Read Psalm 48:1-14
It’s wedding season. You may be going to or are a part of planning one this summer if you haven’t already! On top of that, at Grace Church this week, we’ve been talking about the brutally honest Parable of the Wedding Feast. Believe it or not, this has a lot to do with Mount Zion, but first – what even is Zion?
It isn’t hard to stumble across the word “Zion” in Scripture, especially in the Psalms. It seems to have multiple uses and definitions throughout Scripture though. When first mentioned, Mount Zion was a Jebusite fortress before David captured it (1 Samuel 5:7). This fortress would become the site for the city of Jerusalem where the capital of God’s land was established. Zion/Jerusalem was God’s pride and joy. It was especially cherished by the people of Israel because God’s presence was there!
Zion grew to be used to describe God’s consecrated people as whole. Notice that in Psalm 48:2, it says that Zion is the “joy of all the earth.” As is evident throughout Scripture, the motivation behind God’s choosing Israel was to bring all nations to Himself.[1]
The New Testament uses “Zion” to refer to the New Jerusalem or God’s heavenly kingdom. Today, Christ-followers whether Jew or Gentile have access to the spiritual Zion and thus have direct access to God’s presence! Hebrews 12:22 says to believers, “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.” 
Christians experience this access to God’s presence in a partial sense now in this life, but will enjoy the fullness of His glory in the next life. When Christ returns, we the Church will be united with Him as His bride! The apostle John reports in Revelation 21:2, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” The bride will be dressed in the beautiful righteousness that Jesus traded us in exchange for our sin. He left our sin dead on the cross.
Will you be there dressed for the wedding?
Nathan Harley
[1] Radmacher, Earl D., Ronald B. Allen, and H. W. House. Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999.
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