Psalms 91:11-13
Satan tried to use scripture on Jesus when he tempted Him in the wilderness. He took Jesus to a pinnacle of the temple and told Him to jump off because, “It is written, ‘He shall give His angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone” (Matthew 4:6). Jesus quoted scripture in rebuttal to overcome the temptation.
The problem with Satan’s quote is not that it was not accurate, but that it was incomplete. He quoted Psalms 91:11, 12, but he left a little something out. In verse 11, he neglected to finish the verse which says “to keep thee in all thy ways”. Jesus’ ways were the ways of His Father, so to hurl Himself off of the temple would have been a breach of His Father’s way. Satan neglects to mention this, hoping to catch Jesus doing something out of the Father’s will.
That omission would be bad enough, but what Satan fails to quote next seals his fate. Notice that he stops quoting the text at the end of the 12th verse. Read on into verse 13 to see why Satan did not want this verse mentioned:
“Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet” (Psalms 91:13).
Jesus’ promise of victory is found in the very next verse after Satan’s quote! The adversary who roams about “as a roaring lion” (1 Peter 5:8) is “the devil”. He is also the adder, or the serpent of the Garden of Eden. As well, in Revelation 20:2, he is called “the dragon, that old serpent”. God’s promise in Psalms 91 is that the dragon will be trampled underfoot. This speaks to the prophecy that God put forth in the Garden of Eden when He said to the serpent (Satan): “It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). The heel of Jesus can only be bruised by the dragon if the foot is trampling him!
The composite whole of Psalms 91 is actually speaking about you and me, the body of Christ. The song begins by telling us that when we dwell in the secret place of the most High, we will be abiding under the shadow of the Almighty (verse 1). We also find that He is our refuge and our fortress (verse 2) and that we have no need to fear the sneak attack or the open attack of the enemy (verse 5). Because He is our protector we can claim with confidence that “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it will not come nigh thee” (Psalms 91:7).
If the first part of the chapter is for you then so is the last part. Though the text is speaking of Jesus, it is giving us a promise that no matter where our foot may land, our Father has given angels charge to watch over us. The New Testament calls angels, “ministers” (Hebrews 1:7), meaning that God uses them to minister to and for you and me. We must be deeply loved for God to go to such lengths to protect us.
Jesus trampled the enemy so that you might go free. Live in the liberty afforded at the cross, which causes us to fall in love with our Protector all over again.
Satan tried to use scripture on Jesus when he tempted Him in the wilderness. He took Jesus to a pinnacle of the temple and told Him to jump off because, “It is written, ‘He shall give His angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone” (Matthew 4:6). Jesus quoted scripture in rebuttal to overcome the temptation.
The problem with Satan’s quote is not that it was not accurate, but that it was incomplete. He quoted Psalms 91:11, 12, but he left a little something out. In verse 11, he neglected to finish the verse which says “to keep thee in all thy ways”. Jesus’ ways were the ways of His Father, so to hurl Himself off of the temple would have been a breach of His Father’s way. Satan neglects to mention this, hoping to catch Jesus doing something out of the Father’s will.
That omission would be bad enough, but what Satan fails to quote next seals his fate. Notice that he stops quoting the text at the end of the 12th verse. Read on into verse 13 to see why Satan did not want this verse mentioned:
“Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet” (Psalms 91:13).
Jesus’ promise of victory is found in the very next verse after Satan’s quote! The adversary who roams about “as a roaring lion” (1 Peter 5:8) is “the devil”. He is also the adder, or the serpent of the Garden of Eden. As well, in Revelation 20:2, he is called “the dragon, that old serpent”. God’s promise in Psalms 91 is that the dragon will be trampled underfoot. This speaks to the prophecy that God put forth in the Garden of Eden when He said to the serpent (Satan): “It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). The heel of Jesus can only be bruised by the dragon if the foot is trampling him!
The composite whole of Psalms 91 is actually speaking about you and me, the body of Christ. The song begins by telling us that when we dwell in the secret place of the most High, we will be abiding under the shadow of the Almighty (verse 1). We also find that He is our refuge and our fortress (verse 2) and that we have no need to fear the sneak attack or the open attack of the enemy (verse 5). Because He is our protector we can claim with confidence that “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it will not come nigh thee” (Psalms 91:7).
If the first part of the chapter is for you then so is the last part. Though the text is speaking of Jesus, it is giving us a promise that no matter where our foot may land, our Father has given angels charge to watch over us. The New Testament calls angels, “ministers” (Hebrews 1:7), meaning that God uses them to minister to and for you and me. We must be deeply loved for God to go to such lengths to protect us.
Jesus trampled the enemy so that you might go free. Live in the liberty afforded at the cross, which causes us to fall in love with our Protector all over again.
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