From the Temple Mount to the New Jerusalem

Zion is a key biblical symbol reflecting God’s presence among his people that was transformed in Jesus Christ as the church became a reflection of the heavenly Zion on earth. Building upon the imagery of Eden, Israel’s experience at Sinai, and the temple in Jerusalem, Zion emerged as the primary symbol of God’s presence and activity among his people and as a reflection of God’s covenant promises to his people. As the symbol developed through the Old Testament, an emerging image of the coming Messiah produced a hope that once again mankind would dwell in the presence of God. Through Jesus’s salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Christians have become the new Zion, a remade people of God on earth who, in an already-not-yet way, are citizens of the new Jerusalem and examples to the world of God’s desire to dwell forever among his most beloved creation.