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Scripture Reading: Psa. 122:1; 125:1-2; 127:1; 128:5; 131:2, 132
I. Among the Old Testament types, there is God’s holy city, Jerusalem, and within this city there is a high peak called Zion, on which the temple was built — Psa. 2:6; 125:1:
А. Although God is mysterious and invisible, there are two earthly signs of God’s existence — Zion and Jerusalem.
B. Psalms 120 through 134 indicate that Zion, the center, and Jerusalem, the circumference, remained deeply in the consideration of the people of Israel; they were very concerned for Zion and Jerusalem — 137:1, 5-6.
C. On Mount Zion we have the church — the Body of Christ — and God’s economy for God’s testimony — Heb. 12:18-24.
II. Jerusalem typifies the church, and Mount Zion typifies the overcomers in the church — Psa. 2:6; 20:2; 48:11-12; 53:6a; 87:2:
А. Zion is the highlight of Jerusalem, the beauty of the holy city — 48:2; 50:2.
B. The characteristics, the life, the blessing, and the establishment of Jerusalem come from Zion — 51:18; 102:21; 128:5; 135:21; Isa. 41:27; Joel 3:17.
C. In the New Testament the overcomers are likened to Zion; in Revelation 14:1 the one hundred forty-four thousand overcomers are not just in Jerusalem — they are on the peak of Zion.
D. In the church age the God-men who have been perfected and matured are Zion, the overcomers — v. 1:
1. The church is the heavenly Jerusalem, and the overcomers are Zion as the high peak and the highlight — Heb. 12:22; Rev. 14:1.
2. The church life is today’s Jerusalem, and in the church there must be a group of overcomers; these overcomers are today’s Zion.
3. The overcomers are for the building up of the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem — Rom. 12:4-5; Eph. 4:16; Rev. 3:12.
4. The overcomers conquer the satanic chaos in the old creation and carry out the divine economy for the new creation — 1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:10; 3:9-10; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15.
5. The Lord needs the overcomers to carry out the economy of God to have a Body and to destroy His enemy — Eph. 1:10; 3:9-10; Rev. 12:11.
6. Without the overcomers the Body of Christ cannot be built up, and unless the Body of Christ is built up, Christ cannot come back for His bride — Eph. 4:16; 5:23, 27, 32; Rev. 19:7-9.
E. The Lord’s recovery is to build up Zion — 14:1; Eph. 4:16; Rev. 21:2:
1. Zion is the reality of the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem, and in the Lord’s recovery today we must endeavor to reach this high peak — Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4-6, 16; Rev. 21:2.
2. The highest peak in God’s economy is Zion, the reality of the Body of Christ, and in the church life we need to reach this high peak — Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 1:2; 12:12-13, 27.
3. The reality of the Body of Christ (Zion) is the corporate living of the perfected God-men, who are genuine men but live by the life of the processed and consummated Triune God, whose attributes are expressed through their virtues — Gal. 2:20; Phil. 3:10; 1:19-21a.
F. In the new heaven and new earth, the entire New Jerusalem will become Zion; the New Jerusalem, the eternal Mount Zion, will be the Holy of Holies, the place where God is — Rev. 21:1-2, 16, 22; cf. Ezek. 48:35.
G. The only way to reach the high peak of Zion is by praying; in order to reach Zion by praying, we need to know the significance of prayer for the carrying out of God’s economy — 1 Tim. 1:4; 2:8:
1. Prayer is man breathing God, obtaining God, and being obtained by God; real prayer is an exhaling and inhaling before God, causing us and God to contact each other and to gain each other — 1 Thes. 5:17.
2. Prayer is man cooperating and co-working with God, allowing God to express Himself and His desire from within him and through him and thus accomplish His purpose — Rom. 8:26-27; James 5:17; Eph. 1:16-23; 3:14-21.
III. In the Psalms of Ascents — Psalms 120 through 134 — we see the preciousness of Zion and Jerusalem to the saints; in all these psalms the house and the city are the center:
А. In Psalm 122 we see the saints’ love for the house of God in Jerusalem — v. 1.
B. Psalm 125 speaks concerning Jehovah’s surrounding of His people:
1. Those who trust in Jehovah are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever; they love Mount Zion and liken themselves to Mount Zion — v. 1.
2. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so Jehovah surrounds His people from now and to eternity — v. 2.
C. Psalm 127 reveals Jehovah’s care for and blessing to His people; instead of laboring in ourselves, we should trust in God, for He will take care of us and He will bless us.
D. Psalm 128 speaks of Jehovah’s blessing to Israel from Zion; God always blesses people from Zion, that is, from the overcomers — v. 5; cf. Num. 6:23-27.
E. In Psalm 131 a saint speaks about his humbled heart and quieted soul before Jehovah:
1. The psalmist has calmed and quieted his soul within him; he has been weaned, or stripped, of everything except the Lord — v. 2.
2. When our heart is humbled and our soul is quiet, we are in a condition that is suitable for God to come in to rest — 132:14:
a. In such a situation God can have a resting place, a dwelling — v. 14.
b. Only when we are humble, calm, and quiet is the situation right for God to rise up, enter us, and take us as His resting place; this is Zion becoming God’s habitation, His resting place, as revealed in Psalm 132.
IV. Psalm 132 speaks concerning Jehovah’s habitation and rest in Zion through David (typifying Christ) His anointed:
А. In verses 2 through 5 we see David’s desire for the house of God.
B. David wanted Jehovah to arise and enter with the Ark into His resting place in Zion; today this resting place is the overcomers in the churches — vv. 6-8.
C. Verses 7 and 8 are figurative of the recovery of the church life:
1. The Ark was separated from the tabernacle; this signifies that Christ was with the church but that He has been separated from the church.
2. Now is the time for us all to say, “Arise, O Jehovah, unto Your resting place, / You and the Ark of Your strength” — v. 8.
D. Verses 14 through 18 are Jehovah’s speaking concerning Zion; this is a picture of the top church life — the situation of the overcomers in Zion, the highest peak of God’s mountain:
1. Psalm 132 mentions seven items related to the overcomers: resting in God, dwelling with God (v. 14), food for satisfaction (v. 15), glorious clothing (v. 16), the horn of victory (v. 17), the enlightening lamp (v. 17), and the shining crown (v. 18).
2. These items portray the situation of the overcomers in Zion, the highest peak of God’s mountain.
