The City of God

Psalm 87

"His foundation is in the holy mountains. The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God! Selah.
I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me; behold Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia. This man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her; and the Highest Himself shall establish her. The LORD shall count when He writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.
As well as the singers, the players on instruments shall be there. All my springs are in thee."

Zion's Glory

A close examination of this Psalm reveals several things concerning the temple's situation:

The site is firmly established in a specific mountain area, i.e., "the holy mountains," in the mountains which are set apart... This name is used by both Moslems and the Jews who give the Temple Mount site a very important place in their respective religious beliefs.

The word foundation is not the usual Hebrew word for "foundation." It appears to have the meaning of founding or settling down; of making a permanent home site. The nearest English definition has the sense of showing how the early American pioneers developed their village settlement site. The site was a community of people gathered into a specific area for a common purpose.

In the New Testament, it is said that God does not dwell in temples made with hands; this text says that the LORD's foundation is in the mountains set apart as His dwelling's site. Prior attempts by God to establish His dwelling with the chosen people were aborted due to their unwillingness to be set apart. Zion is the mountain where He settles with them at last!

The LORD regards the entrances into Zion above all the residences of the Jewish people. Zion is not a common city of the people. The watch at the gates is of prime importance to His house's keeping. His sanctuary is the most holy dwelling within the land of Israel, and upon the whole earth.

That this regard is one of the first things in His love is seen in the format of The Lord's Prayer. After praise to the Father, the petitioner is instructed to pray for the restoration of the kingdom - "Let Thy kingdom come..," in preference above any kingdom men may establish. (See Matthew 6 and related gospel records.)
Daniel, the prophet, had understanding of this when he prayed, "O Lord, according to all Thy righteousness, I beseech Thee, let Thine anger and Thy fury be turned away from the city Jerusalem, Thy holy mountain ... hear the prayer of Thy servant and his supplications and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's sake." (See Daniel 9:1-19).
The standard is maintained; holiness is the primary consideration for entrance into Zion.
Revelation 21 describes the gates of new Jerusalem in the same manner as Ezekiel describes the new Jerusalem, the Scriptures indicating that the purpose of Almighty God concerning the location of His sanctuary in Zion has not changed.
Abraham, who "looked for a city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God," (Hebrews 11:8-10) did not leave on record any pattern to compare with his expectation. But we have the Spirit's testimony in the book of Hebrews that the faith of Abraham and his hope was identical with the later, true Christian hope also.

Things having exceptional honor are declared concerning the city of Zion. These things may or may not be yet in hidden form, although God does nothing before He reveals His Word to His servants, the prophets... The apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, had visions and revelations (II Corinthians 12:2-4) when "caught away to the third heaven," (i.e., to the realm of the third world age), an experience which he equated with "caught away to the garden" - to the estate lands of the LORD's sanctuary which Ezekiel's vision also speaks about in Chapter 47.

The word glorious suggests the importance that goes with the life and the power of the implementation of justice and judgment of righteousness. The word also conveys the brightness of the cloud which will again shadow over the entire Temple Mount.

What some of these glorious things are is clearly set out in passages that are not obscured by a person's personal bias or pre-judgment of error in doctrine. The leader of the antiChrist (antiSemitic, too) power of "the last days" (see 2 Thessalonians 2) is an adversary (a Satan) to the establishment of these things. The existence of this latter day power suggests that both a political body and a military presence will exist to support the religious adversity to Zion's foundations.

The examples of Rahab and Babylon are mentioned to those who come to know the LORD. Rahab was saved out of the destruction of her city because she believed in God, but Babylon was destroyed for its ungodly behavior.

The city of God on Zion will be accounted as the birthplace of certain aliens.
The Most High God, Himself will establish Zion. No mortal can do this, even tho many antichrists will rise in the last days to claim that they are speaking in the "right way" of God. The "beast" polity which re-institutes its "image" worship (see Revelation 13:13) also reveals the last "son of perdition" (see II Thess. 2:8; Isaiah 11:4, "the wicked [one]") to come into the antichrist power.
The LORD will write up the people who are accounted worthy to become inhabitants of the holy city; no Church rolls will be consulted. Neither will any civil power have the Lord's authority to enforce any man's judgment in the matter.
Rahab's city and Babylon are set forth as examples of the evils which the LORD will destroy before the kingdom on earth is restored under the dominion of Israel's messiah, and his leadership of king-priests. Righteous rule will be established in the land.

Paul, in Galatians 4, expounds the birthright of the elect of God: "Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all," vv. 26-31.
The method of Zion's establishment is described by the prophet Zechariah. Two "olive trees" will be joined to one lightstand. With the "bringing forth" of the chief "stone," the Spirit of the Lord establishes Zion. See Psalm 118:22-24.
This "writing" of the people is also mentioned in Daniel 12, Hebrews 12, and in Revelation 21, and in other Holy Scriptures. The writing includes the names of individuals worthy of the LORD's glory, of names which He has kept in His Book of Remembrance. See Daniel 7:10, regarding the books which are opened in order for the Lord's judgment to proceed.
Rahab is mentioned only three times and in the Old Testament: Psalm 87; Psalm 89; and in Isaiah 51 (as a symbolic identification for Egypt, according to the commentators who often mislead). The Peshitta [Aramaic] translation gives Isaiah's text as, "Surely it was Thou that didst decree a severe sentence, that didst slay the dragon." Isaiah 51 has much more relevance to the Spirit's exhortation to God's people to follow after righteousness, while mention of the dragon harks back to the mean-minded serpent of Genesis who misled the woman and all people since her time!
The Soncino editor of Isaiah avers that an ancient myth names Rahab as a sea-monster; indeed sea-monster is the KJV's alternate choice in translation! Rahab, however, was the Gentile harlot who was called out of the pagan world of the nations, and was converted to belief in the God of the Israelites - before even the Israelites were converted to belief in God! See Joshua 2:1-3, 6:17-25; Hebrews 11:25; and James 2:25. See Matthew 21:31-32 for the Lord's very devastating comment against the chief priest and the elders for their disbelief in the kingdom of God.
The beast, of Revelation 13, comes up out of the Sea, from the west; and the dragon spues water after the woman in Revelation 12, trying to drown her and to have her presence carried away. Both entities seek to mislead Israel away from God in the last days.

Both players of instruments and singers of music are included among the chosen residents of Zion. This is a curious statement if the city of God is symbolic or represents something which is not to become a reality upon the earth.

David arranged the courses of the service for the first temple according to the wisdom given to him when he received its pattern from God, along with the list of the building materials. The priests, in Ezekiel's vision, are also arranged in their own places in the new service. Priests of the order of Zadok serve the inner sanctuary. Priests of the order of Levi keep the house and serve in the courts of the people. "The prince" is shown as more honored than either order of priest.
The Song of Moses, a song refreshed with a new verse, is sung as the Song of the Lamb. This Song is mentioned in Revelation 14 and 15.

All His springs are located in Zion.

Again, we ask a question. Do we read this statement as mere symbolism, or do we interpret this statement as a reality concerning the LORD's "house" on Zion? ...The water flowing beside the altar from above becomes a stream to transform the surrounding land and earth.

A stream flows eastward from the sanctuary of the LORD's house.

The last clause of the Peshitta text reads: "The princes who dwell in you shall rejoice and all that are humbled in you."

N.T. References to Zion

In Young's Analytical Concordance there are over one and one-half columns of references to Zion. There are but seven N.T. references to Zion, under the listing as Sion. Some of these are reviewed below.

Matthew 21:4-9 concerns the Lord's arrival in Jerusalem prior to the Passover before his death. The donkey and her colt are requisitioned for him to ride upon. The event was at a time "when all the eyes of men -- as of all the eyes of Israel -- shall be toward the LORD," (per Zechariah 9:1). The Scripture says, "All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet," (Zechariah 9:9), "saying, Tell the daughter of Sion, behold, your king is coming to you, lowly and sitting upon a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey." The parallel text is John 12:12-15.

The next two references to Zion are in the apostle Paul's Epistle to the Romans, 9:33 and 11:26. The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ was a direct result of the unrighteousness of the faith of the Jewish leaders and their Gentile supporters. They sought legal redress against a supposed crime instead of believing the Holy Scriptures. "As it is written, Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame," 9:33. Then again he quotes the Spirit in the prophet, saying, "The Deliverer will come out of Sion and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob," 11:26. The fault of unbelief is corrected at the Son's second coming!

Hebrews 12:22 is next. Here the theme from Romans is more fully developed, the Hebrews being more familiar with the Law than the Gentiles were/are. The faith of the Hebrews had delivered them, not the Law! "And you have come to Mount Sion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and congregation of the firstborn registered in the heavens, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of the sprinkling that speaks better things than Abel." The Hebrews had been brought to the Christ.

In I Peter 2:4-6, Peter, the apostle to the Jews, enlarges how a few of the people were then chosen in the Christ, "Coming unto Him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men but chosen by God, precious. You also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the Scripture, 'Behold, I lay in Sion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame'," .

The last reference to Sion is in Revelation 14:1. "Then I" [John] "looked and behold, a lamb standing on Mount Sion, and with him 144,000, having his Father's name written on their foreheads." This reference is much more easily understood when compared with the previous cited verses. Just men, chosen for their pure faith, have an engraving upon their heads as did the high priest of ancient times, Holiness to the LORD. These are established upon Zion with the Lord, to be co-rulers over the tribes of Israel during the coming millennial age.

The Controversy of Zion

Christians cannot fully appreciate Zion's position unless Old Testament references are studied in order to understand the ancient controversy surrounding the hill of God, the Temple Mount and Moriah, the threshing floor which David purchased from Araunah.

When we speak of Zion it must not be understood only as a part of the city of Jerusalem, or of only a temporal nature.Paul says in Galatians 4:24-25 that the present Jerusalem is in bondage with her children. This is an unhappy truth even in this modern day and age since 1948! But the new Jerusalem to come, a new Jerusalem, a free Jerusalem is our mother. The city is presently a bone of contention, as is the Temple Mount, between the Jew and the Islamic peoples.

Zion is the literal mount where the LORD has chosen to dwell. Zion is the only section of Jerusalem to be called by the name of the hill or mount of its location. Moriah is the present section of Jerusalem which David purchased for the altar. A mighty earthquake in the days of Uzziah broke off the southern end of the holy mountain and rolled it into the Kidron valley. David acquired Zion by conquest of the Jebusite fortress. The mountain site was formerly named the fortress, [i.e., Zion] which had been the stronghold of the Jebusites. Following the covenant made with the LORD, David prepared to build a house for the LORD on Mt. Moriah at Jerusalem.

David said, "I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God and had made preparations to build it, but..," per I Chronicles 28:2. But the LORD had no rest there on account of the people's continual idolatry and ignorance of His Word through the holy prophets. He, with His glory, departed from the temple. His purpose for the land was deferred "until he comes whose right it is, and I will give it to him," Ezekiel 21:27.

The legal right to continue the kingdom of the LORD on the earth was nullified by the Father because of the violations of His laws by the kings, the priests, and the people of the land. But the preparations which David made were not disregarded or voided. On the contrary, David's desire to build a house for the ark and for the footstool of God was not forgotten by the LORD. Thus we read in Ezekiel 43:7, "And He said unto me, son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel l'Olam."

Quite a lot of the of the O.T. references to Zion, not surprising then, are found in the Psalms of David!

Zion in the Psalms

Psalm 2:6
"Yet I have set My king on My holy hill of Zion."

Psalm 9:11, 14
"Sing praises to the LORD who dwells in Zion... I may tell all of Your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion."

Psalm 14:7
"Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion."

Psalm 20:2
"May He send you help from the sanctuary and strengthen you out of Zion."

Psalm 48 should leave no one in doubt as to the truth about Zion. It was not an invisible place of spirits, but a real place - a city - specifically, "the city of our God." Read all fourteen verses!

Psalm 50:2
"Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth!"

Psalm 51:18
"Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem."

Psalm 53:5
"Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When God brings back the captivity of His people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad."

Psalm 65:1
"Praise is awaiting You, O God, in Zion; and to You the vow shall be performed."

Psalm 69:35
For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it."

Psalm 74:2
"Remember Your congregation which You purchased of old, the tribe of Your inheritance which You have redeemed -- this Mount Zion where You have dwelt."

Psalm 76:2
"In Salem also is His tabernacle and in His dwelling place in Zion."

The LORD, enlarging His estate, moves from his temporary dwelling in the tent into His house on the mountain!

Psalm 78:68
"But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved."

Psalm 84:7
"They go from strength to strength; every one of them appears before God in Zion."

Psalm 87:2
"His foundation is in the holy mountains."

Psalm 97:8
The title to this Psalm in the Septuagint translation of the Holy Scriptures is:
"For David, when his land is established."

The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews quotes from this Psalm - Hebrews 1:6 and 2:5 - applying the quotes to the time "when again He brings the firstborn into the world." Of that coming time he says, "Let all the angels of God worship him." Because, the Spirit explains, "for not to angels did He subject the world which is to come of which we speak." In Psalm 97 therefore, "Zion heard and rejoiced, and the daughters of Judah exult, because of Thy judgments, O LORD."

Isn't this Zion the place where "the stone" that smote the Babylonish image becomes "a great mountain" to fill the whole earth, per Daniel 2:35?

Psalm 99:1-9
The Septuagint translation of the Hebrew is much more compatible with the spirit of Psalm 2 than the Authorized Version's translation of the text.
"The Lord reigns. Let the people rage. It is He that sits upon the cherubim. Let the earth be moved!* The Lord is great in Zion, and is high over all the people...

* Note: Moved. Hebrew variations of the verb: nua, nud, nut. Means: To shake, to move, to wander in and out of orbit.
This is an allusion to Isaiah 5:26, to "the ensign" in the heavens which comes one day, and to further "signs" in the sun, the moon, and stars.

Psalm 102:13-22
"Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion; for the time to favor her, yea, the set time is come. For Thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favor the dust thereof. [So the nations shall fear the name of the LORD and all the kings of the earth, Thy glory.] When the LORD shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory; for He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer."
"This shall be written for the generations to come, and the people who shall be created shall praise the LORD, for He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary, from heaven did the LORD behold the earth to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; to declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem, when the people are gathered together and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD."

The book of Hebrews, Ch. 1:10, also quotes from this Psalm, where the writer wished to show that certain things of the heavens of old will be changed. "...and the heavens are the works of Thy hands; they shall be destroyed but Thou continuest, and all shall grow old as a garment, and as a covering, Thou shalt roll them up and they shall be changed** but Thou art the same and Thy years shall not fail."

* *Note: Changed. Greek; from allos, meaning another, made different. The quoted text define the change which is to be done.
The earth and its heavens will be removed and replaced in different position among the stars. Review Isaiah 5:25-30 for the sign of the strange "horses" which roar like lions; then compare the "ensign" with the fuller text of Revelation Nine.

Today in Israel, in Jerusalem, there is intense interest in the "stones" of Zion -- the remains of the Western Wall of the last temple's foundation -- by those who "favor the dust thereof." The time for the true foundation of Zion is very near its fulfillment.