THEY WILL PERISH BUT THOU REMAINEST:
autoi apolountai (3PFMI) su de diameneis (2SPAI): (Heb
12:27;
Isa 34:4;
65:17;
Mt 24:35;
Mk 13:31;
Lu 21:33;
2Pe 3:7,
3:8
3:9
3:10;
Rev 20:11;
21:1)
(Ps 10:16;
29:10;
90:2;
Isa 41:4;
44:6;
Rev 1:17
1:18
2:8)
"They themselves shall perish, but as for you, you remain permanently" (Wuest)
Isa 34:4 And all the host of heaven will wear away, and the sky will be rolled
up like a scroll. All their hosts will also wither away As a leaf withers from
the vine, or as one withers from the fig tree.
Isa 44:6 "Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of
hosts: 'I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me.
Perish (622)
(apollumi) from apo = away from + olethros = state of utter ruin <>
from ollumi = to destroy) is a strengthened form of ollumi with the
preposition apó conveying the sense of separation away from and thus the idea
is wholly or fully destroy. Destroy utterly or fully perish, lay waste,
disintegrate.
Clarke writes...
Permanently fixed as they seem to be, a
time shall come when they shall be dissolved, and afterward new heavens and a
new earth be formed, in which righteousness alone shall dwell. See notes
2 Peter 3:10;
11;12;
13
Remainest
(1265)
(diameno
from dia = intensifies
meaning + meno = to remain or abide) means to remain permanently or to
continue in the same place or condition (cf Lu 1:22). When diameno is
used to describe people it means to remain constant or to stand by (as those
did with Jesus in Lu 22:28). It is used to describe a circumstance, state or
condition that continues and thus remains the same (2Pet 3;4). Here in Hebrews
the idea is that it continues to exist. It is used figuratively of the gospel
continuing in association with the Galatians.
Here are the NT use of
diameno...
Luke 1:22 But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they
realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to
them, and remained mute.
Luke 22:28 "And you are those who have stood by Me in My
trials;
Galatians 2:5 But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an
hour, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.
Hebrews 1:11 (note)
They will perish, but Thou remainest; and they all will become old as a
garment,
2 Peter 3:4 (note)
and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers
fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of
creation."
There are 11 uses of
diameno in the non-apocryphal
Septuagint (LXX)
(Ps. 5:5; 19:9; 61:7; 72:17; 102:26; 119:89ff; Jer. 3:5; 32:14) and below are
several uses...
Psalm 5:5 The boastful shall not stand (Heb = yatsab = set or station
oneself; Lxx = diameno) before Thine eyes; Thou dost hate all who do iniquity.
Psalm 19:9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring (Heb = amad =
to takes ones stand; Lxx = diameno) forever; The judgments of the LORD are
true; they are righteous altogether.
Psalm 61:7 He will abide (Heb = yashab = sit, remain; Lxx = diameno)
before God forever; Appoint lovingkindness and truth, that they may preserve
him.
Psalm 102:26 "Even they will perish, but Thou dost endure; And all of
them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing Thou wilt change them, and
they will be changed. (NAS)
Psalm 102:26 They shall perish, but thou remainest: and
they all shall wax old as a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them,
and they shall be changed. (English translation of the Septuagint)
Spurgeon: They shall perish, but thou shalt endure. The power which made
them shall dissolve them, even as the city of thy love was destroyed at Thy
command; yet neither the ruined city nor the ruined earth can make a change in
Thee, reverse Thy purpose, or diminish Thy glory. Thou standest when all
things fall.
Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change
them, and they shall be changed. Time impairs all things, the fashion becomes
obsolete and passes away. The visible creation, which is like the garment of
the invisible God, is waxing old and wearing out, and our great King is not so
poor that he must always wear the same robes; He will ere long fold up the
worlds and put them aside as worn out vestures, and He will array Himself in
new attire, making a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. How readily will all this be done. "Thou shalt change them and
they shall be changed;" as in the creation so in the restoration, omnipotence
shall work its way without hindrance.
Psalm 119:89 Forever, O LORD, Thy word is settled (Heb = natsab = to take
one's stand, to appoint, to erect; Lxx = diameno) in heaven.
Spurgeon: For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. The strain is
more joyful, for experience has given the sweet singer a comfortable knowledge
of the word of the Lord, and this makes a glad theme. After tossing about on a
sea of trouble the Psalmist here leaps to shore and stands upon a rock.
Jehovah's word is not fickle nor uncertain; it is settled, determined, fixed,
sure, immovable. Man's teachings change so often that there is never time for
them to be settled; but the Lord's word is from of old the same, and will
remain unchanged eternally.
Some men are never happier than when they are unsettling everything and
everybody; but God's mind is not with them. The power and glory of heaven have
confirmed each sentence which the mouth of the Lord has spoken, and so
confirmed it that to all eternity it must stand the same, -- settled in
heaven, where nothing can reach it.
Christ is better than
angels because He exists eternally (see related topic
Immutable)
Spurgeon writes
that...
Since the Messiah is thus described as
immutable and eternal He must be divine, and to deny the Godhead of the
Saviour is a deadly error. Dr. Owen most comfortingly remarks:—
Whatever our changes may be, inward or
outward, yet Christ changing not, our eternal condition is secured, and relief
provided against all present troubles and miseries. The immutability and
eternity of Christ are the spring of our consolation and security in every
condition. Such is the frailty of the nature of man, and such the perishing
condition of all created things, that none can ever obtain the least stable
consolation but what ariseth from an interest in the omnipotency, sovereignty,
and eternity of Jesus Christ.
Thou Remainest
by Daniel Whittle
Thou remainest, blest Redeemer,
Lord of peace and Lord of strife,
Jesus, Savior, Lord forever,
Thou remainest, Christ, my life.
Refrain
Thou remainest
Thou remainest
Thou remainest, Christ, my all;
Peace or conflict, joy or sorrow,
Thou remainest, Christ, my all.
Satisfying every longing,
Of my sinful soul for grace;
From my weakness never turning,
Thou remainest, Christ, my peace.
Refrain
One by one my loved ones leave me,
Voices sweet no more be heard;
But of God naught can bereave me,
Thou remainest, Christ, my Lord.
Refrain
When from earth, Thou, Lord, shalt call me,
Calm I’ll lay my burden down;
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Thou remainest, Christ, my crown.
Refrain
AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD AS A
GARMENT : kai pantes hos himation palaiothesontai (3PFPI):
(Isa 50:9;
51:6
51:8,
1Jn 2:17)
they all shall wax old as doth a garment (KJV)
all these shall become old and worn out as a garment (Wuest)
like a cloak you will fold them up, and they will be changed (Phillips)
Will become old (3822)
(palaioo
from palaios = old not in point of time but old in terms of use, thus
"worn out", antiquated, useless, outmoded; English "paleontology," etc.) when
used in the active sense means to make old, to declare or treat as obsolete
(as the Old Covenant which is caused to become old and obsolete, and hence no
longer valid - see note
Hebrews 8:13).
In the passive voice as
used here in Hebrews 1:11, palaioo means to become old, to deteriorate
and can include the idea of becoming useless.
Wuest comments
that palaioo...
means “to make ancient or old, to be worn
out.” The idea here is not that the heavens will become old so far as lapse of
time is concerned, but old in the sense of wearing out. The Greeks had a word
for “old in point of lapsed time” namely, archaios
(Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans
or
Logos)
NIDNTT notes that
palaioo is derived from...
palaios (also from Homer onwards) is
commonly used in secular Gk. meaning old: (a) positively as existing for a
long time and hence venerable; (b) negatively as obsolete, worn out, and hence
worthless, unusable (cf. Soph., Oedipus Rex 290, etc.). Often archaios,
original, venerable, is used in the same sense, but almost always positively.
palaioo (from Plato onwards) is found only in the passive in secular Greek...
By giving mankind and the whole creation
over to decay and corruption God passes judgment on the sin and fall of
mankind (Isa. 51:6; Ps. 102:26). (Brown,
Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986. Zondervan)
Here are the 3 uses of
palaioo in
the NT...
Luke 12:33 "Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves
purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no
thief comes near, nor moth destroys.
Hebrews 1:11 They will perish, but Thou remainest; And they all will
become old as a garment,
Hebrews 8:13 (note)
When He said, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete.
But whatever is becoming obsolete (palaioo) and growing old
(gerasko) is ready to disappear. (Comment: This is entirely God’s work. Seeing
that God in Christ makes a new covenant, the old covenant of the law has
become obsolete. In Christ the first can be regarded only as old and fulfilled
[2 Cor. 3:14]. Indeed, it may be said that the NT speaks of the old only from
the standpoint of the new and for the sake of the new.)
There are 22 uses of palaioo in the
non-apocryphal
Septuagint (LXX)
(Lev. 13:11; Deut. 29:5; Jos. 9:5, 13; Neh.
9:21; Job 9:5; 13:28; 14:18; 21:7; 32:15; Ps. 6:7; 18:45; 32:3; 49:14; 102:26;
Isa. 50:9; 51:6; 65:22; Lam. 3:4; Ezek. 47:12; Dan. 7:25; 11:33)
Deuteronomy 29:5 "And I have led you
forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out (Heb =
balah; to become old; Lxx = palaioo) on you, and your sandal has not worn out
on your foot.
Psalm 32:3 When I kept silent about
my sin, my body wasted away (Heb = balah = figuratively because of
guilt he grew old, wasting away -
Dear brother or sister, is there a secret sin you need to confess so that you
might not waste away and become a dishonorable vessel, useless to the Lord?;
Lxx = palaioo) Through my groaning all day long.
TDNT says that in
the
Septuagint (LXX)...
...the verb palaioo,...denotes the uselessness of worn-out things, and
figuratively the transitoriness of creaturely life (cf. Ps. 32:3; Gen. 8:12;
Job 21:13; Is. 65:22)
Adam Clarke has
an interesting note...
As
a garment by long using becomes unfit to be longer used, so shall all visible
things; they shall wear old, and wear out; and hence the necessity of their
being renewed. It is remarkable that our word world is a contraction of wear
old; a term by which our ancestors expressed the sentiment contained in this
verse. That the word was thus compounded, and that it had this sense in our
language, may be proved from the most competent and indisputable witnesses. It
was formerly written weorold, and wereld.
Garment (2440)
(himation) is the general word for garments and here is used as a
metaphor to emphasize that like a garment becomes thread bare and useless, the
universe is in the process of wearing out. This truth is presented to
highlight the eternality (See
attribute = eternal) and
immutability (See
attribute = immutable) of Jesus the Creator and Sustainer.
This revelation,
originally given in the Psalm 102 and now doubly verified, as it were, by being
quoted in the NT, makes it clear that the universe is not evolving, but
in fact is wearing out. This revelation anticipated the discovery of the Second Law of
Thermodynamics, which it illustrates, by almost 3000 years. Also called the
law of increasing entropy, this law is considered one of the most certain and
best-proved laws of science, specifying as it does the observed fact that
everything in the universe has a tendency to run down, deteriorate and
eventually die. The universe, as a whole, is heading toward an ultimate heat
death (see notes
2 Peter 3:7,3:10).
F B Meyer writes
on Psalm 102:25-27 which is quoted in this section...
Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the
earth.--These magnificent verses are applied directly to our Lord (Heb. 1:8,
10-12). Granite rocks and stars of light shall fulfil their purpose and be
laid aside as worn-out robes when He speaks their concluded mission (see note
Revelation 21:5). But
Jehovah-Jesus
will ever be unchangeably the same, able to summon new creations into being
with a word. (F. B. Meyer. Gems From the Psalms)
