MOUNT SION
MOUNT SION
Mount Sion is a symbol drawn from the Mosaical dispensation, and its import is to be ascertained by referring to what is said of Sion in the Old Testament. David began the settlement of the nation of Israel, and of his own kingdom, by the taking of Mount Sion from the Jebusites, which he made the seat of his kingdom for himself and his successors, and the capital of Israel. So that Sion was afterwards taken for the whole kingdom, which depended upon it.
When David had obtained dominion over all his enemies, he said that God had set him in high places, Psa 18;33; and, in Psa 125:1, he speaks of Mount Sion as a mount “which cannot be removed, but standeth fast for ever,” because it assured him of God’s protection, as is implied in what follows. Mount Sion was not that whereon the temple stood, (for it was built upon Mount Moriah), but that whereon the citadel of David, or the seat of his kingdom, stood. It was a mount higher and commanding, and by consequence protecting that of the temple. See also what is said of Mount Zion, Psa 48:2-6; Joe 2:32, both of which passages evidently refer to the latter times.
Hence it may be inferred, that Mount Sion, in Rev 14:1, is the symbol of the Christian Church delivered from her enemies, and in a state of peace and security. The symbol is applied generally by the Apostle, Heb 12:22; but in the Revelation the application is special.