{"id":147,"date":"2025-10-26T08:11:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T08:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/j423community.com\/j423apps\/?p=147"},"modified":"2025-10-27T22:43:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T22:43:06","slug":"citizenship-in-zion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/j423community.com\/j423apps\/uncategorized\/citizenship-in-zion\/","title":{"rendered":"Citizenship in Zion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Text:<\/strong> <em>Psalm 87:1\u20133, 5\u20137 (NKJV)<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cHis foundation is in the holy mountains.<br \/>The Lord loves the gates of Zion<br \/>More than all the dwellings of Jacob.<br \/>Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God!<\/p>\n<p>And of Zion it will be said,<br \/>\u2018This one and that one were born in her;<br \/>And the Most High Himself shall establish her.\u2019<br \/>The Lord will record,<br \/>When He registers the peoples:<br \/>\u2018This one was born there.\u2019<br \/>Both the singers and the players on instruments say,<br \/>\u2018All my springs are in you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The phrase <em>\u201cdwellings of Jacob\u201d<\/em> literally means the homes or settlements of the descendants of Jacob (Israel).<br \/>Zion (Jerusalem), however, is God\u2019s <strong>chosen city<\/strong>\u2014the place of His temple and His Presence, at least in the Old Testament context.<\/p>\n<p>In the New Testament, Zion is called <em>the City of God, the Heavenly Jerusalem<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Hebrews 12:22 (NKJV)<\/strong><br \/>\u201cBut you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><strong>Why Does God Love the Gates of Zion More Than the Dwellings of Jacob?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>God loves all of Israel (the dwellings of Jacob), but He has a <strong>special affection for Zion<\/strong>, because it is His chosen place for His dwelling and worship.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Psalm 132:13\u201315 (NKJV)<\/strong><br \/>\u201cFor the Lord has chosen Zion;<br \/>He has desired it for His dwelling place:<br \/>\u2018This is My resting place forever;<br \/>Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Zion therefore represents the <strong>place where God dwells<\/strong>, or where His Presence rests.<br \/>In the New Testament, that place is the <strong>born-again, Spirit-filled believer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>You Are the Temple of the Living God<\/strong><\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>1 Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV)<\/strong><br \/>\u201cDo you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Jesus assured His disciples\u2014and everyone who follows Him\u2014that He would not leave us as orphans:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>John 14:15\u201318 (NKJV)<\/strong><br \/>\u201cIf you love Me, keep My commandments.<br \/>And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever\u2014<br \/>the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him;<br \/>but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.<br \/>I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><strong>Citizens of Zion<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The first path to Zion\u2019s citizenship is <strong>by birth<\/strong>, just as in any earthly nation.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Psalm 87:5 (NKJV)<\/strong><br \/>\u201cAnd of Zion it will be said, \u2018This one and that one were born in her;<br \/>And the Most High Himself shall establish her.\u2019<br \/>The Lord will record, when He registers the peoples:<br \/>\u2018This one was born there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Therefore, I implore you: <strong>be born again!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Being born again grants you the rights and privileges of citizenship in God\u2019s Kingdom.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>John 3:3, 5 (NKJV)<\/strong><br \/>\u201cMost assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.<br \/>&#8230; Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><strong>Without Christ, You Are an Alien<\/strong><\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Ephesians 2:12\u201313 (NKJV)<\/strong><br \/>\u201cAt that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,<br \/>having no hope and without God in the world.<br \/>But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Philippians 3:20 (NKJV)<\/strong><br \/>\u201cFor our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><strong>Ensure That You Are Registered<\/strong><\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Revelation 20:15 (NKJV)<\/strong><br \/>\u201cAnd anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Make sure your name is written in the Book of Life.<br \/>Be born again, live as a citizen of Zion, preserve the Word of God in your heart and life, and live by the Spirit.<\/p>\n<h3>Questions or Counselling?<\/h3>\n<p>Please send an email to: info@j423community.com or fill our <a href=\"https:\/\/j423community.com\/j423apps\/decision-card\/\">decision card<\/a> and someone will reach out to you<\/p>\n\n\n<p>Share this with your friend!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Text: Psalm 87:1\u20133, 5\u20137 (NKJV) \u201cHis foundation is in the holy mountains.The Lord loves the gates of ZionMore than all the dwellings of Jacob.Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God! And of Zion it will be said,\u2018This one and that one were born in her;And the Most High Himself shall establish her.\u2019The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/j423community.com\/j423apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/j423community.com\/j423apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/j423community.com\/j423apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j423community.com\/j423apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j423community.com\/j423apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/j423community.com\/j423apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167,"href":"https:\/\/j423community.com\/j423apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions\/167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/j423community.com\/j423apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j423community.com\/j423apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j423community.com\/j423apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}