ZION: A Mountain? A Territory? Or a People? If People, What People?█
Habakkuk 2:18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
Isaiah 2:8-9 Their land also is full of idols, and they bow down before the work of their hands and before that which their fingers have made. And the man bows down, and the male humbles himself; therefore forgive them not.
Isaiah 57:13 When you cry out for help,
let your collection of idols save you!
The wind will carry all of them off;
a mere breath will blow them away.
Prophecy of Daniel concerning a great deception:
Daniel 8:25 He will cause deceit to prosper
through his cunning and by his influence,
and in his own mind he will exalt himself.
He will destroy many in a time of peace;
he will even stand against the Prince of princes.
Yet he will be broken—not by human hands.
Prophecy of Isaiah concerning a great deception:
Isaiah 28:14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
(Rome ruled over Jerusalem beginning in 63 BCE, and Roman rule continued until the division of the Roman Empire into the Western and Eastern Roman Empires.)
Isaiah 28:15 You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death,
with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
and falsehood our hiding place.”
Do not mistake me for a Bible preacher just because I have used these Bible verses to describe the message behind this video.
Just take a look and use your own logic:
John 12:31 “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out.”
Really? I do not see justice reigning in the world.
What I see is the reign of thieves and deception:
Revelation 13:7 “It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.”
If Satan is ruling the world, is it logical to think that a text full of justice and truth would be officially recognized by the kingdoms under his control?
Don’t you think Satan could have infiltrated his own deception into the very biblical texts to use them to deceive people?
Isn’t it logical to think that Satan will continue deceiving the world until he is defeated in his war against the righteous, and that his deception will be eradicated only when his defeat brings that war to an end?
Revelation 12:9 “And the great dragon was cast out—that serpent of old called the Devil and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out onto the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
How Isaiah 28, Psalm 2, Psalm 118, and Daniel 12 Connect in the Prophecy Concerning the Great Deception
Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the refuge of lies cannot be considered completely fulfilled while deception remains and the promised foundation in Zion has not been established in its ultimate sense. Isaiah 28:15 exposes the refuge of lies, while Isaiah 28:16 declares that Jehovah lays a precious cornerstone in Zion, a firm foundation.
Psalm 2:6 declares:
“Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.”
Zion represents Jehovah’s chosen people under the rule of His appointed King. In this prophetic interpretation, the establishment of the King upon Zion is connected with the ultimate vindication of the righteous.
Psalm 118 reinforces this connection. The psalm begins by declaring the goodness of Jehovah and calling upon Israel to proclaim it:
Psalm 118:1-2: “O give thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever.”
The psalm then speaks of the gates of righteousness through which the righteous enter:
Psalm 118:19-20: “Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise Jehovah: This gate of Jehovah, into which the righteous shall enter.”
The same psalm identifies the stone rejected by the builders as having become the headstone of the corner:
Psalm 118:22: “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.”
These passages establish a meaningful connection between the stone, the gates of righteousness, and the people who enter through them. The psalm begins by calling upon Israel to proclaim the goodness of Jehovah and then identifies the righteous as those who enter Jehovah’s gate. In this prophetic interpretation, the true Israel of God is constituted by the righteous, rather than being defined merely by ancestry or political identity.
The stone rejected by the builders in Psalm 118:22 connects with the precious cornerstone established in Zion in Isaiah 28:16 and with the King established upon Zion in Psalm 2:6. Together, these passages point to the establishment of Jehovah’s rule and the vindication of the righteous.
Daniel 12:1 completes this prophetic connection by describing Michael rising up at the time of the end to defend God’s people during a time of unprecedented distress. The people whom Michael defends are the righteous, who constitute the true Israel of God. Their ultimate vindication is connected with the establishment of Jehovah’s rule and the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning Zion.
Daniel 12:3 further reinforces this identification of God’s people with the righteous. It declares:
“Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who teach the multitude the path of righteousness shall shine like the stars forever and ever.”
This verse speaks of those who lead many to righteousness and who will shine forever. Those who teach and promote righteousness stand in contrast with those who promote deception and injustice. The true Israel of God is therefore identified, in this interpretation, with the righteous, whose vindication is connected with Michael rising up at the time of the end.
The sequence is clear within this prophetic interpretation: Isaiah exposes the refuge of lies and announces the foundation in Zion; Psalm 2 declares the establishment of Jehovah’s King upon Zion; Psalm 118 identifies the righteous as those who enter Jehovah’s gate and connects the rejected stone with the cornerstone; and Daniel 12 describes Michael rising to defend the righteous at the time of the end.
The ultimate fulfillment of these prophecies is associated with the establishment of Jehovah’s rule, the vindication of the righteous, and the final eradication of deception. The refuge of lies will not stand forever, the rejected stone will occupy its appointed place, and the righteous will be defended when Michael rises at the time of the end.
This is why Isaiah’s prophecy cannot simply be dismissed as something that was completely fulfilled in his own time. The persistence of deception and injustice, together with the promised establishment of the foundation in Zion, points, in this interpretation, toward an ultimate fulfillment at the time of the end.
«Did Rome expect me, too, to blindly believe that a man whose appearance was identical to that of the Roman god Jupiter walked upon a liquid sea without sinking? Did you also expect me to believe that he stopped the winds with his hands? Now I understand why Rome blessed, in those texts they sold us as sacred, those who believe without having seen… the light of evidence. They made their god the truth, when truth is not a finite being, but information that can be verified in reality, and that information cannot be confined to a single being, because it is infinite.»
