Psalm 102:27














I. WHAT LIVES ARE THESE?

1. They are not those of little children. They have not yet come to the midst of their days. And the sadness that overwhelms us when they die is, after a while, lit up with the conviction that they rest in the love of God, and can never know the sins and sorrows which men and women cannot but know.

2. But they are lives mature, but not aged - lives in the full meridian of their strength. Of such the psalmist is here speaking.

3. And there are others, and yet more sad. For old age has been denied to many of God's beloved ones - to the well beloved Son himself, for he was one of those who seemed to be taken away in the midst of their days, in the very prime of his manhood and his service. We may desire length of days; many and worthy motives prompt such desire; but it is often refused. God may have some better thing for us and for our beloved ones, and so we have to go. But the real sadness is not in such shortened lives, but in those which end, it may be, not literally in the midst of their days, but with the real purpose of life unachieved. God's forgiveness not gained because never sought after. The regenerate nature, indispensable for entrance into the kingdom of God, never desired, and therefore never striven for in faith and prayer, and therefore never given. The good works by which God should be glorified, and his fellow men cheered and blessed, never wrought, his day's work all undone. The bright hope of eternal life with God never valued, never cherished, and now never to be realized; death coming on the man with all its sting, and the grave exulting in its victory. These are the real incompleted lives by side of which the sorrow over mere brevity of earthly life is but small indeed. God grant our lives may not be thus really cut off in the midst!

II. WHEREFORE ARE THEY SO DEPRECATED? See how piteous is the psalmist's supplication. Wherefore this? Because for him, like Moses, who -

"On the very verge did stand,
Of the blessed promised land," but yet was never permitted to enter; so the psalmist feared that in the restoration of his own people to Zion he should not live to share. But for all, life is such a blessing when the purpose for which it was given is attained; that for men to die without that purpose being attained is sad indeed. Think of life's capacities: what glory it may bring to God! what blessing to one's fellow men! what peace, purity, and joy to one's own self! And all this which might be, not attained!

III. BUT THIS NEED NOT BEFALL ANY ONE. He who will commit his way unto the Lord shall find that the Lord will bring it to pass. He shall not be one who goes about asking - Is life worth living? and voting it all a failure. God did not bring us into existence for nothing, or without gracious purposes of good in regard to us. He sets before us life and death, and we are free to choose. Alas! many sin blinded ones mistake the one for the other, but "whosoever will may take of the water of life freely." - S.C.

But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end.
God is unchangeable in His essence, nature, and perfections. This unchangeableness of God was anciently represented by the figure of a cube, a piece of metal or wood framed four square; when every side is exactly of the same equality, cast it which way you will, it will always be in the same posture, because it is equal to itself in all its dimensions. He was therefore said to be the centre of all things, and other things the circumference; the centre is never moved, while the circumference is; it remains immovable in the midst of the circle. Shadows and variations have no place in the eternal Father of lights; He hath not the least spot or diminution of brightness; nothing can cloud Him or eclipse Him.

I. IN WHAT RESPECTS GOD IS UNCHANGEABLE.

1. God is unchangeable in His essence. He is unalterably fixed in His being, that not a particle of it can be lost from it, nor a mite added to it. God is the first being, an independent being; He was not produced of Himself, or of any other, but by nature always hath been, and therefore cannot by Himself, or by any other, be changed from what He is in His own nature: that which is not may as well assume to itself a being as He who hath and is all being have the least change from what He is. Again, because He is a Spirit, He is not subject to those mutations which are found in corporeal and bodily natures; because He is an absolutely simple Spirit, not having the least particle of composition, He is not capable of those changes which may be in created spirits.

2. God is immutable in regard of knowledge. God hath known from all eternity all that which He can know, so that nothing is hid from Him; He knows not at present any more than He hath known from eternity, and that which He knows now He always knows (Hebrews 4:13).

3. God is unchangeable in regard of His will and purpose (Isaiah 55:11; Isaiah 46:11; Numbers 23:19).

4. God is unchangeable in regard of place. Therefore observe, that when God is said to "draw near to us" when "we draw near to Him" (James 4:8), it is not by local motion or change of place, but by special and spiritual influences, by exciting and supporting grace.

II. THE REASONS TO PROVE GOD IMMUTABLE.

1. The name Jehovah signifies this attribute (Exodus 3:14). ]f we say not of Him He was, nor He will be, but only He is, whence should any change arrive?

2. If God were changeable, He could not be the most perfect being. God is the most perfect being, and possesses in Himself infinite and essential goodness (Matthew 5:48). If He could change from that perfection, He were not the highest exemplar and copy for us to write after.

3. God were not the most simple being if He were not immutable. But God is the most simple being; for that which is first in nature, having nothing beyond it, cannot by any means be thought to be compounded; for whatsoever is so depends upon the parts whereof it is compounded, and so is not the first being. Now, God being infinitely simple, hath nothing in Himself which is not Himself, and therefore cannot will any change in Himself, He being His own essence and existence.

4. God were not eternal if He were mutable. God cannot be eternally what He was; that is, He cannot have a true eternity, if He had a new knowledge, new purpose, a new essence; if He were sometimes this and sometimes that, sometimes know this and sometimes know that, sometimes purpose this and afterwards hath a new purpose, He would be partly temporary and partly eternal, not truly and universally eternal. All changeableness implies a corruptibility.

5. If God were changeable, He were not infinite and almighty. All change ends in addition or diminution; if anything be added, He was not infinite before; if anything be diminished, He is not infinite after. All change implies bounds and limits to that which is changed; but God is infinite, "His greatness is unsearchable" (Psalm 145:3).

III. IMMUTABILITY IS PROPER TO GOD, AND INCOMMUNICABLE TO ANY CREATURE.

1. The changeableness of all creatures is evident.(1) Of corporeal creatures it is evident to sense. All plants and animals, as they have their duration bounded in certain limits, so while they do exist they proceed from their rise to their fall; they pass through many sensible alterations, from one degree of growth to another, from buds to blossoms, from blossoms to flowers and fruits; they come to their pitch that nature hath set them, and are torn back to the state from whence they sprung; there is not a clay but they make some acquisition, or suffer some loss; they die and spring up every day; nothing in them more certain than their inconstancy (Romans 8:20). The heavenly bodies are changing their place; the sun every day is running his race, and stays not in the same point; and though they are not changed in their essence, yet they are in their place; some indeed say there is a continual generation of light in the sun, as there is a loss of light by the casting out its beams, as in a fountain there is a flowing out of the streams, and a continual generation of supply. But in man the change is perpetually visible; every day there is a change from ignorance to knowledge, from one will to another, from passion to passion, sometimes sad, and sometimes cheerful, sometimes craving this and presently nauseating it. His body changes from health to sickness, or from weakness to strength; some alteration there is either in body or mind.(2) Spiritual natures, as angels. They change not in their being, but that is from the indulgence of God; they change not in their goodness, but that is not from their nature, but Divine grace in their confirmation; but they change in their knowledge, they know more by Christ than they did by creation (1 Timothy 3:16).

2. No creature can be unchangeable in its nature.(1) Because every creature rose from nothing. As they rose from nothing, so they bend to nothing, unless they are preserved by God.(2) Because every creature depends purely upon the will of God. He that created them by a word, can by a word destroy them.(3) Because no creature is absolutely perfect. The perfections of all creatures are searchable, the perfection of God only is unsearchable (Job 11:6), and therefore He only immutable.

IV. SOME PROPOSITIONS TO CLEAR THIS UNCHANCEABLENESS OF GOD FROM ANYTHING THAT SEEMS CONTRARY TO IT.

1. There was no change in God when He began to create the world in time. The creation was a real change, but the change was not subjectively in God, but in the creature; the creature began to be what it was not before.

2. There was no change in the Divine nature of the Son when He assumed human nature. There was an union of the two natures, but no change of the Deity into the humanity, or of the humanity into the Deity, both preserved their peculiar properties.

3. Repentance and other affections ascribed to God in Scripture argue no change in God.

4. The not fulfilling of some predictions in Scripture, which seem to imply a changeableness of the Divine will, do not argue any change in it. God declared what would follow by natural causes, or by the demerit of man, not what He would absolutely Himself do; and in many of those predictions, though the condition be not expressed, yet it is to be understood; so the promises of God are to be understood with the condition of perseverance in well-doing, and threatenings with a clause of revocation annexed to them, provided that men repent. And this God lays down as a general case, always to be remembered as a rule for the interpreting His threatenings against a nation, and the same reason will hold in threatenings against a particular person (Jeremiah 18:7-10).

5. God is not changed, when of loving to any creatures He becomes angry with them, or of angry He becomes appeased. The change in these cases is in the creature; there is a change in the dispensation of God, as there is a change in the creature, making Himself capable of such dispensations.

6. A change of laws by God argues no change in God, when God abrogates some laws which He had settled in the Church, and enacts others. God commanded one thing to the Jews, when the Church was in an infant state, and removed those laws when the Church came to growth (Galatians 4:3). A mother feeds not the infant with the same diet as she doth when it is grown up. Our Saviour acquainted not His disciples with some things at one time which He did at another, because they were not able to bear them.

(S. Charnock.)

Homilist.
I. IT IS AN UNDOUBTED FACT. This is clear —

1. From reason. Immutability enters into the essence of our idea of Deity.

2. From nature, which in its essence seems immovable.

3. From the Bible.

II. IT IS PECULIAR TO HIMSELF. Mutation is the law of the material universe, so far as its laws are concerned. Geology shows that the history of the earth is the history of revolutions. "The mountains falling come to nought," etc. Astronomy tells of planets that once shone in the heavens, that are gone, and of new ones that appear. The vegetable and animal systems of the earth are changing every hour. Mutation is also the law of the spiritual universe. Human minds are constantly changing in thoughts, feelings, purposes, character. Angels changed. Some have fallen from heaven to hell. But God sits enthroned above all these changes, more fixed than the sun above the shifting clouds, or the rock amidst the surging waters. God alone is unchangeable.

III. IT IS A BLESSING TO THE UNIVERSE. Were God unholy, untruthful, malevolent, the universe might well pray for a change in Him. But He is eternally opposite to all this. He is infinitely holy, true, and loving, and a change in Him would be a terrible calamity. We would not have Him change. We rejoice that we can look up to Him midst all the false and morally foul and infernally malignant, and feel that there is One who is ever pure, ever true, ever merciful and good.

(Homilist.)

The chemist in his laboratory, as he questions Nature, may be almost said to put her to the torture when, tried in his hottest furnace, or probed by his searching analysis to her innermost arcana, she by a spark or an explosion, or an effervescence, or an evolving substance, makes her distinct replies to his investigations. And... in every quarter of the globe her answer is the same — so that, let the experiment, though a thousand times repeated, only be alike in all its circumstances, the result which cometh forth is as rigidly alike, without deficiency, and without deviation ....But there is a God who liveth and sitteth there, and these unvarying responses of Nature are all prompted by Himself, and are but the utterances of His immutability. They are the replies of a God who never changes, and who hath adapted the whole materialism of creation to the demonstration of it. The certainties of Nature and of science are, in fact, the vocables by which God announces His truth to the world; and when told how impossible it is that Nature can fluctuate, we are only told how impossible it is that the God of Nature can deceive us.

(T. Chalmers, D.D.)

People
David, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Finished, Selfsame
Outline
1. The prophet in his prayer makes a grievous complaint.
12. He takes comfort in the eternity, and mercy of God
18. The mercies of God are to be recorded
23. He sustains his weakness by the unchangeableness of God.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 102:27

     1160   God, unchangeable
     1340   consistency
     2018   Christ, divinity
     8214   confidence, basis of

Psalm 102:25-27

     4007   creation, and God
     8608   prayer, and worship

Psalm 102:26-27

     1140   God, the eternal

Library
Out of the Deep of Loneliness, Failure, and Disappointment.
My heart is smitten down, and withered like grass. I am even as a sparrow that sitteth alone on the housetop--Ps. cii. 4, 6. My lovers and friends hast Thou put away from me, and hid mine acquaintance out of my sight--Ps. lxxviii. 18. I looked on my right hand, and saw there was no man that would know me. I had no place to flee unto, and no man cared for my soul. I cried unto Thee, O Lord, and said, Thou art my Hope. When my spirit was in heaviness, then Thou knewest my path.--Ps. cxlii. 4, 5.
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep

That True Solace is to be Sought in God Alone
Whatsoever I am able to desire or to think of for my solace, I look for it not here, but hereafter. For if I alone had all the solaces of this world, and were able to enjoy all its delights, it is certain that they could not endure long. Wherefore, O my soul, thou canst be fully comforted and perfectly refreshed, only in God, the Comforter of the poor, and the lifter up of the humble. Wait but a little while, my soul, wait for the Divine promise, and thou shalt have abundance of all good things
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

That He who is About to Communicate with Christ Ought to Prepare Himself with Great Diligence
The Voice of the Beloved I am the Lover of purity, and Giver of sanctity. I seek a pure heart, and there is the place of My rest. Prepare for Me the larger upper room furnished, and I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples.(1) If thou wilt that I come unto thee and abide with thee, purge out the old leaven,(2) and cleanse the habitation of thy heart. Shut out the whole world, and all the throng of sins; sit as a sparrow alone upon the house-top,(3) and think upon thy transgressions
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

The Never Changing One.
"JESUS Christ the same yesterday, and to-day and forever" (Heb. xiii:8). Blessed truth and precious assurance for us poor, weak creatures, yea, among all His creatures the most changing; He changeth not. "For I am the Lord, I change not" (Mal. iii:6). "Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall all 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;
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

The Unchangeableness of God
The next attribute is God's unchangeableness. I am Jehovah, I change not.' Mal 3:3. I. God is unchangeable in his nature. II. In his decree. I. Unchangeable in his nature. 1. There is no eclipse of his brightness. 2. No period put to his being. [1] No eclipse of his brightness. His essence shines with a fixed lustre. With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.' James 1:17. Thou art the same.' Psa 102:27. All created things are full of vicissitudes. Princes and emperors are subject to
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Our Last ChapterConcluded with the Words, "For Childhood and Youth are Vanity"...
Our last chapter concluded with the words, "For childhood and youth are vanity": that is, childhood proves the emptiness of all "beneath the sun," as well as old age. The heart of the child has the same needs--the same capacity in kind--as that of the aged. It needs God. Unless it knows Him, and His love is there, it is empty; and, in its fleeting character, childhood proves its vanity. But this makes us quite sure that if childhood can feel the need, then God has, in His wide grace, met the
F. C. Jennings—Old Groans and New Songs

Notes on the Fourth Century
Page 238. Med. 1. In the wording of this meditation, and of several other passages in the Fourth Century, it seems as though Traherne is speaking not of himself, but of, a friend and teacher of his. He did this, no doubt, in order that he might not lay himself open to the charge of over-egotism. Yet that he is throughout relating his own experiences is proved by the fact that this Meditation, as first written, contains passages which the author afterwards marked for omission. In its original form
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations

The Nature of Justification
Justification in the active sense (iustificatio, {GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA}) is defined by the Tridentine Council as "a translation from that state wherein man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace and of the adoption of the sons of God through the second Adam,
Joseph Pohle—Grace, Actual and Habitual

Notes on the Third Century
Page 161. Line 1. He must be born again, &c. This is a compound citation from John iii. 3, and Mark x. 15, in the order named. Page 182. Line 17. For all things should work together, &c. See Romans viii. 28. Page 184. Lines 10-11. Being Satan is able, &c. 2 Corinthians xi. 14. Page 184. Last line. Like a sparrow, &c. Psalm cii. Page 187. Line 1. Mechanisms. This word is, in the original MS., mechanicismes.' Page 187. Line 7. Like the King's daughter, &c. Psalm xlv. 14. Page 188. Med. 39. The best
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations

After the Scripture.
"In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God created He him."--Gen. v. 1. In the preceding pages we have shown that the translation, "in Our image," actually means, "after Our image." To make anything in an image is no language; it is unthinkable, logically untrue. We now proceed to show how it should be translated, and give our reason for it. We begin with citing some passages from the Old Testament in which occurs the preposition "B" which, in Gen. i. 27, stands before image, where
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Third Sunday after Trinity Humility, Trust, Watchfulness, Suffering
Text: 1 Peter 5, 5-11. 5 Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; 7 casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you. 8 Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 whom withstand stedfast
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Characters and Names of Messiah
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. S uch was the triumphant exultation of the Old Testament Church! Their noblest hopes were founded upon the promise of MESSIAH; their most sublime songs were derived from the prospect of His Advent. By faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, they considered the gracious declarations
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Covenanting Predicted in Prophecy.
The fact of Covenanting, under the Old Testament dispensations, being approved of God, gives a proof that it was proper then, which is accompanied by the voice of prophecy, affording evidence that even in periods then future it should no less be proper. The argument for the service that is afforded by prophecy is peculiar, and, though corresponding with evidence from other sources, is independent. Because that God willed to make known truth through his servants the prophets, we should receive it
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Letter xvi to Rainald, Abbot of Foigny
To Rainald, Abbot of Foigny Bernard declares to him how little he loves praise; that the yoke of Christ is light; that he declines the name of father, and is content with that of brother. 1. In the first place, do not wonder if titles of honour affright me, when I feel myself so unworthy of the honours themselves; and if it is fitting that you should give them to me, it is not expedient for me to accept them. For if you think that you ought to observe that saying, In honour preferring one another
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

History of the Interpretation.
1. AMONG THE JEWS. This History, as to its essential features, might, a priori, be sketched with tolerable certainty. From the nature of the case, we could scarcely expect that the Jews should have adopted views altogether erroneous as to the subject of the prophecy in question; for the Messiah appears in it, not in His humiliation, but in His glory--rich in gifts and blessings, and Pelagian self-delusion will, a priori, return an affirmative answer to the question as to whether one is
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Testimonies.
"Without faith it is impossible to please God."--Heb. xi. 6. In order to prevent the possibility of being led into paths of error, faith is directed, not to a Christ of the imagination, but to "the Christ in the garments of the Sacred Scripture," as Calvin expresses it. And therefore we must discriminate between (1) faith as a faculty implanted in the soul without our knowledge; (2) faith as a power whereby this implanted faculty begins to act; and (3) faith as a result,--since with this faith (1)
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Spiritual Hunger Shall be Satisfied
They shall be filled. Matthew 5:6 I proceed now to the second part of the text. A promise annexed. They shall be filled'. A Christian fighting with sin is not like one that beats the air' (1 Corinthians 9:26), and his hungering after righteousness is not like one that sucks in only air, Blessed are they that hunger, for they shall be filled.' Those that hunger after righteousness shall be filled. God never bids us seek him in vain' (Isaiah 45:19). Here is an honeycomb dropping into the mouths of
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

An Analysis of Augustin's Writings against the Donatists.
The object of this chapter is to present a rudimentary outline and summary of all that Augustin penned or spoke against those traditional North African Christians whom he was pleased to regard as schismatics. It will be arranged, so far as may be, in chronological order, following the dates suggested by the Benedictine edition. The necessary brevity precludes anything but a very meagre treatment of so considerable a theme. The writer takes no responsibility for the ecclesiological tenets of the
St. Augustine—writings in connection with the donatist controversy.

The Being of God
Q-III: WHAT DO THE SCRIPTURES PRINCIPALLY TEACH? A: The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man. Q-IV: WHAT IS GOD? A: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Here is, 1: Something implied. That there is a God. 2: Expressed. That he is a Spirit. 3: What kind of Spirit? I. Implied. That there is a God. The question, What is God? takes for granted that there
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
Psalm 102:27 NIV
Psalm 102:27 NLT
Psalm 102:27 ESV
Psalm 102:27 NASB
Psalm 102:27 KJV

Psalm 102:27 Bible Apps
Psalm 102:27 Parallel
Psalm 102:27 Biblia Paralela
Psalm 102:27 Chinese Bible
Psalm 102:27 French Bible
Psalm 102:27 German Bible

Psalm 102:27 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Psalm 102:26
Top of Page
Top of Page