Mount Zion
The Dwelling Place of God

Text: Psalm 2:6 & 76:2

        Psalm 2:6
      "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion."

        I read this verse of scripture at the outset because it identifies Zion as God's holy hill, and that is our subject this morning. The reason Zion is a holy place is because it is said to be the dwelling place of Jehovah.

        Psalms 76:l-2
      "In Judah is God known; his name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion."

        We have no question, the scripture declare to us that God's dwelling place in Zion. We know there are other scriptures that declare to us that heaven is God's throne and the earth his footstool, but we are speaking here in reference as to God's dwelling here upon earth. What I want to do now, is make a connection between Salem and Zion. I want to talk a little about Salem, because Salem and Zion are one and the same place. I want to talk a little about the historical development of Salem, how that Salem eventually becomes Jerusalem. Look at the word Jerusalem and without the first five letters, you have Salem. Zion is associated with Salem by location. Salem is Jerusalem. We are going to prove that from the scriptures. The Psalmist here declares that God's tabernacle is in Salem and his dwelling place in Zion, so there is definitely a connection between the two. The logical question is - what is the connection? Well I've already given you a hint; Salem was the earliest name for Jerusalem. Jerusalem means, the city of Salem. Salem was a place and we are going to find in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, where lived a man name Melchizedek, who was the priest of the most high God, and later when Salem became a city, its name was changed to Jerusalem. Salem was Jerusalem, before it became a city. It's name was changed.

        Genesis l4:l8
      "And Melchizedek, king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God."

        Now this was during the time of Abraham; and he blessed him, that is Abraham, and said blessed be Abram, of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the most high God which has delivered thine enemies into thy hand, and he gave him tithes of all; that is Abraham gave Melchizedek tithes of all.

        Verses 21-24
      "And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth. That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich. Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Abner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion."

        So Melchizedek was king and priest of Salem. The Hebrew word translated Salem here means whole, perfect, sound, safe; as a matter of fact it was derived from the Hebrew verb, Shalom, to be whole, to be whole, to be safe. Occasionally you hear people use this Hebrew greeting; Shalom. It means peace. To be safe and secure is to be in peace. Some places you may read where the word Jerusalem means city of Peace. But Melchizedek was the priest or the king of Salem. Salem later became the place of God' dwelling. The point I want to leave with you is that it has always been a special place to God, and here we find Abraham encountering this man who was a priest of the most high God; yet he was a priest-king, and as we will point out later, he was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll read in a few moments in the book of Hebrew, seventh chapter, where the apostle Paul gives us a little more information concerning this Melchizedek, but let us talk about what happened in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis for a moment. You may remember that Lot had departed to Sodom, Lot being the nephew of Abraham, and that there was war, a confederacy of kings made war against Sodom and Gomorrah and carried away captives. Among the captives, were Lot and his family so Abram went and he rescued Lot and the others and returned them to Sodom.
        On his way from the return of this victory, he met Melchizedek here in Salem and we find several things here concerning this man in reference to Abraham, the summation of which is very simply this; that Melchizedek ministered to Abram, who was in covenant with God; he ministered to him in the priestly office. He brought forth bread and wine and I can only suppose that he and Abraham shared this and fellowshipped about the things of God. We find that Abraham gave tithes of all that he had to this Melchizedek. We go over into the book of Leviticus and we find that the Levitical priesthood was to be supported by the tithes and offerings of the children of Israel, so Abraham paid respect to him, recognized him as the priest of God, and made offering to him.
        Then we find Melchizedek blessed Abraham.

        Genesis l4:l9
      "And he blessed him, and said blessed by Abram, of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth."

        It seems to me that Melchizedek had much knowledge of God, he was aware of who he was, he was the priest of the most high God, and he ministered in a priestly way to Abraham and Abraham recognized and honored him, by giving him tithes of all he had.
        You say why go into all this with reference to Zion. Well once again Psalm 76:2; in Salem also is his tabernacle. To know what this means, you must go back and research Salem, find out where Salem was. In Salem also is his tabernacle. In Jeru-salem we can say it's that way. Melchizedek was king and priest in this same place.

        Hebrew 6:l7-20
      "Wherin God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."

        So we see that the priesthood of Melchisedec was typical of that of Christ. He was the forerunner, the prototype if you will. A prototype is a model that is built of anticipation of the development of something that is to come. Melchisedec was a prototype of the priest-hood of Christ. This is what the priesthood of Christ is suppose to be like, so we are told here that he was the forerunner.

        Hebrew 7:l-3
      "For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is King of peace; Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually."

        Now there has been much conjecture concerning this Melchisedec, some have made the argument that he was an angel, some that he was Christ himself, others make the argument he is merely a man. He is a very curious figure.
        My own personal viewpoint is that he was a man; as to his origin, as to what happened to him, the scriptures don't tell us. I don't know, but he was a priest of God and he ministered to Abraham, and as a result, he is a picture and a type of Christ, according to what the scripture tells us. But, he ministered to Abram, who was in covenant with God, and beloved Christ does the same thing for his covenant people today; he offers priestly services and a priestly ministering to those who are in covenant with him. He is the high priest over the house of God, whose house are we, IF, we hold fast the confidence and the hope firm until the end, the scriptures tell us. So the writer tells us that this Melchisidec was a prototype of the priesthood of Christ.

        Hebrew 7:4-5
      "Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham."

        You can see readily what the argument of the apostle Paul was here in the book of Hebrews. He was writing to Hebrew church saints and they had a hang-up here concerning the priesthood of Christ and that hang-up was this; that Christ was not a Levi. He was born of the tribe of Judah and their argument was that he was not a Levi, he could not be a priest and certainly not the high priest; so Paul's argument here was, Christ was a priest after the order of Melchisedec. Melchisedec was not a Levi. The Levites had not even born. In fact Melchisedec priesthood was superior to that of Levi's because Levi's paid tithes to Melchisedec. How could that be? Jacob or Isaac had not even been born yet. So Paul makes the declaration here in verse 7: "Without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better." Who was the less in this situation? Abraham, or Levi. He was blessed by Melchisedec.

        Hebrew 7:8-l0
      "And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him."

        Now beloved, you think about that. That is some pretty profound reasoning when you think about it. Paul's argument was that Levi paid tithes before he was ever born, being in the loins of his father Abraham.

        Hebrew 7:l4-l7
      "It is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And it is yet far more evident, for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest. Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."

          Well, not where did he testifiy this. If you go back to the ll0th Psalm, you will find that the apostle Paul was here quoting from David.

        Psalm ll0
      "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning; thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent. Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries. He shall drink of the brook in the way; therefore shall he lift up the head."

        So the David says in this fourth verse; "The Lord hath sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedek"; and David quotes it in seventh chapter of Hebrew and he tell us this is in reference to Christ. Now go back to the fourteenth chapter of the book of Genesis and remember what we read at the outset; we keep coming back to it, and in Psalms 76:2 - "In Salem also is his tabernacle." Here's old Abraham, and he is returning from the slaughter of the kings and he comes to this place called Salem and he just happens to bump into this fellow called Melchisedec. Don't you just love the way the Lord works things out. Here Abraham is and bumps into Melchisedec, who is the king of Salem and priest of the most high God; and Melchisedec ministers to Abraham, bringing forth bread and wine. This sounds like the Lord's supper to me. Beloved, Christ is the high priest over the house of God; Melchisedec ministered to Abram who was in covenant with God; Christ ministers, (he's a high priest, that's what a high priest does) to the spiritual needs of those who are in covenant with him, that is his body, the church, whose house are we. What all does a high priest do? He ministers to the people, he blesses the people, he receives offerings of the people; these are all characteristic of the priesthood we find under the terms of the Levitical order as well. We find Melchisedec, well before Levi came along, ministering to Abraham, who was in covenant with the Lord. We find the church is in this position to be ministered unto. Christ is her high priest.

        Hebrew 3:l-6
        "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man, but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end."

        Hebrew l0:l9-21
      "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God."

        What! Over the house of God? Who is the house of God? We are, if we meet the conditions. If we hold fast the confidence firm until the end.

        Verse 22
      "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."

        I have told you before, the Greek text there is not bodies, but the BODY, singular. The body of us, talking about the church body. The body of us, washed with pure water; it's not that its your body, and your body is washed; its that you are identified with the body that has been washed. If you are not in that body, you do not have that washing.

        Verse 23
      "Let us hold fast to the profession of our faith."

        Just recently I realized, looking at this verse of scripture, that the word faith is not the word faith, the Greek literally means, "the hope." Let us hold fast the profession of our hope, without wavering. Look at it; don't take my word for it. Study it yourself. The reference that I made recently concerning the body of us, first fellow I heard mention that, was Bro. Edward Byrd, preaching a sermon in St. Louis at a fellowship meeting. I don't think he actually preached that but he mentioned that to me later; he said go look at it some time in your new testament, and he knew I would appreciate that. I encourage you to do likewise. Let us hold fast to that hope. Beloved, the hope is that first resurrection in the kingdom, when God's saints shall be established in Zion. We will find that Zion, beloved, is associated with, in fact synonymous with brideship and covenant blessings, and the kingdom. It is so large, so all encompassing and we will eventually get to that.

        But in Hebrew l2:22
      "But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. To the general assembly and church of the firstborn which is written in heaven."

        YE ARE COME. And unto the church of the firstborn, which I have told you before means first born ones. I used to think that meant firstborn one, firstborn one meaning Christ, but, the firstborn ones - "which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel."
        Now then, let us just briefly summarize. We read Psalm 76:2 - "In Salem is his tabernacle." We know what Salem is - Jerusalem. It was the original name of Jerusalem. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place is in Zion. We have learned that Zion is a term that was originally applied to Mount Zion, one of the mountains upon which Jerusalem was built; it was the tallest and southern most mountain upon which Jerusalem was build, and later it came to mean and to be a term synonymous with all Jerusalem. It encompassed Mount Moriah where the temple was, all the area. And God declared in Psalm 2:6 - "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill, Zion." We have said Zion was originally the city of David. It was the place from which David ruled and it becomes symbolic of the place from which Christ and the saints shall rule. So ultimately, it becomes synonymous with the bride of Christ herself and in the book of Isaiah, the people of the Lord are referred to as Zion.