Mount Zion
The Dwelling Place of God

Text: Psalms 87: l-7

      "His Foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah. I will make mention of rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said, this and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, and this man was born there. Selah. As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee."

        Our subject in this part of the study is Zion, Mother of Saints. The Psalmist introduces to us the metephorical picture of Zion as the mother of the saints, Gods elect covenantal sons and daughters. This is a sufficiently large enough study that we could have a series of messages devoted strictly to it. We shall attempt to present in captular fashion basically what the scriptures present to us along these lines. The scriptures present the imagery of Zion as the mother or a mother of children, the sons and daughters of Zion. I want to read a number of scriptures which set forth that notion.

        Psalms 9:l3-l4
      "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death. That I may show forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation."

        Psalm l49:2
      "Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their king."

        Well, beloved, if Zion has children, if Zion has daughters, then Zion is the mother of these children. We are talking about Zion, the mother of saints.

        Song of Solomon 3:ll
      "Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart."

        Isaiah 37:22
      "This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee."

        Now these words were spoken with reference to Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and this is what the Lord said, "The virgin, the daughter of Zion hath laughed thee to scorn." This was concerning the victory the Lord gave the Southern kingdom over Sennacherib in the days of Hezekiah.

        Isaiah 62:ll
      "Behold the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him."

        Earlier we talked about Zion, the city of salvation. Does that sound familiar. Its quoted in the book of Revelation. It says when He comes, he brings his reward with him to give every man according to his works.

        Joel 2:23
      "Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month."

        Micah 4:8
      "And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem."

        Zephaniah 3:l4
      "Sing, O daughter of Zion: shout, O daughter of Zion: shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem."

        Zechariah 2:l0
      "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. We talked about Zion being the dwelling place of Jehovah."

        Zechariah 9:9
      "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy king cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."

        That, of course, is quoted as being fulfilled with reference to the triumphal entrance of Christ when he entered into Jerusalem at the beginning of the passover week there just before his crucifixion.

        Zechariah 9:l3
      "When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man."

        This verse speaks of the sons of Zion. So we have reference made time and time again in the old testament to the daughter, sons, and children of Zion. So if Zion has children, then Zion mothers them, does she not. You remember that Zion became a synonym, became synonymous for Jerusalem, talked about Salem, the ancient name for Jerusalem, Zion being one of the hills on which Jerusalem was built. We find the apostle Paul in the book of Galations says:

        Galations 4:25-26
      "And this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all."

        So this is what we are talking about. Zion is pictured in the book of Isaiah chapter 66, as the mother of these children. These children beloved are the covenantal saints of God who are going to inherit the kingdom. We have the picture here of Zion bearing her children, nursing her children, playing with her children and comforting her children.

        Isaiah 66:7
      "Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?

        Folks we may be getting ahead of ourselves, but I think that is talking about the resurrection. The earth travailing and bringing forth. "Or shall a nation be born at once." And how has this verse been dealt with for years and years popularly. Well back over there May, whatever it was, l948, Israel was granted their independence and a nation was born in a day. Folks that's not what it's talking about. Its talking about the resurrection. It's a rhetorical question. The answer is obvious. Yes! It shall be born in a day, in the resurrection. "For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children." Zion had some children folks. Zion is going to have some children in the resurrection.

        Isaiah 66:9
      "Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? Saith the Lord; shall I cause to bring forth and shut the womb? Saith thy God. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:"

        So we have Zion here spoken of as bearing children, now we have Zion spoken of as nursing those children.

        Isaiah 66:ll
      "That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory."

        We have here the picture of small children nursing. This is the picture we have of Zion, bearing and nursing her children.

        Isaiah 66:l2
      "For thus saith the Lord, Behold I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream; then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees."

        We have here a beautiful picture, of Zion bearing her children, nourishing her children, comforting her children. How many time have we seen Mama carrying that little baby on her side; working in the kitchen, or got something going in one hand, but she's got the baby here. This is the graphic picture we have of Zion, nourishing her children. It says ye shall be borne upon her sides; we know what that's talking about, we've seen it. Here, too we see a picture of Mama playing with the little fellow. Here we see Zion, cherishing her children. The Hebrew word for dandle is a very long word, but it means to stroke, overspread, to be smoothed or caressed. Here we have a tender and very gentle picture of a mother comforting, nourishing, caressing, all the things that a mama does for those little children and then he says:

        Isaiah 66:l3-l4
      "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And when ye see this your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb; the hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies."

        Beloved his servants are going to be born in Zion. His enemies are going to be quenched with fiery judgment. What a beautiful picture we have of the motherhood of Zion, bearing children in the resurrection. Now, let's go back to:

        Psalm 87:2-4
      "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah. I will make mention of Rehab and Babylon to them that know me."

        I scratch my head over this verse of scripture for many years and wondered what does Rehab have to do with this. The rest made sense. The only Rehab I could assume it was talking about, was Rehab, in Joshua. But alas, the word is a different word, the Hebrew word here was a political name for Egypt and so you can just supplant the word Egypt and it makes a lot more sense.

        Verse 4
      "I will make mention of Egypt and Babylon. Behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there."

        Now beloved, I want you to notice here, there is special emphasis put upon the fact that there are those that are born in Zion and those who are not. Egypt, Babylon, Philistia, Trye and Ethopia; these were nations, gentile nations around Israel, but the comment is made here, I will make mention of these other people to them that know me; this man was born here, in Zion.

        Verse 5
      "And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her; and the highest himself shall establish her."

        Now, this is the way I see it; it's a very special thing to be born in Zion and Zion is going to bear her children on the resurrection morning when the Lord comes in that first resurrection. They are going to be zionites, and they are going to live and dwell in Zion. And Philistia, Egypt, Tyre and Ethopia and Babylon, these other folks, they are going to populate the world, and those who live in Zion are going to rule over them. The scriptures speak of the nations and its my firm conviction that if we are not born in Zion, we are going to assume or wear our nationality out there, whatever it might have been, among the nations. You see the scriptures speak of the nation which enters into the city, Isaiah 26:22 (open ye the gate that the righteousness nation may enter in) and then Isaiah tells us that the Nations (in the plural) shall bring their wealth, their riches, their pomp and glory to the city and lay them at the feet of the saints. That is the reason the gates of the city are never closed because they are never gonna quit bringing all those goodies in there. Isaiah says the gates will be left open so the nations can continue to bring their wealth in. Here's the question; are we going to be born of Zion?

        Verse 6
      "The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah."

        Beloved, the Lord is the one going to do the choosing. Only those who are qualified will be in this first resurrection. Only those qualified will be born in Zion.

        Isaiah 26:l7-21
      Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O Lord. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be over-past. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain."

        Judgment is coming for the world, but in Zion, there is safety and security. The resurrection of the saints is consistently portrayed as a birth, both old and new testaments. Amazingly, traditional bible expositors and a great majority of our Baptist brethren who have been persuaded thereby, have rejected this truth. Why? Because it would force them to give up the false doctrine of the new birth, which they are so consumed with.

        Psalm 2:7
      "I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee."

        Folks, that's talking about the resurrection of Christ.

        Acts l3:33
      "God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou are my Son, this day have I begotten thee."

        Beloved Paul says the resurrection of Christ was the fulfillment of Psalms second verse.

        Colossians l:l8
      "And he is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence."

        Can't you get the idea from this that the resurrection is likened unto a birth? He's the firstborn from the dead. As soon as Zion prevailed, she brought forth her children. Brethren, why are other brethren so afraid of this? Because it would mess up their little theological playhouse. It would tear them up; they would have to re-think all their theology, they'd have to re-write all their Sunday school literature, tear up all their old sermons and get it right. Can't do it; can't turn loose of it. You cannot find anywhere in the scripture, not anywhere, where the first faith experience is likened to a birth. No place in the scripture can you find the first faith experience being compared to a birth.

        Revelation l:5
      "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the firstborn from the dead."

        You go to Romans the eighth chapter and the scripture talks about the earth groaning and travailing. The picture there is of the earth groaning as a woman nearing her hour of child-birth. It says groans and travails with pain, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies. That is when the sons of Zion are born.
        This is what the apostle Paul was talking about in the book of Philippians the third chapter; I'm giving you some stuff here. The first time you hear it you might not appreciate it. In these verses l0-ll, Paul says that I may know him. We know that he was not talking about knowing him as his personal saviour. Paul wrote this book after he had made three missionary journey's, close to the end of his ministry.

        Philippians 3:l0-ll
      "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."

        Now I'm not here to give a Greek lesson, but I want to say something. Paul uses a very interesting expression in the Greek new testament. He uses a compound form of the word resurrection, "unastosis" is resurrection. The prefix is "unastosis" with the Greek "ek," which becomes "ex," a little change because of the rule of smoothness in Greek, from "ek" to "ex." But this means out of, so the compound means a resurrection out of. If he was going to resurrect all of them, he would not have said it that way. Furthermore, he says, not the resurrection of the dead, poor translation, but resurrection out of the dead. Does that not suggest there are going to be some left down there. One of the translators gave the impression that this suggested a resurrection out of, from among the dead ones, and I do subscribe to that. Why would he have twice used a form of "ex" which means out of, from within? So Paul says here he is living in anticipation of a resurrection out of, or from among the dead because he knew that some of them were not gonna be raised, at least not at that point.
        Brethren, participation in this resurrection is limited to the saints of God, it is limited to those who have qualified themselves for it; the Lord himself shall raise up his people. This man was born in Zion, that man was born in Zion. Brethren, throughout eternity, the children of Zion are going to be recognized as those who gave their lives in service to the Lord.