Zion—A Key That Unlocks Bible Prophecy

The word Zion in the Bible is powerful. In prophecy, Zion always applies to God’s own Church. This word will open up many biblical prophecies to your understanding.

Zion was a name for Jerusalem anciently (Isaiah 30:19; 1 Kings 8:1). Micah 4:2 says “the law shall go forth of Zion,” referring to Jerusalem but also to God’s Church, which will rule from Jerusalem in the World Tomorrow. God has chosen Zion, or Jerusalem (Psalm 132:13). He will live there forever. How inspiring!

Joel 2:1 says, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion …,” or from God’s Church in this end time. The Philadelphia Church of God trumpets a warning message to the nations of Israel—primarily America, Britain and the Jewish state—and to God’s rebellious Church. “[A]nd sound an alarm in my holy mountain,” verse 1 continues, “let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” We are living in terrible times, but the Messiah is coming back soon.

The Day of the Lord is “at the door”! (Matthew 24:33). This is about a nuclear World War iii. We must change our ways and let God intervene in our lives! It’s the only way to escape!

Lamentations—The Most Elegant Biblical Poetry

Undoubtedly, the Prophet Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations, with help from his scribe, Baruch. Lange’s Commentary describes Lamentations as “the most perfect product in regard to the external artistic structure of the Old Testament scriptures.” Lamentations is the most poetic book in the Bible, and it mentions Zion numerous times. This is a book of correction for the sins of God’s people.

Lamentations 2:15 describes God’s Church as “The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth.” God’s Church, when obedient, is beautiful and brings real, lasting joy to the world!

“The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts …” (Lamentations 1:4). God’s work under the late Herbert W. Armstrong was marvelous, perfect beauty. So much has happened since he died in 1986. God’s own Church stopped keeping His annual holy days! They have turned away from God’s master plan, as taught to them by the end-time Elijah (Matthew 17:10-11).

God only dwells with some of His people today—with those in the inner court, not the outer court (Revelation 11:1-2). God’s lukewarm people are not in His presence! Only God’s very elect have a shining hope in a better future.

“Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old …” (Lamentations 1:7). God’s people once were doing it right. “In the days of old,” they possessed “perfect beauty.” But they have since turned away. This is the worst catastrophe of this end time, and perhaps in all of the history of God’s Church!

“And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed …” (verse 6). Only a tiny few in God’s Church continue to teach God’s warning message, blowing the trumpet in Zion. The majority don’t have the strength and the faith to deliver it!

“How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. (Lamentations 4:1; Revised Standard Version). Actual gold never tarnishes and becomes like a regular stone, but spiritual gold can.

“And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. … From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day” (Lamentations 1:6, 13). God will punish spiritual Israel, His Church, as well as the modern descendants of ancient Israel. He is wrathful because they ought to know better! God’s Church used to love God’s truth but has discarded it. God’s nations haven’t fulfilled their roles either. There’s still time to repent, but the Church and the nations of Israel are bitterly divided today.

“The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are reckoned as earthen pots, the work of a potter’s hands!” (Lamentations 4:2; rsv). True repentance is precious spiritual gold in God’s sight. It is perfect beauty. God is ready to shape and mold us into His own sons. “The precious sons of Zion” is referring mainly to God’s ministry. God is speaking to His ministers in this end time about the responsibility they have to God’s people and to the world. These ministers ought to be helping God’s people preserve and share their spiritual gold with the world!

“Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who pined away, stricken by want of the fruits of the field. … The Lord gave full vent to his wrath, he poured out his hot anger; and he kindled a fire in Zion, which consumed its foundations” (verses 9, 11; rsv). The entire spiritual building of God’s Church is corrupt and rebellious, so God will burn even the foundation. The nations of Israel will be included in this fiery punishment. (You need to study The United States and Britain in Prophecy for proof of the identities of these nations.)

“It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:26). Can we wait on God? Can we be patient and believe and trust and continue to trust Him until He answers our prayers?

“For the Lord will not cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men” (verses 31-33). God doesn’t enjoy punishing us at all. He does it all for a very good reason.

Real Hope

The whole Earth is about to become spiritual Zion! (Psalm 48:2). God wants to re-create Himself in every human being, according to His perfect timing.

Zion will soon spread throughout the universe! “[T]hat I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people” (Isaiah 51:16). God wants you to live the way He lives because you have an opportunity to spread this way all over the Earth and then into the heavens and the universe. The deserted planets will blossom like a rose!

“Because the [creation] itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children [sons] of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:21-22). The universe is groaning from the destruction caused by Lucifer’s rebellion against God. God is offering humans the chance to correct all that. We will do what Lucifer and the angels failed to do!

“And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the [sonship], to wit, the redemption of our body” (verse 23). God is talking about a literal spiritual birth into His Family. Not an adoption! Bible translators can’t even believe this marvelous potential that we can be born as God’s sons into the Family of God. This is a literal transformation from flesh into spirit! That’s the good news of the coming Kingdom of God!

“For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it” (verses 24-25). Real hope means we are willing to wait for God. This future must be etched into our minds and psyches.

“Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord” (Lamentations 3:40). Even God’s rebellious people can repent of betraying God and turn back to Him. God will give them this shining universe blessing too.