Psalm 102

From: Short Meditations on the Psalms: Chiefly in Their Prophectic Character

Psalm 102 • 3 min. read • grade level: 8

Something very different is now to be heard. This Psalm opens with the complaint of “the Man of sorrows.” He sees Himself deserted by His followers, reproached by the foe, and sustaining the righteous anger of God—the indignation and wrath due to others falling on Him (Psa. 102:1-11¹<<A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord.>> Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. ²Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily. ³For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. ⁴My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. ⁵By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin. ⁶I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. ⁷I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top. ⁸Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me. ⁹For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, ¹⁰Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down. ¹¹My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass. (Psalm 102:1‑11)). We then listen to God’s answer to this; and that answer pledges Him life and a kingdom, and display in His glory, rehearsing also the theme of praise with which Israel and the nations will then celebrate Him (Psa. 102:12-22¹²But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations. ¹³Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favor her, yea, the set time, is come. ¹⁴For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof. ¹⁵So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. ¹⁶When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. ¹⁷He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. ¹⁸This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. ¹⁹For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; ²⁰To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; ²¹To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; ²²When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord. (Psalm 102:12‑22)). Then Messiah is heard a second time solitarily musing on His griefs (Psa. 102:23-24²³He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days. ²⁴I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations. (Psalm 102:23‑24)); and God, in like manner, again answering Him—reminding Him, so to speak, of His ancient glories at Creation, and pledging Him, as before, life, a kingdom, and a seed (Psa. 102:25-28²⁵Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. ²⁶They 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: ²⁷But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. ²⁸The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee. (Psalm 102:25‑28)).

The quotation in Hebrews 1 from this Psalm seems to give it this structure and character; for it tells us that Psalm 102:25-27²⁵Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. ²⁶They 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: ²⁷But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. (Psalm 102:25‑27) is the language of God to the Son, and this leads us to conclude that Psalm 102:12-22¹²But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations. ¹³Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favor her, yea, the set time, is come. ¹⁴For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof. ¹⁵So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. ¹⁶When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. ¹⁷He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. ¹⁸This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. ¹⁹For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; ²⁰To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; ²¹To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; ²²When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord. (Psalm 102:12‑22) is the same. And thus the above structure of the Psalm is determined.

But, in connection with it, we may notice one thing. The Lord Jesus Christ is the builder. This entitles us to see the Christ as the head of every dispensation—the great active power in all—whether in Creation, among the Patriarchs, on mount Sinai, or as the God of Israel through all their history. He made the worlds, or ordered the ages (Heb. 1:2²Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; (Hebrews 1:2)). He built Moses and every house of God (Heb. 3:3³For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house. (Hebrews 3:3)). And it is the Christ whom God addresses in this Psalm as having laid earth’s foundations, and outliving, in His glory, all things that are made—the Christ who was once the bruised and smitten one. Wondrous mystery!

It is a Psalm of very touching beauty and grandeur.

It is like Jesus in Gethsemane, exceeding sorrowful even unto death, going away and praying again, saying the same words, and yet again and again heard—the angel from heaven strengthening Him there, the answer of Jehovah assuring Him here. (See Luke 22:43⁴³And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. (Luke 22:43).)

I might further observe that this Psalm also lets us read, in these utterances of Jesus and the divine answers to them, what we learn from other simple doctrinal Scriptures—that the glories of Jesus come from His sufferings. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” It, shows us “the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow.” For the Lamb on the throne is the Lamb that had been before on the altar. It is the bow of Him who had been once shot by the archers that abides in strength. All Scripture shows us this; and we have it in these cries of Jesus, and the answers so blessedly made to them.

And so as to our blessing. It all depends on the same sufferings of Christ. No thoughts of God’s love are to be allowed which would interfere with the demands of His righteousness. The love is without measure. That is true. But it is not a mere emotion. It is that which, at an unutterable cost, provided redemption for the guilty. And if we think of love without believing the provision that it made for the claims and exactions of righteousness, we are dealing with a mere sentiment of our own mind, and not with the revelation of God. And poor are the best conceptions of man’s religion—something different indeed from the moral grandeur and perfections of the Gospel of Christ, where God is just while He justifies the sinner, where we learn that He has brought back His banished ones, and received His prodigals, all the while upholding the full glories of His throne of righteousness, and providing in and from Himself an answer to all its demands. The Cross of Christ is the secret and center of all this.

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