefit, for our benefit. We are that generation.

and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD ( Psalms 102:18 ).

So that's declared of us, and thus we need to keep the Word of God by praising the Lord.

For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth; To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; To declare the name of Jehovah in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD. He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days. I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old, like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed ( Psalms 102:19-26 ):

Now this is interesting, as he speaks of the earth and the heavens. God laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of His hands. And they are going to perish, the psalmist said. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away. My word," He said, "shall never pass away" ( Matthew 24:35 ). Peter describes how they are going to pass away. As the elements are dissolved and melt with a fervent heat. And there comes forth the new heaven and a new earth. There will be change, the new heaven and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. So they shall perish.

It is interesting that the psalmist here actually recognizes the first and second law of thermodynamics, which the evolutionists try to almost deny in propounding a theory that requires just the opposite affect of the laws of entropy as we know them to exist. The psalmist recognizes that the earth is growing old. "They shall wax old like a garment." As Sir Herschel Gene said, "The universe is like a giant clock that was wound up and is slowly running down." Again, describing the affects of the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The slow winding down. Waxing old like a garment. As a vesture, as a coat, you're gonna change. And like a man changes his coat. God is going to change the earth, and the heavens. And they shall be changed. But, in contrast to the universe, which is waxing old, which is winding down, in contrast to that,

But thou art the same and thy years have no end. The children of thy servants shall continue and their seed shall be established before thee ( Psalms 102:27-28 ).

And so, though the earth is waxing old, the universe is growing old, yet God never changes. Though the universe will be changed like a garment, the Lord is the same. We remember in Hebrews, and no doubt a reference to this, "Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today and forever, Thou art the same." God said, "Behold, I am the Lord God. I change not." The immutability of God. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 102

Another anonymous writer poured out his personal lament to Yahweh (cf. Psalms 22, 69, 79). He felt overwhelmed due to an enemy’s reproach. He called out for help from the God he knew would not forsake him. This is another penitential psalm as well as a personal lament (cf. Psalms 6; Psalms 32; Psalms 38; Psalms 51; Psalms 103; Psalms 143).

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

4. Hope in God’s ceaseless existence 102:23-28

It seemed as though God was killing the psalmist prematurely. He prayed for a continuation of his life. This request led him to reflect further on the duration of God’s existence. To picture God’s ceaseless continuance, he referred to the creation (Genesis 1) and then the consummation of the present heavens and earth (Revelation 21:1; cf. 2 Peter 3:10). His point was that God will outlast His creation. Really God is eternal, having no beginning or ending (Psalms 102:27). Therefore He will preserve the children of His servants who were then in danger of dying or had already died.

The writer to the Hebrews applied Psalms 102:25-27 to Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:10-12; Hebrews 13:8). He is the Person of the Trinity who created and sustains all things (Colossians 1:16-17). These verses are some of the clearest and most majestic revelations of God’s eternal nature in Scripture. This revelation gave the psalmist hope in his personal distress. In the same way, knowledge of God’s changeless character can be a great comfort to all of God’s people when they suffer. It helps to view personal suffering in the context of eternity.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The children of thy servants shall continue,.... The "servants" of the Lord are the apostles of Christ, and ministers of the word, in all successive generations, with whom Christ will be to the end of the world: their "children" are such whom they have begotten again, through the Gospel, to whom they are spiritual fathers; regenerated souls are meant; of these there will be a succession in all ages, until latter day glory takes place; these are the church's seed, and her seed's seed, from whom the word of the Lord, the Gospel, will never depart, Isaiah 59:21, or these "shall inhabit" i, as the word may be rendered, the earth, as the Targum adds; that is, the new heavens, and the new earth, when the old ones are passed away; here they shall dwell with the Lord, who is the same today, yesterday, and for ever:

and their seed shall be established before thee; the same with the children, the spiritual seed of the church and of faithful minister; these, with the church, in which they are born and brought up, shall be established in Christ; the church will be no more in an unstable and fluctuating state, but will he as a tabernacle, that shall not be taken down; yea, shall be established upon the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills; see Isaiah 2:2.

i ישכונו "habitabunt", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus so Sept.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      23 He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.   24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.   25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.   26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:   27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.   28 The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.

      We may here observe,

      I. The imminent danger that the Jewish church was in of being quite extirpated and cut off by the captivity in Babylon (Psalms 102:23; Psalms 102:23): He weakened my strength in the way. They were for many ages in the way to the performance of the great promise made to their fathers concerning the Messiah, longing as much for it as ever a traveller did to be at his journey's end. The legal institutions led them in the way; but when the ten tribes were lost in Assyria, and the two almost lost in Babylon, the strength of that nation was weakened, and, in all appearance, its day shortened; for they said, Our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts,Ezekiel 37:11. And then what becomes of the promise that Shiloh should arise out of Judah, the star out of Jacob, and the Messiah out of the family of David? If these fail, the promise fails. This the psalmist speaks of as in his own person, and it is very applicable to two of the common afflictions of this time:-- 1. To be sickly. Bodily distempers soon weaken our strength in the way, make the keepers of the house to tremble and the strong men to bow themselves. 2. To be short-lived. Where the former is felt, this is feared; when in the midst of our days, according to a course of nature, our strength is weakened, what can we expect but that the number of our months should be cut off in the midst? and what should we do but provide accordingly? We must own God's hand in it (for in his hand our strength and time are), and must reconcile it to his love, for it has often been the lot of those that have used their strength well to have it weakened, and of those that could very ill be spared to have their days shortened.

      II. A prayer for the continuance of it (Psalms 102:24; Psalms 102:24): "O my God! take me not away in the midst of my days; let not this poor church be cut off in the midst of the days assigned it by the promise; let it not be cut off till the Messiah shall come. Destroy it not, for that blessing is in it," Isaiah 65:8. She is a criminal, but, for the sake of that blessing which is in her, she pleads for a reprieve. This is a prayer for the afflicted, and which, with submission to the will of God, we may in faith put up, that God would not take us away in the midst of our days, but that, if it be his will, he would spare us to do him further service and to be made riper for heaven.

      III. A plea to enforce this prayer taken from the eternity of the Messiah promised, Psalms 102:25-27; Psalms 102:25-27. The apostle quotes these verses (Hebrews 1:10-12) and tells us, He saith this to the Son, and in that exposition we must acquiesce. It is very comfortable, in reference to all the changes that pass over the church, and all the dangers it is in, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Thy years are throughout all generations, and cannot be shortened. It is likewise comfortable in reference to the decay and death of our own bodies, and the removal of our friends from us, that God is an everliving God, and that therefore, if he be ours, in him we may have everlasting consolation. In this plea observe how, to illustrate the eternity of the Creator, he compares it with the mutability of the creature; for it is God's sole prerogative to be unchangeable. 1. God made the world, and therefore had a being before it from eternity. The Son of God, the eternal Word, made the world. It is expressly said, All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made; and therefore the same was in the beginning from eternity with God, and was God,John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16; Ephesians 3:9; Hebrews 1:2. Earth and heaven, and the hosts of both, include the universe and its fulness, and these derive their being from God by his Son (Psalms 102:25; Psalms 102:25): "Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, which is founded on the seas and on the floods and yet it abides; much more shall the church, which is built upon a rock. The heavens are the work of thy hands, and by thee are all their motions and influences directed;" God is therefore the fountain, not only of all being, but of all power and dominion. See how fit the great Redeemer is to be entrusted with all power, both in heaven and in earth, since he himself, as Creator of both, perfectly knows both and is entitled to both. 2. God will unmake the world again, and therefore shall have a being to eternity (Psalms 102:26; Psalms 102:27): They shall perish, for thou shalt change them by the same almighty power that made them, and therefore, no doubt, thou shalt endure; thou art the same. God and the world, Christ and the creature, are rivals for the innermost and uppermost place in the soul of man, the immortal soul; now what is here said, one would think, were enough to decide the controversy immediately and to determine us for God and Christ. For, (1.) A portion in the creature is fading and dying: They shall perish; they will not last so long as we shall last. The day is coming when the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up; and then what will become of those that have laid up their treasure in it? Heaven and earth shall wax old as a garment, not by a gradual decay, but, when the set time comes, they shall be laid aside like an old garment that we have no more occasion for: As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed, not annihilated, but altered, it may be so that they shall not be at all the same, but new heavens and a new earth. See God's sovereign dominion over heaven and earth. He can change them as he pleases and when he pleases; and the constant changes they are subject to, in the revolutions of day and night, summer and winter, are earnests of their last and final change, when the heavens and time (which is measured by them) shall be no more. (2.) A portion in God is perpetual and everlasting: Thou art the same, subject to no change; and thy years have no end,Psalms 102:27; Psalms 102:27. Christ will be the same in the performance that he was in the promise, the same to his church in captivity that he was to his church at liberty. Let not the church fear the weakening of her strength, or the shortening of her days, while Christ himself is both her strength and her life; he is the same, and has said, Because I live you shall live also. Christ came in the fulness of time, and set up his kingdom in spite of the power of the Old-Testament Babylon, and he will keep it up in spite of the power of the New-Testament Babylon.

      IV. A comfortable assurance of an answer to this prayer (Psalms 102:28; Psalms 102:28): The children of thy servants shall continue; since Christ is the same, the church shall continue from one generation to another; from the eternity of the head we may infer the perpetuity of the body, though often weak and distempered, and even at death's door. Those that hope to wear out the saints of the Most High will be mistaken. Christ's servants shall have children; those children shall have a seed, a succession, of professing people; the church, as well as the world, is under the influence of that blessing, Be fruitful and multiply. These children shall continue, not in their own persons, by reason of death, but in their seed, which shall be established before God (that is, in his service, and by his grace); the entail of religion shall not be cut off while the world stands, but, as one generation of good people passes away, another shall come, and thus the throne of Christ shall endure.