He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
The verse belongs to the psalmist's description of Christ's death when despised and rejected and crucified by wicked hands, and of God's response to Christ's distress. The sorrows of death compassing him are his suffering from his own people who received him not and rewarded evil for good and hatred for love. His cry in distress is his call to God that was heard out of the temple. The verse depicts God coming in power and answering in wrath, with the earth shaking, smoke and devouring fire, bowing the heavens and coming down with darkness under his feet, riding and flying on a cherub on the wings of the wind, veiling himself in darkness surrounded by dark waters and thick clouds.
The darkness is his secret place and pavilion round about him, a covering that conceals his presence and glory from human sight, so he can be present while remaining unseen and invisible. At the cross, the miraculous midday supernatural darkness hid the Father's presence beside his Son, though he and the holy angels were beside Jesus. His glory was veiled so that those watching would not be destroyed, for if God's glory had shone from the cloud, the people there would have been destroyed. The darkness also mercifully hid Christ's final human agony from the crowd.
By veiling the brightness of his presence in the darkness of a cloud as his pavilion, God enables people to endure his presence and approach him.
The verse belongs to the psalmist's description of Christ's death when despised and rejected and crucified by wicked hands, and of God's response to Christ's distress. The sorrows of death compassing him are his suffering from his own people who received him not and rewarded evil for good and hatred for love. His cry in distress is his call to God that was heard out of the temple. The verse depicts God coming in power and answering in wrath, with the earth shaking, smoke and devouring fire, bowing the heavens and coming down with darkness under his feet, riding and flying on a cherub on the wings of the wind, veiling himself in darkness surrounded by dark waters and thick clouds.
The darkness is his secret place and pavilion round about him, a covering that conceals his presence and glory from human sight, so he can be present while remaining unseen and invisible. At the cross, the miraculous midday supernatural darkness hid the Father's presence beside his Son, though he and the holy angels were beside Jesus. His glory was veiled so that those watching would not be destroyed, for if God's glory had shone from the cloud, the people there would have been destroyed. The darkness also mercifully hid Christ's final human agony from the crowd.
By veiling the brightness of his presence in the darkness of a cloud as his pavilion, God enables people to endure his presence and approach him.