- Establish Zion
Psalm 87:5
And of Zion it shall be said, this and that man was born in her:
And the highest himself shall establish her.
Zion is a metaphor for the Church, the gathered people of God, the believers in Christ assembled in the name of Jesus. Zion is that small section of elevated land in the southwest part of Jerusalem on which the Temple buildings are situated along with the king’s palace and government buildings. The Center of Zion and the Cause of Zion being special is the Presence of God on the earth, the precise location of heaven on earth where God dwells; it is on the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant inside the Holy of Holies within the Temple (or tabernacle) in the temple compound on Mt. Zion within the city of David in Jerusalem, the religious and political capital of Israel, the chosen people of God, the witness to all the earth of the true God.
By extension “Zion” comes to mean the people who come before the Presence of God to assemble for worship, ritual sacrifice, prayer and psalms of praise. God is in the midst of the worshiping group, which becomes the Church (the believers in Jesus) in the NT. Thus Zion = the Church. In the NT times of the modern day, since Jesus, the Presence of God on the earth is in the hearts of believers: individually the body of each believer is a Temple, but in particular the gathered group holds the presence of God. So all the world knows where to find God: in His people.
The promise is that God will establish the Church. He has fulfilled that promise throughout the world when believers gather together in the name of Jesus and He comes among them. “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18). People are born from above within the presence of other believers for from them they hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, through which the Holy Spirit forgives sins and places people in the Church. Upon His promise we are established firm and solid and we shall not fall. Instead the gates of hell shall crumble. The gates of heaven are strong and sturdy and many shall enter therein.