Zion / Jerusalem
Before becoming David’s capital city and the center of Israelite life, Jerusalem—also called the City of David or by its symbolic name, Zion—was a city of the Jebusites (2 Sam. 5:6–10). And long before that, Jerusalem was simply Salem, the city where Abraham met King Melchizedek and offered up a tithe offering because Melchizedek somehow represented the same God under whose direction Abraham was living (Gen. 14:17–20). A long-standing tradition says Jerusalem was the site of Mount Moriah, the place where Abraham took Isaac to sacrifice him before God provided a sacrificial animal to meet the requirements (see also MOUNT MORIAH). Given its central role, it is not surprising that Jerusalem eventually became symbolic of Israel itself. The fate of the city was the fate of the nation. The faith of the city represented the faith of the nation (Isa. 2:2; Amos 2:5; Mic. 4:1). With David’s founding of his kingdom in Jerusalem, a long and painful history of God’s great blessings and a people’s persistent apostasy began.
The City of Promise and Punishment
Jerusalem was considered the royal city for two reasons: it hosted the throne of the house of King David, and it held the grand temple built by Solomon to house the ark of the covenant symbolizing God’s presence among his people as the ultimate King. As such, the city became a symbol of God’s promises to Israel, and a popular assumption held that the city could never fall nor the temple be touched by foreign invaders. At various times the inhabitants of Jerusalem blatantly ignored God’s clear condition that the safety of the city was dependent on their faithfulness to God. Morally bankrupt from within, Jerusalem suffered attacks, sieges, and destruction from without. In 586 BC, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, exiling much of the population (as God’s punishment for her apostasy—see Jer. 19).
Yet even after his most severe judgments, God held out hope for a remnant that would preserve Jerusalem. Over and over again he promised that his people would return and restore the city. And indeed they did. Seventy years after Jerusalem was devastated, the king of Persia allowed exiles to return and begin to rebuild the city and the temple (2 Chron. 36:22–23).
With the coming of Christ, Jerusalem became a symbol for the religious establishment— God’s chosen people who rejected him—ushering in the age when God’s chosen people would come from all nations, not just Israel. Perhaps no sadder words were ever pronounced over a city than Jesus’ cry when Jerusalem came into view during what became known as his triumphal entry:
When he came closer and saw the city, he began to cry. He said, “If you had only known today what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden, so you cannot see it. The time will come when enemy armies will build a wall to surround you and close you in on every side. They will level you to the ground and kill your people. One stone will not be left on top of another, because you didn’t recognize the time when God came to help you.” (Luke 19:41–44; see also Matt. 24:15–25; Luke 21:1–24)
Jerusalem had the chance to welcome her once and future king; yet in that crucial moment, the city rejected and put her sovereign to death.
Jesus was the promised King of Zion who would save the people from their sins, yet they rejected and killed him.
Mount Zion
Throughout the New Testament, Zion takes on the double identity of a city that doesn’t measure up to its potential and a city that will be renewed by God in order to serve its ultimate purpose. Paul said, “Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She is like Jerusalem today because she and her children are slaves. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother” (Gal. 4:25–26). And the writer of Hebrews contrasted the anticipation that pilgrims always felt after a long journey toward Jerusalem with the anticipation of our arrival in the kingdom of God: “Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to tens of thousands of angels joyfully gathered together” (12:22).
The New Jerusalem
John, in Revelation, gave us the picture of a New Jerusalem shaped by God. This city is the centerpiece of the new heaven and the new earth. Everything that the old Jerusalem had hoped to be is fulfilled in the New Jerusalem. And this new city doesn’t need a renovated magnificent temple of Solomon because “the Lord God Almighty and the lamb are its temple” (21:22). All has been restored to perfection in Zion.
Key Verse
Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to tens of thousands of angels joyfully gathered together. (Heb. 12:22)