The Temptation of Christ & Psalm 91

[Christian2]

Muslims are using Psalm 91 as proof that Jesus was saved from dying on the cross.

Psalm 91

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. [a]

2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."

3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
and from the deadly pestilence.

4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.

If you read the whole Psalm it sounds like if you trust in God, He will protect you from all harm, but we know people who do trust in God and who do experience harm. For instance we know God let Satan take away just about everything he had.

What is this Psalm trying to say?

Satan used it during the temptation of Jesus.

Luke 4:

9The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10For it is written:
" 'He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'[c]"
12Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'[d]"

“C” footnote: Psalm 91:11,12

How was Satan misusing Psalm 91?

Why shouldn't Psalm 91 be used as evidence that Jesus did not die on the cross, but that God saved Him?

Thank you.

[B. W.]

Hi Christian2,

Please Look at the bible references posted alongside these verses

Psalm 91

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. John 16:10, 16. 17 and John 1:18

2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust." John 12:27

3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
and from the deadly pestilence. John 16:11 and John 12:31 and John 14:30

4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. John 20:9, Psalms 16:10

5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day, Hebrews 12:2 and Mat 27:29, 30 and John 19:30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday. Hebrews 2:14, 15 and Eph 4:8-9

7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you. Revelation 19:11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16


What is this Psalm trying to say?

It is reveling the resurrection of Christ from the dead and that he will conquer the enemy, sin, and death and that nothing will be able to stop this from happening.

How was Satan misusing Psalm 91?

To attempt to have Jesus circumvent all the prophesy in order to prove God unable to keep his word...thus over throw God…

Why shouldn't Psalm 91 be used as evidence that Jesus did not die on the cross, but that God saved Him?

It cannot — you must use bible based hermeneutics and Homiletics — scripture interprets scripture…

Psalms 91 points to Jesus' identity and mission, his enduring the cross and his dying upon it, then what happened during the three days and night before the resurrection, then the resurrection, and him coming again to for final judgment in the future and nothing will stop this from happening…
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[Christian2]

Hi Christian2,

Please Look at the bible references posted alongside these verses

Psalm 91

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. John 16:10, 16. 17 and John 1:18

2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust." John 12:27

3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
and from the deadly pestilence. John 16:11 and John 12:31 and John 14:30

4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. John 20:9, Psalms 16:10

5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day, Hebrews 12:2

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday. Eph 4:8-9

7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you. Revelation 19:11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16


What is this Psalm trying to say?

It is reveling the resurrection of Christ from the dead and that he will conquer the enemy, sin, and death and that nothing will be able to stop this from happening.

How was Satan misusing Psalm 91?

To attempt to have Jesus circumvent all the prophesy in order to prove God unable to keep his word...thus over throw God…

Why shouldn't Psalm 91 be used as evidence that Jesus did not die on the cross, but that God saved Him?

It cannot — you must use bible based hermeneutics and Homiletics — scripture interprets scripture…

Psalms 91 points to Jesus' identity and mission, his enduring the cross and his dying upon it, then what happened during the tree days and night before the resurrection, then the resurrection, and him coming again to for final judgment in the future and nothing will stop this from happening…
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Mercy, but you are good at this, BW. Do I have your permission to use your work? I'm trying to write something up now.

I'm using this:

Peter used the same approach with the Messiah as Satan did.

Matthew 16:

21From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"

23Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.

Notice that Jesus did not use Psalm 91 and say to Peter: “Don't worry, Peter, according to Psalm 91, God will save me from death.” No, Jesus rebuked Peter.

That is why Psalm 91 should not be used as a prediction that Jesus was saved from the cross.

Thanks, B.W.

[B. W.]

Yes -by all means go ahead and use it as well note that I added a few more scripture ref''s as well to prior post - you can also add your own too!
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[Christian2]

Yes -by all means go ahead and use it as well note that I added a few more scripture ref''s as well to prior post - you can also add your own too!
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Could you give me your comments on Psalm 91, verses

9 If you make the Most High your dwelling—
even the LORD, who is my refuge-

10 then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;

These are the verses Satan quoted to Jesus.

My take is "in all your ways" does not include jumping off a building in order to test God.

I might put all my thoughts together and run it past you for comments.

Thanks.

[B. W.]

Hi Christian2, sure - let's look at these verses...

Could you give me your comments on Psalm 91, verses

9 If you make the Most High (El'yon i.e. the Father) your dwelling—
even the LORD (Yahweh —the Holy Spirit), who is my refuge-

John 1:1-3, 14 and Php 2:5, 6, 7 Jesus' role as messiah is being stressed here ... as well as a promise for us

10 then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.

There can be two, maybe three points this brings out. First, text is referring Psalms 91:7-8 which leads to verse 9 and correlates to Rev 19 where Jesus identified riding a white horse going to war against the enemies of God. Thus this verse seems to be suggesting that during this future event - well Jesus wins!

Another point is that We may think of the cross as a disaster and harm but it was victory - Php 2:8, 9, 10, 11 - Jesus carried through to assure victory; therefore; in reality no disaster came to Jesus' tent - he rose from the dead... Can you see this? There are many scriptures that point this out like what Romans 8:36, 37, 39 is saying. Harm may come to our bodies in the flesh, but as Christians, this harm in reality not harm due to our eternal home. Hebrews 11:33-40.

Add to this, Jesus as warrior being assured of victory in this prophecy.. then the next verse make more sense:

11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;

These are the verses Satan quoted to Jesus. My take is "in all your ways" does not include jumping off a building in order to test God.

Yes, Satan is manipulating the text - out of context....that is…

Again look at either the victorious Warrior Jesus of Rev 19 and see if these verse make sense in that light...

Then also look at Jesus and what he did upon the cross as well as after and the resurrection and another picture emerges -

Psa 91:12 In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

Jesus will not waste time stomping on the wrong thing - a stone - God will assure Jesus victory over the enemies mentioned below ---Note Col 2:15 the victory was won at the Cross and finalized when Jesus comes in as warrior in Revelation chapter 19

These verses in Ps 91 appear to me to be related to these two events...and can be used either way or in tandem.

Psa 91:13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

---Note Gen 3:15 (the cross victory foretold) and Rev 19:14, 15, 16 (Returning as Warrior) You have Jesus first treading upon the ruler of the age (devil walks about as a roaring loin and is called the serpent i.e. venomous snake). The young loins and serpents maybe referring to those that follow after the main loin, snake - which comes later...

Psa 91:14 "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name. --- John 17:24, 25, 26 - read it all...

Psa 91:15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. —

Jesus cried his last breath upon the Cross and God answered him - Psalms 22:14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21 — as evidenced by not letting him see corruption and by the Resurrection on the third day (Three in bible sense signifies completeness but that is an aside to another topic altogether); and when he comes a warrior — the Father will be with him in battle as well…Then the New Heavens and Earth come into play…

Note Psalm 22:21 in many versions reads different than the ESV - from YLT reads: Save me from the mouth of a lion: --And--from the horns of the high places Thou hast answered me! ESV leaves out thou hast answered me..

Do you catch on???
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Before I forget the third part applies to promises to us sealed by Jesus for us Psalms 91:1-3, 14-16...

[Christian2]

BW, I am still working on this subject.

I found this.

http://www.answering-islam.org/authors/ ... lated.html

This has to be the source for using Psalm 91 as evidence that Muslims claim Jesus was saved from dying on the cross.

Osama Abdallah of the Answering-Christianity is a site that Muslims love to use.