Handel's Messiah: The Person and Work of Christ

18. The Messiah's Zion, The Believer's Homeland

By Dr. Paul M. Elliott
The heavenly Zion from which Messiah has come, and where He now reigns, is the homeland of all believers in Him.

From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part 18 of a series. Read part 17.

Messianic types and symbols declare that the heavenly Zion from which the Messiah has come, and where He now reigns, is the homeland of all believers in Him.

Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!

As we noted in a previous article, the more literal translation of Isaiah 40:9 given in the Authorized and New King James versions names Zion, or Jerusalem, as the bringer rather than the recipient of the good tidings of Messiah's coming. We have also seen that earthly Jerusalem, often called Zion in Scripture, is a type or symbol of the heavenly Zion, the dwelling place of God.

We have seen that when Jesus entered Jerusalem on the day now commonly known as Palm Sunday, the Deliverer from the heavenly Zion entered earthly Zion to become our Passover, sacrificed on the cross as the full and final propitiation for sin.

"Jerusalem Above Which Is Free"

The heavenly Zion is also a type or symbol of believers' freedom from the ceremonial Law under the New Covenant, in contrast to the bondage of those who insist on remaining under the Old Covenant.

There are many in the contemporary visible church who seek to drag Christians back into that bondage through various forms of legalism. But the Holy Spirit addressed this spiritual plague early in the life of the New Testament church. Through the Apostle Paul, the Spirit reminded the Galatian church of the great fact of their freedom from the Old Covenant, which was but a shadow of the good things that have now come in the person and work of the Messiah. Strong words were necessary because preachers of the soul-damning false gospel of a return to the Old Covenant had made great inroads among them:

They [the false teachers] zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you [from the New Covenant], that you may be zealous for them. But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.

Tell me, you who desire to be under the Law, do you not hear the Law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one [Ishmael] by a bondwoman, the other [Isaac] by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh [i.e., Ishmael, the seed of Abraham and Sarah's attempt to circumvent God's redemptive plan by giving her maidservant Hagar to him as a concubine], and he of the freewoman through promise [i.e., the birth of Isaac, God's promised seed, through Sarah in their old age], which things are symbolic.

For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar - for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to [earthly] Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children - but the Jerusalem above [the heavenly Zion] is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written:

"Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear! Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband" [a quotation of Isaiah 54:1].

Now we, brethren [believers in Christ], as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." So then, brethren, we [who trust in Christ alone apart from the works of the Law] are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. (Galatians 4:17-31)

"The Jerusalem above which is free" - the heavenly Zion from which the Messiah came and where He now reigns - "is the mother of us all." The sense of this phrase in the original Greek is that the heavenly Zion from which the Messiah came, where He now reigns, and from which He will return, is the homeland or motherland of all believers in Him.

The Throne of Grace, Not the Throne of Law

In this New Testament commentary on Old Testament prophetic truth, the Holy Spirit used a phrase, "Jerusalem which is above," which was commonly misused by those who wished to drag new Christians back under the old Law of ceremonies, ritual cleansings, and continual sacrifices.

They also considered the heavenly Jerusalem or Zion to be the antitype of the earthly, but because their minds were not open to New Covenant truth they had the picture backwards. They refused to see that the throne of heavenly Zion - Messiah's throne - is the throne of grace. They saw it as the throne of Law, and in their spiritual blindness sought to bring those who had by grace found freedom in the Messiah back under the Law which He had abrogated.

The Cornerstone in Zion

Indeed, the condemning words of Old Testament Messianic prophecy were true of them. The Spirit through Peter makes this clear as He draws the sharp contrast between those who believe in the person and gracious work of the Messiah, and those who refuse Him:

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame" [quoting Isaiah 28:16].

Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "the stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone," [quoting Psalm 118:22] and "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense" [quoting Isaiah 8:14]. They stumble, being disobedient to the Word, to which they also were appointed.

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:4-10)

Is Zion Your Homeland?

Dear reader, are you trusting in the gracious person and work of Jesus the Messiah apart from any law-works of your own? Only He kept the Law perfectly. Therefore only He was qualified to be both Priest and Sacrifice for sinners. Zion, from whence He came and where He now dwells upon the heavenly mercy seat, is the true homeland of all who trust in Him by grace through faith.

Is it your homeland? As the Apostle Paul exhorted the Philippian believers,

Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame - who set their mind on earthly things.

For our citizenship is in Heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:17-21)

 

Next: "Behold Your God"

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