Mount Zion
The Dwelling Place of God

Text: Psalms 48:ll-l4 & Isaiah 26:l-2

        In this part of the study, we will talk about Zion, the City of Salvation.

        Psalm 48:ll-14
      "Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments. Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death."

        Isaiah 26:l-2
      "IN THAT day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in."

        I want you to notice with particular attention; He said, we have a strong city. Salvation will God appoint for bulwarks.

        Isaiah 60:l8
      "Violence shall no more be heard in they land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shall call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates praise."

        The fifth installment of this series of messages concerns itself with the covenantal salvation of God's covenant people which is symbolically represented by Zion. I think its very important that we come to a proper understanding of the term salvation, as it's used in the scriptures. You have to be very careful making statements like this in different places, but at Faith Baptist Church, I believe we understand that salvation as it occurs in the scriptures. The greater majority of the time, probably 99 times out of l00, if not 99.9% of the time they are dealing with the covenant salvation of God's people. The scriptures here, beloved, declare to us that we have a city, we have a strong city, and the walls of this city, we are told, are salvation. We are going to find that this Zion is the city of the saved, if you want to put it that way. Now out there in the world people don't understand what we are talking about. Yes, there are nations that are going to walk in the light of the city, but beloved, the great emphasis of the scripture when talking about salvation, is this great salvation that we have referred to in the book of Hebrew, this common salvation that we have referred to in the book of Jude and on we could go. But first of all I want us to think again and remind ourselves of what we have said about Zion, because it's very important that we understand first of all the historical significance of Zion. You cannot understand the symbolism of a symbol unless you first of all understand the imagery. I realize that we have had some folks here for all the messages, and some just part of them, so we can recompilate a little, not as much as we did earlier, but just a little.
        You remember as we began to talk about Zion in the scriptures that we said that first and foremost, Zion was a physical fortress. As we go back and study this, we made reference to the fact that Zion was located at the same place as Jerusalem, and originally Zion was inhabited by the Jebusites.

        Joshua l5:63
      "As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out, but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day."

        Zion which was originally a mountain and upon which the Jebusites had established a fortress there, because of its natural situation and so forth, was evidently a good stronghold, easy to defend. Remember it was not until years later, at the outset of David's reign, whenever he accended to the throne over the entire nation of Israel, having previous ruled seven years over Judah, that he went up to Zion and the Jebusites said, Oh, Oh, you're not coming in here, this is our place. David went in and he drove them out. David established his throne there and therefore Zion became known as the City of David.
        We are also told in II Chronicles that David, having taken the fortress, expanded it, built upon it, built a fortress there.

        I Chronicles ll:4-9
      "And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus: where the Jebusites were, who were the inhabitants of the land. And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David. And David said whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first, shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up and was chief. And David dwelt in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David. And he built the city round about, even from Millo round about; and Joab repaired the rest of the city. So David waxed greater and greater; for the Lord of hosts was with him."

        The point is this, what was Zion. It was a stronghold, it was a fortress. We read in Psalms that it had towers, bulwarks, and palaces. It was a fortified place, a secure place, a safe place. It was associated with Jerusalem and later the term Zion became a synonym for Jerusalem. Now, I have said all that to say this. Zion is the stronghold of God's covenant people. It is the place of safety and security; therefore it is the city of God's salvation. We have a strong city, wherein God has placed walls and bulwarks. We have mentioned the association between Zion and Jerusalem and we will take this a step further.

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

        Now where is Salem? You remember us talking about Salem. Salem is the ancient name for Jerusalem. Jeru means city. Jerusalem means city of Salem.
        The word Salem comes from the Hebrew word Shalom, which literally means to be whole, to be safe. Once again we see the connection between Zion and Jerusalem and it being a place of safety and security for God's covenant people. So Zion is a fortress, a place of safety and security.
        So back to Psalms 48:ll-l4 and Isaiah 26:l-2, we read about a Zion that also has walls. So four things we want to think about. Zion has palaces, Zion has walls, Zion has towers, and Zion has bulwarks. The palaces were the interior secured places where from the royal family ruled. It was a royal city. He mentions these palaces in verse l3. The walls were for the purpose of securing the outer perimeter of the city, keeping the enemy outside. Think about that! In ancient times, the walls of a city were very important for protection. No airplanes, no rockets. Good strong walls were essential to its protection. We are told that salvation, Isaiah 60:l8 - "Thou shall call thy walls salvation and thy gates praise." He mentions that Zion had towers. The towers were for observation and keeping a watchful eye out for approaching danger. You could see the enemy from a long ways away. You could also be in a position to hurl injurious objects at the enemy. Then there were bulwarks. I'm not real sure what these were, but one Hebrew lexicographer ascribes to them the notion of trenches of fortification. He said they were trenches that were dug around the outer perimeter of the city. So they had to go down through the trenches and then up over the walls to get to the city. So we see that Zion was a thoroughly fortified city. Remember once again, Salem coming from Shalom - safe. Beloved, we are talking about the city of Salvation, safety and protection for God's covenant people.
        The covenantal saints of God are secure within the walls of Zion, the reason being that the Lord himself has fortified that city and the Lord himself has declared that he will fight for that city.

        Isaiah 3l:4-5
      "For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion, and for the hill thereof. As birds flying so shall the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem: defending also he will deliver it, and passing over, he will preserve it."

        We read in the book of Revelation chapters 2l and 22 about the new Jerusalem. Folks this is Zion.

        Isaiah 46:l2-l3
      "Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory."

        Where is salvation? In Zion.

        Isaiah 28:l6
      "Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion."

        Folks, I don't know how many times I've heard that scripture read and talked about and applied to the Lord's new testament church and verily that's what it's talking about, but I don't ever remember anybody standing up and telling me where that foundation stone was laid in Zion. Because beloved, that's the place that David made a place of God's habitation. It was so in the old testament and it is so now and as we talked about earlier, the scriptures tell us that we have come to Mount Zion. The last part of the verse:

      "Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste."

        Now we talked about that verse before and purposely left off the last part, he that believeth shall not make haste. I read that once before and thought to myself, what has that got to do with anything. What does that mean. Well you go over here to Peter.

        I Peter 2:6
        "Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall be confounded."

        God wanted us to get this Zion thing down, or he would not have said it so many times and in so many different ways. As I have said many times, if it's worth saying, its worth saying twice when it comes to God's word. "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone."
        We've talked about this before so we will not spend a lot of time on it. But we know what it's talking about; the establishment of the Lord's church as his dwelling place and habitation in this dispensation. "Ye are come unto Mount Zion." We are talking about Zion, as the city of God's salvation. And he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded.
        Isaiah said "he that believeth shall not make haste;" Peter said "he that believeth on him shall not be confounded." Now then, you can research that word haste, you'll find that word in Hebrew means to flee, as from danger. He that believeth has no reason to flee. Folks we are talking about continual believing, walking by faith, living by faith, doing by faith. Peter gives you a little bit more, he says:

        I Peter 2:7
      "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious:"

        He's not talking about that guy who trusted in the Lord twenty years ago and never has darkened the Lord's house since. The Lord's not precious to those people:

      " ...but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation."

        You are a chosen generation, as opposed to those who are dis-believing, etc. He that believeth will not need to make haste, will not need to flee, as if from danger. He that believeth will not have to run and hide in the rocks and mountains. He will be safe. Folks, we are talking here about the judgment and wrath of Almighty God and the only folks who will be safe will be those who have identified themselves with Zion.

        Isaiah 28:l7-22
      "Judgment also will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through; then ye shall be trodden down by it. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report. For the bed is shorter that that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. For the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest you bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth."

        Brethren, let's put it in prospective. The scripture, all the way through, speak of Zion as a fortified city, a place of safety and security. It is a kingly place, a royal city, from which the king rules; it is a fortified place. It is a city that God has said he will fight for. Isaiah said that. God has said that he will establish the wall of salvation around this city, so beloved, if you want this covenantal salvation, its on the inside of the city. The Lord has said that he will place salvation in Zion. Even the word, Salem comes from the Hebrew word, Shalom, which means to be or to make safe. Now, beloved, just think about this. We talk about all these protestants out there being saved and I don't have any problem using that terminology as long as people understand the context in which it's being used, and yes, the Lord says to the nations, "Look unto me all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved." Once again, you have to look at the context and see what be saved from what. The great message of God's word beloved, is a message of salvation to his covenant people. He said "Come unto me that YOU may be saved. Saved from my wrath, saved from my judgment. He that believeth shall not make haste, and what does Paul say in the book of Hebrews second chapter. "How shall WE escape if WE neglect so great a salvation?" There it is, its that simple.