Vazquez Counseling

Today, the Holy Spirit led me to write about Zion. There seems to be an irrational hatred of Zion amongst many people of today. Zion is the future home of Christ, and it is the special name given to Jerusalem by God. Christ will rule from Zion during the Millennium. After the Millennium, the Scriptures declare that a New Jerusalem, the beautiful city of gold, which our LORD has prepared for us, will descend from Heaven, and God the Father and God the Son will rule from it. All nations will come to Zion and later to the New Jerusalem, to worship God and to pay honor to our Father and to our LORD Jesus Christ. At the end of the Book of Revelation, the Scriptures reveal that both God the Father and God the Son will rule from the New Jerusalem, and there will be no need for the Sun or the Moon because the Father and the Son will be the light of this wonderful City. Our Father and our LORD Jesus Christ will reign from the New Jerusalem in the New Heavens and the New Earth, and of their governance, there will be no end.

Psalm 102 speaks very clearly of how Zion holds a special place in God’s heart. It reads as follows:

“Hear my prayer, O LORD,

And let my cry come to You.

Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble;

Incline Your ear to me;

In the day that I call, answer me speedily.

For my days are consumed like smoke,

And my bones are burned like a hearth.

My heart is stricken and withered like grass,

So that I forget to eat my bread.

Because of the sound of my groaning

My bones cling to my skin.

I am like a pelican of the wilderness;

I am like an owl of the desert.

I lie awake,

And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop.

My enemies reproach me all day long;

Those who deride me swear an oath against me.

For I have eaten ashes like bread,

And mingled my drink with weeping,

Because of Your indignation and Your wrath;

For You have lifted me up and cast me away.

My days are like a shadow that lengthens,

And I wither away like grass.

But You, O LORD, shall endure forever,

And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.

You will arise and have mercy on Zion;

For the time to favor her,

Yes, the set time, has come.

For Your servants take pleasure in her stones,

And show favor to her dust.

So the nations shall fear the name of the LORD,

And all the kings of the earth Your glory.

For the LORD shall build up Zion;

He shall appear in His glory.

He shall regard the prayer of the destitute,

And shall not despise their prayer.

This will be written for the generation to come,

That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD.

For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary;

From heaven the LORD viewed the earth,

To hear the groaning of the prisoner,

To release those appointed to death,

To declare the name of the LORD in Zion,

And His praise in Jerusalem,

When the peoples are gathered together,

And the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.

He weakened my strength in the way;

He shortened my days.

I said, ‘O my God,

Do not take me away in the midst of my days;

Your years are throughout all generations.

Of old You laid the foundation of the earth,

And the heavens are the work of Your hands.

They will perish, but You will endure;

Yes, they will all grow old like a garment;

Like a cloak You will change them,

And they will be changed.

But You are the same,

And Your years will have no end.

The children of Your servants will continue,

And their descendants will be established before You.’” (from the New King James Version)

These days, to call yourself a Zionist, according to some circles of people, is the worst thing you can be. Since Zion is Jerusalem, which will be the seat from where Christ rules during the Millennium, it stands to reason that God’s enemies hate even the mere mention of Zion. Those who do not want God to rule in their lives are, of course, going to hate the idea that He will rule the Earth, and that the government will be upon His shoulders (Isaiah 9:6-7).

In Revelation 19:11-16, the Scriptures declare that Christ, our LORD of lords and King of kings will return as a Conquering King. John the Apostle saw a great vision of Heaven standing open, and Christ, our KING, coming for a second time to Earth, riding a white horse and leading the armies of Heaven.

The Word of God states here in Revelation that Christ will wage a just war, and that He will destroy His enemies. In verse 15 of that passage in Scripture, please note what the Word of God says about Christ, “Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” (NKJV)

Recently, on social media, I wrote about the Second Coming of Christ. I got many likes and many comments on what I wrote. Several people actually reposted it. There were a couple of people who didn’t care for my post. One of them said it was too long. Another person questioned me, asking, “If Jesus is a man of peace, why will he wage a war.” I responded and told him that the reason I say this is because it is talked about in many passages of the Bible, and in particular, Revelation 19:11-16. People have this idea that Christ is a meek, humble servant, who would never harm anyone. While it is true that He came as the humble Suffering Messiah the first time, to serve us by giving his life as a ransom for many, the Bible clearly teaches that when God comes for the second time, He will come as the Reigning Messiah, the Conquering KING, promised throughout Scripture. When He comes for the second time, Christ will not be the nice guy that many people are expecting. I firmly believe that for God’s chosen people, Christ will be the most kind, gentle, and loving KING that we would ever want. However, for His enemies, Christ will bring a just war, and they will be judged for what they have done, including rejecting Christ. At that time, it will be too late for God’s enemies; they will face the wrath of God, as our LORD destroys them. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, as Christ throws His enemies into the outer darkness.

There are some people, even pastors, who teach the concept of universal salvation. This is not a Biblical reality, however. The Bible has always taught that there are basically two groups of people in the world, the wheat (God’s people and those who will become God’s people) and the tares (the children of our enemy, the devil).

After the Fall of Man, in the Garden of Eden, God pronounced judgment on the serpent, who had deceived Eve and Adam. Note in this section of Scripture, that Adam was with Eve when she took and ate of the forbidden fruit; he ate of the fruit himself, without even questioning whether he should eat the fruit or not. The Bible records that Eve engaged in conversation with the enemy, and yes, she was deceived, but according to the Scriptures, Adam was with her. and he ate of the fruit willingly also when Eve gave it to him. Although the Bible doesn’t explicitly say that Adam was with Eve the whole time she was speaking with the serpent, and it may be true that he did not hear the full dialogue between the enemy and Eve. However, a  careful reading of the Scriptures indicates that Adam was with Eve at least at the end of Eve’s conversation with the enemy. Adam, nevertheless, sinned and defied God, and thus sin and death entered the world.

When God pronounced His curse on the serpent, He said this in Genesis 3:14-15:

“Because you have done this,

You are cursed more than all cattle,

And more than every beast of the field;

On your belly you shall go,

And you shall eat dust

All the days of your life.

And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her Seed;

He shall bruise your head,

And you shall bruise His heel.” (from the New King James Version)

There a couple of things that I want you to notice in this passage. First, God says that the enemy is going to have “seed,” or children. These are the people who follow the devil and will deny Christ until they die, dying in their sins. These are Christ’s enemies through and through, and they are demonic. When Christ was here the first time, these evil people were very active. Jesus was able to drive the demons out of many of them, and I believe that is still possible even today, but there are many such people who are very comfortable in their demonic state, and they will never turn to Christ, lest they be healed. Even though I won’t condemn anyone, as it is not my purview to do so, I have met several people who were demonic. When I mention the things of God to them, they recoil and get very upset. When I mention the things of God. they never understand what I’m talking about, and they often feel judged by me. Our conversations almost always go south, and I end up having to disengage from them because they will never get it.

The second thing I want you to notice in the passage from Genesis above is the Seed mentioned by God. Notice that the word is capitalized. This is the One Seed of God, and it is the first mention in the Bible of the coming Messiah Jesus. At the very beginning, right after the Fall of Man, God promised that He would send a Savior into the world to save us from our sin and from His wrath. God declares that the Seed would bruise the head of the enemy, which means that He will hurt the enemy where it hurts the most, in his mind, which means that all his plans will fail. The devil cannot outthink God, and God will deal with his schemes in the end. God also stated the enemy would bruise the heel of our LORD Jesus. This happened at Calvary when they crucified our LORD, and they pierced Him through His feet.

So, we know that God has His people, and the enemy has his people. And we will always be at enmity with each other. I’m not surprised when I often try to engage with some people online, and they immediately launch personal attacks against me when I dare to mention the Truth of God. It was funny, I recently stated online that I follow the whole counsel of God; in other words, that I teach the entirety of the Scriptures. One person immediately attacked me with two verses from Leviticus, which stated that the Israelites should not mix cloths when dressing. This person said this because in my profile picture, I’m wearing a suit, which is, of course, a mixture of different cloths. This person thought he had me because, according to him, if I was really following the whole counsel of God, I would follow all the Levitical laws, right down to dressing like the Israelites. I literally laughed out loud when I read his comment. I then told him that we no longer live under those Old Testament Laws, that the Levitical laws only applied to the Jewish Nation at that time. I explained to this person that we now live under the grace of Christ, the concept of which is woven throughout Scripture. This person’s response to that answer was one of anger and frustration because ultimately, He did not comprehend what I truly meant by the entirety of the Scriptures. Remember, the enemy tried to use Scripture against Christ, too, and our LORD’s responses to the devil were beautiful. Jesus countered the enemies use of Scripture out of context with His own explanation of Scripture in context. The enemies of God will always try to use God’s own Words against us. That is why it is imperative that we know the Word of God well.

In conclusion, the children of the enemy will always hate God, and they will always hate us, His Chosen People. if they hate Christ, and they hate us, it stands to reason they will hate anything associated with our LORD, including the place He will rule from, Zion, also known as the Holy City of Jerusalem. It is not surprising that Jerusalem is under constant attack, but if God will rule from there, I would say it will be one of the safest places to be in the End Times because God will no doubt protect Jerusalem from any and all attack. Amen.