Psalms 91

Psalms 91THEME: Song of life and lightAs Psalms 90 was a psalm of death, so Psalms 91 is a psalm of life; it is a messianic psalm, and gives a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. However it reveals a wonderful place of protection and security for us. It is a psalm that is very popular among God’s people, both old and young of all ages. Many have been greatly blessed by it. Psalms 90 was a picture of the first man, Adam; and in Adam all die. It was a psalm of death. But Psalms 91 is a picture of the Lord from heaven, a truly messianic psalm and a psalm of life. This is a psalm that was quoted by Satan. It is one he knows very well, as we shall see.

Psalms 91:1

This is beautiful language, my friend. “I will say of Jehovah, He is my refuge and my fortress.” The One who is depicted for us in these verses is the same Man who was the blessed Man in Psalms 1the Lord Jesus Christthe perfect, holy, sinless Man. He always dwells in the secret place of the Most High. My problem is that I am there sometimes, but my stay is like it is in motelsonly for a night or two at a time.

Psalms 91:3

A young man in my congregation claimed this verse as his when he went into military service. He felt that it brought him through combat safely.

Psalms 91:6

Another young man took this verse with him when he was in the Navy Air Corps. He was a very fine young man, and he retired as a commander. This was the verse he claimed as his.

Psalms 91:7

I believe these verses can be used by God’s people, and many times God has made them real to His people; but they actually picture our Lord. I want to give you the statement of Dr. A. C. Gaebelein, a Bible teacher of the past generation. He had this to say about this passage: “Let us think of Himself first of all.

There was no sin in Him, and that which is the result of sin, disease and death, had no claim on Him. In every way He was the perfect Man, and because He trusted in God His Father, walked in perfect obedience, the great fowler, Satan, could not catch Him, nor the pestilence of destruction. Covered by His feathers, under His wings, the perfect Man on earth found His constant refuge. He knew no fear; that which befell others could never come nigh unto Him. And His own follow Him in the life of trust and obedience, claiming also the preservation and protection” (The Book of Psalms, p. 359). I pause to intrude with this: I think that the two young men I mentioned, who claimed verses from this psalm, had a perfect right to do so, and God made them real in their lives.

Dr. Gaebelein continues: “Yet how true it is ‘our body is dead on account of sin.’ Fanaticism may make claim to all these statements as having an absolute meaning for the trusting child of God, experience teaches often the opposite. Because we are failing and erring creatures of the dust we need discipline and have to pass through the test of faith. Yet in it all the believer can be in perfect peace, knowing that all is well. ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust’ is the summit of true faith and confidence in God” (The Book of Psalms, p. 360). This is quite a wonderful statement, is it not?

Psalms 91:9

This pictures Christ, you see.

Psalms 91:11

This is the passage that the devil quoted, and the interesting thing is that Satan knew this psalm applied to the Lord Jesus. He knew something a lot of theology professors don’t know today. During the Lord’s temptation, Satan said, “For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee.” This statement is recorded in Luk_4:10; it seems that the devil quotes Scripture for his purposes. Well, I don’t think he can quote it, but he can misquote it, and in this case that is just what he did. He left out the words, “in all thy ways.” The Lord Jesus Christ came to do the Father’s will, and that meant to walk in His ways. He would have stepped out of the will of God if He had attempted to make the stones into bread, or if He had accepted the kingdoms of the world from Satan, or if He had cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple.

To do any of that would have been out of the way of God. The promise is: “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Now in verse Psa_91:14 there are two “becauses,” and they are very important:

Psalms 91:14

You see, the perfect Man went into the jaws of death. He went down into the lowest parts of the earth, which meant death and the grave. Deliverance came on the third day when God raised Christ from the dead and gave Him glory. God says, “I will set him on high.” What a picture we have of Christ in this psalm!