"Z" is for Zion

 Unless one of my readers knows of a “Z” name for God, I have been unable to find one.  The word Zion however, has a very Biblical meaning.  In Psalm 87 it states the Lord loves the gates of Zion, and calls it the City of God’.

The word Zion occurs over 150 times in the Bible and is referred to both as the ‘city of God’ and the ‘city of David’.

The name Zion originally referred to an ancient Jebusite fortress, and after David captured this stronghold, it was called the ‘City of David’.  In II Samuel 5:7 it says “Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David.”

In the New Testament the name Zion is given a spiritual meaning as God’s spiritual kingdom, the heavenly Jerusalem.  In Hebrews 12:22 it says “But ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem…”.  When the term “Mount Zion” is used, it usually is referring to the heavenly Zion as in Rev. 14:1 “And I looked and lo, a Lamb (Jesus) stood on Mount Zion…”.

So it is, as the Bible progresses, the word Zion transitions from referring primarily to the physical city of Jerusalem, to the more spiritual context of our future home, the heavenly Jerusalem.

I can think of no better way to end our trip through the alphabet, praising our Adonai, our Immanuel, our Rock, bowing before our Yahweh, than to look forward to the day when we shall march through the gates of Zion; that beautiful city of God.

“We’re marching to Zion,

Beautiful, beautiful Zion,

We’re marching upward to Zion,

The beautiful city of God.”

-----By Robert Lowry