Psalms 131
KingCommentsPsalms 131:1
God Is the Same
After the encouraging prospect of the restoration that will come in Psalms 102:12-22, we hear the suffering Messiah speak again (Psalms 102:23). The Messiah sees the hand of God in what befalls Him. He accepts everything from the hand of God. God has pressed down His power on the way He has gone on earth.
The word “afflicted” in Psalms 102:1a is derived from the word “weakened” here in Psalms 102:23. In Psalms 102:1a Christ is the Afflicted. Here in Psalms 102:23 He returns to His suffering described in Psalms 102:1b-11 as the suffering in which God pressed Him down. Here we see the Messiah going His way on earth in humiliation. He identifies Himself again with His people, who feel powerless in the way they must go.
Besides being rendered powerless (cf. 2 Corinthians 13:4a), the days of His sojourn on earth were shortened. He has not been able to make them full. For this He complained to His God, saying to Him: “O my God, do not take me away in the midst [literally: half] of my days” (Psalms 102:24a; cf. Isaiah 38:2-3). He was thirty-three years old when He died and thus in the prime of His life as Man. When He speaks of Himself as ‘the green tree’ (Luke 23:31), we hear in it the same sentiments. The contrast here is between the God Who is eternally enthroned (Psalms 102:12) and His own downtrodden life cut off in the midst of the normal human age of seventy years (Psalms 90:10).
As a God-fearing Israelite, if He is obedient, He has the promise of a long life in the land. By His blameless life, He deserved it. And now He is taken away from life. As Man this is a terrible prospect for Him. No one has ever been so obedient and dedicated to God, and yet He is being eradicated, taken away from life.
Halfway through Psalms 102:24, the Speaker changes and the Messiah receives an answer from God to His questions. The proof that this is about the Messiah is found in Hebrews 1, where Psalms 102:25-27 of this psalm are quoted to prove that the Lord Jesus is the LORD, Yahweh, Himself (Hebrews 1:10-12). Therefore, God says to Him that His years continue “throughout all generations”. He will be taken away at the half of His days, but He will rise from the dead. Here we find one of the many indications that Christ had to die and then rise from the dead (Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:22-23; Matthew 20:17-19).
Then His God says to Him that He is the Creator of earth and heaven (Psalms 102:25; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2). No matter how humbled He may be as a Man on earth, He has “of old … founded the earth” and “the heavens are the work” of His “hands”. He is at the beginning of all things. All things owe their origin to Him Who Himself did not originate, but is the Eternal.
Here we find one of the many indications that Christ is both the Son of Man and the eternal God. Christ is the Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 8:8; Matthew 1:23), the ‘God with us’. He Who was taken away halfway His days of His life on earth (Psalms 102:23-24), is the eternal One (Psalms 102:24b-27), the Creator of heaven and earth (Psalms 102:25-26).
Nor does He have an end, while His works do, for “they will perish” (Psalms 102:26). Mockers may say that everything remains as it was from the beginning of creation (2 Peter 3:3-4), but they will be disillusioned. The material world has no life in itself, nor is it eternal like its Creator. The transition from Psalms 102:25 to Psalms 102:26 is the transition from creation to decay, from Genesis 1 to Revelation 21 (Genesis 1:1; Revelation 21:1). It indicates the tremendous contrast that exists between the Creator and the creation.
It will be with creation as with a “garment”. A garment wears out through use. He will deal with creation as with “clothing”. He will do with it what a man does when He puts on another coat. Then He takes off the old one and puts on the new one. In both cases, what was there at first disappears. The old disappears after a process of wearing out, the new appears by a brief act. This is how the Son acts with creation. The old creation disappears as old. He exchanges it for a new creation. He creates a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 20:11; Revelation 21:1).
But the Son does not change. He is “the same” forever (Psalms 102:27; Hebrews 13:8). His “years will not come to an end”. His years will continue endlessly, even now that He has become Man, for even as Man He knows no end. Creation will be changed, regenerated (Matthew 19:28) and renewed (Revelation 21:1), but He Himself is the Eternal and Unchanging One. He is at the beginning of all things and at the end of all things He is still there.
This is also a great encouragement in view of the coming generations (Psalms 102:28). We may sometimes wonder how they will fare. Then we may look to Him. He is to each generation what He has been to earlier generations. Generations and circumstances change, but He does not change.
Therefore, the children dwell securely and “their descendants will be established before” God. This means that the descendants of the believing remnant will remain steadfast in the faith (Isaiah 59:21). They will no longer be driven from their inheritance and from their land or taken away. Yahweh’s promise guarantees this. Heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will not pass away (Matthew 5:18; Matthew 24:35).
Psalms 131:2
God Is the Same
After the encouraging prospect of the restoration that will come in Psalms 102:12-22, we hear the suffering Messiah speak again (Psalms 102:23). The Messiah sees the hand of God in what befalls Him. He accepts everything from the hand of God. God has pressed down His power on the way He has gone on earth.
The word “afflicted” in Psalms 102:1a is derived from the word “weakened” here in Psalms 102:23. In Psalms 102:1a Christ is the Afflicted. Here in Psalms 102:23 He returns to His suffering described in Psalms 102:1b-11 as the suffering in which God pressed Him down. Here we see the Messiah going His way on earth in humiliation. He identifies Himself again with His people, who feel powerless in the way they must go.
Besides being rendered powerless (cf. 2 Corinthians 13:4a), the days of His sojourn on earth were shortened. He has not been able to make them full. For this He complained to His God, saying to Him: “O my God, do not take me away in the midst [literally: half] of my days” (Psalms 102:24a; cf. Isaiah 38:2-3). He was thirty-three years old when He died and thus in the prime of His life as Man. When He speaks of Himself as ‘the green tree’ (Luke 23:31), we hear in it the same sentiments. The contrast here is between the God Who is eternally enthroned (Psalms 102:12) and His own downtrodden life cut off in the midst of the normal human age of seventy years (Psalms 90:10).
As a God-fearing Israelite, if He is obedient, He has the promise of a long life in the land. By His blameless life, He deserved it. And now He is taken away from life. As Man this is a terrible prospect for Him. No one has ever been so obedient and dedicated to God, and yet He is being eradicated, taken away from life.
Halfway through Psalms 102:24, the Speaker changes and the Messiah receives an answer from God to His questions. The proof that this is about the Messiah is found in Hebrews 1, where Psalms 102:25-27 of this psalm are quoted to prove that the Lord Jesus is the LORD, Yahweh, Himself (Hebrews 1:10-12). Therefore, God says to Him that His years continue “throughout all generations”. He will be taken away at the half of His days, but He will rise from the dead. Here we find one of the many indications that Christ had to die and then rise from the dead (Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:22-23; Matthew 20:17-19).
Then His God says to Him that He is the Creator of earth and heaven (Psalms 102:25; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2). No matter how humbled He may be as a Man on earth, He has “of old … founded the earth” and “the heavens are the work” of His “hands”. He is at the beginning of all things. All things owe their origin to Him Who Himself did not originate, but is the Eternal.
Here we find one of the many indications that Christ is both the Son of Man and the eternal God. Christ is the Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 8:8; Matthew 1:23), the ‘God with us’. He Who was taken away halfway His days of His life on earth (Psalms 102:23-24), is the eternal One (Psalms 102:24b-27), the Creator of heaven and earth (Psalms 102:25-26).
Nor does He have an end, while His works do, for “they will perish” (Psalms 102:26). Mockers may say that everything remains as it was from the beginning of creation (2 Peter 3:3-4), but they will be disillusioned. The material world has no life in itself, nor is it eternal like its Creator. The transition from Psalms 102:25 to Psalms 102:26 is the transition from creation to decay, from Genesis 1 to Revelation 21 (Genesis 1:1; Revelation 21:1). It indicates the tremendous contrast that exists between the Creator and the creation.
It will be with creation as with a “garment”. A garment wears out through use. He will deal with creation as with “clothing”. He will do with it what a man does when He puts on another coat. Then He takes off the old one and puts on the new one. In both cases, what was there at first disappears. The old disappears after a process of wearing out, the new appears by a brief act. This is how the Son acts with creation. The old creation disappears as old. He exchanges it for a new creation. He creates a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 20:11; Revelation 21:1).
But the Son does not change. He is “the same” forever (Psalms 102:27; Hebrews 13:8). His “years will not come to an end”. His years will continue endlessly, even now that He has become Man, for even as Man He knows no end. Creation will be changed, regenerated (Matthew 19:28) and renewed (Revelation 21:1), but He Himself is the Eternal and Unchanging One. He is at the beginning of all things and at the end of all things He is still there.
This is also a great encouragement in view of the coming generations (Psalms 102:28). We may sometimes wonder how they will fare. Then we may look to Him. He is to each generation what He has been to earlier generations. Generations and circumstances change, but He does not change.
Therefore, the children dwell securely and “their descendants will be established before” God. This means that the descendants of the believing remnant will remain steadfast in the faith (Isaiah 59:21). They will no longer be driven from their inheritance and from their land or taken away. Yahweh’s promise guarantees this. Heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will not pass away (Matthew 5:18; Matthew 24:35).