Zion

Zion was originally the fortified southeastern hill of Jerusalem — the Jebusite stronghold that David captured and made his royal citadel, “the city of David” (2 Samuel 5:7). When David brought up the ark of the covenant and pitched a tent for it on the hill, Zion became the resting place of God’s presence among his people (2 Samuel 6:12). After Solomon built the temple on the adjacent Mount Moriah and moved the ark there (1 Kings 8:1), the name Zion extended to the temple mount and, more broadly, to Jerusalem and the whole people of God.

In the Psalms and Prophets, Zion swells into one of Scripture’s richest theological symbols. It is the city God chose and loves — “the LORD loves the gates of Zion” (Psalms 87:2) — his holy hill where he is enthroned (Psalms 2:6; Psalms 9:11), “the city of the great King,” beautiful in elevation and the joy of all the earth (Psalms 48:1-2). From Zion God shines forth and reigns (Psalms 50:2), and to Zion the redeemed return with everlasting joy (Isaiah 35:10). The prophets summon “the daughter of Zion” to rejoice at her coming King (Zechariah 9:9) and foresee the law going forth from Zion to all nations (Isaiah 2:3).

Zion is also bound up with the gospel’s foundation. Isaiah declared that God lays in Zion “a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone” for a sure foundation — a promise the apostles apply to Christ (Isaiah 28:16; 1 Peter 2:6; Romans 9:33). And “out of Zion shall come the Deliverer” (Romans 11:26).

The New Testament lifts Zion to its ultimate meaning. Believers have come not to the terrifying Mount Sinai but “to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22); John sees the Lamb standing on Mount Zion with the redeemed who bear his name (Revelation 14:1). Zion thus moves from a stony hilltop in Jerusalem to the enduring symbol of God’s dwelling with his redeemed people — the heavenly city that is the goal of all the saints.