Psalms 102:25–27

It is certain from Hebrews 1:10 that there is a change of speakers at verse 25. The opening of the psalm, in its full meaning, can only be the words of Christ suffering for His people. But the apostle reasons from Psalm 45:5-6 and Psalm 102:25, and so shows that in these last verses we have God's answer to the divine sufferer. Can anything be more touchingly beautiful? Christ mournfully pleads, "O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days." Jehovah replies — "Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will remain," and so on. The crucified One was Himself also the Eternal — a blessed mystery, and the foundation of all God's purposes of grace and glory!

This is from Psalm 102. It is Jehovah's response to the One who was destitute and weak, and whose days were shortened here. He took up the sorrows of His earthly people. For their sake He bore indignation and wrath at Jehovah's hands. Enemies reproached Him, and He sounded the lowest depths of trouble, weakness, isolation, and grief. He prays: "I said, O My God, take Me not away in the midst of My days." In Hezekiah's case, God answered with a mercy that added fifteen years to the threatened life. Here Jehovah does not do that. He replies instead with this marvellous statement of the Sufferer's glory.

The One who is crying out of all this distress laid the earth's foundation; the heavens that then darkened over Him were the work of His hands. But the material creation, in the form we know, will perish, while He stands and endures. Its days are numbered. Heaven and earth will show the signs of decay and age. But He will be the same, and His years shall have no end. Notice how He speaks in His humiliation of His "days" four times over (verses 3, 11, 23, 24). In Jehovah's reply to Him, God speaks of "Your years." They are throughout all generations, and they shall have no end.

In these closing verses Christ is presented as a divine Person — God — identified with Jehovah. The question arises, How can Jehovah intervene in blessing for His people if the Messiah is cut off? For the Messiah can say, "He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days." How can the kingdom be established if the anointed King is cut off? There cannot be a restored kingdom without the King. The answer is disclosed in the great mystery of His Person. The Messiah who identified Himself with His suffering people and was cut off is none less than Jehovah Himself. So these verses tie the Messiah in Person to Jehovah, just as earlier verses tied Him in suffering to His people.

He is the Creator who made the earth and the heavens. He made them so that in them He might show in full what God is in His righteousness, as opposed to all iniquity. When these works of His hands have fulfilled their purpose, He will set them aside as one would set aside clothing no longer used. Then He will establish a new creation in which righteousness will dwell. But in that new creation He will be the same. As He was and is, so He shall ever be. He is the pledge that His word will stand, and that every thought of God's heart expressed in blessing will remain.

Can you conceive of, or bring together, two greater extremes apparently — most abject need and helplessness, the cry of One calling out in weakness to God, and the response coming from the very throne of God Himself, addressing this suppliant as God over all, blessed forever? Do we not turn with adoring heart to that blessed One and address Him in that language too?

The psalm that contains it is one of the fullest expressions in Scripture of what Jesus felt in His humiliation on earth. It shows His dependence on Jehovah. It also shows that, after He was raised up as Messiah from among men, He was cast down and His days were shortened. If Zion were rebuilt — and the psalm foretells the time when it will be — where would He be, Messiah as He was, if, weakened and humbled, He was cut off in the middle of His days, as in fact happened? … The words quoted here are the answer to this question. Humbled as He might be, He was the Creator Himself. He was always the same, and His years could never fail. He founded the heavens. He would fold them up like a garment, but He Himself would never change.

No human being would ever have known the real meaning of this psalm if it had not pleased the Spirit of God to give it in this chapter. The little word "and" shows that in verses 25-27 the Son of God is addressed by God as the Creator of all things. It is Jehovah's answer to the prayer of His Son suffering as man and dying.

He was cut off in the middle of His days as man. He had lived only half the span given to man on earth. Yet He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last. He is the Ancient of days. Before time was counted, He was. When it comes to an end, His years will not be finished.

But even the earth and the heavens as they are now will not continue. They will perish, while He Himself is unchangeable (v. 26). They are only like a garment that He puts on for a brief time. So creation grows old. 2 Peter 3:7 foretells its destruction by fire, and then "new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:13). It is the Lord Jesus Himself who will bring about this great change (v. 26).

He is the Creator who made the earth and the heavens. He made them so that in them He might show in full what God is in His righteousness, against all iniquity. When these works of His hands have fulfilled their purpose, He will set them aside as one would set aside a garment no longer in use. Then He will establish a new creation in which righteousness will dwell. But in that new creation He will be the same. As He was and is, so He will always be. That is the pledge that His word will stand, and that every thought of God's heart expressed in blessing will remain.

As the Captain of our salvation, He was made perfect through sufferings. So He has become the perfect example for all His sorrowing and tried saints. But here is the marvel. While He walked the path of rejection, He seemed to labour in vain and to spend His strength for nothing. The comfort given to Him then is of the same kind as the comfort given to us on our own pilgrim path. Was He told, as in the psalm, of His changeless being? We are told the same thing as we pass through this world of change: He remains, and He is always the same… Christ remains, even if we lose everything else.

Jesus, in His humiliation, pours out His broken heart to Jehovah. The Psalm looks ahead to the rebuilding of Zion. If so, where would this stricken Messiah be? If cut off in the middle of His days, how could He be there? God's answer is that He, the holy sufferer, is Jehovah, the Creator and Ruler of all things. What a testimony to His unchangeable deity!

He prays, "O My God, take Me not away in the midst of My days." Jehovah does not answer with a mercy that adds fifteen years to a threatened life, as He did for Hezekiah. He answers instead with this wonderful statement of the Sufferer's glory.

There is another word which, though it can be used as a description, is hard to exclude from the names of God. Hu, Atta Hu, "you are the same," the unchangeable One (see Deut. 32:39); "I am He, the same, and besides Me there is no god." … It carries the sense of the unchanging One who simply is, and this is true of God only. That is how Hebrews 1 quotes Psalm 102:27.

Notice that in His humiliation He speaks of His "days" four times over (verses 3, 11, 23, 24). But in Jehovah's reply to Him, Jehovah speaks of "Your years." Those years run through all generations, and they will never end.

Creation is only a temporary garment. He has put it on to show part of His glory, and it will be folded up and changed. "But You are the Same, and Your years have no end." … In eternity past, in His present showing of Himself to faith, and in future visible glory, His very Name is "The Same." His years have no end. The decline of age that so affects creation has no bearing on His blessed Person.

There we found that the words in Psalm 102, "You are the same, and Your years have no end," were not spoken to God in a general way. They were spoken to the One we know as our Lord Jesus Christ. That thought grows into the great statement that He is "the same yesterday and today and forever." Who could such a statement describe but One who was and is God?

May the One who never changes keep our hearts truly steady. He is the Same here in rejection and the Same in the glory of the coming kingdom; the Same on the cross and the Same when the sky is folded up; Jesus Christ, the Same yesterday, and today, and forever!

Here is the wonder. The comfort given to Him while He walked the path of rejection — when, as far as anyone could see, He worked for nothing and spent His strength for nothing — is the same kind of comfort given to us on our own journey. Is He told, as in the Psalm, of His changeless being? We are reminded of the same thing as we pass through this world of change: He remains, and He is always the same. This sets us on a Rock. Nothing can ever shake it, and resting on it in perfect peace we can watch everything fall apart without a single fear. Christ remains, if we lose everything else.