Psalms 102:23 - Meaning and Application

We may notice here, first, the danger the Jewish church faced of being almost wiped out by the Babylonian captivity (Psalm 102:23). “He weakened my strength in the way” means that, while they were still on the long road to God’s promise about the Messiah, their strength was failing. The law had led them along that path for many ages, but when the ten tribes were lost in Assyria and the other two tribes were nearly lost in Babylon, the nation seemed to be dying out. They said, “Our hope is gone; we are cut off” (Ezekiel 37:11), and then it seemed that the promise of Shiloh from Judah, the star from Jacob, and the Messiah from David’s line could fail too.

The psalmist speaks as if this were happening to him personally, and it fits two common troubles of our own lives. One is sickness, because bodily weakness soon “weakens our strength in the way.” It makes the “keepers of the house” tremble and the strong men bow down. The other is living only a short life. When we feel our strength fading in midlife, we naturally fear that our days may be cut short, and we should prepare for that. We must see God’s hand in it, since our strength and our time are in his hand, and we should trust his love even then.

Second, there is a prayer for that life to continue (Psalm 102:24). “O my God, do not take me away in the middle of my days” means, “Do not let this poor church be cut off before the promised Messiah comes.” It is like saying, “Destroy it not, because there is a blessing in it” (Isaiah 65:8). The church was guilty, but for the sake of that blessing she asks for mercy and a delay in judgment.

This is also a prayer for the suffering believer. With submission to God’s will, we may pray that he would not take us in the middle of our days, but would spare us if it serves him. Then we could do more for him and be made more ready for heaven. It is right to ask this in faith, while still yielding to whatever God chooses.

Third, the psalm gives a strong reason for this prayer, drawn from the eternal nature of the promised Messiah (Psalm 102:25-27). The apostle quotes these verses in Hebrews 1:10-12 and applies them to the Son, and we should accept that meaning. It is a great comfort, when the church changes and faces danger, to know that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His years go through all generations and can never be cut short.

This is also a comfort when our own bodies grow weak and our friends are taken from us. God is the ever-living God, and if he is ours, we have lasting comfort in him. To show the eternity of the Creator, the psalm sets it against the changefulness of the creature, because being unchanging belongs to God alone.

God made the world, so he must have existed before it, from eternity. The Son of God, the eternal Word, made the world. Scripture says that all things were made through him, and nothing that was made was made without him, so he was with God in the beginning and is himself God (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16; Ephesians 3:9; Hebrews 1:2). The earth, the heavens, and all their armies came from God through his Son (Psalm 102:25). He laid the earth’s foundation, and the heavens are the work of his hands. That means God is the source not only of all being, but also of all power and rule.

This shows how fit the great Redeemer is to be trusted with all authority in heaven and on earth. As Creator of both, he knows both perfectly and has rightful claim over both. Since he made all things, he is able to govern all things.

God will also unmake the world, and so he must live forever (Psalm 102:26-27). They will perish because he will change them by the same almighty power that made them, and therefore he himself must remain. He is the same. God and the world, Christ and the creature, stand in a contest for the highest place in the human soul. What is said here should settle that question for us and lead us to choose God and Christ.

A share in the creature is fading and dying. “They shall perish” means they will not last as long as we will last. The day is coming when the earth and everything in it will be burned up, and then what will happen to those who stored up their treasure there? Heaven and earth will wear out like a garment. They will not fade only slowly. When the appointed time comes, they will be put aside like old clothing we no longer need. “As a garment you will change them, and they will be changed” means they will not be wiped out, but transformed, perhaps into new heavens and a new earth. This shows God’s sovereign rule over heaven and earth, because he can change them whenever he chooses.

The constant changes we see, in day and night and in summer and winter, are only signs of the final change to come, when the heavens and time, which is measured by them, will be no more. But a share in God is lasting and eternal: “You are the same, and your years have no end” (Psalm 102:27). Christ will be the same in the fulfillment that he was in the promise, and the same to his church in captivity that he was to his church in freedom. The church need not fear weakened strength or shortened days while Christ is her strength and her life. He is the same, and he has said, “Because I live, you also will live.”

Christ came at the right time and set up his kingdom despite the power of Old Testament Babylon, and he will keep it up despite the power of New Testament Babylon. Finally, the psalm gives a comforting assurance that this prayer will be answered (Psalm 102:28). “The children of your servants shall continue” means that, since Christ is the same, the church will continue from one generation to the next. From the eternity of the head, we can infer the lasting life of the body, even when it is weak, troubled, and near death.

Those who hope to wear out the saints of the Most High will be proved wrong. Christ’s servants will have children, and those children will also have descendants, a continuing line of professing believers. The church, like the world, stands under the blessing, “Be fruitful and multiply.”

These children will continue, not in their own lives, because death takes them away, but in their descendants. Their line will be established before God, that is, kept in his service and by his grace. The passing on of true religion will not be broken as long as the world lasts. As one generation of godly people passes away, another will rise, and so the throne of Christ will endure.