Since the day God chose and decreed that His name would dwell in Jerusalem, this city, with Zion as its center, has been the heart and soul of God’s people. “Next year in Jerusalem,” are words that still today ring out in Jewish homes during the passover Seder. This desire was one that was never extinguished, no matter what circumstances the children of Israel were in. The fact is that Psalms 120-134, known also as the songs of ascent, were written with the captivity as the background. While Israel continued in dire straits, under the hand of the Babylonian empire, God’s people would yearly make an outward journey to come to the presence of God in Jerusalem and Zion. While they were making this journey, they would be singing these songs.
The children of Israel made this ascent to Zion, but the psalmists were some that not only made the ascent outwardly, but even more they were those who in Psalm 84 had the highways to Zion in their heart. They were on an inward journey to reach the peak of Zion, the house of God. The psalmists were on this inward journey because their being matched God’s heart.
The true and living God has desired Zion (Psa. 132: 13,14). This same desire and yearning was reproduced in the heart of the psalmists. Now we must ask ourselves, “Do I consider deeply what is the desire of God’s heart?” The psalmists were deeply concerned for Zion and Jerusalem. What are we deeply concerned about?
Saints, we need to pray to the Lord:
“Lord, cause the desire of Your heart to become the desire of my heart. Make my heart a duplication of Your heart in every possible way.”
If we become a people who are one with God’s heart’s desire, then we are not just on a journey to Zion, but we become Zion, the overcomers, the reality of the body of Christ. These three things: Zion, the overcomers, and the reality of the body of Christ are crucial for us to see.
Zion within Jerusalem typifies the overcomers in the church. Zion was the highlight of Jerusalem, the high peak, the center. It was the life, the blessing and the establishment of Jerusalem. In the New Testament, the overcomers are likened to Zion; in Revelation 14:1 the one hundred and forty-four thousand overcomers are not just in Jerusalem–they are on the peak of Zion.
What is an overcomer? The word comes from the greek word nikao meaning to conquer or be victorious. In Revelation where the Spirit makes His call to the overcomers in the churches we see it used not as a noun but as a participle phrase, meaning that an overcomer is someone who is actively conquering something. An overcomer is a person whose being is conquering. An overcomer is not a super believer, but one who is willing to carry out the responsibility which God has measured out to the church and at which it has failed. An overcomer is one willing to take on this responsibility on behalf of God and the Church. It is a mistake to consider ourselves or anyone else an overcomer with certainty at any juncture in our life. We cannot know, but we can aspire and pray to be one. We can pray that we would be those in whose being are the highways to Zion.
So, Zion is the high peak, the beauty, the unshakeableness, and solidity of Jerusalem. The overcomers are the reality of Zion, and these overcomers are for the building up of the body of Christ. No one who does not care for the building up of the body of Christ can be an overcomer. What the Lord needs today are those who are willing to be produced by the seven-fold intensified Spirit as stones for the building.
Saints, when the Lord looks into your being what is it all for? Your enjoyment, your labor, your dealings…is there a connection between all this and the building up of the body? Oh Lord Jesus! Lord! Grant us to be those who see the body, know the body and care for the body. Lord, make us those who would care for Your interests above everything else, even our necessity.
Today, the Lord’s recovery is to build up Zion for the carrying out of God’s economy, that is the preparation of the Bride and the destruction of His enemy. For this to happen, the building up of the body is the crux. The building up of the body, for the reaching of Zion, can only happen through prayer. What is genuine prayer?
- Prayer is man breathing God, obtaining God, and being obtained by God; real prayer is an exhaling and inhaling before God, causing us and God to contact each other and to gain each other- 1 Thes. 5:17
- Prayer is man cooperating and co-working with God, allowing God to express Himself and His desire from within him and through him and thus accomplish His purpose- Rom. 8:26-27; James 5:17; Eph. 1:16-23; 3:14-21.
- The principle of prayer is that God’s heart and desire is transfused into His people making it their heart and desire. His people than pray for their desire to be accomplished, God then has a way to fulfill His heart, desire, and intention (Jn 15:7).
As we take a walk through the songs of ascent we see a person living this kind of life. The psalmist is one who loves Zion. The house and city of God are at the very center of these psalms.
Psalm 122 shows us the love for the house of God.
Psalm 125 speakes concerning Jehovah’s surrounding of His people.
Psalm 127 reveals Jehovah’s care for and blessing of His people.
Psalm 128 speaks of Jehovah’s blessing to Israel from Zion.
Psalm 131 speaks of the psalmist’s humbled heart and quieted soul.
Psalm 132 speaks concerning Jehovah’s habitation and rest in Zion through David (typifying Christ) His annointed.
For Jehovah has chosen Zion;/ He has desired it for His habitation. I will abundantly bless its provision;/ I will satisfy its poor with bread. And its priests I will clothe with salvation./ And its faithful ones will shout with a ringing shout. There I will cause a horn of David to shoot forth;/ I have prepared a lamp for My annointed one. I will clothe His enemies with shame,/ But on him his crown will shine (Psa. 132 14-18).
Here we see a picture of the top church life, the situation of the overcomers in Zion, the highest peak of God’s mountain. Here, these ones are living in the reality of the body. This is their being and they are Zion. Seemingly very ordinary, but in their inner being they are Zion.
Lord Jesus!
“Lord, make Your home deep down into all my heart. Lord, when it comes down to it, I am a crazy lover of Jesus. I abandon my being only for what is real. Lord, build Yourself into me. Lord, do this for the body, for your bride, for the kingdom of God. For Your eternal rest and satisfaction. Amen, dear Lord Jesus. Do it in me, do it in us, do it in the churches!”
For more enjoyment from this message in the training, click here.
Crumbs & Bits 
1 Comment