The Church of God Is Heavenly Zion

from Google Images

For several months I have been studying and writing about the nature of the Kingdom of God, and I have concluded that it is a spiritual Kingdom, and there is absolutely no Biblical foundation for a future physical Kingdom of God, in which a physical Jesus would return from the heavens to the earth, specifically to Jerusalem, and reign either 1000 years, or forever. The predominant futurist view of eschatology is just that, i.e. to look for the future coming of a physical Jesus. Some may not call his reign physical, but whatever could you call it, if Jesus were in a physical body and reigned from physical Jerusalem, located in the Middle East? There are exceptions to this point of view, but all positions agree that ‘coming’ as man was a real, physical event, and there will be a personal, visible (i.e. physical), glorious, and objective Second Coming.

My own studies during these past few months is that the New Testament writers interpret the Old Testament prophecies in a radically different manner than do our modern futurist camps. However, before I close my studies of the nature of the Kingdom of God, I would like to consider some of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Zion, beginning with:

And it shall be, in the last days the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it. And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go out the Law, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.  (Isaiah 2:2-3; emphasis mine)

This is a prophecy for the last days, which I have already concluded were the last days of the nation of physical Israel during the first century AD. They were concluded in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Peter spoke of the last days being fulfilled during his life time, as the Lord poured out his Spirit upon his people (Acts 2:17). Paul spoke of the last days being difficult times full of ungodliness (2Timothy 3:1). They were the times of Jesus’ own ministry (Hebrews 1:2), and included the times scoffers mocked at Peter’s testimony (2Peter 3:3). Therefore, we can say that the last times roughly included a period of about forty years which occurred just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, and it was “in these last days” that the word of the Lord would flow “out of Zion… from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:2-3).

Paul tells us that at the time when he wrote to the Colossians, with the Temple still standing, all the new moons, Sabbath days and Feast days (including the sacrifices incorporated in them) were but types or shadows of better things (Colossians 2:16-17), and they pointed to Christ—the Reality that cast the shadows. The point is this. If all the worship done under the Old Covenant was but a shadow, having a meaning that pointed to better things, what would that imply about the physical Temple where the worship was celebrated? Would it also be a shadow or a type of something better?

Now the sum of the things which we have spoken is this: We have such a High Priest, who has sat down on the right of the throne of the Majesty in Heaven, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. (Hebrews 8:1-2; emphasis mine)

So, not only did all the worship done under the Old Covenant foreshadow something better under the New Covenant, but also the physical Temple was a shadow of the heavenly Sanctuary or “the true Tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man!” What does all this tells us?

We, thus, conclude that Zion, out of which “the word of the Lord flows” (Isaiah 2:2-3) is a spiritual city, i.e. physical Zion, Jerusalem was but a shadow of the heavenly Zion. The writer of Hebrews testified that we have no enduring (physical) city (Hebrews 13:14) and he sought one to come, i.e. future to him who wrote in the first century AD (viz. Revelation 21:1-3). That is, we have come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. We have come to the assembly and church of the First Born – Jesus (Hebrews 12:22-23). It is the Church of God that is the city of the Living God. The Church of God is heavenly Zion.