Why Is Zion So Important in Scripture?
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The name “Zion” shows up in the Bible, beginning with David and through Israel and Judah’s kings. For those not as familiar with the prophets, Jewish history, and geography, Zion almost sounds like a term for heaven.
Over the past couple of years, modern movements have used the name, further confusing the idea. Zionists could be those supporting a Jewish state in the Middle East. Sadly, white supremacist groups have also attached the name to organizations.
Should we therefore reject the name completely for its worldly – or even at times, evil – associations? As usual, the enemy likes to confuse and deceive, to steal and destroy what God means for blessing. We need to dig further into the Bible to see God’s heart and purpose for Zion.
Where Does the Bible Talk about Zion?
In the original Hebrew, the word Tziyon refers to a fortress or a high point, and it was associated with Jerusalem. The root word might come from a term meaning “dry” or “parched place,” because of the hilly, rocky area surrounding the city. The concept of Zion also changed over time.
The first direct mention of Zion happens in 2 Samuel 5:7. “Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, which is the City of David.” The passage shares how David conquered Jerusalem from the Gentile people, the Jebusites. The Jebusites had controlled this fortified city even after Israel controlled the Promised Land. Supposedly, no one could conquer the city, but David did, establishing Israel’s capital there and solving national divisions since no tribe could claim it as their own.
Since David eventually moved the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, and Solomon built the Temple there, Zion started to represent a bigger idea: the dwelling place of God’s presence on earth. “For the Lord has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his dwelling, saying, ‘This is my resting place forever and ever; here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it” (Psalm 132:13-14).
Therefore, the Psalms continue to describe Zion as a place of rejoicing and protection. Psalm 48:2 says, “Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.” Zion began to be known as the joy of the whole earth, a standard of refuge and holiness. These passages paint Jerusalem as a new Eden of sorts.
However, just like Eden, the Jews lost their access to Zion – Jerusalem – due to their idolatry and sin. But God promised to bring them back, and Zion expands to symbolize God’s future restoration. “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it” (Isaiah 2:2-3). The exile hadn’t even happened yet in Isaiah 2, yet God still promised a great redemption. Jerusalem didn’t sit on a high mountain, more a hill, but Isaiah 2 declares an amazingly high and visible place. In addition, this new and future Zion will be home to all nations, not just Israel.
God even promises to include the sick and lame, people the Jews considered cursed. Micah 4:7 includes this promise: “I will make the lame my remnant, and those driven away a strong nation. The Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from that day and forever.” A later prophet, Micah’s Zion symbolizes an eternal kingdom of God, where he reigns over a redeemed, healed nation of former outcasts.
Zion begins as a physical place, the City of David, but through the growing prophecies about the Son of David, the Messiah, coming to establish a forever kingdom, Zion becomes a symbol of both the physical city and a heavenly reality.
The Jews and early church would have had these ideas in mind when Jesus comes on the scene.
The Old Testament Zion and the New Testament New Jerusalem
Jesus and the early church apostles use the idea of Zion to explain and understand a New Jerusalem, one being built in heaven to be manifest here on earth at the end times.
Psalm 125:1 declares Zion as a place and a people, giving the New Testament writers proof of God’s unfolding plan. “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.” The people are like a city, the psalmist says.
Writing to the Jews, the author of Hebrews continues with this idea in 12:22. “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” The New Testament began making a distinction between the earthly Jerusalem, the physical place, and a heavenly reality. Mount Zion here represents the truth of God dwelling with his people spiritually in the Kingdom of God.
Paul delineates between the two covenants, the old and the new, as slave and free. Hagar symbolizes the slave and Sarah the free. In the argument, Paul contrasts the Jerusalem from above and below. “But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all” (Galatians 4:26). The Law leads to slavery, while the new covenant brings freedom in Christ. In Philippians 3:20, Paul tells us our citizenship is in heaven, encouraging us to live as heavenly people. Christians are living stones built together as God’s house (1 Peter 2:5).
At the end of the Bible, Revelation reveals the New Jerusalem descending down from heaven as a bride, a people. “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God … Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them” (Revelation 21:2-3). The New Jerusalem on the new earth fulfills the promise of Old Testament Zion. The old Jerusalem could be destroyed, and was. The New Jerusalem is eternal, perfect, filled with people of all nations and God’s glory.
How Have Some Groups Improperly Used the Term Zion?
Unfortunately, despite the hopeful and pure idea of biblical Zion, some groups have misused the word to promote political or racist ideologies.
Some white supremacist or nationalist groups have adopted the term Zion. Some extremist Christian movements claim Zion belongs to white Europeans, teaching evil doctrines about race and God’s chosen people. Groups like the Christian Identity movement twist and misrepresent verses to say only certain races are part of God’s Kingdom, which directly contradicts the Bible. Salvation is open to all nations (Galatians 3:28, Revelation 7:9).
Other conspiracy theorists spread anti-Semitic ideas like “Zionist Occupied Government” myth that claims Jews control all the world governments in secret, misusing and abusing the term Zion, ignoring the biblical meaning.
The modern Jewish Zionist movement began in the late 1800s, and it worked to establish a Jewish homeland in historical Israel. This Zionism has become more political than religious or spiritual, equating Zion with power and earthly government. Some extremists within political Zionism use biblical language to support political actions or violence, ignoring calls to justice, mercy, and peace (Micah 6:8). While the idea of a Jewish homeland is understandable given Jewish history, turning Zion into a purely political concept misrepresents the biblical truth.
As happens in the world, people appropriate a spiritual idea for selfish or worldly purposes. Zion represents God’s presence, his protection, and the promise of a future Kingdom for all who follow God through Christ. When groups twist this to justify exclusion, oppression, or agendas, they resist biblical truth.
The biblical idea of Zion can’t coexist with racial superiority, since all nations will be included by grace and faith in Christ and the New Jerusalem.
What Can Christians Today Learn from the Biblical Zion?
First, we must resist any attempt at taking the Kingdom ideas, heaven manifested on earth, to justify any corruption or worldly agenda, especially racism.
God loves the whole world and seeks their salvation, even at great cost to himself (John 3:16). He longs to dwell with his people, and therefore Scriptures about Zion teach us about his love and ultimate goal — right relationship with us. His promise and plan is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who came as Immanuel, God with us, to bring the Father to those who would believe. Instead of a physical temple, we become God’s dwelling place in the new covenant. “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). We don’t need to go to a specific place to worship and experience God, but born-again people have become his dwelling place, both individually and corporately.
Zion also symbolizes God’s protection over us. The City of David wasn’t easily defeated. With thick walls located up on a hill with the high ground, Jerusalem stood as a fortress. While that physical city could be defeated and destroyed, Zion represents our unshakable victory in Christ, a kingdom which cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:28). We will face spiritual battles and opposition, but in Jesus, we have a refuge which can’t be defeated. With God in our midst, he protects us from both physical and spiritual enemies. We don’t have to live in a specific place to enjoy this security. We find it in God our fortress and defender.
As we new-creation-believers will be the eternal dwelling place of God in the final vision of Zion, the New Jerusalem, we should invest in the local church. Serving and living within the faith community has eternal reward and impact, building up within others what will last. We are his home, as a people, and our lives should reflect this truth. Loving the church in unity reveals the Jesus we long to show others (John 17:21) because such unity preaches the present and future reality of God’s desire to live in and through a people.
We taste biblical Zion now with other believers, but one day we will enjoy it in fullness with God.
Peace.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/naruedom
