The Covering of Divine Protection
The third covering mentioned in the Bible is the temporal covering that the Lord Himself, not through any human proxies, provides unto every genuine believer during their life on earth. The full force of this covering, I believe the Bible indicates, is activated when a person surrenders his/her heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ and is Born Again. This covering is a shield of protection and safety that a genuinely Born Again believer experiences during the course of his/her lifetime to shield them from the kinds of catastrophe and tragedy to which non-believers of the world are subject.
Psalm 91 is perhaps the most descriptive passage of Scripture regarding this divine covering. Verse four summarizes it: “He will cover you with His pinions (feathers of His wings), And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.” The Psalm’s first verse informs us about the supernatural “shelter” that God’s “shadow” provides unto those who abide in it: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” The second verse is an exultation unto God extolling Him as a refuge and fortress for all those who put their trust in Him: “I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” The Psalmist further extols God in the third verse for being the One “who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence.” The rest of the Psalm delineates the multiplicity of benefits of protection and safety the believer who truly puts his trust in God will receive as a result:
Psalms 91:5-16
(5) You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day;
(6) Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
(7) A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you.
(8) You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked.
(9) For you have made the LORD, my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
(10) No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent.
(11) For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways.
(12) They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
(13) You will tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.
(14) “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
(15) “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
(16) “With a long life I will satisfy him And let him see My salvation.”
There are many more references in the Bible I could site regarding this divine covering provided by God to believers, but space and time simply will not allow it. Suffice it to say that this covering is one of the many benefits every person who surrenders his/her life to the Lord throughout his/her lifetime on the earth.
By no means does this mean that believers will not experience many troubles, trials, temptations, and tribulations during their lifetime—they will! Jesus said we all would: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33). The Apostle Paul taught the early Church believers and us today as well: “‘Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God'” (Ac. 14:22).
Nevertheless, this covering of protection the Lord provides those who dwell in His shelter and abide in His shadow is a safeguard from the constant and unending devastations and decimation of catastrophe and tragedy many of the unbelieving and unsaved of the world experience during their lifetimes. Those of us who have put our trust in the Lord should always be mindful and grateful that no matter what tribulations and persecutions we have suffered, it literally could very well be worse, but thanks to God’s providential protection is wasn’t and isn’t.
The Demonic Covering of Satanic Witchcraft
The fourth covering is the false Satanic covering of witchcraft that humans exert over other people who allow them to, in order to control and dominate them as pawns unto their own self-aggrandizing purposes and objectives. The latter is the covering that ecclesiastical autocrats, i.e., sorcerers, exert over their followers, both of whom are referred to in the following passage that describes this demonic covering as “rebellious children”:
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that COVER with A COVERING, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into EGYPT [symbol of captivity and Satan’s kingdom in Scripture], and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh [symbol of Satan and autocratic dictators in Scripture], and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your CONFUSION. For his princes were at Zoan [aka, Goshen, where Pharaoh met with Moses and Aaron; Easton’s Bible Dictionary], and his ambassadors came to Hanes. They were all ashamed of a people that could not PROFIT them, nor be an help nor PROFIT, but a shame, and also a reproach. (Isaiah 30:1-5; KJV; emphases and parentheses added)
We can see from this passage that Satan himself, not God, is the author of the false covering that it describes. It indicates that this covering is incapable of bringing any profit or benefit or help whatever to those who entrusted their lives to it. Rather, it brought the ostensibly unaware victims of this covering shame and reproach before man and God. We can deduce from this passage that such a “covering” is a complete abomination to God! The reason is because it is about trusting in man and the deceptions of Satan that are behind this “covering.”
The following passage reveals why it is that Satan deals with “coverings” in his administration as the “ruler of this world” (Jn. 12:31; 16:11; NASB), “the god of this world” (1 Cor. 4:4) “the prince of this world” (Jn. 15:30; 12:31; 16:11; KJV) and “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), which is that prior to his rebellion and insurrection against God and consequential fall into utter apostasy and perdition, he was “the anointed cherub who covers”! Lucifer was the covering cherub! That’s why he now deals with false and diabolical “coverings” by which he deceives those who will, despite the revelation and warnings given us in the Word of God, allow themselves to be duped and pulled into his clandestine schemes of deception!
Ezekiel 28:11-18
(11) Again the word of the LORD came to me saying,
(12) “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
(13) “You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared.
(14) “You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.
(15) “You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you.
(16) “By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire.
(17) “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you.
(18) “By the multitude of your iniquities, In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth In the eyes of all who see you.
The Familial Covering
The fifth covering mentioned in the Bible is the only God-ordained and proper covering relative to human relationships, which is the spiritual covering that the husband and father provides over his wife and family. We will discuss that covering in some depth in the context of the next chapter (next part of this article), in which I refer to this covering using the alternate terms of Familial or Domestic Authority.###
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Dr. Steven Lambert was ordained in 1977 and holds several earned graduate/post-graduate degrees. Over more than four decades in ministry, he has served as a pastor, radio/TV host, adjunct-professor, Board Certified Doctoral Diplomate Christian Therapist/Counselor, and a speaker/commentator on a range of social, political, and theological issues, particularly as a recognized authority on the matter of ecclesiastical authoritarian abuse. He is the founder/Overseer of Ephesians Four Network (ephesiansfour.net) and its subsidiary, Ephesians Four Network of Deliverance Counselors (efndc.ephesiansfour.net). Dr. Lambert authored several books (catalog at realtruthpublications.com), many published articles, and is the founder/editor of Spirit Life Magazine (spiritlifemag.com). His bio, extensive blog, and scheduling information are available on his ministry website at: http://www.slm.org. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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