²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels …

Contrasting the old with the new, the writer of Hebrews continues to show the superiority of Christ over the Old Testament system of law. In verses 18-21, we saw the fearsomeness of the foreboding mount of God, Sinai. Now, using the term “Mount Zion,” the author turns our attention to the new spiritual-geographical location of the “city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.”

But what is Zion? The first mention in Scripture is found in 2 Sam 5:7, “Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Zion, that is the city of David.” This became the “capitol” in the kingdom and the resting place for the Ark of the Covenant, until Jerusalem came into prominence. Zion, the City of David, became the burial place for many of the kings in the Davidic line. The term itself evolved during the time of the prophets into a more spiritual idealization of the ultimate Jewish Kingdom. It represented the perfect state that offset the earthly failings of the people of God; it gave them something to hope for. They have not yet arrived into the full blessing promised to Abraham.

However, in Christ, the time and place has arrived. While the physical manifestation is still future (i.e. the millennial reign of Christ – see Rev 20), the ideal is not present in Christ. So then, believers in Christ can be said to “have come to Zion and to the city of the living God” in our passage today. This is past tense, a done deal. In John 4, Jesus told the woman at the well, “… an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father” (John 4:21). That time is now. We now worship God “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24) or in the terms of our passage, at the spiritual “Mount Zion,” the true “city of God.”

This is the place “which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb 11:10), the “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2). That which we accept by faith will give way to actual experience when God sums up everything and puts all His enemies at the footstool (Heb 1:13). John in his vision saw and heard the angels hovering around the throne of Christ, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” (Re 5:11-12).

Lord, when I contemplate the realities of that glorious day when we see with our eyes what we now perceive by faith, I am overwhelmed with praise for the King of kings, and Lord of Lords.