At the opening of this sublime Psalm the worshipper or “man of God” utters his sense of everything failing but the Lord, and those who trust in Him. And this thought the Lord Himself in His ministry afterward has—“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass away.”
The worshipper then confesses human frailty, and traces the reason of it; and upon this utters his desire that in the full sense of this frailty he may act wisely, and wait only for the Lord’s return; and he closes by desiring that return, when stability shall take the place of frailty, and beauty of ashes and dust.
The Spirit of God, by the man of God, touches in this Psalm on new creation in Christ Jesus. Of course He could not announce this mystery in the same fullness as a scribe now instructed in the kingdom. But we have it touched on. There will be heavenly and earthly scenes, but all is new creation. The Lamb’s wife, the heavenly city, will bear in her the glory of God (Rev. 22:1111He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. (Revelation 22:11)); but Israel and the earthly city will know that glory also. It will shine on them, if not in them: “Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee” (Isa. 60:11Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. (Isaiah 60:1)). All will enjoy it, but in different power. This therefore is the intelligent cry of a man of God, though but with Jewish or earthly hopes, looking on to the kingdom. “Let thy works appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children; and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.” And this language tells us that Israel speaks in this Psalm, though it speak of man as such. This, however, is simple and just. Because man was tested in the Jew. Israel’s fall is the witness of human frailty. Seventy years the Psalmist mentions as the period which marks man’s frailty or vanity, and that also we know was the time of Israel’s vanity, or their captive state in Babylon.
Truly blessed, however, the general truth of all this is. The new creation has not had its foundation in the dust, but in the Lord Himself—in the Lord as risen from the dead, when He was in victory over all the strength of the enemy, having put away sin and abolished death. “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place.” The Builder is the chief stone in the building. Waves and winds may beat in vain—the subtlety of the serpent is vain. This is for everlasting. “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”