Under The Shadow Of Your Wings

UNDER THE SHADOW OF YOUR WINGS

Ps. 91:4; Lk. 13:34

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: DOG DECEIVED

1. Two friends run into each other while walking their dogs. One suggests lunch. The other says, "They won't let us in a restaurant with pets."

2. Undeterred, the first guy and his German shepherd head into the restaurant. The maître d' stops them, saying, "Sir, you can't bring your dog in here."

3. "But I'm blind," the man replies, "and this is my guide dog." The maître d', apologizing profusely, shows both man and dog to a table.

4. His friend waits five minutes, then tries the same routine. "You have a Chihuahua for a guide dog?" the skeptical maître d' says.

5. "A Chihuahua?" the man says. "Is that what they gave me?"

B. TEXT

1. “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge...” Ps. 91:4.

2. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing” Luke 13:34.

C. THESIS

1. Today we’re looking at what “Under the shadow of God’s wings” means, and 5 things you’ll find under God’s wings.

2. The title is “Under the Shadow of Your Wings.” First, notice...

I. THE CONDESCENSION OF GOD

A. GOD HAS NO “CREATURE” FORM

1. God said, “Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of [HUMAN] MALE OR FEMALE, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that FLIES IN THE AIR, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth” Deut. 4:15-18. So we shouldn’t think that God looks like an animal.

2. And even though God often seen in the Bible as having the shape of a man, He actually DOESN’T have that shape. Anthropomorphic expressions of God (feet, hands, eyes, ears, arm, fingers, head) are symbolic representations which serve to make God real and to express His various interests, powers, and activities. God doesn’t have wings either (Ps. 17:8; 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; 91:4). Wings speak of protection. Eyes and ears speak of God’s omniscience (Prov. 15:3); hands and fingers represent His power and activity. Feet represent progress in redemption.

3. God is an infinite Spirit (Jer. 23:24; 2 Chron. 6:18; Eph. 4:6; Acts 17:28), without a form, like wind. ‘Wind’ & ‘spirit’ are the same word. God is invisible (Col. 1:15). No created being can see Him or approach Him, except through Jesus Christ. God is unchanging, eternal, & perfect. We are created in the image or likeness of God in righteousness & holiness (Col. 3:10-12).

4. Jesus Christ DOES have a physical body He took on in order to redeem us, but we don’t worship the human form, we worship the eternal Being that inhabited that form.

B. YET PSALMS SAYS, ‘UNDER YOUR WINGS’

1. Psalm 17:8, “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.”

2. Psalm 36:7, “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

3. Psalm 57:1, “I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.”

4. Psalm 61:4, “I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah.”

5. Psalm 63:7, “Because You have been my help, Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.”

6. Psalm 91:4, “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

7. The question is, why is there such a widespread identification of God spreading His wings over us?

II. COMPARISON: GOD TO A MOTHER HEN

A. THE STORY THAT STARTED THIS IDEA

1. Faith Bollier’s grandmother’s house caught fire and burned. She said, “I guess all my chickens burned up with it!” She said this because the chicken house was right up against her own house. They went and looked.

2. Dead half-burned chickens littered the chicken house floor. Nothing moved. Someone bumped over a burned chicken’s body and 6 little chicks came racing out from under her! This happened with 2 more dead chickens.

3. Faith said that her grandmother was able to restock the chicken house from the baby chicks that had survived from being under their mother’s wings!

B. CHARACTERISTICS OF MOTHER HENS

1. There’s condescension in these words! If any mere human had compared God to a chicken, we would have considered it a blasphemy! But this was spoken through the person of the Holy Spirit.