Psalms 27:5, commentary and pictures

In the time of trouble God hides His own in His pavilion and in the secret of His tabernacle and sets them up upon a rock, giving them secure shelter and protection lifted high above their enemies. Because the Lord is their light and salvation and the strength of their life, they need not fear foes, encamping hosts or rising war, but may confidently desire above all else to dwell with Him, behold His beauty and do His soul-saving work, breaking into joyful song and praise for their deliverance. Above all this is a promise for the final time of trouble, when earthly powers are arrayed against God's people and nature is convulsed with tempest, earthquake and destruction, that the righteous mocked and marked for death will be preserved alive in the midst of it as Noah was preserved in the ark. That everlasting protection belongs to those who make the Lord their refuge by trusting Him, loving Him, obeying Him and keeping His commandments through the merits of Christ, while mere outward godliness cannot shield anyone. Even now every believer may sing this promise with confidence, leaning wholly on Jesus, coming to Him each morning in living faith and hiding in Him each day as the sure defense when human help is useless.

The Refuge Promised

In the time of trouble He hides the speaker in His pavilion and in the secret of His tabernacle and sets him up upon a rock, giving secure shelter and protection and a safe, lifted place above enemies. That refuge is not bare survival but leads to joyful worship, for the one delivered offers sacrifices of joy and sings praises to the Lord. With the verses before it, the promise means the Lord is light and salvation and strength of life, so there is no need to fear enemies and foes, encamping hosts, or rising war, but to be confident. The confident desire, above worldly business, is for one thing: to dwell in the house of the Lord always to behold His beauty and to seek Him in His temple, trusting Him to guide and lead the submitted mind that asks Him for light and instruction, and to take up His soul-saving work. This is everlasting protection and salvation secured through the merits of Christ for the righteous who understand His government and have loved and obeyed Him, to be fully realized in the day of final triumph when every person receives according to his works with holy gladness and songs of joy recalling all God has done, yet even now every trusting believer may sing it with confidence while evildoers, hosts, and war rise against him.

The sacred pavilion is a place of communion with God, where help and the assurance of His care are sought and where guidance is sought in temptation. Holding to God's word when Satan presses suggestions upon the mind brings a person into the secret place of refuge of the Most High, with shelter and security in trouble and protection in the time of temptation. The pavilion is also the home of the angels in the presence of God, where they see His glory. Those angels who dwell there are helpers to human workers in ministering to a fallen world and in building up God's work in foreign lands.

Protection in Final Trouble

The verse promises God's protection of His people in the final time of trouble, when earthly powers are arrayed against them and they fear death by starvation or by violence like captive exiles. They will be sheltered and hidden from their enemies until the crisis passes, and God will deliver them when He comes to punish the wicked.

Amid convulsed nature before the Son of man appears in the clouds of heaven — lightning, burning mountains, floods and streams of lava overwhelming gardens, fields, villages and cities, boiling and dried-up rivers and waters, rocks and earth thrown up, and mighty earthquakes with eruptions and great destruction of human life — the righteous will be preserved alive in the midst of the commotion. As Noah was preserved in the ark God had prepared for him in the days of the great deluge, so believers will be hidden in His pavilion and in the secret of His tabernacle and set up upon a rock, with God Himself as their refuge under whose wings they trust, making the Lord their surety and defense.

The very class that was mocked and derided and desired to be exterminated will pass unharmed through pestilence, tempest, and earthquake, hidden and sheltered by God in a safe pavilion in the time of trouble. The same God is a devouring fire to transgressors of His law and a safe shelter to His obedient people.

God will not leave His faithful ones to fall prey to their enemies but will manifest His mighty power for them as when He divided the Red Sea before Israel, turn their captivity, and spare them as His own. If their blood were shed now it would bring no harvest for truth since mercy has been finally beaten back, and their fall would be a triumph for the prince of darkness. Glorious will be the deliverance of those who have patiently waited for His coming and whose names are written in the book of life, when He comes to punish the wicked.

Its fulfillment is still future while mercy still calls sinners to repent and come to the cross, and it will be fully realized in the day of final triumph when every person receives according to his works. When probation has ended the door of mercy is closed to the wicked and no more prayers in their behalf are answered, while the protected position of God's people, secretly kept in His pavilion and in the cover of His tabernacle and lifted up upon a rock above their enemies, will be enviable to the wicked.

The hiding brings sudden deliverance from dark and terrible human tyranny, even tyranny of men transformed to demons, to those secure in the pavilion. Pale, anxious, haggard faces are changed to faces aglow with wonder, faith, and love. They break out in triumphant song and holy gladness to God as refuge and strength, set upon a place of safety.

Those Hidden and Present Trust

Everlasting protection and salvation in the time of trouble is secured through the merits of Christ for those who trust Him, understand His government, and have loved and obeyed Him and kept His commandments. To be hidden is to have made the Lord the refuge and the Most High the habitation, to have set love upon Him and known His name, so that no evil befalls them because God delivers them and sets them on high, Himself becoming their refuge under whose wings they trust. It will be fully realized in the day of final triumph when every person receives according to his works, when God's people triumph with holy gladness and burst into songs of joy as they recall all He has done, while their protected position is enviable to the wicked once probation has ended and the door of mercy is closed and no more prayers for the wicked are answered. In the midst of burning mountains, streams of lava overwhelming gardens, fields, villages and cities, boiling and dried-up rivers, convulsed earth, dreadful earthquakes and eruptions, the righteous will be preserved alive as Noah was preserved in the ark God had prepared in the days of the deluge.

Only work proved to be like gold, silver, and precious stones will be hidden in the secret place of the Lord's pavilion. Outward godliness alone, earthly vanity, and a mere form of godliness cannot shield anyone from God's wrath. Being hidden therefore requires reform now, overcoming wrong and thoughtless words and worldly-mindedness, and being refined by grace, purified, made white, and tried. Those thus prepared are made fit for the society of angels and of Jesus, for heaven and everlasting life, and do not sell everlasting life cheaply. The hidden ones are those who have sacrificed all for Christ and have been tested and have proved faithful to Him who died for them before the world and despisers of truth, holding fast their integrity even in the very face of death.

When the overflowing scourge passes through the land and God's judgments visit the earth and the destroying angel again passes through, faithful parents together with their children will be hidden in the secret of the Lord's pavilion and preserved from destruction. This is promised to those who comply with His conditions by obeying God, faithfully teaching children His commandments, bringing them into subjection to parental authority, and committing families to Him by faith and prayer, with God working with such efforts as He has promised. If parents let children receive an education with the world and make the Sabbath a common day, the seal of God cannot be placed upon them and they will be destroyed with the world.

Even now every trusting believer has the privilege of singing this promise with confidence while evil-doers, hosts, and war rise against them, and of praying to be hidden in His pavilion when divine indignation comes upon the shelterless sinner. There is safety only in God, and the blessed hope sustains Christ's followers in the day when destruction comes and human efforts to stop it are useless, so every day people need to hide in Him, make Him their surety and defense, and bring Him nearer by living faith. To be hid in the secret of His pavilion means to lean wholly on Jesus, to look alone to Jesus, to cling to the arm mighty to save, and to come near to Jesus every morning in living faith. God blesses those He hides, sees every peril that threatens them and every disagreeable duty they must meet, tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, and will not leave anyone given up to do His will, while Christ pleads in the courts of heaven as Advocate calling His people by name, so that believers facing threatening danger will see the salvation of God.

God's hidden ones are His loved jewels, now despised, hated, and counted weak and foolish by the world. Their hidden protection in the time of trouble will be openly seen when the distinction between him that serves God and him that serves Him not is made plain. Then they will be revealed as crowned conquerors and more than conquerors, connected with the family in heaven, clothed in spotless robes reflecting the Sun of Righteousness and gathered as one company no man can number to stand before the throne.