Until digging deeper I had hitherto believed that Mt Zion and Mt Sion were interchangeable names for the very same location, much like, for example, Elijah and Elias, Isaiah and Esaias, Jonah and Jonas etc are interchangeable names in the OT and NT for the very same men; but is this so?
We all know where Mt Zion is, don't we? but what of Mt Sion?
"Mt Sion (the same is Hermon)" Deut.4:48 (RV).
Mt Sion was called "Sirion" by the Sidonians, see Deut.3:9, so Mt Sion is really an abbreviation for Mt Sirion which was also known as Mt Hermon as the Scripture teaches. The southern slopes of Mt Sion extend to the northern boundary of Israel, and as Dr Gill says in his commentary on Deut.4:48, "Here Hermon has another name Sion, and is to be carefully distinguished from Mount Zion near Jerusalem; it lying in a different country, and being written with a different letter in the Hebrew language. (My emphasis). "Carefully distinguished"? rightly so! why then did the revisers change the phrase Mt Sion to Mt Zion in the only two places this term is mentioned in the New Testament? (Heb.12:22 & Rev.14:1). The noun "Sion" is mentioned a total of nine times in the Authorized Version (Deut.4:48, Ps.65:1, Matt.21:5, Jn.12:15, Rom.9:33, 11:26, Heb.12:22, 1 Pet.2:6 & Rev.14:1), and apart from it's first mention in Deut.4:48, the revisers changed it to Zion. What is the justification for this? for they are two different names, and locations!
It has long been Christian tradition that the Mount where the Lord Jesus was "transfigured" (Matt.17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36) is Mt Tabor, however certain competent Bible expositors as Jamieson, Fausset and Brown write of the mount of transfiguration:
"A mountain-not Tabor, according to long tradition, with which the facts ill comport, but some one near the lake." (Emphasis mine).
Three apostles were with the Saviour when on the mount of transfiguration; James, John and Peter, and in the context of this event the Lord was teaching of His coming kingdom (Matt.16:28), so is it any wonder Peter was inspired to write "Behold I lay in Sion, a chief cornerstone, elect, precious.." 1 Pet.2:6? He saw the glorified Lord! Glorified in the same location as the mount contiguous with the heavenly Jerusalem! This is where the apostles "were eyewitnesses of His majesty" 2 Pet.1:16! Granted, he was citing Isaiah 28:16, where "Zion" is clearly delineated, yet Peter chose a different Hebrew name "Sion"! Similarly, John did the same in John 12:15 where the apostle cites from another OT prophet, Zechariah (quoting Zion-Zech.9:9) He writes "Fear not daughter of Sion: behold thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt."
Turning to Heb.12:22-23, we read that "ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and unto an innumerable hosts of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven..." Of Mt Sion, in Heb.12:18-20, it is said "ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them anymore..if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart." The elect are come to Mt Sion the heavenly city contiguous with where the Lord's glory was seen on earth, the believer puts his hope in the heavenly Sion, not the earthly Zion, for we are "strangers and pilgrims on the earth"; with Abraham we look for that heavenly city! (Heb.11:10-13).
Mount Sion then, is contiguous with the heavenly Jerusalem, as Mount Zion is to the earthly Jerusalem, they are two very different mounts. Mt Sion is associated with "the Jerusalem which is above" Gal.4:26, "the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven" Rev.3:12, 21:2, 21:10. Mt Sinai "answereth to the Jerusalem that now is" Gal.4:25, and therefore to the earthly Zion in Jerusalem.
It can be established, therefore, that Mt Sion is north of Jerusalem, and I believe the heavenly city* will be visible from the earth throughout the coming 1000 year reign of Christ, we will see its glory much as we presently see the glory of the sun and the moon. The heavenly city will be some 1500 miles square and high! this almost takes one's breath away! Dispensationalists have long taught (since circa 1830) that there is a distinction between the Church and Israel, whereas the truth is they are one in Christ. The King will rule the earth from the heavenly city with His glorified saints who will be given their various cities to reign over, (see Luke 19:12-27). The "church of the firstborn" Heb.12:23; the glorified bride of Christ, that is all those purchased by His blood from Abel to the first resurrection, at His Second Coming, will be able to enter the twelve gates of this city, and thereafter, those mortals on earth saved by His everlasting grace during the millennium. From the heavenly city, I believe the saints will be able to see the expanse of the entire earth, as the Lord Jesus did in Matt.4:8 & Luke 4:5. Yes, we are not on a tiny spinning globe. The mount which Satan took the Lord Jesus up to, I believe must have been of an otherworldly nature like the heavenly mt Sion/Jerusalem-"in the heavenly places" see Ephesians 1:3,20, 2:6, 3:10.
"Beautiful for elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, The city of the great King." Ps.48:2.
"Beautiful for elevation", surely the "elevation" here spoken of can only be the heavenly city in Rev.21:2? That is "Mt.Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.." Heb.12:22. The earthly Mt. Sion is north of Jerusalem, but there is something in the words "the sides of the north" which seem to speak of great height as well as a compass point? And essentially, as has been observed, Sion and Zion seem to be nouns that are inextricably linked to the very same place, for when we "are come unto mount Sion" the resurrected glorified saint will have God's law forever written in his heart in the heavenly city where there is no temple (Rev.21:22), and "out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." this from the earthly millennial temple to all the nations on the earth, Isa.2:3, Mic.4:2.
The true believer, as "the father of faith" Abraham ever has his sights on the heavenly city, are we not all "strangers and pilgrims on the earth" Heb.11:13? Do we feel we belong here? Perish the thought! Do you feel you belong here in this wicked world held under the sway of the devil? It is written, "Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." Jam.4:4. As Abraham did, we should also "look for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Heb.11:10. We should "walk in the steps of of that faith of our father Abraham." Rom.4:12 (my emphasis). "The father of all them that believe." Rom.4:11.
*In this age of 'great knowledge' and scientific & technological 'advancement' it is passing strange that something as elementary as the shape of our earth is still up for debate, no? It can be seen with our own eyes that the sun and moon are disc-shaped, and the coming heavenly city is described as a perfect cube (Rev.21:16), essentially it is flat! is this a clue to the shape of our 'planet'?
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