4. Why is the spiritual security to be preferred to the physical kind, and what Bible psalm describes it?

⁴ Spiritual security means having God’s protection of our spiritual life in harmony with His requirements for everlasting life. It is those who have spiritual security whom God approves, even though he may permit them to suffer death for their faithfulness to Him at enemy hands. Their spirituality maintained down till death is what he will reward with resurrection to the blessings and opportunities of life in his righteous new order. Spiritual security is to be preferred to the physical security that materialistic men try to provide. The spiritual security is the essential kind that we desire. This is the security that the beautiful ninety-first Psalm of the Bible describes for us.

5. What is to be said of the composer of Psalm 91, and upon whom does it center our attention?

⁵ The inspired composer of Psalm 91 was likely the same man as the writer of Psalm 90, the last verse of which the ninety-first Psalm follows without any break by a superscription announcing who the composer is. In such a case it was the prophet Moses, whose name is given in the superscription of Psalm 90. But although circumstances seem to indicate this, there is no certainty of it. Nevertheless, it is one of the inspired writings of God’s Holy Word, and that is what counts, what makes it true and reliable. Written at least 460 years before our Common Era, it makes no direct mention of the long-promised Messiah, God’s Anointed One, or the Christ. It centers our attention upon the One who was the Divine Source for the spiritual security of even the Messiah, the Christ.

6, 7. How did Satan use Psalm 91:11, 12 in his trying to tempt Jesus Christ, and why without success?

⁶ For example, in the year 29 of our Common Era, God’s great Adversary applied Ps 91 verses eleven and twelve to a certain man in the Middle East. Satan the Devil, the Tempter, was out to wreck the spirituality of this man, deceptively by the misuse of God’s own inspired Word. In those verses 11, 12 of Psalm 91 the Tempter worked in the idea of physical security. He argued that especially a “son of God” would have such personal bodily protection and safeguarding. In proof of this to the Devil and to the Jewish people, the man should hurl himself down from the battlement of the temple at Jerusalem and let the angels carry him gently to the temple pavement against the laws of gravitation. This would be like a “sign from heaven.”

⁷ Of all persons, this Psalm 91 should fit this man who had recently been anointed with God’s spirit to be the Messiah, the Christ. So the Devil schemed what he thought was a real temptation for this man anointed of God. But the man, Jesus Christ, saw through the trick, saw the wrong thrust given to Psalm 91:11, 12. He refused to forsake his spiritual security.

8. How did Jesus counter the temptation by Satan, and with what benefit to himself?

⁸ He did this by appealing to the inspired command given through the prophet Moses. The Bible record tells us: “Jesus said to him [that is, to the Devil]: ‘Again it is written, “You must not put Jehovah your God to the test.”’” (Matt. 4:7; Deut. 6:16) Jesus believed in holy angels all right, but he did not believe that those angels would protect him against himself if he improperly tried to defy God’s known law of gravitation to make a selfish, foolhardy display of himself before the Jewish people at the temple. Wisely, in this case, Jesus’ keeping to his place of spiritual security resulted in his physical security. He did not die a premature death in a way that did not fulfill Scripture. He remained alive, “in the secret place of the Most High.”​—Ps. 91:1.

“THE SECRET PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH”

9, 10. (a) Was Jesus rejecting Psalm 91 as having an application to himself individually? (b) To whom also does this psalm apply, and in what way?

⁹ Psalm 91 applies to a time of many dangers such as are mentioned by the psalmist, in order to give comfort, confidence and assurance to those passing through the perilous time. Jesus Christ, when on earth as a man, could take to heart this marvelous psalm, for there can be no doubt that it applied to him as an individual. When he rejected the Devil’s proposal, falsely based on Ps 91 verses eleven and twelve, he was not rejecting the psalm as applying to him in a right way. If there was anyone that set his affection upon Jehovah God, it was Jesus Christ, in fulfillment of Ps 91 verse fourteen.

¹⁰ Logically it would apply to all his baptized disciples who faithfully follow in his footsteps and copy his example. Not that each one of these can say, ‘This psalm applies to me individually just as it did to Jesus Christ.’ No, but it applies to these true disciples as a class, and anyone who finds himself in that class can draw spiritual strength from it. The psalm did not foretell any particular one of Christ’s true and loyal disciples.

11-13. (a) Where does Revelation speak of the remnant of spiritual brothers of Jesus Christ, and why must they need to be in the place of security provided by God? (b) How did the Watch Tower issue of August 1, 1927, show who was in the “secret place of safety”?

¹¹ The Bible book of Revelation, chapter twelve, verse seventeen, mentions a “remnant” of spiritual brothers of Jesus Christ as being on the woe-afflicted earth after the birth of God’s Messianic kingdom in the heavens in the year 1914 C.E.

¹² Concerning the remaining ones of the “seed” of the heavenly mother of that kingdom, Revelation 12:17 (King James Authorized Version) says: “And the dragon [Satan the Devil] was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Since this remnant of the woman’s seed on earth is warred upon by Satan the Devil and his demon angels, the remnant must certainly need to be in the place of spiritual security provided by the God whose commandments the remnant keeps. In harmony with this obvious fact, in the article “Place of Security,” published in the Watch Tower issue of August 1, 1927, the opening paragraph on page 227 cited Revelation 12:17 and then said:

¹³ “Those who are of the ‘remnant’ will surely seek with diligence to know the secret place of safety and, being brought into it, will be anxious to abide there.”

14, 15. (a) With that understanding, what series of articles was started off back there in 1927? (b) This was eight years before what modern-day crowd of people was discussed in The Watchtower?

¹⁴ So, with that understanding of those who were then dwelling in the “secret place of the Most High,” the series of three consecutive articles dealing with Psalm 91 was started off, entitled “Place of Security,” “Why in Security,” and “Defence and Security,” and published in the Watch Tower issues of August 1 and 15 and September 1, 1927.a As matters turned out, that commentary on Psalm 91 was published eight years before the “great multitude” described in Revelation 7:9-17 (AV) began forming, or from the year 1935 onward. (See the two-part article entitled “The Great Multitude,” published in the Watchtower issues of August 1 and 15, 1935.) In describing this “great multitude,” the inspired apostle John says, in Revelation 7:14, 15, (AV):

¹⁵ “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them [or, will spread his tent over them, New World Translation].”

16. (a) The “great crowd” also should be in what place of security, and why? (b) Aside from Jesus Christ, who is the one foretold in Psalm 91, and from when on is the time of special need for Psalm 91 to apply?

¹⁶ According to that prophetic description, the faithful members of the “great multitude” or “great crowd” (NW) should today be sharing spiritual security with the “remnant” of the woman’s seed in the “secret place of the Most High.” Otherwise, the Most High God would not preserve them during the “great tribulation” so that they may come out of it alive on earth and into God’s new order. In that righteous new order those of the “great crowd” continue rendering sacred service to God day and night in the courtyards of his spiritual temple. It can thus be seen that, aside from Jesus Christ himself, Psalm 91 did not foretell any individual disciple of Christ, but did refer to his baptized disciples as a class or congregation, down till this day. The time for special need of its application is from the year 1919 onward, after the ousting of Satan and his demon angels from heaven down to the vicinity of this earth, which ouster of them followed the birth of God’s Messianic kingdom in the heavens in 1914 C.E.​—Rev. 12:1-13.

17. As we now take up an examination of Psalm 91, what personal question can we ask ourselves?

¹⁷ While we now take up an examination of Psalm 91, we can ask ourselves personally, Do I belong to the favored class that is referred to and addressed in this faith-strengthening psalm? If we can say Yes, then we can be sure that we shall have the spiritual security that is described in the psalm. Descriptively, the psalm opens up, saying: “Anyone dwelling in the secret place of the Most High will procure himself lodging under the very shadow of the Almighty One.”​—Ps. 91:1.

18. What is that “secret place of the Most High,” and why cannot worldlings see or discern it?

¹⁸ The “secret place of the Most High” is not the place where he himself resides in the heavens invisible to human eyes, or even secluded from the heavenly hosts. It is not the heavenly place that was pictured by the Most Holy, the innermost compartment of the tent of worship constructed by the prophet Moses in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in the year 1513 B.C.E. There the divine presence was symbolized by the miraculous Shekinah light that hovered above the mercy seat of the golden Ark of the Covenant. The Most High needs no secret place for himself, in order to be sheltered from the threats and dangers described in Psalm 91. Rather, the “secret place” is the concealed place, the covert, that he has provided for those who fulfill the requirements that are set out in Psalm 91. It is a place of shelter for them, a place of protection for them. Since it is a place of spiritual security, the people of the world cannot see it with their natural eyes, and, not having spiritual discernment, they cannot see that the dwellers therein are in that “secret place.”

19. (a) Those in the “secret place” were spiritually safeguarded on what issue, as suggested in what designation? (b) When was this issue published to the world?

¹⁹ However, the spiritual security that those faithfully dwelling there enjoy testifies to their really being there. The facts show that they are spiritually safeguarded on the paramount issue that is now before all heaven and earth. It is the issue indicated by the designation of the One providing the “secret place,” namely, “the Most High.” Ah yes, it is the issue of Universal Sovereignty. It was called to the attention of the world of mankind in the midst of World War II, in which the nations were battling over the question of who shall rule the earth, and some months before the United States of America became involved in that world struggle. At the international assembly of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses at St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., in the summer of 1941, the then president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society delivered the speech on the subject “Integrity.” In that speech to scores of thousands of conventioners, he stated and made clear that the issue before all creation was Universal Domination.​—See the leading article “Integrity,” published in the Watchtower issue of August 15, 1941, page 245, paragraph 19.

20. When is the time for settlement of this paramount issue, and who are the ones that see and take their stand on the issue in favor of the one to be vindicated respecting it?

²⁰ The questions of the domination of the earth and the national sovereignties of the peoples are hotly contested at present. The world situation as well as Bible chronology marks this as the generation in which the Most High must once and for all time settle the age-long issue of Universal Domination or Universal Sovereignty. The ones occupying the “secret place of the Most High” are the ones who see the issue and have unequivocally come out in favor of His universal sovereignty and therefore maintain Christian neutrality toward the conflicts of the worldly nations for national sovereignty and domination of the earth. The nonpolitical dwellers in the “secret place of the Most High” could not enter and remain there unless they recognized and held fast to His universal sovereignty. They eagerly look forward to His vindicating of his universal sovereignty within this generation, in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at the symbolic place called Har–Magedon.​—Rev. 16:13-16.

21. In the twentieth century B.C.E., what king was on the right side of the issue of universal sovereignty, and what patriarch did he bless and with what words?

²¹ On Bible record Melchizedek, the king of Salem in the Middle East, was on the right side of the issue of universal sovereignty in the twentieth century before our Common Era. The short account written about him by the prophet Moses proves that. To the Universal Sovereign this ancient king ascribed the victory gained by the patriarch Abram (or Abraham) over the four invader kings from the land of Mesopotamia. To this effect, Genesis 14:18-20 tells us: “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine, and he was priest of the Most High God. Then he blessed him and said: ‘Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, Producer of heaven and earth; and blessed be the Most High God, who has delivered your oppressors into your hand!’ At that Abram gave him a tenth of everything.”

22, 23. (a) How did Abram, immediately afterward, give public evidence of taking his stand on the side of the Universal Sovereign? (b) How did the Universal Sovereign act within his right, as recorded in Deuteronomy 32:8?

²² By giving Melchizedek as the priest of the Producer of heaven and earth a tenth part of all the spoils of victory over the four marauder kings, Abram took his stand with priest-king Melchizedek on the side of the Universal Sovereign. In public evidence of this Abram swore in the name of the Universal Sovereign. This he did when restoring to the king of Sodom the properties that he, Abram, had recovered for him. Genesis 14:21-24 informs us: “After that the king of Sodom said to Abram: ‘Give me the souls [the rescued people], but take the goods for yourself.’ At this Abram said to the king of Sodom: ‘I do lift up my hand in an oath to Jehovah the Most High God, Producer of heaven and earth, that, from a thread to a sandal lace, no, I shall take nothing from anything that is yours, in order that you may not say, “It was I who made Abram rich.” Nothing for me!’” The One in whose name Abram swore acted as the Universal Sovereign when he reserved for Abram’s descendants, the Israelites, the land in the Middle East that he had promised to Abraham. Says Moses on this:

²³ “When the Most High gave the nations an inheritance, when he parted the sons of Adam from one another, he proceeded to fix the boundary of the peoples with regard for the number of the sons of Israel.”​—Deut. 32:8.

24. How in the annunciation to Mary was it shown that faithful angels recognize the Universal Sovereign, and how did Jesus Christ show such recognition in his words to his disciples on lending?

²⁴ Even the faithful heavenly angels recognize the universal sovereignty of the creative Producer of heaven and earth. So, when the angel Gabriel explained to the Jewish virgin, Mary, how she would miraculously become the mother of her firstborn son, who was to be called Jesus, he said to her: “Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason also what is born will be called holy, God’s Son.” (Luke 1:35) And later that full-grown Son showed that he also recognized who was the Universal Sovereign when he said to his disciples: “Continue to love your enemies and to do good and to lend without interest, not hoping for anything back; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind toward the unthankful and wicked.”​—Luke 6:35.

25. What prayer regarding the issue of paramount importance is to be answered within our generation, and where does our security lie therefore?

²⁵ The time has drawn near when the inspired prayer will be answered against those who oppose the universal sovereignty of the Producer of heaven and earth: “O may they be ashamed and be disturbed for all times, and may they become abashed and perish; that people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth.” (Ps. 83:17, 18) Hence, in this generation when the paramount issue of universal sovereignty is to be permanently settled, our security lies in dwelling in the “secret place of the Most High,” unwaveringly upholding His side of the issue. Our dwelling there will be a protection against our being disastrously influenced and misguided by all the controversial political propaganda now rampant in the earth.​—Ps. 27:5.

“THE VERY SHADOW OF THE ALMIGHTY ONE”

26, 27. (a) Who are the ones that are taken as guests into the “secret place of the Most High”? (b) Why can this One enforce his sovereignty, and so what is the reasonable thing for us to do?

²⁶ What will “anyone dwelling in the secret place of the Most High” procure for himself? The complete opening verse of Psalm 91 answers: “Anyone dwelling in the secret place of the Most High will procure himself lodging under the very shadow of the Almighty One.” In this case, the procuring of lodging for oneself means that one will be treated as the guest of the Almighty One. This Almighty One is the same as the Most High. The one and the same Being has both qualities of supreme highness and almightiness.

²⁷ Because of being all-powerful, he can maintain his supremacy, his universal sovereignty. He can enforce his sovereignty in any and all parts of creation, against any intelligent, living creatures who may rebel against it. It is useless for any creature to oppose or ignore the sovereignty of the Most High, for He is the Almighty One. The reasonable thing to do is to recognize His rightful sovereignty and be submissive, loyal and true to it, always acknowledging him as the Sovereign of one’s life. The ones that do this are the ones that are taken into the “secret place of the Most High,” as the guests of the Almighty One.

28. When did the Most High call his being all-powerful to Abraham’s attention, and how did He prove it?

²⁸ For hundreds of millions of people today who are not familiar with the Holy Bible, it is hard to grasp the idea of an almighty Being, without equal in all the realm of existence. But as long ago as the twentieth century before our Common Era, the Most High, the Producer of heaven and earth, called that fact to the attention of his earthly friend, the patriarch Abram. In the year before the birth of Abram’s son Isaac, the Most High by means of His angel spoke of himself as all-powerful. Genesis 17:1, 2 tells us: “When Abram got to be ninety-nine years old, then Jehovah appeared to Abram and said to him: ‘I am God Almighty. Walk before me and prove yourself faultless. And I will give my covenant between me and you, that I may multiply you very, very much.’” He proved that nothing was impossible for him by miraculously giving to Abram and his aged wife their son Isaac, when they were both dead as far as reproducing children was concerned. He was a hundred years old and she ninety years old at Isaac’s birth. (Gen. 17:17; 21:1-5; Rom. 4:19-21) This Almighty One still exists.

29. Today we can come into the “secret place of the Most High” only by means of whom, and why?

²⁹ The Almighty One was as a very intimate Being to Abraham’s grandson Jacob. (Gen. 35:11; 43:14; 48:3; 49:25; Ex. 6:3) He can be very intimate to us also, even though we are such puny creatures in contrast. Just think of being a guest of His in the “secret place of the Most High”! But today, we must remember, we are admitted into this intimacy only through the good offices of his most intimate heavenly Son, Jesus Christ. During the night before laying down his perfect human life as a sacrifice to God for our sins, Jesus said to his faithful apostles: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) So it is through him that we approach to the Loftiest One in all existence and acknowledge Him as the Universal Sovereign, our Sovereign to whom our lives and loving loyalty and devotion belong. In this way we procure for ourselves “lodging under the very shadow of the Almighty One.”

30, 31. What picture evidently was in the mind of the psalmist when speaking about being “under the very shadow of the Almighty One?”

³⁰ What a wonderful thing it is for us to be overshadowed by the Almighty One! This betokens our having his interest, concern and attention. The picture here is not that of a smaller person being in the shadow of some much larger person or that of being in the shadow of something lifeless, “the shadow of a heavy crag in an exhausted land.” (Isa. 32:2) The right picture in the mind of the composing psalmist is that which is suggested in Psalm 17:8, where David prays to the Most High: “Keep me as the pupil of the eyeball, in the shadow of your wings may you conceal me.”

³¹ Yes, the picture drawn upon is that of a parent bird hovering aloft over its young and casting a shadow upon them. As long as the young ones down below see that they are in the shadow of their parent above, they know that they have its attention and are protected and are safe from predatory birds. That such bird flight overhead denotes attention and protection is confirmed by what is said in Isaiah 31:4, 5: “In the same way Jehovah of armies will come down to wage war over Mount Zion and over her hill. Like birds flying, Jehovah of armies will in the same way defend Jerusalem. Defending her, he will also certainly deliver her. Sparing her, he must also cause her to escape.”

32. (a) Thus the Almighty One and we in His “very shadow” are likened to what? (b) His being also the Most High enables Him to do what as a faithful Host?

³² Thus the Almighty One is likened to a mighty bird, and those who are in the “secret place” of spiritual security are likened to the young brood of that parent bird. Their being “under the very shadow of the Almighty One” makes the “secret place” all the more secure for them. He being the Most High, everything else is beneath him, and nothing below can escape his almighty powers of vision. He can at once detect any movement on the part of anything or anyone below against those who are under his “very shadow.” Instantly he can come to the defense and preservation of his overshadowed ones who are lodging with him as spiritual guests. He as Host faithfully keeps his honor with regard to his responsibility toward those whom he entertains as his guests. How consoling this thought! Where else could we find real spiritual security?

[Footnotes]

Thus already back there in 1897 the individual addressed in Psalm 91 was regarded as a composite person, a class of disciples of Jesus Christ.

Freedom from Fear of Spiritual Dangers

1. To procure such freedom from fear, what course must one pursue?

TO GAIN the freedom from fear of spiritual dangers that is described in Psalm 91, we have to pursue the course it prescribes. With reference to part of this course, the psalmist goes on to say: “I will say to Jehovah: ‘You are my refuge and my stronghold, my God, in whom I will trust.’”​—Ps. 91:2.

2. Who is thus identified by that unique name, in agreement with Exodus 6:2, 3?

² Let us all take note that it is to Jehovah that the psalmist (or the one whom he represents) says: “You are my refuge and my stronghold.” In this way he identifies the Most High and the Almighty One as the One bearing the unique name Jehovah. This agrees with what the Most High said to Moses after his return to Egypt: “I am Jehovah. And I used to appear to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty, but as respects my name Jehovah I did not make myself known to them.”​—Ex. 6:2, 3.

3. When enlarging upon the import of his name, what Hebrew expression did the Almighty One use, and what did this, as rendered by some English translations, mean and imply?

³ When enlarging upon the import of His name, the Almighty One said to Moses: “Eh·yehʹ a·sherʹ eh·yehʹ.” That expression, found in the Hebrew text of Exodus 3:14, means: “I WILL BE THAT I WILL BE” (Rabbi Leeser’s translation); or, “I Will Become whatsoever I please” (Rotherham’s translation); or, “I SHALL PROVE TO BE WHAT I SHALL PROVE TO BE.” (New World Translation) This meant that this Almighty One could adapt himself to the circumstances of his people, and that, whatever he needed to become or prove to be for the sake of his people and in line with his purpose, he could and would become or prove to be that. He could and would meet any situation successfully. So, by this Hebrew expression, He was not talking about his self-existence, his being eternal.

4. (a) According to its Hebrew root, what does the name Jehovah mean, and with reference to whom or what? (b) What about the application of this name to Christ, God’s Son?

⁴ The divine name is related to that expression. The name Jehovah was made his “memorial” name, “the memorial of me to generation after generation.” (Ex. 3:15) According to the root of the name Jehovah in the Hebrew language, it appears to mean “He Causes To Become (or, Prove To Be),” that is, as regards Himself and as regards what He will become or prove to be, and not with respect to creating things. Who else in all the realm of intelligent life could rightly give himself a name like that, except the Most High and Almighty One? Not even God’s Son, Jesus Christ, assumed a name like that. He could be given the name that combined God’s name with it, such as Jeshua or Jesus, which means “Jehovah Is Salvation,” but never the name Jehovah strictly by itself.​—Jer. 23:6; 33:16.

5. Why is it fitting to say to Jehovah that He is one’s “refuge” and “stronghold,” and what does Proverbs 18:10 wisely say?

⁵ Correctly, then, those who are represented by the psalmist speaking in Psalm 91:2 can say to Jehovah: “You are my refuge and my stronghold.” He has, especially since the postwar year of 1919 C.E., become those things to them, in a spiritual sense, of course. Inasmuch as Jehovah is invisible, it takes strong faith for one to say that to Him, and really mean it and act in harmony with it. However, who else is there to flee to for safety as in a refuge but Jehovah the Most High? What stronghold could be stronger or harder to assail and overcome than the Almighty One himself? It was with inspired wisdom indeed that ancient King Solomon wrote: “The name of Jehovah is a strong tower. Into it the righteous runs and is given protection.”​—Prov. 18:10.

6. Though Christ is now involved, yet whose name is called upon for salvation, and who is the one that is the “refuge” and “stronghold” for Christians?

⁶ In the final analysis, even though it is now done through Jesus Christ the Son of God, yet it is upon the name of Jehovah that fallen, sinful human creatures must call for everlasting salvation. It was not just the pre-Christian prophet Joel who said that. (Joel 2:32) It was the apostle Peter also who said that on the day of Pentecost of 33 C.E., when the Christian congregation was founded. (Acts 2:21) Years later, the apostle Paul also wrote it, in Romans 10:13. Though access to the Most High and Almighty One is now gained only through his Mediator Jesus Christ, yet it is still Jehovah in whom we must find our refuge and who is our unconquerable stronghold.​—Zeph. 3:12.

THE GOD IN WHOM TO TRUST

7-9. (a) Why does use of the expression “my God” in Psalm 91 not bar it from being applied to Jesus Christ? (b) What was doubting Thomas’ exclamation before the resurrected Jesus, and what did John prove by inserting that incident in his Gospel?

⁷ This Jehovah was more to the psalmist than a refuge and stronghold. His full statement to Jehovah is: “You are my refuge and my stronghold, my God, in whom I will trust.”​—Ps. 91:2.

⁸ The psalmist’s calling him “my God” meant that Jehovah was the One for him to worship as the Divine Being. This would be a proper expression for Jesus Christ himself to use toward Jehovah, and the use of the expression “my God” does not bar Psalm 91 from being applicable to Jesus Christ. When near death on the execution stake outside Jerusalem, he quoted Psalm 22:1 and cried out to his heavenly Father: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34) True, after his resurrection from the dead, Jesus did let the apostle Thomas examine the nail prints in his hands and feet, and Thomas said in amazement: “My Lord and my God!” But Jesus understood Thomas’ exclamation in the right way, and so did the apostle John. In recording this incident in his Gospel account, John was not trying to convey the idea that Jesus was Jehovah God or that Jesus was a trinitarian “God the Son”; but John states the purpose of recording Thomas’ exclamation by saying right after Jesus’ reaction to Thomas:

⁹ “Jesus performed many other signs also before the disciples, which are not written down in this scroll. But these have been written down that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God [not, God the Son].”​—John 20:26-31; Matt. 16:16.

10. (a) According to his message to his brothers by means of Mary Magdalene, the resurrected Jesus was ascending to whom? (b) By worshiping Jehovah as the one living and true God, from what doctrines are we safeguarded?

¹⁰ A week before this occurrence with Thomas, the resurrected Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, near the tomb where his body had been buried: “Be on your way to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17) The heavenly Father was as much a God to Jesus as He was to the disciples of Jesus. Many times the inspired Scriptures speak of Jesus Christ as “the Son of God,” but never as “God the Son.” (Matt. 14:33; 27:40, 43, 54; Mark 1:11; 5:7; 15:39; Luke 1:35; John 1:34, 49; 5:25; 10:36; 11:4, 27; Acts 9:20; Rev. 2:18; etc.) Thus by worshiping the Most High and Almighty One, Jehovah, as the one living and true God (John 17:3) we are safeguarded from the false trinitarian worship and other forms of pagan worship. Jehovah is the God in whom to put our trust.

11. In whom were Paul’s trust, that of Jesus, that of the psalmist and that of the proverbialist?

¹¹ Said the apostle Paul: “This was that we might have our trust, not in ourselves, but in the God who raises up the dead. From such a great thing as death he did rescue us and will rescue us.” (2 Cor. 1:9, 10) Also, Hebrews 2:13 puts the words of Isaiah 8:17, 18 into the mouth of Jesus Christ, and reads: “And again: ‘I will have my trust in him.’ And again: ‘Look! I and the young children, whom Jehovah gave me.’” We dare not put our trust either in ourselves or in other mortal men: “Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs. . . . Happy is the one who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Jehovah his God.” (Ps. 146:3-5) The wise man Solomon expressed the same safe rule of conduct, saying: “Trust in Jehovah with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding.”​—Prov. 3:5.

12. What does trusting in Jehovah as God mean for us as respects his Word, his commandments and his worship?

¹² Consequently, our trust in this God whose name is Jehovah means sticking inseparably to his worship, not compromising with Babylon the Great, which is the world empire of false religion. (Rev. 17:1 through 18:24) ‘Trust in Jehovah as God’ means believing wholly in the Sacred Scriptures that He has inspired by his holy spirit and keeping his commandments, as his Son Jesus Christ did. It means jealously guarding the worship of Jehovah God, keeping it clean from human traditions and worldly practices.

13. (a) In those opening two verses of Psalm 91, we note what four factors operating together for our security? (b) During what particular time have those four qualities operated for us, and where do we find illustrations of the dangers from which we are safeguarded?

¹³ Here let us pause and take note that, in just those opening two verses of Psalm 91, we have the four important designations of the One whom we worship, also the four vital things that attach to those designations. Consider these: (1) The Most High with his “secret place” in which to dwell; (2) The Almighty One with his “very shadow” under which to lodge; (3) Jehovah with his refuge and stronghold; and (4) God with his trustworthiness. Truly this is an unbeatable combination of factors operating together for the security and preservation of the true worshipers who meet the requirements for enjoying those benefits! This matchless combination of divine qualities has now been in operation during all these past decades of this “time of the end” of this system of things, as a consequence of which we have enjoyed marvelous spiritual security till now. Just how this has served for our spiritual security the psalmist now proceeds to show, making us more aware and appreciative of the dangers from which we have been safeguarded.

THE MENACING “TRAP” OF THE “BIRDCATCHER”

14, 15. (a) What kind of language do we find in Psalm 91:3, and why? (b) What like illustration does David give in Psalm 124, and with application to whom?

¹⁴ “For,” says the psalmist in detailing just how the things mentioned in the first two verses are true and realistic, “he himself will deliver you from the trap of the birdcatcher, from the pestilence causing adversities.”​—Ps. 91:3.

¹⁵ The language here is figurative, pictorial, for we are not literal birds in danger of the trap of a literal “birdcatcher.” But the likening of us to birds “under the very shadow of the Almighty One” is carried forward here. The psalmist David likens himself and his companions to birds that have actually been caught in the trap, but from which they have been delivered. In Psalm 124:1-8 he says: “Let Israel now say, ‘Had it not been that Jehovah proved to be for us when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up even alive, . . . Blessed be Jehovah, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is like a bird that is escaped from the trap of baiters. The trap is broken, and we ourselves have escaped. Our help is in the name of Jehovah, the Maker of heaven and earth.’” In this case the “baiters” were not literal “birdcatchers,” and the “bird” that escaped from their broken trap was not a literal bird, but refers to “our soul,” the soul or life of the nation of Israel.

16. How was there a modern fulfillment of Psalm 124, and is there danger of another “trap”?

¹⁶ In fulfillment of that prophetic psalm, Jehovah God did break the trap in which the anointed remnant of spiritual Israel was caught. It was the trap sprung by Babylon the Great and her political, judicial, military accomplices. In the spring of the postwar year of 1919 Jehovah broke that trap for his repentant remnant and did not let the “baiters,” the symbolic birdcatchers, sink their teeth into the flesh of the trapped “bird.” Thereafter the escaped remnant of spiritual Israel were taken into the “secret place of the Most High,” and “under the very shadow of the Almighty One.” Yet a “trap” is still set for them by a “birdcatcher,” and Jehovah must deliver them from being caught in it.

17. Who is the symbolic “fowler” or “birdcatcher” as pointed out in Watch Tower issues of 1904 and 1927?

¹⁷ Who, then, is that “birdcatcher,” and what is his “trap”? It has long been discerned and agreed to that the symbolic “birdcatcher” is Satan the Devil. Away back in the issue of March 1, 1904, of the Watch Tower, the article entitled “Under His Wings!” commented on Psalm 91:3 and said regarding “the snare of the fowler,” that this was “the deceptions of Satan, in which all those not protected shall stumble.” (Page 74, column 2) A much later issue of The Watch Tower agreed with that and said: “It seems certain that ‘the fowler’ here named by the prophet is the Devil, and that his snare consists of his methods employed, and by his organization, working in divers and numerous deceptive ways to entrap those who claim to be servants of the Most High God.” (Page 231, paragraph 37, of the Watch Tower issue of August 1, 1927, presenting the first of a series of three articles on Psalm 91, Authorized Version) Of all the symbolic “fowlers” or “birdcatchers” referred to in the Bible, Satan the Devil is the outstanding one.

18. Who are likened to birdcatchers by Jeremiah and Hosea, and what are their methods?

¹⁸ Describing the method of the symbolic birdcatcher, Jeremiah 5:26 says: “For among my people there have been found wicked men. They keep peering, as when birdcatchers crouch down. They have set a ruinous trap. It is men that they catch.” How false prophets acted like birdcatchers in the apostate nation of Ephraim (the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel), Hosea 9:8 said: “As regards a prophet, there is the trap of a birdcatcher on all his ways.” The great “fowler” or “birdcatcher,” Satan the Devil, is out to catch men, those who are lodging “under the very shadow of the Almighty One.”

19. What is the symbolic “trap” of the great “birdcatcher”?

¹⁹ What is his symbolic “trap,” from which Jehovah God delivers and keeps safe those who continue abiding “in the secret place of the Most High”? The symbolic “trap” that Satan the Devil has set for those who trust in Jehovah God as their “refuge” and “stronghold” is the earthly organization that is opposed to God’s organization, namely, Satan’s visible organization. In it God’s great Adversary tries to catch Jehovah’s worshipers and to hold them as victims, to their spiritual ruin and ultimate destruction.

20. (a) From when onward notably was it pointed out that God has an organization and that, if not belonging to it, one belongs to what? (b) According to direct statement, to which organization did Jesus and his disciples belong?

²⁰ Notably from the year 1922 onward it was pointed out from the inspired Scriptures that Jehovah God has an organization, including his organized “remnant” on earth, and that there is an enemy organization, Satan’s organization, with an invisible demonic part and a visible earthly part. It was pointed out that, if one does not belong to Jehovah’s visible organization, then one belongs to the Adversary’s organization. Jesus Christ, to whom Psalm 91 applies in the first instance, belonged to the organization of Jehovah God. His faithful disciples also belonged to that same divine organization. That was why, when leading his eleven faithful apostles in prayer, he said to God: “They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.” (John 17:14, 16) This, he said, was why the world hated them.​—John 15:18-20.

21, 22. (a) What is generally used as a lure into a trap, and what is the lure used by the Great Birdcatcher? (b) What did God inspire John to write against the deceptive bait?

²¹ Usually a person or creature walks into a trap without knowing it. Generally, the trapper sets out some bait to lure the unsuspecting creature within range of the trap and to trigger the trap by nibbling at the bait. The “birdcatcher” Satan the Devil is a great Baiter. What bait does he use to lure people into his visible worldly organization, to become victimized in it as in a trap? The bait is the selfish attractions of this world, its promising opportunities for selfishly gaining wealth, fame, position and power. Warning against such deceptive bait, Jehovah God inspired the Christian apostle John to write to those lodging “under the very shadow of the Almighty One”:

²² “Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world​—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—​does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world. Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.”​—1 John 2:15-17.

23. (a) Why do we not want to become like Demas, mentioned in association with Paul? (b) Obedience to Revelation 18:4 has brought us out of what “trap,” and into what place?

²³ Now, nineteen hundred years after those words were penned by John, the traplike organization of Satan the Devil is very close to passing away forever. Those of us who have come out of Satan’s visible organization into the “secret place of the Most High,” why should we desire to be lured back into that doomed organization? We do not care to be like the onetime Christian Demas, concerning whom the apostle Paul in a final letter before his death said: “Demas has forsaken me because he loved the present system of things, and he has gone to Thessalonica.” (2 Tim. 4:10) Religious Babylon the Great, including Christendom, has been caught and is held fast in the trap of Satan’s visible organization and will suffer early destruction with it. In obedience to God’s command in Revelation 18:4 we have come out of Babylon the Great and out of Satan’s trap in which she is caught. By not going back to her, we can keep on enjoying the benefits of our deliverance from the “trap of the birdcatcher.” Under the “very shadow of the Almighty One” we have spiritual security.

“THE PESTILENCE CAUSING ADVERSITIES”

24, 25. (a) What does the psalmist associate with the birdcatcher’s trap, in the same verse? (b) What does this symbolize, and why appropriately so?

²⁴ In the same verse, along with the “trap of the birdcatcher,” the psalmist mentions another potential threat to spiritual security, namely, a deadly epidemic disease that is very contagious, infectious. He says: “For he himself will deliver you from the trap of the birdcatcher, from the pestilence causing adversities.”​—Ps. 91:3.

²⁵ Like the birdcatcher’s “trap,” this adversity-causing “pestilence” is symbolic. Since the psalmist under inspiration associates the two together, the symbolic pestilence of today is something that goes along with the birdcatcher’s trap, that is to say, with Satan’s visible, earthly organization. This figurative “pestilence” is, in fact, bred, cultured, within that selfish, worldly organization. This infectious “pestilence” that rages like a tempest throughout the earth is nationalism.

26. Since when has nationalism seized upon peoples, and what did historian Toynbee say recently about nationalism?

²⁶ Secular historians have noted the fact that, since World War I of 1914-1918 C.E., the spirit of nationalism has seized upon the peoples of the world. Quite naturally, this, because that war was fought by the Allies “for self-determination of peoples.” Said British historian Arnold Toynbee as recently as November 21, 1972:

“Since the end of World War II nationalism has doubled the number of local sovereign independent states and has halved their average size. . . . Mankind’s strategic and hygienic problems are global and they are pressing; they cannot be solved by the governments of local states. They call for the establishment of a global authority endowed with overriding power. Mankind’s survival demands political unity, yet mankind’s present mood is increasingly divisive. Have we gone mad?”

27. How has nationalism been like a “pestilence causing adversities”?

²⁷ Satan the Devil, whom Jesus Christ called “the ruler of this world,” is responsible for this wave of nationalism by means of which he has hoped to destroy those who have said to Jehovah: “You are my refuge and my stronghold, my God, in whom I will trust.” (Ps. 91:2) This political “pestilence” of nationalism has caused many and great “adversities.” Despite the establishment of the League of Nations in 1920, intensely nationalistic dictators have come forth, like Mussolini of Italy, Stalin of Russia, Hitler of Germany, the empire-minded political party of Japan, and so forth. So it furnished the driving force for World War II. It has fanned up fanatical patriotism, religiously fervent gestures to national symbols and emblems, military preparedness accompanied by burdensome taxation, international rivalries, insistence on national sovereignty rather than submission to Jehovah’s universal sovereignty and Messianic kingdom.

28. for whom has this “pestilence” caused special hardship, but on what issue have these not compromised?

²⁸ Not to speak of the adversities that all of this has caused for the human race in general, it has resulted in special hardships for Jehovah’s Christian witnesses. But the Almighty One has not let them become infected with the “pestilence” of nationalism and fall victim to its deadly effect upon Christian spirituality. They have not been lured nor pressured into worshiping the political “wild beast” bearing the number 666, nor its political “image,” the United Nations, the successor to the League of Nations. (Revelation, chapter 13; Re 15:2-4; 20:4) They have not compromised on giving exclusive devotion to God and upholding his universal sovereignty.

29. Despite World War II, what did these come out in favor of in 1939, and with what effect upon their spirituality?

²⁹ In 1939, despite the raging of World War II, they unitedly came out world wide in favor of absolute Christian neutrality toward worldly political and military conflicts. (See the article “Neutrality” in the Watchtower issue of November 1, 1939.) Although they have suffered, some even to the death, for their faithfulness, Jehovah God has kept them spiritually secure “in the secret place of the Most High” and “under the very shadow of the Almighty One.”

(To be continued)