Isaiah 49:1-26 Listen to Me you peoples far distant,...... But Zion [the Holy Land] said: The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me…. The children which you will have, after you have lost the former ones, shall say to you: This place is too small for us, give us more space to dwell . Then you will say to yourself: Who has begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am alone and desolate, and where have they come from? Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders, for they shall not be ashamed that have faith in Me.
There's a sense in which this is all fulfilling the oldest of promises and prophecies, before they even ENTERED the land in the first place!
Yes, I'm talking about Deuteronomy, where God promises that he will judge them if Israel rebel and expel them from their land.
But even then he will remember them - and bring them back.
That's exactly what happened.
Israel was expelled by the Babylonians, and returned by the Persians!
Hebrews 12:22-24 But you have come unto mount Zion......
We Christians are the latter children of Zion, Spiritually of the twelve tribes, the true Israelites of God, all the faithful Christian peoples from every tribe, race, nation and language. Revelation 5:9-10
Now let's try something a bit different.
Let's try reading it in context - not just plucking it out of context to justify our own little Nicholas Cage movie!
If you look in context - it's full of warnings and encouragements to the Christians reading the letter - not a prophecy about the future - not at this point anyway. The bit you quote is about their current relationship with God. It's a metaphor for how Christians are the current expression of God's kingdom on earth right now as we await his return when heaven and nature meet!
If you strip out Mount Zion to the future - you do irreparable damage to the rest of the passage and make it nonsensical. Because it's all part of the application to the immediate readers!
This is one of the classic verses that illustrates how the apostles saw the "Kingdom of God" in eschatological tension.
The church, representing the kingdom, in the 'now but not yet' nature of our era.
The overlapping outbreak of God's kingdom on earth while earthly rulers still frustrate, and sometimes even persecute us.
They pray, from where-ever they are scattered across the Roman empire, and it's as if they've come to Mount Zion!
It's that simple and beautiful!
Hebrews 12:
14Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.
18You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”
22But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our “God is a consuming fire.”
And you want to turn this into a Nicholas Cage movie?
