In our tour of biblical mountains, we have come to Mount Zion.
You may have heard of Zionism, or the fabricated Protocols of the Elders of Zion. There are many mentions of Zion in classic hymns, such as, “O Zion haste, thy mission high fulfilling,” and, “We’re marching to Zion.”
But today I want to draw your attention to Mount Zion in Scripture. It’s one of the most beautiful, most meaningful, most spiritually rich mountains in the Bible.
We first encounter Zion in 2 Samuel 5:1-10, where David is anointed king over Israel at Hebron, and marches to the pagan town of Jerusalem where he captures “the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David” (v. 7). Zion is a synonym or metaphor for Jerusalem.
But there is much more. There are about 150 biblical references. From the time of King David, for the rest of biblical history, including the New Testament period, on into the age of the Christian church, and on to the ultimate future, the term “Mount Zion” serves as a symbol for “a complex cluster of interlocking themes of immense theological significance.”[1]
Mount Zion reminds all of God’s people of:
- The royal Davidic kingship which is a symbol of the rule of Christ
- The Jerusalem temple where God dwells at the centre of Israel’s life
- the geographic centre of world government in biblical prophecy from which God’s law issues and to which all nations come
- the promise of a renewed heavens and earth filled with peace and prosperity.
Mount Zion also invokes the responsibilities of God’s people. Especially in the writings of the eighth-century Hebrew prophets, Zion reminds us that our sin and apostasy bring divine judgment.
Yet there is grace for even the worst sinner, and in Zion there is a refuge for a purified remnant of God’s people who inherit all the promises and blessings of God’s covenant with his people.
Several well-known psalms give voice to these themes. For example, Psalm 46:1, 4, 7:
God is our refuge and strength,
a helper who is always found
in times of trouble.
There is a river—
its streams delight the city of God,
the holy dwelling place of the Most High.
The Lord of Armies is with us;
the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah
And Psalm 48:1-2:
The Lord is great and highly praised
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, 2 rising splendidly,
is the joy of the whole earth.
Mount Zion—the summit of Zaphon—
is the city of the great King.
And Psalm 122:1-9:
I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let’s go to the house of the Lord.”
Our feet were standing
within your gates, Jerusalem …
Pray for the [peace] of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure;
may there be peace within your walls,
security within your fortresses.”
Because of my brothers and friends,
I will say, “May peace be in you.”
Because of the house of the Lord our God,
I will pursue your prosperity.
Similarly, Isaiah 2:2-4 offers a glimpse of the peace, comfort and joy of God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule:
In the last days
the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established
at the top of the mountains
and will be raised above the hills.
All nations will stream to it,
3 and many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us about his ways
so that we may walk in his paths.”
For instruction will go out of Zion
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He will settle disputes among the nations
and provide arbitration for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plows
and their spears into pruning knives.
Nation will not take up the sword against nation,
and they will never again train for war.
These biblical images look back to Mount Sinai, and from there to Mount Moriah, Mount Ararat, and Mount Eden, but they especially look forward to what God promises to do for humankind in the future.
Indeed, Mount Zion has been called “the geographical apex of the various mountains of salvation history.”[2]
In the New Testament, Mount Zion recedes as Jesus, the incarnation of Zion’s God, takes centre stage in the gospel story, but all of the biblical symbolism of Mount Zion is drawn together and displayed in glorious detail in the best-known New Testament reference (Hebrews 12:18-24):
18 For you have not come to [Mount Sinai] … 22 Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels, a festive gathering, 23 to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to a Judge, who is God of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.
Let me conclude with the comforting words of Psalm 125:1:
Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion.
It cannot be shaken; it remains forever.
Dr Rod Benson is Research Support Officer at Moore Theological College, Sydney. He previously pastored four Baptist churches in Queensland and NSW, and served for 12 years as an ethicist with the Tinsley Institute at Morling College.
References:
[1] “Zion,” in Leland Ryken et al (eds), Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove: IVP, 1998), 980.
[2] John Bergsme & Brant Pitre, A Catholic Introduction to the Bible. Volume 1: Old Testament (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2018), 565.
Image source: The Times of Israel
iDigress 