Mount Zion - The City of God
Notes
Transcript
Psalms About Mount Zion, the City of God (Ps 48)
Teddy Kollek The visionary Mayor of Jerusalem who served for many years wrote these words in 2012 in the foreword to the CARTA’S HISTORICAL ATLAS OF JERUSALEM
Jerusalem is a symbol and a dream—the eternal capital of Israel. But besides the heavenly Jerusalem, there are many more Jerusalems. There is the Jerusalem of the ages: the historic city of conquerors and kings, prophets, wise men, and story-tellers.
There is sacred Jerusalem, the Jerusalem of faith—the faith of Israel, of Christianity, of Islam, and of their common and divergent origins, their various sects and leaders.
And side by side with this, is the Jerusalem of stone and mountain, layered with ancient sounds, colors and winds.
There is the Jerusalem of rapid creation and development, of the effort to build a city of the future while guarding Jerusalem’s unique character and beauty, her message of tranquility and peaceful coexistence.
The earliest known name for Jerusalem was Urushalem. Salem, of which Melchizedek was king as mentioned in Genesis Gen. 14:18.
Jerusalem appears in the Bible as early as the time of Abraham, although the city had probably been inhabited for centuries before that time.
In Deuteronomy 12 The purpose of Jerusaem and what shall be built there is clearly laid out even though the location is not identified.
It was always meant to be the city where God dwelt.
The place where his people came to worship, to offer sacrifice and to come before him in humility.
Geographically it has nothing to recommend it as a capital.
It has no great harbour.
No great river running through it for transport.
In fact lack of water has always been an issue for Jerusalem.
It is not on the major trade route being up in the arid hill country.
So why did it become the capital of Israel?
Why did King David chose it as his capital and thus the location of the temple built by his son Solomon?
The practical reasons are that it was centrally located between the northern and southern tribes.
It was a convenient place to bring the tribes together.
It was also one of the last strongholds of the Jebusites, so it made sense for King David to take it.
It was also easy to defend, situated on a hill surrounded by steep valleys on three sides.
Only the north was vulnerable to attack.
So here we have Jerusalem, an ancient settlement and stronghold.
Chosen by King David as his capital, chosen by God as the place where he would dwell amongst his people.
But why is it refered to as Zion, the City of God?
Actually we don’t really know what the word originally meant.
According to the Lexham Bible Dictionary the history of the use of the word goes something like this.
The Lexham Bible Dictionary Biblical Narrative
In the biblical narrative, Zion was initially a pre-Davidic stronghold of the Jebusites (2 Sam 5:7). It was renamed the “city of David” after David conquered it (2 Sam 5:9). Zion itself became the center for a theological tradition that changed shape over time. There are Zion “traditions” in the Old Testament that adapt to the changing circumstances of the people of Israel; as the Old Testament grew throughout history, so did Zion (Hess and Wenham, Zion). The significance of Zion develops over time: it began as a Jebusite residence, became the Temple Mount (Psa 78:68–69), referred to Jerusalem more generally (Psa 51:18), and finally designated the people of Israel as a whole (Isa 51:16).
It was meant to be a place where the nations came to worship God.
The place where the Glory of God dwelt.
But Israel became arrogant and thought that because they were the chosen people of God and Zion was his Holy City that they were immune from attack.
That God would always step in and protect them.
They refused to see that the Lord had warned them that his hand would not be with them if they turned away from his truths.
Occassionally they listened and repented.
Too often they did not and eventually Jerusalem would fall.
In 587 BC Nebuchadnezzar the great Chaldean king besigned the city and conquered it.
The ruling class were carried off into captivity.
A puppet king installed.
But still those who remained had not learnt and there were further rebellions.
Eventually Nebuchadnezzar sent one of his generals and the city was burnt, all its treasures carried off and the Temple of Solomon completely destroyed.
Psalm 137 is a Psalm of Lament where Jerusalem is remembered and forms the basis of the Song “By the Rivers of Babylon”
1 Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. 2 We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees. 3 For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn: “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!” 4 But how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a pagan land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget how to play the harp. 6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I fail to remember you, if I don’t make Jerusalem my greatest joy. 7 O Lord, remember what the Edomites did on the day the armies of Babylon captured Jerusalem. “Destroy it!” they yelled. “Level it to the ground!” 8 O Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us. 9 Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!
Play Rivers of Babylon
Zion the city of God has become the place of longing for the people of Israel.
Eventually under the Persian King Cyrus the city was rebuilt and a new temple constructed.
Slowly the nation recovered and to some extent grew.
But never again would they reach the heights of the time of David and Solomon.
But still the people of Israel would not, could not come to the point of complete submission to the Lord.
The prophets foresaw this and both Ezekiel in chapters 40–48 and Isaiah in chapters 52 and 60 to 66 began to speak of something different.
Something not of this earth.
The nation continued, under the control of various different Empires and briefly as an independent nation before coming under the control of the Romans.
Throughout this time it was not the idolatry of false gods which would bring Israel down.
The times of exile under the Babylonian and Persian Empires had largely cured them of that temptation.
Instead it was something just as corrupting.
Something just as insideous.
It was idolatry of legalism, slavish obedience to man made rules and self justification
The religious leaders exalted their own system over the intent of the law of God.
And when God incarnate visited them, they refused to recognise him.
Jesus himself foretold the next destruction of the city and the second temple in Luke 19:41-44
41 But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. 43 Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”
In AD 70 Jerusalem and its second temple were razed to the ground.
But the prophets of God had been expecting something terrible, Ezekial and Isaiah had warned of this.
A theme was growing in the Scriptures.
It was picked up by those who wrote during the time between the Old and New Testaments.
It was a theme which looked beyond the physical city to something greater.
The prophets saw something eternal, something heavenly.
Something which could never be corrupted by the sins of man.
Ezekiel 37 speaks of this place.
The New Testament writers recognised that it was fulfilled in the person of Jesus.
Ephesians 2:8-22 picks up on this theme and brings it to a conclusion when it says in Ephesians 2:19-22
19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
This great truth leads us to the great vision of the Apostle John in Revelation 21 and 22.
Zion the city of God is made new.
The new heaven and the new Earth has a New Jerusalem
But what is this New Jerusalem?
Is it some place, if so where is it?
Well like all things in Revelation we need to understand that the Apostle John is trying to put to words that which can not be explained.
His vision is beyond human comprehension.
So we need to be careful to not be too specific in insisting that our understanding is all that there is.
But of these things we can be fairly sure.
The foundation of the city is built upon the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 Apostles of Christ.
Most likely representing the testimony of Scripture.
The size of the city is significant as the language used ties into Revelation 7:4-8 probably meaning that its size is sufficient for all that are intended to reside there.
What is not in the New Jerusalem is very important.
The things which have corrupted humaity since the fall.
There will be no evil.
What is in the New Jerusalem is central.
The river of the water of life, the tree of life, and the throne and presence of God himself.
John wants us not to focus on the human understanding of what the city looks like but to understand what it means.
John’s vision is of a Jerusalem which is “new” in the sense of being fresh, clean, and different.
The NT speaks in the same way of the new covenant and the new commandment (Jn 13:34; Heb 8:8), the new creation and the new man (2 Cor 5:17; Eph 2:15).
John’s vision brings out the same truth by telling of seven things that will never exist “in the new heaven and earth:
There will be no more sea, no more death, sorrow, crying, or pain, no more curse, no more night (Rv 21:1, 4; 22:3, 5).
All will be new and different.
It exists here and now because it is a spiritual truth, not a material one.
It is always “coming down … out of heaven” precisely because it comes to men “from God” (21:2).
The New Jerusalem then is the community of Christ and his people, which will appear in its perfection only when this age has come to an end. Yet in another sense, Christians belong to it already, and it gives them both an ideal to strive for in this world and a hope to anticipate in the next.