- Tread and Trample
Psalm 91:13
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder:
The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
Lions and snakes and dragons are metaphorical symbols for Satan and his demons. The first Gospel in Genesis 3:15: “He (the seed of the woman, Jesus the Messiah) shall bruise your (the serpent, embodying Satan, whom God is cursing) head.” Jesus did this decisively and forever at the cross. The fulfillment is in Romans 16:15: “The God of peace will soon (any time and all the time) crush Satan under your feet.” God does the crushing but it happens under our feet. God has done it, He is continually doing it, but it feels to us like we are doing it, because God is using us as His instruments to bring about the defeat of Satan in daily life.
This explains the promises of v. 13: “You will tread upon…you will trample under.” The second person plural “you” refers to the believers in Christ, the Church. The people feel like they are doing the treading and trampling when they proclaim the Gospel, love people, forgive them, and pray for them; but the Lord Jesus Christ is actually doing it through the preached Gospel. The preached Gospel looks like a very weak mechanism, but it is really extremely powerful in the spiritual world to tear down strongholds, topple the gates of hell, crush the head of the serpent, and tread and trample on the dragon. The Gospel forgives sins and frees us from the shackles of death and delivers us from the Evil One.
The promise is awesome: our spiritual enemies are much more powerful than we are, but we shall trample them under our feet. Awesome power resides in the Gospel. Put this promise into effect by hearing the Gospel every day.