“Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God.” These are the opening words of one of the best-known hymns of John Newton (1725–1807), a slave trader turned abolitionist. Drawing on various biblical passages, Newton highlights how the name Zion has come to denote the eternal city of God, the goal of God’s creative and redemptive activity. Zion, also known as the new Jerusalem, is the holy metropolis where God’s ethnically diverse people will live in his presence, liberated from the pain, suffering, and death of this present world.
Zion serves as a powerful biblical symbol of hope and restoration, anchoring God’s ultimate plan for a renewed creation.
City of David
Zion first appears in the Bible in 2 Samuel 5:6–7, which speaks of David’s capture of “the fortress of Zion” (NIV) Since the fortress formed part of ancient Jerusalem, “Zion” often denotes Jerusalem. When the temple is built, Mount Zion, with its high citadels and solid ramparts, becomes the “city of the great King” (Ps. 48:2).
Yet despite Zion’s unique status as God’s holy city, all wasn’t well within it. Over time, its inhabitants abandoned God. Around the end of the 8th century BC, the prophet Isaiah declared, “The faithful city has become a prostitute” (Isa. 1:21, NIV). Pulling no punches, Isaiah delivered to the people of Jerusalem a series of chilling pronouncements that predicted the city’s destruction.
Despite Zion’s unique status as God’s holy city, all wasn’t well within it.
Isaiah looks beyond judgment and speaks of a restored Jerusalem. He foretells the rebuilding of earthly Jerusalem despite its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 BC. This restoration will come through a Persian king called Cyrus (44:28). Strikingly, Isaiah portrays Cyrus as a Gentile messiah who comes to Jerusalem’s aid (45:1).
New Cosmos
Isaiah also anticipates that a future Davidic Messiah will play a central role in constructing a new Jerusalem (e.g., 9:6–7; 11:1–5). Crucially, this will involve the king being a suffering servant who lays down his life to atone for the sins of those who’ve gone astray (50:4–9; 52:13–53:12). This new Zion will differ significantly from the corrupt city of Isaiah’s day. It’ll be a righteous city that’s no longer deserted or desolate; it’ll be a crown of splendor in God’s hand, according to Isaiah 62:3–4. The new Jerusalem will be a cosmopolitan metropolis with citizens from the world’s nations.
Emphasizing the city’s thoroughly transformed nature, Isaiah links the new Zion to the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. God promises,
See, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy. (65:17–18, NIV)
At the heart of God’s creation of the new heaven and the new earth is a new Jerusalem. Whereas Isaiah anticipates that Cyrus will rebuild the earthly Jerusalem, the promised Davidic King, Jesus Christ, will construct a radically different Jerusalem. Through the repetition of the expression “I will create,” with God as the speaker, the new Jerusalem is equated with “a new heaven and a new earth.” While we cannot be certain from what’s said here, the impression is given that Jerusalem will form a substantial part of the new heaven and the new earth.
Isaiah 65:17–18 points to both the beginning of the Bible and its end. Verse 17 echoes closely Gensis’s opening sentence, recalling God’s creation of the world we inhabit. This is important because there’s a correspondence between the present world and the world to come. Life in the new Jerusalem will resemble life here and now. Isaiah 65:21–22 speaks of its residents building houses and planting vineyards. Yet the people’s daily experience will differ from this present life, for “the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more” (65:19, NIV; cf. Rev. 21:4).
At the heart of God’s creation of the new heaven and the new earth is a new Jerusalem.
Isaiah’s expectations regarding the new Jerusalem include the acquisition of eternal life. Those coming to the new Jerusalem will be wholly healed and experience “everlasting joy” (Isa. 35:10; cf. 51:11; 61:7). Elsewhere, Isaiah speaks of how God will annihilate death for “all peoples” and “all nations” (25:6–8).
Looking to the Bible’s concluding book, Isaiah 65:17–18 resonates with the apostle John’s vision of this world being replaced by the creation of “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1). Remarkably, this involves a holy city called Jerusalem that descends from heaven to earth. In John’s vision, the climax of God’s redemptive plan centers on the coming together of heaven and earth. While believers who have departed this life populate the heavenly Jerusalem, the ultimate form of the holy city awaits God’s creation of a new heaven and earth. With this in view, the apostle Paul emphasizes the importance of the bodily resurrection of believers (1 Cor. 15:12–49).
New Creation as the New Jerusalem
The expectation of a future city of God runs throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. According to Hebrews, the patriarch Abraham looked forward to “the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10, NIV). The expectation of a transformed Jerusalem is a dominant theme in the oracles of the Old Testament prophets. In Eschatology in the Old Testament, Donald Gowan lists more than 75 passages in the prophetic books that speak of an ultimate Jerusalem.
In the New Testament, Paul contrasts the present earthly Jerusalem with a heavenly Jerusalem (Gal. 4:25–26), and he considers his citizenship and that of other believers to be in heaven (Phil. 3:20). To encourage his readers to persevere as followers of Jesus Christ, the author of Hebrews writes, “Here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (Heb. 13:14, NIV; cf. 11:16; 12:22). Along similar lines, the apostle Peter writes, “In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13, NIV). Yet, while this city is something believers look forward to inheriting, there’s a sense in which they’ve already become part of it (Heb. 12:22).
When we grasp Jerusalem’s significance as the goal of God’s creative and redemptive activity, it’s easy to understand why Newton concludes his hymn with the words “Solid joys and lasting treasures, none but Zion’s children know.”
The Gospel Coalition