April 26: THE KING IS COMING (part 5)
He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. Psalm 91:4
This beautiful illustration of the loving care of God is a critical reminder that truth is a vitally essential spiritual defense. The world is so saturated with error that just about anywhere you go, there is the probability of finding yourself in something like hand-to-hand combat. To take hold of truth for oneself equips the individual with a personal shield and buckler that effectively deflects the various arrows and projectiles that our archenemy continually launches; his missiles are aimed against truth itself as well as those who endeavor to live by it. In addition, to be metaphorically covered by God’s feathers, and under His wings illustrates divine protection that falls into the realm of the supernatural.
When Jesus said, “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,” His speech went much deeper than a poetic-sounding metaphor. The key to the problem lay in the next five words: “…but you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37)
The 91st Psalm contains a glimpse of last-day events, but it also serves as a solidly preparatory message from heaven for any tribulation that a person may meet in the course of life in a fallen world.
In recent devotionals, we have seen that the rapture is not the silent event that many declare. In fact, it will be so loud it will wake the dead – quite literally! The dead in Christ will be called forth to join the victory processional. Also, it will not be secret or invisible. Everyone alive at the time of Christ’s second coming will see Him. Another of Satan’s “whoppers” is that the wicked who are alive at the coming of Christ will be left alive on the earth and given one more chance to repent. But none of these things are so (see April 24 and 25).
Another mistaken aspect of the popular rapture theory is that the “secret whisking away” of the righteous occurs ahead of the world’s final and greatest tribulation. This false teaching leads many to turn away from the Christian’s call to cooperate with the Lord’s Holy Spirit in the process of sanctification. Only He can sanctify you and me. But you and I must allow Him to enter in to do His work. If we presumptuously assume that we are heaven-bound apart from agreeing that we need an “overhaul,” we will buy into the “once-saved-always-saved” dogma. King David prayed against such a thing for himself (Psalm 19:13). God does not remove the righteous from the tribulation (Acts 14:22), but rather protects them through it.
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. A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. Psalm 91:5-11