What is Mount Zion according to the Bible?

Q. — 1. How are we to understand "Zion" as compared with "Jerusalem"? "the daughter," and "the daughters," of Zion?

A. — 1. Zion was literally the south-eastern height called David's city, as Moriah was the north-eastern one on which Jehovah's house was built. But Zion (Isaiah 1:27) is often employed figuratively by the prophets and synonymously with Jerusalem as a whole. "Daughter of Zion" (as in Isaiah 1:9) is a poetic expression for the inhabitants of the Jewish capital, and so for the people in general. "Daughters of Zion" (as in Isaiah 3:16) would represent rather its female inhabitants. But we may add that it is nothing but ignorance to assume that Zion anywhere means the church of God even metaphorically. In Heb. 12:22-23 it is no doubt contrasted with Sinai (18, etc.), that is, the mount of royal grace, with that of legal responsibility; but it is distinguished alike from the scene of glory on high, a living God's city, heavenly Jerusalem, and yet more from the church or "assembly of first-born ones enrolled in the heavens." Nor is there solid ground to doubt that, as Rev. 7:2-8 points to a sealed number out of Israel's tribes, to be secured from providential judgment in a future day, so does Rev. 14:1-5 to a still more honoured complement of godly Jews, associated with the earth-rejected Messiah and blessed in that day. In both chapters, whether Israel or Jews properly, they are shown separately from the Gentiles, and grace will not forget them in the tremendous crisis at the end of the age. The heavenly redeemed are then and even before this seen symbolised by the crowned elders, who will have been with the Lord on high, and therefore manifestly distinct from any of them.

This was in reality a part of Jerusalem, being one of the mountains on which Jerusalem was built. Zion is often called 'the city of David,' it was where he dwelt. 2 Sam. 5:7; 1 Chr. 11:5; Micah 3:10, 12. Which part of Jerusalem was thus designated is now a disputed point: some few contend for the north-west; but most believe it to have been on the south-west, and to have extended farther south than the present wall of the city. It would in this case have been in proximity to the temple on the south-east, which could have been reached by a bridge over the Tyropoeon valley. 2 Chr. 5:2. In Ps. 48:2, occur the words "the joy of the whole earth is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King." This has been thought to mean that mount Zion was in the north of the city; but may it not signify that on the north side of Zion is the city of the great King, that is, Jerusalem? The psalm is clearly millennial. Zion, having failed as a part of Jerusalem, was to be ploughed as a field. Micah 3:12.

The term Zion has constantly in scripture a metaphorical sense. It represents the intervention of sovereign grace in the person of God's elect king, when Israel were utterly helpless, and the ark had been given into the hands of the enemy. The ark was brought by David to the city of David, and this may have led to Zion being regarded as the centre of blessing, and as a source from whence blessing proceeded, as it often is in the Psalms. Ps. 87:2; Ps. 149:2; etc. The favoured people of God are often spoken of as DAUGHTERS OF ZION, Israel are constantly thus addressed in the Prophets, whether to be blamed for their waywardness and punished; or to be cheered with the prospect of future prosperity. And in these prophecies of their coming exaltation, Zion is referred to as the seat of the Messiah's royal power on earth, as in Isa. 52:1-8; Isa. 60:14; Heb. 12:22. In scripture Zion never means the church: it always signifies blessing on earth, and is specially in connection with Israel, when the ultimate blessing of the nations will be through Israel; nevertheless Christians now enter into its spiritual import as being under the reign of grace while here on earth.

Zion has a great place in the Old Testament, e.g., "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion...the city of the great King." (Ps. 48:2). "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined." (Ps. 50:2). Mount Zion was really nothing as a geographical feature. Naturally it was merely a flat topped mountain rock with precipices on one side, easily defended in those days of feeble engines of attack. It would not have been sought as a place for comfortable living. But it took its real significance from the Ark having been brought there by King David after its absence of nearly a century, amongst the Philistines and then subsequently in various resting places. What made Mount Zion was not its physical beauty, but that it was invested with the Glory of God, because God was pleased to dwell there. So in the epistle of Peter the mount of Transfiguration is referred to as the "Holy Mount," because the Lord's glory and presence was manifested there; so we have come to the real Mount Zion which is a spiritual conception in contrast to the provisional Zion which was material.

Zion is only named once in the Apocalypse. “Out of about 110 times that Zion is mentioned, ninety are in‎ terms of the Lord’s great love and affection for her, so that the place has great, very great significance, and Heaven knows it too.” The first mention of Zion when captured‎ from the Jebusites by David (2 Sam. 5:7) is pregnant with interest, for, adds the sacred historian, “the same is the city of David.” Saul, the predecessor of David on the‎ throne, was the man of the people’s choice, and typified ‎“the king” who reigns in Jerusalem before the Lord comes.‎ David, the true king of Israel, was Jehovah’s chosen, and Zion the seat of his government. He is thus the prototype of our Lord, Who will reign in Zion, “and before His ancients gloriously” (Isa. 24:23). Zion is rich in sacred‎ memories to the Jew. It is his goal of hope. It is, too,‎ God’s chosen city. “For the Lord hath chosen Zion: He hath desired it for His habitation. This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell; for I have desired it” (Ps. 132:13-14). “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King” (Ps. 48:2). It is the seat of universal‎ government for earth, and the centre of interest to the millennial world (Isa. 2). It is where Jehovah has in purpose set His King (Ps. 2:6). There are three distinct thoughts connected with mount Zion: (1) It is the seat of royal power; (2) of God’s intervention in grace; (3) of‎ Jehovah’s sovereignty, but all in respect to Israel.‎

When God began to work in grace again, when He chose out — not king Saul, who was the people's choice, the man who was excellent according to the flesh — but chose David, the youngest of eight sons (significantly the eighth) from following the sheep to set him as leader of His people, it was in perfect grace. He chose Mount Zion and put His name there, and said, "This is My rest forever, Here will I dwell for I have desired it." "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion," on the sides even of the north, dark and forbidding naturally as it is. Mount Zion, well protected on every side, the enemies that come up against her flee away. "They are confounded, fear and trembling take hold of them." Mount Zion then, speaks of the perfect grace of God, a grace which shall be exhibited in connection with Israel during the millennium, and I would add, on through eternity. For us it is the great principle of grace as contrasted with the law. But how significant it is that we have come even to these earthly blessings; not that we are to be citizens of the earthly Zion, but we have come to all the blessing which will be given to Israel from Zion. We have it in a spiritual sense even now, as we enjoy the blessings of the new covenant. During the millennium and throughout eternity in our better inheritance, we will still have the joy of being associated with Christ in dominion over the whole world in connection with Mount Zion His earthly centre.

But we mount higher. We have also come in point of blessing (already in anticipation, and soon actually there) unto the city of the living God, the new Jerusalem. Mount Zion is the city of the great King, but the city of the living God is the heavenly Jerusalem. The earthly Jerusalem is a type of the heavenly, and we know that during the millennium the communication between earth and heaven will be intimate and constant. The kings of the earth will bring their glory and their honor unto that heavenly city. There is our home, dear brethren; even now we are linked with it.

As to the place the nation, with Jerusalem and Zion, will have in the kingdom, only a few passages out of so many that there are can be referred to. Deuteronomy 15:6 will not fail of its accomplishment in the supremacy of Israel among the nations, though long deferred through their failure on the ground of responsibility. Then "the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath." "He shall subdue the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet" (Ps. 47:3. See also Isa. 60:12-14). But this will be brought about by the resources of God's sovereign grace, connected with the establishment of royalty in God's king in Zion, when under law and even priesthood they had utterly broken down. See Psalm 78 for the record of their failure, and the place that Judah and Mount Zion and David have at the close as the new ground of the blessing of the people, also Psalm 132:13 et seq. This is ever the significance of Zion in Scripture. God sets His king there (Ps. 2). The salvation of Israel is looked for to come out of it (Ps. 14); and Isaiah 66 celebrates the accomplishment of it. In the psalms that follow the introduction of the king in Psalm 45 (as, for instance, (Ps. 48:2), Zion is the joy of the whole earth, the city of the great king (see also vers. 8, 11-12). Again, out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined (Ps. 50:2). "In that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. … The Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously" (Isa. 24:21, etc.). "There shall the mountain of the Lord's house be established, and out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isa. 2:2-3; Micah 4:1-3; Zeph. 3:14-20).

Zion is the place which, as we see from another psalm (Ps. 78:68), illustrates God's sovereignty in grace, when man has done all he could to produce utter ruin; and the apostle, in his comprehensive view (Heb. 12:22) of the things which (by faith) we are "come to," places it thus, as the earthly centre opposite to the New Jerusalem; the heavenly one. Zion itself means "fixed," and the first place in which it is mentioned (2 Sam. 5:7) is when David takes it out of the hand of the Gentile "treader down" — the Jebusite (see notes). It becomes then "the city of David," which, we rejoice to remember, means "Beloved," and it will be yet the city of the infinitely glorious One, when the time of Jerusalem's "treading-down" is over.

"So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David." This, though it be so briefly named by the Spirit, becomes ever afterwards an epoch and turning-point in the history of Israel. I do not know anything more striking in scripture, or a more remarkable characteristic of it than such a fact as this, slight as some may count it — the quietness with which the Holy Ghost notices the completeness of the blow that was struck in the heart of the land at that which had been a constant challenge and triumph over all the efforts of Israel to that day. Now that David had wrested it from the Jebusites, this becomes the great fact that afterwards stamps its character upon Israel. Zion, in short, becomes a new name of the deepest moment — the sign of divine grace in royalty — the grace that took up the people in their lowest condition, and by that man whom God employed raised them up step by step to such a place of power and blessing and glory as never was before and never can be again till Jesus come and make this very Zion the centre of His earthly government with the blessing and glory due to His name.

As we look on to the world to come, in the faith of our souls, the Spirit of God first brings us to Mount Zion, the earthly Jerusalem, representing the earthly saints. Furthermore, Mount Zion sets forth as a symbol the ground on which all saints, earthly and heavenly, will come into blessing. Two Psalms, 78 and 132, give us light as to the spiritual significance of Mount Zion. In Psalm 78 we have the account of the utter failure of Israel on the ground of responsibility. Everything is lost on the ground of their own works. The tabernacle is forsaken (verse 60); the ark goes into captivity (verse 61); the land comes under judgment and the people are consumed (verses 62-64). Then, as recorded in verse 65, a great change in the circumstances of the people takes place, wholly brought about by Jehovah: “The Lord awoke as one out of sleep”, and began to act “like a mighty man”.

(vv. 1-3) The psalm opens with an ascription of praise to Jehovah, who has established His throne in Zion, “the city of our God.” Then follows a description of the glory of the city. As becomes the dwelling place of Jehovah, it is described as “the mountain of his holiness.” Holiness being established, the city which had been desolate now becomes beautiful, the joy of the whole earth. “On the sides of the north” may indicate the blessedness of the city in the sight of the world, that at enmity with the people of God had once approached from the north. Now God, dwelling in the city, is known as its defence and security. Thus the city is publicly known as holy, beautiful, a joy, and as a refuge for God's people.