From Everlasting to Everlasting

 Temple Baptist Church - 1-18-2026

Psalm 90

 

Introduction:

 

A.  “A Prayer of Moses the man of God.”   Psalm 90 was the only Psalm written by Moses, “The Man of God,” and is possibly the oldest of the Psalms. 

 

1.  Moses authored, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the first five books of the Bible called the Pentateuch.  From “In the beginning God,” the most powerful statement concerning Theology ever written.  Not an argument for God, a Declaration of the Being and Eternality of God. 

 

2.  The closeness of Moses’ relationship with God is well documented.  Moses was well acquainted with God, as they spoke to each other as Friend to friend. 

 

Exodus 33:11a  And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.

 

3.  There has never been a greater man than the meekest man in all the earth.  The meekest man in all the earth spoke, in Psalm 90, with the boldness of the man of God.

 

Numbers 12:3  (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

 

B.  Psalm 90 is a Psalm that spans time from the “Beginning” until the “End!”  It expresses the Person, Plan, and Power of God in and over the affairs of men.  Nothing can circumvent God’s awesome power; nothing can stop His sovereign plan.

 

C.  Psalm 90 was not born in the palace of David, but in the wilderness under the leadership of Moses. It is a prayer shaped by tents, graves, wanderings, and the manifest glory of God.

 

D.  Moses writes as one who has watched a generation fall in the desert and has learned that life is brief, sin is serious, and God alone is eternal.

 

E.  Now, the breakdown of Psalm 90.

 

1.  Verses 1-2.  The eternality of God.  Moses reintroduces to Israel, in the Psalm, the eternal Jehovah God who gave him, Moses, the revelation of Genesis and the creation, some 2500 years before the life of Moses.

 

a.  God has always been our Dwelling Place.  Though Israel dwelt in tents, they dwelt in God.  Though you and I dwell in houses built by man, we who are saved dwell forever in God.  Our lives are not kept within the realm of this world; it is found in God alone that we live and have our being.

 

b.  God has always been and will always remain.  “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”  Genesis 1:1 spoke of the God who eternally existed before creation.  Everlasting has a point of reference:  From everlasting was God’s existence before creation, and “to everlasting” is from creation throughout eternity future.

 

2.  Verses 3-6.  The Brevity of Man.

 

a.  Moses begins with man’s return to dust.  God never intended that man live forever in a sinful condition, therefore, the Cherubims and flaming sword that guarded the Tree of Life in Genesis chapter 3.  Death is not an accident but rather of God’s decree after the fall.  A time to be born and a time to die.

 

b.  Time from God’s perspective.  Time belongs to God!  He created it, and what seems so long to man is brevity, a night when it is passed, in the sight of God.  Genesis 7 days were prophetic of God’s 7,000 years of time before the renovation of the heavens and the earth in Revelation chapter 21.

 

3.  Verses 7-11.  God’s Judgment for sin.

 

a.  Man’s sin exposed.  “Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.”  God sees all, and God knows all.  He knows our downsitting and our uprising, He understandeth our thoughts afar off, He sees in the dark as He sees in the light.

 

b.  Man’s sin judged.  “For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.”

All sinfulness has its recompense and will be paid for in full, either by the sinner in hell or through the vicarious death of Christ on the cross.

 

c.  God’s wrath shown.  “Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.”  Though God hates sin, God still loves sinners.  Sin destroyed all that God had made and will be ultimately destroyed by God.  Satan’s doom is pending and Earth’s curse will be removed.

 

4.  Verse 12.  Man’s Responsibility.    

 

a.  A life that has purpose.  “So teach us to number our days.”  Notice that Moses does not ask for longer life, but wiser living.  To number our days is not to count them anxiously, but to live them intentionally. Our days here are three score and ten or fourscore by reason of strength. 

 

James 4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

 

b.  A teachable heart.  “that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” To search the heart and learn wisdom. Wisdom does not come naturally to mankind; it must be taught by God.  God has given us the Word of God for knowledge and wisdom.

 

5.  Verses 14-15.  A Cry for Mercy and Joy

 

a.  A prayer for mercy.  “O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”  Surely goodness and mercy are promised to the children of God in Psalm 23:6. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”  These things follow us, not accompany us.  There are times when get out of the will of God and “goodness and mercy” flee, but they are always available!

 

b.  A prayer for rejoicing.  “Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us.”  Rejoice in the Lord always!  Joy and gladness are choices that we make in life.  Life is hard, and life is short.  I had much rather have the joy of the Lord than the sorrow of this present, evil world.

 

6.  Verses 16-17.  The Glory of God.

 

a.  Show me Thy glory.  “Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.”  Though Moses desires to see the glory of God once more, his prayer is for the following generations.

 

Exodus 33:18  And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.

 

Exodus 34:5-8  And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.  (6)  And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,  (7)  Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.  (8)  And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.

 

b.  Let Thy Beauty be upon us!  “And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.”  Man’s work is fleeting and will soon be done, but the beauty of the Lord (found in His goodness and mercy) will shine forth through us to the generations to follow.

 

Conclusion:  Psalm 90 confronts us with eternity, humbles us with mortality, warns us of sin, and directs us to prayer. Moses teaches us that life is short, God is eternal, and wisdom is living every day under His mercy and for His glory.  May we dwell in God, number our days, seek His mercy, and labor only for what He will establish—from everlasting to everlasting.

 

“Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”