Prayer: Father, I long to be with You in the city You have built for me. Help me to understand the Zion of old and the Zion of the future. Amen.
Reading: Isaiah 60 key: vs. 14b “They will call you the city of Adonai, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.”
Attention: I once lived in a city (Seattle, WA) which is known as the Emerald City. I have traveled to and visited a nation known as the Emerald Isle (Ireland). Both are known for the lush greenery of their region.
In biblical history, the name “Zion” was mentioned first in the account of David’s conquest of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:6-10; 1 Chronicles 11:4-9). David resided there and changed its name to the “city of David.
“Zion was used by biblical writers in a variety of ways. Many of the psalmists used the term to refer to the temple built by Solomon (2:6; 48:2; 84:7; 132:13). In Isaiah 1:27 the idea of “Zion” included the whole nation. Zion also stood for the capital of Judah (Amos 6:1). The most common usage of Zion was to refer to the city of God in the new age (Isaiah 1:27; 28:16; 33:5). Zion was understood, also, to refer to the heavenly Jerusalem (Isaiah 60:14b; Hebrews 12:32; Revelation 14:1), the place where Messiah would appear at the end of time. The glorification of the messianic community will take place on the holy mountain of “Zion.”” (Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary pg. 1171-2).
The city which Isaiah and the various writers refer to as “Zion” is the same place which Yeshua declares in John 14: 1-4. Adonai is preparing a city, a place, the New Jerusalem, described in Revelation 21-22. John the Revelator describes in detail the “Holy City,” Jerusalem. While John gives us detail upon detail about the New Jerusalem, he records this, “I saw no temple in her, for its Temple is Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot and the Lamb. And the city has no need for the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations shall walk by its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it. Its gates shall never be shut by day, for there shall be no night there! And they shall bring into it the glory and honor of the nations. And nothing unholy shall ever enter it, nor anyone doing what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Book of Life” (Revelation 21: 22-27).
John’s final statement is sobering, “nothing unholy shall ever enter it…, but only those written in the Book of Life.” We are not qualified to enter New Jerusalem, Zion, unless our name is written in the Book of Life. There are no other qualifications, no matter what someone may have told you.
Make sure your name is written in the Book of Life, today.
Action: I choose to follow Yeshua and live for Him.
Yield: I choose to submit to the Lordship of Yeshua.
Engage: I choose to engage in giving my life to the One who gave His life for me.
Relationship: I choose to live in an obedient, holy, intimate relationship with the Messiah.
Prayer: Father, I long to be with You in the city which You have built for those who follow and live for Messiah. Those whose names are written in the Book of Life. Amen.
Memory Verse: Revelation 21:27 “And nothing unholy shall ever enter it, nor anyone doing what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Book of Life.”
Music Video: Lydia Walker—I Have Decided To Follow Jesus https://youtu.be/L7XHeCZB5KU?si=ei22mNQISuZGYOsm
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”