The Secret Place in the Promises of Psalm 91
Retracing our Steps Through the Tabernacle
( this not exhaustive, but just the highlights - focusing on how Jesus fulfills each one.)
1. Gate - only one way into the tabernacle
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6 NKJV)
2. Brazen Altar - in the outer court, where the shed blood of the sacrifice cleanses sin
John the Baptist said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 NKJV
Now into the Holy Place…
3. Showbread - “The Bread of the Presence” - The Word of God which feeds
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger… (John 6:35 NKJV)
4. Lampstand (7 candles) - The Spirit of God which illumines
Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12 NKJV)
5. Laver - daily cleansing from the filth of the world
Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean (John 13:10 NKJV)
Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word (Ephesians 5:25–26 NKJV)
6. Altar of Incense - the prayers of the saints
Then another angel … was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar…(Revelation 8:3 NKJV)
which brings us to the veil, and the final destination:
7. Holy of Holies - where God’s Presence dwells
So now, “Further up and further in!”
The Holiest Place is the Final Destination
This is the whole point of the Tabernacle. Everything prepares and leads to this.
Indeed, this is the whole point of everything - it was God’s intention from the very beginning and through all the particulars of redemptive history:
- to restore the intimate fellowship which was lost when we fell into sin and rebellion.
- To restore it, to make it new and glorious, to bring us in Jesus into the very heart of God as His sons and daughters.
What others have said about the Holiest Place
Andrew Murray - Abide in Christ, chapter 10 (Buy the book)
Abide in Him as your righteousness, and dwell clothed upon with Him in that inner sanctuary of the Father’s favour and presence to which His righteousness gives you access. As you rejoice in your reconciliation, you shall understand how it includes all things…
C.H. Spurgeon - Treasury of David (Buy the book)
The blessings here promised are not for all believers, but for those who live in close fellowship with God. Every child of God looks towards the inner sanctuary and the mercyseat, yet all do not dwell in the most holy place;
they run to it at times, and enjoy occasional approaches, but they do not habitually reside in the … presence.
Those who … abide in Christ and Christ in them, become possessors of rare and special benefits, which are missed by those who follow afar off, and grieve the Holy Spirit of God.
Into the secret place those only come who know the love of God in Christ Jesus, and those only dwell there to whom to live is Christ.
To them the veil is rent, the mercyseat is revealed, the covering cherubs are manifest, and the awful glory of the Most High is apparent: these, like Simeon, have the Holy Ghost upon them, and like Anna they depart not from the temple…
What does Scripture say about the Holiest Place
There are many words throughout, but one psalm in particular opens it to us in full flower: Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
8 Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
10 No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
12 In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”
Outline of the Psalm
- vs.1 - The Promise
- vs.2 - How do we receive the Promise
- vss.3-8 - Specifics of the Promise
- vss.9-10 - The Promise repeated
- vss.11-13 - More Specfics of the Promise
- vss.14-16 - The Final Fulfillment
vs.1 - The Promise
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
What is “the Secret Place” and how do we get there and stay there?
Some Christians can be satisfied with merely “I believe Jesus died for my sins, and I’m saved and I will go to heaven when I die.”
In the typology of the Tabernacle, this is like walking in by the entrance into the Outer Court, going to the Brazen Altar where the sacrifice is offered for sin, and going no further. Spending one’s whole life in the Outer Courts, but not proceeding to come into His Presence!
There is nothing more tragic. Jesus did not suffer and die only to forgive our sins, but to give us LIFE, and LIFE ABUNDANTLY! – Forgiveness is the beginning, not the end.
That we might know the inexpressible joy of fellowship with the Father, with the Son, and with the Holy Spirit. Joy inexpressible and full of glory.
One could almost say this approach is like “taking the Lord’s name in vain” in that one would take His name as a Christian, but then refuse to receive all the precious gifts that Jesus won for us. It must grieve Him.
Let us not be like that, dear brethren, but rather seek to have all that the Father desires to give us! For everyone who seeks will find
Let us pray for a heart like David’s, a man after God’s own heart, who says
One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD… (Psalm 27:4 NKJV)
this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3 NKJV)
and like the apostle Paul, who says
I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him … that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings… (Philippians 3:8–11 NKJV)
What is the Secret Place?
The Secret Place is where Jesus lived on earth, and where He always lives - in close and constant communion with the Father. And Jesus suffered for this reason, that He might bring us into this very same fellowship with His Father.
That we might also live in the place where God dwells, the Holiest place, the place of intimacy with the Father, which Jesus opened up to us by His suffering.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18 NKJV)
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh… (Hebrews 10:19–20 NKJV)
And this is Jesus’ own prayer for us:
Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory (John 17:24 NKJV)
Jesus calls and invites us to come into this wonderful place:
… when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; (Matthew 6:6 NKJV)
But not only to come there, but to stay there. To abide there. To live and remain there. In that place of closest fellowship where Jesus Himself lives:
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (John 1:18 NKJV)
It is in God’s very heart. You can’t get any closer to God than this.
What does it mean that this place is ‘secret’ ?
What it does not mean is that anything is hidden. Everything is open and laid bare - there are no secrets between you and your Father God.
It is secret in the sense that it is private between you and your Father. He sees in secret, and He knows you individually, by name.
I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. (Revelation 2:17 ESV)
vs.2 - How do we receive the Promise
I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand (Romans 5:2 ESV)
It is only by faith, which is the gift of God, that the redeemed and renewed heart will seek His face. It is how we receive the promises:
“the work of God is to believe in Him whom He has sent..”
“without faith it is impossible to please God.”
It is only by faith we know that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable…” (2 Timothy 3:16)
It is only by faith we can confess that “all the promises of God in Jesus are Yes, and in Him Amen…” (2 Corinthians 1:20).
It is only by faith that we know that all of the promises in this psalm are given by our Father to us His beloved children, and that they are all ‘yes’ and ‘amen’ to us in Jesus our Lord.
But what if you’re “not feeling it” - What if the best you can do right now is “Lord I believe, help my unbelief”?
Start there. And go on… We ask for understanding from the Father And He calls us and invites us to do this!
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7)
…how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13)
This is what we need: the Holy Spirit to teach us how to rightly understand the promises of this psalm in our own life experiences.
For example, we read of the one who dwells in the shadow of the Most High, that “no plague will come near your tent.” And yet we sometimes may experience sickness in our homes and our families… And in Scripture we have examples of godly men afflicated with physical ailments, like Job and Paul…
Like Abraham, let’s not waver in unbelief, but rather ask the Holy Spirit. After all, He is the One who wrote these very words! And it is the Lord Jesus who “opens our minds to understand the Scriptures. He said
all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. (Luke 24:44–45 NKJV)
So, Holy Spirit, help us now…
vss.3-8 - Specifics of the Promise
First, a summary: Protection, Deliverance, Freedom, Power and Salvation
Protection
- vs.1 - You shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty
- vs.4 - He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge
- vs.7 - A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.
- vs.10 - No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling
Deliverance
- vs.3 - He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.
- vs.14 - Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him
- vs.15 - I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
Freedom from fear
- vss.5-6 - You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
Power
- vs.4 - His truth shall be your shield and buckler
- vs.13 - You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
Salvation
- vs.16 - With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation
Protection, Deliverance, Freedom, Power and Salvation
Now we’re going to walk through the specifics, like walking through a manicured garden and delighting in its manifold beauties.
vs.3 - He shall deliver you FROM the snare of the fowler.
It does not say that you will never BE snared. But if you are snared, He shall deliver you. He is your defender and your deliverer, and we can count on Him to be there.
vs.4 - cover you with His feathers, under His wings you shall take refuge
This is a clear reference to the wings of the cherubim which overshadow the Mercy Seat in the Holiest Place, where the Presence of God is.
You are SAFE is His Presence, under His protection. You are precious to Him.
vs.4 His Truth is your Shield and Buckler
These are 2 different things
Shield - “large shield (covering whole body)” Buckler - small hand-held shield - an offensive weapon to bear down your foe.
His truth is not only our total protection, but also how we push back against Satan’s lies. His truth is both our defense and our offense.
vss.5-6 - You shall not be afraid…
He does not say that there won’t BE any terrors by night, or flying arrows, or pestilences, or wasting destructions. What He does say is that you won’t be afraid of them. In Jesus we have Freedom from Fear. These things may happen to you, but they won’t touch you, they won’t ulimately harm you.
In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NKJV)
vss.7-8 - A thousand may fall … it will not come near you…
Jesus said right before His arrest,
…the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. (John 14:30 NKJV)
In other words, Satan had no hooks or handles by which he could get a hold of Jesus. No way of entrance, no connection, on inroad.
If you are dwelling in the Secret Place in communion Christ, this can be true of you as well. Full of faith in Jesus, abiding in Him, the enemy may bark, but he cannot bite.
But don’t give him any handles, like unforgiveness, anger, secret sins…
“only with your eyes shall you look…“
We must ask: What kind of eyes?
Temporal or Eternal? Visible or Invisible?
So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:16–17 NKJV)
…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know… (Ephesians 1:17–18 NKJV)
Does this mean that I will never experience calamity, or that a Christian will never die in battle? No.
It does mean that my life is hidden with Christ in God, and that whatever may befall me in this short life on earth, it cannot touch me since I am safe in God, hidden in Him.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …. in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (Romans 8:35–37 NKJV)
Right after the time of the apostles, a brother named Polycarp was who was taught by the apostle John became the leader of the church at Smyrna. When he was arrested as on old man and would not deny his Lord, he said:
You threaten me with a fire that burns for a season, and after a little while is quenched…
He knew that they could only kill the body, but after that there was nothing more that they could do. He understood.
vss.9-10 - The Promise repeated
Who is the Promise for?
Before we look at the restatement of Promise in verses 9 and 10, let’s be clear about to whom these promises are being spoken.
Jesus said that
all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me. (Luke 24:44 NKJV)
He announced to the synagogue in Nazareth his hometown after reading from the scroll of Isaiah:
Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21 NKJV)
He knew that the words of the prophets were addressed directly to Him, and that they were being fulfilled in Him. All through the prophets we read words like:
I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” (Isaiah 49:6 NKJV)
The promises in this psalm are being given by the Holy Spirit first and foremost to Jesus, the captain of our salvation, and the firstborn among many brethren.
They apply to us by virtue of our being in Christ, united with Him…
As we confess
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20 NKJV)
then all of this abundance of blessing belongs to us, as we now live in Him.
Now, pay attention to how the Promise is repeated:
9 Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, 10 No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
Because you have made the LORD, Yahweh, your dwelling place…
What is the “Secret Place” of verse 1? It is the Lord Himself. You live in Him, literally in Him. You have made the LORD your dwelling place.
Abiding in Him, as the branch abides in the Vine in John 15.
Now the promise:
“No evil shall befall you. No plague shall come near your dwelling”
Where is your dwelling? Where do you now live?
“you have made the LORD, Yahweh, your dwelling place.”
He made us alive together with Christ … and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (Ephesians 2:5–6 NKJV)
We live where Jesus lives. We live, literally, in Him
The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18 NKJV)
That is in the very heart of God. There is no safer or more blessed place!
As you are in Christ, our Father says to you, just as He says to Jesus,
“this is my beloved, in whom I am well-pleased.”
You are the beloved of the Father. As He delights in Jesus, so He delights in you.
vss.11-13 More Specfics of the Promise
vs.11 “He shall give His angels charge over you.
Jesus said of these holy ones:
they always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 18:10 NKJV)
Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:14 NKJV)
These are they who watch over your life daily.
We recall that Satan attempted to use this against our Lord in the wilderness.
Just because Satan employed this verse in his temptation doesn’t mean that it wasn’t true. The most potent temptations are not blatant lies, but they are the truths which are cunningly twisted and misapplied.
This word clearly does NOT mean that we should throw ourselves off buildings to “prove” something. That is not trust, that is presumption.
But what it DOES mean that our Father watches over all our steps and cares for us in every detail.
vs.13 - You shall tread upon the lion and the serpent
These are pictures of spiritual adversaries, those who want to devour, injure and kill.
Just as it is given to Jesus to “bruise the serpent’s head” in Genesis 3.15, so it is given to us as we are in Him
the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. (Romans 16:20 NKJV)
vss.14-16 - The Final Fulfillment
14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. 15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”
Remember that these promises are first and foremost given to Jesus Christ, the second Adam.
The Father delivers Him.
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. (Psalm 16:10 NKJV)
The Father exalts Him
God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, (Philippians 2:9 NKJV)
The Father shows him His Salvation
When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, (Isaiah 53:10 NKJV)
You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11 NKJV)
As His own, we are seated with Him in heavenly places. We are in Him, so all of these promises belong to us
All the promises of God are YES and AMEN for us in Christ Jesus.
