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[The Spirit flooded me with this 09/15/24]
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. - Psalm 91:1
We may have heard this often, and some even "claim" Psalm 91 for protection, but have you wondered what exactly is "the secret place of the Most High?" Is it just something you read, and think, "that's nice, we'll that's very comforting," But you really don't go beyond that?
So we're gonna go deep, like in Ezekiel 47. The prophet has a vision of a river coming out from under the threshold of the house if God (47:1), and a man takes him out 1000 cubits - that's about 1,500 feet, or little over a quarter mile, and here the waters up to Ezekiels ankles, and the man takes him another 1,000 cubits and the waters to his knees, then another 1,000 and it's to his loins, or his waist. Yet another 1,000 "and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over." (47:5)
Well, we are going to get out in the depths like that.
The Hebrew word Sether is translated "secret place" and means, covering, shelter, covert, hiding place, secret place, protection.
So, what exactly is this secret place? Some may answer, The Bible, the Word of God, prayer, your prayer closet, church, Bible study. Other answers may be, righteousness, repentance, holiness, denial of self, walking in the Spirit, doing God's will. And hopefully you would say, Jesus is our secret place. All these answers are good, and right, and each is the natural duty of the true believers in Christ: we are called to do all these things.
As far as Jesus Christ being our secret place, what exactly does this entail?
First, let's see some other passages that talk about a secret place, same Hebrew word used: Sether.
Psalm 18:11, The LORD "made darkness His secret place." This isn't talking about evil darkness, but an obscuring, a hiding, or covering. In large part this is because no man can look directly upon God and live - Exodus 33:20. That's what the LORD told Moses on Mount Sinai. We're going to come back to Exodus 33 later.
Psalm 81:7 says, "I answered thee in the secret place of thunder." Now what's fascinating about this "secret place of thunder" is, it's referring back to Moses again, and Israel in the wilderness, roughly 450 years before David wrote this Psalm, but we can jump all the way ahead to the Revelation of Jesus Christ written approximately 1,100 years later, and we see that 7 thunders uttered their voices, and John was told not to write what they uttered, but to seal them. (Rev. 10:3-4) Seems like there's still a secret place of thunder, or actually, secret thunders. They were classified when they were written and as far as I know have not been declassified.
There is also John 12:28-29, when Jesus prayed "Father, glorify thy name, then there came a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people therefore, that stood by and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spoke to him."
Let's go back a moment to darkness being God's secret place, For Isaiah 45:3 says, "I will give thee the treasures of darkness," and 45:7 says, "I form the light and create the darkness..."
A point of interest here: I was listening to a Charles Lawson sermon, and he mentioned how astronomers and physicists say that 90% of the universe is dark matter. We cannot see it, nor measure it directly, but it's there because it exerts an effect on known matter. I'm really surprised Pastor Lawson didn't bring up Isaiah 45 regarding the treasures of darkness.
They say dark matter doesn't interact with light. Yes it does. Maybe not physical light as we know it, but Pastor Lawson did quote 1 Timothy 6:16, saying that Jesus Christ "only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, NOR CAN SEE, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen." So the Bible tells us there's a secret place where the light of God dwells that you cannot see. And the Bible tells us there is a secret place of darkness...
Look at 2 Corinthians 4:6,
" For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
Now back to Exodus 33. God told Moses no man can look upon the face of God and live. But Jesus is the image of God (2 Cor 4:4), for in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the godhead bodily, (Col 2:9).
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1 & 14) For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. (1 John 5:7)
The only way we can see God in these mortal bodies is in the face of Jesus Christ. Before we get more into that, I have to address 1 John 5:7, which I try to do every time the Spirit leads me to use it. If your Bible doesn't have 1 John 5:7 as I just quoted it, that Bible is a corrupted and incomplete version. Truth is, the Greek isn't even grammatically correct if you remove the verse.
A corrupt version will read, verse 7 "For there are three that testify:" Then verse 8, "The Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are in agreement." That's the NIV, and a footnote says the portion of verse 7 they cut out was not found in any Greek manuscript before the 14th century. That's a strait lie!
Cyprian, an early Church father, quotes 1 John 5:7 in 250 AD, saying, "It is written, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, And these three are one." The only place in the entire Bible that is WRITTEN is 1 John 5:7! It's also found in the Latin and Greek Vulgate, 90 - 150 AD, and the Syriac Peshitta, 150 AD, and in many other references 200 and more years before the Alexandrian and Vaticanus manuscripts that omit a lot of words and verses.
And, we are still in Exodus 33! So, in verse 22 Yahweh, the LORD, says to Moses, "And it shall come to pass, that I will put thee in a clift of a rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by."
Our Scripture is Psalm 91:1 but look at 91:4 for a minute:
"He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust..."
Do you know a birds wings are their hands, and their primary feathers are attached directly to the "hand" part of the wing, and can even be moved around similar to fingers?
In Exodus, God covers Moses with His hand, in Psalm 91 He uses the symbolic language of feathers and wings that cover the one who dwells in the secret place of the Most High.
Now, by the way, a "clift" is not a cliff, but rather, it's a crack, a fissure in the rock. Hebrew, Neqara. It's a place you can be hidden in. I used to love hiking in the mountains of New England, big granite mountains, with lots of clifts. I often felt like I was blessed with a slight taste of what Moses and Elijah experienced.
Now Moses had said to God just prior to all this, "I beseech thee, shew me thy glory." (Exodus 33:18) Do we desire to see God's glory? Do we even know what God's glory really is? We are not talking about getting emotional during a worship service, or even being caught up in the abundance of the Spirit poured out. That's fine, but there's far more...
Let's look at the transfiguration for a moment, and we're still in Exodus 33. Just gonna keep coming back to it. Luke's gospel gives a little more detail on the transfiguration. As Jesus prayed "the fashion of his countenance altered, and his raiment was white and glistering." (Luke 9:27) That means glittering, bright flashing: that's what glistering means.
Now Peter and those with him "SAW HIS GLORY " (9:32), and then "While he (that is Peter) thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered the cloud. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him." (9:34-35)
This is why I believe Peter could write,
"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord,
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertaining unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to GLORY and virtue." (2 Peter 1:2-3)
On the mount of transfiguration, there's that cloud, that darkness, again, and it overshadowed them to the point they entered it, and it enveloped them. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty! Amen! HalleluYah!
So back again in Exodus 33, Moses is being hid in the clift of a rock, and that right there is a type of being hidden in Christ, who is the Rock. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:3)
Oh, we're just starting to see where the secret place of the Most High is, and what it is. Were just scratching the surface, and I cannot get to the full depths of it, because that must be EXPERIENCED, and applied, and sought after, pressed into, and can only be encountered by a personal application.
You, me, each individual, must enter in through the door; Jesus is the door, and entering in you shall be saved, and go in and out and find pasture (John 10:9) That pasture is part of the secret place of the Most High; "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures..." (Psalm 23:2) Lying down infers a dwelling: He that dwelleth in the secret place....
The Scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:4 that when Israel was in the wilderness with Moses, they "did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ."
Also, as Jesus Himself said, "Upon this Rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt 16:18)
We see here the Rock as both provision and protection. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. (Matt 5:6) "And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." (Rev 22:17) That provision comes from the Rock, who is Christ. He told the woman at the well, "the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:14)
Indeed, this also has a type back in the wilderness, Numbers 21:16-17 - "the well whereof the LORD spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water.
Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it..."
Indeed, as Jesus said, "He that believeth in me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38)
Now we looked at Ezekiel 47 at the beginning of this message, and if we read verse 9 it tells us that everything that the waters of that river touch will live, and will be healed.
We see this in Revelation 22:1,
" And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb. "
So we see the Rock as provision, and that provision comes from Christ, by whom "all things were made by him" (John 1:3), Who is " upholding all things by the word of his power," (Heb 1:3) who is "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." (Eph 3:20) "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world t through lust." (2 Peyer 1:4)
The Rock also is our protection, as Moses experienced, and when he was in the clift of the Rock, is when he had the closest encounter with the fulness of the LORD, the full being of God, and Moses could only see God's back parts, but God's face could not be seen (Exodus 33:23)
In fact, due to this encounter, Moses own face shone, and he had to put a vail on his face when he was around people. (Exodus 34:29-35)
Psalm 18:2 is a wonderful verse of God's protection,
"The LORD is my Rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower."
All of that describes the secret place: A fortress, a high tower... Yea, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty! Amen!
Dwelleth and abide: this is not describing a one time prayer, a quick devotion, or any other slight recognition of the things of God. Dwelling and abiding are constant, and consistent, regular, time consuming; you devote much time in your faith, redeeming the time, for the days are evil. (Eph 5:16) Dwelling is a time consuming and persevering affair.
"To him that overcomes will I give..."says Jesus to the 7 churches in Revelation.
"I give the right to the tree of life, he shall not be hurt of the second death, I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and a white stone, a new name, I will give him the morning star, I will confess his name before the Father, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and I will grant to sit with me in my throne! HalleluYah!
He that endureth till the end shall be saved, He says in Matthew 24.
Oh, this involves an approach to God in both fear and boldness. Jesus tells us to fear God, Paul writes we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12) But he also tells us, "Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16) And yet another place he states, "Pray without ceasing." (1 Thess 5:17) James says, "Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you. Cleanse your hands ye sinners, and purify your hearts ye double minded " (Jas 4:8)
While driving, the Holy Spirit drew me to consider Esther, who approached the king with both fear and boldness. In that culture you didn't just pop in to the kings court to see him, even if you were queen. That could get you killed. Esther said that after her and her maidens fasted (there's a period of time there in preparation, of fasting and humbling ones self), "so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to law, and if I perish, I perish." (Esther 4:16)
So there had to be some fear there, but also boldness to go before the king she knew could have her killed if he was in a mood to do so. That's part of the pressing in, of entering through the door, of abiding in Christ, of abiding under the shadow of the Almighty, of being, dwelling in the secret place.
I'm reminded of Ananias & Sapphira who lied to the Holy Ghost and died on the spot as soon as they were exposed, in Acts 5, or, of those in 1 Corinthians 11 who took of the Lord's table unworthy, and many were sick, and some slept, which means they died. These were not dwelling, nor abiding
The point? The secret place of the Most High is also the hill of the LORD, and His holy place. Psalm 24:3-5, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart: who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation."
You see, we must be walking in the Spirit, and putting away sin. We cannot stand in the secret place full of sin, and practicing sin, because that tends to put you on precarious ground, ripe for chastisement, and you find yourself out from under God's protective hand, and rather, His hand now holds the rod of correction.
Read all of Psalm 15. I'll just read the first 2 verses here,
"LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? (See, this speaks again of the secret place... abiding and dwelling)
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart..."
Same principle as Psalm 24, and also Psalm 1,
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel if the ungodly, nor standeth in the wat of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful,
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." (Psa 1:1-3)
There's the living water again, the provision from Christ, the Rock. He who abides in Christ, the Rock of our salvation, and sinneth not, knows God (1 John 2:1 & 3:6 & 9), He dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High and shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
That's Psalm 91:1, and a little bit of verse 4. Read all of it. I've only covered what the Spirit exploded on me yesterday as a mighty flood, and I hope and pray we have drawn some treasures from it.
Above all, let us dwell in the secret place of the Most High, continually.
And if you're not dwelling and abiding, seek, and enter into that place. Lay aside any sin, any hindrances, so that you are covered by God's mighty hand, in Jesus name.
Amen.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. - Psalm 91:1
We may have heard this often, and some even "claim" Psalm 91 for protection, but have you wondered what exactly is "the secret place of the Most High?" Is it just something you read, and think, "that's nice, we'll that's very comforting," But you really don't go beyond that?
So we're gonna go deep, like in Ezekiel 47. The prophet has a vision of a river coming out from under the threshold of the house if God (47:1), and a man takes him out 1000 cubits - that's about 1,500 feet, or little over a quarter mile, and here the waters up to Ezekiels ankles, and the man takes him another 1,000 cubits and the waters to his knees, then another 1,000 and it's to his loins, or his waist. Yet another 1,000 "and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over." (47:5)
Well, we are going to get out in the depths like that.
The Hebrew word Sether is translated "secret place" and means, covering, shelter, covert, hiding place, secret place, protection.
So, what exactly is this secret place? Some may answer, The Bible, the Word of God, prayer, your prayer closet, church, Bible study. Other answers may be, righteousness, repentance, holiness, denial of self, walking in the Spirit, doing God's will. And hopefully you would say, Jesus is our secret place. All these answers are good, and right, and each is the natural duty of the true believers in Christ: we are called to do all these things.
As far as Jesus Christ being our secret place, what exactly does this entail?
First, let's see some other passages that talk about a secret place, same Hebrew word used: Sether.
Psalm 18:11, The LORD "made darkness His secret place." This isn't talking about evil darkness, but an obscuring, a hiding, or covering. In large part this is because no man can look directly upon God and live - Exodus 33:20. That's what the LORD told Moses on Mount Sinai. We're going to come back to Exodus 33 later.
Psalm 81:7 says, "I answered thee in the secret place of thunder." Now what's fascinating about this "secret place of thunder" is, it's referring back to Moses again, and Israel in the wilderness, roughly 450 years before David wrote this Psalm, but we can jump all the way ahead to the Revelation of Jesus Christ written approximately 1,100 years later, and we see that 7 thunders uttered their voices, and John was told not to write what they uttered, but to seal them. (Rev. 10:3-4) Seems like there's still a secret place of thunder, or actually, secret thunders. They were classified when they were written and as far as I know have not been declassified.
There is also John 12:28-29, when Jesus prayed "Father, glorify thy name, then there came a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people therefore, that stood by and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spoke to him."
Let's go back a moment to darkness being God's secret place, For Isaiah 45:3 says, "I will give thee the treasures of darkness," and 45:7 says, "I form the light and create the darkness..."
A point of interest here: I was listening to a Charles Lawson sermon, and he mentioned how astronomers and physicists say that 90% of the universe is dark matter. We cannot see it, nor measure it directly, but it's there because it exerts an effect on known matter. I'm really surprised Pastor Lawson didn't bring up Isaiah 45 regarding the treasures of darkness.
They say dark matter doesn't interact with light. Yes it does. Maybe not physical light as we know it, but Pastor Lawson did quote 1 Timothy 6:16, saying that Jesus Christ "only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, NOR CAN SEE, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen." So the Bible tells us there's a secret place where the light of God dwells that you cannot see. And the Bible tells us there is a secret place of darkness...
Look at 2 Corinthians 4:6,
" For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
Now back to Exodus 33. God told Moses no man can look upon the face of God and live. But Jesus is the image of God (2 Cor 4:4), for in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the godhead bodily, (Col 2:9).
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1 & 14) For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. (1 John 5:7)
The only way we can see God in these mortal bodies is in the face of Jesus Christ. Before we get more into that, I have to address 1 John 5:7, which I try to do every time the Spirit leads me to use it. If your Bible doesn't have 1 John 5:7 as I just quoted it, that Bible is a corrupted and incomplete version. Truth is, the Greek isn't even grammatically correct if you remove the verse.
A corrupt version will read, verse 7 "For there are three that testify:" Then verse 8, "The Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are in agreement." That's the NIV, and a footnote says the portion of verse 7 they cut out was not found in any Greek manuscript before the 14th century. That's a strait lie!
Cyprian, an early Church father, quotes 1 John 5:7 in 250 AD, saying, "It is written, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, And these three are one." The only place in the entire Bible that is WRITTEN is 1 John 5:7! It's also found in the Latin and Greek Vulgate, 90 - 150 AD, and the Syriac Peshitta, 150 AD, and in many other references 200 and more years before the Alexandrian and Vaticanus manuscripts that omit a lot of words and verses.
And, we are still in Exodus 33! So, in verse 22 Yahweh, the LORD, says to Moses, "And it shall come to pass, that I will put thee in a clift of a rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by."
Our Scripture is Psalm 91:1 but look at 91:4 for a minute:
"He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust..."
Do you know a birds wings are their hands, and their primary feathers are attached directly to the "hand" part of the wing, and can even be moved around similar to fingers?
In Exodus, God covers Moses with His hand, in Psalm 91 He uses the symbolic language of feathers and wings that cover the one who dwells in the secret place of the Most High.
Now, by the way, a "clift" is not a cliff, but rather, it's a crack, a fissure in the rock. Hebrew, Neqara. It's a place you can be hidden in. I used to love hiking in the mountains of New England, big granite mountains, with lots of clifts. I often felt like I was blessed with a slight taste of what Moses and Elijah experienced.
Now Moses had said to God just prior to all this, "I beseech thee, shew me thy glory." (Exodus 33:18) Do we desire to see God's glory? Do we even know what God's glory really is? We are not talking about getting emotional during a worship service, or even being caught up in the abundance of the Spirit poured out. That's fine, but there's far more...
Let's look at the transfiguration for a moment, and we're still in Exodus 33. Just gonna keep coming back to it. Luke's gospel gives a little more detail on the transfiguration. As Jesus prayed "the fashion of his countenance altered, and his raiment was white and glistering." (Luke 9:27) That means glittering, bright flashing: that's what glistering means.
Now Peter and those with him "SAW HIS GLORY " (9:32), and then "While he (that is Peter) thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered the cloud. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him." (9:34-35)
This is why I believe Peter could write,
"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord,
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertaining unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to GLORY and virtue." (2 Peter 1:2-3)
On the mount of transfiguration, there's that cloud, that darkness, again, and it overshadowed them to the point they entered it, and it enveloped them. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty! Amen! HalleluYah!
So back again in Exodus 33, Moses is being hid in the clift of a rock, and that right there is a type of being hidden in Christ, who is the Rock. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:3)
Oh, we're just starting to see where the secret place of the Most High is, and what it is. Were just scratching the surface, and I cannot get to the full depths of it, because that must be EXPERIENCED, and applied, and sought after, pressed into, and can only be encountered by a personal application.
You, me, each individual, must enter in through the door; Jesus is the door, and entering in you shall be saved, and go in and out and find pasture (John 10:9) That pasture is part of the secret place of the Most High; "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures..." (Psalm 23:2) Lying down infers a dwelling: He that dwelleth in the secret place....
The Scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:4 that when Israel was in the wilderness with Moses, they "did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ."
Also, as Jesus Himself said, "Upon this Rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt 16:18)
We see here the Rock as both provision and protection. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. (Matt 5:6) "And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." (Rev 22:17) That provision comes from the Rock, who is Christ. He told the woman at the well, "the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:14)
Indeed, this also has a type back in the wilderness, Numbers 21:16-17 - "the well whereof the LORD spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water.
Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it..."
Indeed, as Jesus said, "He that believeth in me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38)
Now we looked at Ezekiel 47 at the beginning of this message, and if we read verse 9 it tells us that everything that the waters of that river touch will live, and will be healed.
We see this in Revelation 22:1,
" And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb. "
So we see the Rock as provision, and that provision comes from Christ, by whom "all things were made by him" (John 1:3), Who is " upholding all things by the word of his power," (Heb 1:3) who is "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." (Eph 3:20) "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world t through lust." (2 Peyer 1:4)
The Rock also is our protection, as Moses experienced, and when he was in the clift of the Rock, is when he had the closest encounter with the fulness of the LORD, the full being of God, and Moses could only see God's back parts, but God's face could not be seen (Exodus 33:23)
In fact, due to this encounter, Moses own face shone, and he had to put a vail on his face when he was around people. (Exodus 34:29-35)
Psalm 18:2 is a wonderful verse of God's protection,
"The LORD is my Rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower."
All of that describes the secret place: A fortress, a high tower... Yea, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty! Amen!
Dwelleth and abide: this is not describing a one time prayer, a quick devotion, or any other slight recognition of the things of God. Dwelling and abiding are constant, and consistent, regular, time consuming; you devote much time in your faith, redeeming the time, for the days are evil. (Eph 5:16) Dwelling is a time consuming and persevering affair.
"To him that overcomes will I give..."says Jesus to the 7 churches in Revelation.
"I give the right to the tree of life, he shall not be hurt of the second death, I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and a white stone, a new name, I will give him the morning star, I will confess his name before the Father, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and I will grant to sit with me in my throne! HalleluYah!
He that endureth till the end shall be saved, He says in Matthew 24.
Oh, this involves an approach to God in both fear and boldness. Jesus tells us to fear God, Paul writes we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12) But he also tells us, "Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16) And yet another place he states, "Pray without ceasing." (1 Thess 5:17) James says, "Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you. Cleanse your hands ye sinners, and purify your hearts ye double minded " (Jas 4:8)
While driving, the Holy Spirit drew me to consider Esther, who approached the king with both fear and boldness. In that culture you didn't just pop in to the kings court to see him, even if you were queen. That could get you killed. Esther said that after her and her maidens fasted (there's a period of time there in preparation, of fasting and humbling ones self), "so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to law, and if I perish, I perish." (Esther 4:16)
So there had to be some fear there, but also boldness to go before the king she knew could have her killed if he was in a mood to do so. That's part of the pressing in, of entering through the door, of abiding in Christ, of abiding under the shadow of the Almighty, of being, dwelling in the secret place.
I'm reminded of Ananias & Sapphira who lied to the Holy Ghost and died on the spot as soon as they were exposed, in Acts 5, or, of those in 1 Corinthians 11 who took of the Lord's table unworthy, and many were sick, and some slept, which means they died. These were not dwelling, nor abiding
The point? The secret place of the Most High is also the hill of the LORD, and His holy place. Psalm 24:3-5, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart: who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation."
You see, we must be walking in the Spirit, and putting away sin. We cannot stand in the secret place full of sin, and practicing sin, because that tends to put you on precarious ground, ripe for chastisement, and you find yourself out from under God's protective hand, and rather, His hand now holds the rod of correction.
Read all of Psalm 15. I'll just read the first 2 verses here,
"LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? (See, this speaks again of the secret place... abiding and dwelling)
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart..."
Same principle as Psalm 24, and also Psalm 1,
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel if the ungodly, nor standeth in the wat of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful,
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." (Psa 1:1-3)
There's the living water again, the provision from Christ, the Rock. He who abides in Christ, the Rock of our salvation, and sinneth not, knows God (1 John 2:1 & 3:6 & 9), He dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High and shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
That's Psalm 91:1, and a little bit of verse 4. Read all of it. I've only covered what the Spirit exploded on me yesterday as a mighty flood, and I hope and pray we have drawn some treasures from it.
Above all, let us dwell in the secret place of the Most High, continually.
And if you're not dwelling and abiding, seek, and enter into that place. Lay aside any sin, any hindrances, so that you are covered by God's mighty hand, in Jesus name.
Amen.
