Psalms 102:18-27

This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.

-The generation to come shall praise the Lord for having loosed the groaning prisoners: the peoples shall be gathered together to serve the Lord at Jerusalem (Psalms 102:18). Being without strength I take refuge in the eternal God (Psalms 102:23-19).

Verse 18. This shall be written for the generation to come - (Romans 15:4.) "This" - namely, the restoration of Zion-shall be consigned to writing, for the record of the fact (Exodus 17:14; Deuteronomy 31:10; Deuteronomy 31:21: especially Psalms 22:30; Psalms 48:13; Psalms 68:4).

And the people which shall be created - in the time of the future generation (Psalms 22:31) spiritually born by regeneration, (Isaiah 43:1; Isaiah 43:7; Isaiah 43:15; Isaiah 65:18; Ephesians 2:10; Colossians 3:10; Ezekiel 37:1.)

Verse 19. For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary - the prophetic preterite. In the appointed time he will look down so as to have respect to the groans and cries of His people (Psalms 102:20; Psalms 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:15; Isaiah 63:15; Zechariah 2:13; Psalms 18:16). by God is here introduced as the ground on which he rests the statement (Psalms 102:26), that "They shall perish

... and be changed." What God has made, that He can destroy: heaven and earth, as being things created, shall pass away; but the Lord who created them shall remain. Compare Hebrews 1:10, which applies to Messiah what is here said of Yahweh (Hebrews 12:26).

Verse 26. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure - literally, 'thou shalt stand:' in Psalms 102:12 it was literally, 'thou shalt sit' (enthroned forever). Every attitude that expresses abiding permanence is used.

Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment - easily laid aside. Isaiah 51:6 is drawn from this. "All of them:" heaven and earth, and all that they contain.

As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. The parallel term, "perish," implies that the "change" is to he a radical one. God, who hath created all things out of nothing, shall change them when they no longer fulfill their destination. The Hebrew [ chaalap (H2498)], means literally, 'glide by' 'pass away.' New heavens and a new earth shall finally succeed (Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22; Matthew 19:28). This is not the thought prominent here but the prior destruction of both (Job 14:12); the ulterior event being for the time secondary (Matthew 5:18; Matthew 24:35; Luke 21:33; Isaiah 54:10: and above all, 2 Peter 3:7; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 21:5). The comparison to a change of vesture hints at the coming new earth and heavens substituted for the old.

Verse 27. But thou art the same. So the Septuagint and Chaldaic and Hebrews 1:12 quoting it. The Hebrew is strictly, 'but thou art HE.' Deuteronomy 32:39 is referred to. The Syriac translates, 'thou art as thou art.' Arabic, 'thou art thyself' [ huw' (H1931)], the imperishable One, as contrasted with the heavens and earth, which perish, notwithstanding their seeming stability: answering to the parallel.

Thy years shall have no end: and Psalms 102:24 end: cf. Isaiah 43:10. Still God's immutability of character to His people (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8) is involved in imperishableness.