“Zionism” is basically the right of the Jewish nation to live in its ancestral home — the land promised to them in millennia past. Nothing more, nothing less. The safe haven of this tiny piece of land — roughly 22,000 sq. km., about the same as the state of New Jersey – is therefore irreversibly important. Image source: NASA JPL (2020) via Getty Images

For the Lord has chosen Zion;
He has desired it for His habitation.

Psalm 132:13

But of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in her”;
And the Most High Himself will establish her.

Psalm 87:5

For this is contained in Scripture:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone,
And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

1 Peter 2:6

Thus says the Lord, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’

Zechariah 8:3

There are no fewer than 42 verses in God’s Holy Word about Zion. People ought to read, understand, and believe the whole Holy Bible. Every word.

Israel is Zion. Yes, a certain fortress at one time, a certain mountain, but Zion is Israel, Zion is GOD’S LAND. GOD OWNS IT. GOD RULES FROM ZION.

Anyone — I don’t care who they might be, who they think that they are — that takes up a position against Israel, against Zion, God’s land cannot be a true Christ follower, a true born again Christian. If professing to be a Christian and also an anti-Zionist those are greatly deceived. Liars. Pretenders. Those who have no true heart for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, those who do not have a true heart for the LORD Jesus Christ, those who do not have a changed heart, where the Holy Spirit dwells.

For if truly born anew, if truly a disciple of Jesus, if truly then a child of God, a person cannot be anything other than a Zionist!

Impossible to be otherwise.

Beware those who spit venom, lies, great heresies, and deception with the tongue of Satan in them who claim to be Christian while also speaking or writing against Israel, against Zion — GOD’S LAND.

No matter who they may be. Your pastor? A family member? Someone you’ve listened to and admired, followed for years, perhaps, trusting their previous words? BEWARE! For Satan sets a seductive, subtle, whispering snare to catch and enslave.

There are more, many more false teachers, liars, ministers of Satan on this earth than there are sound doctrine teachers, born again disciples of Jesus, true children of God. Many of the false teachers are entrenched in the church, in many established denominations. Many are well known. Famous. Many are not. BEWARE!

If anti-Zion, then you are anti-God, anti-Truth, anti-Jesus, and anti-born again, changed Supernaturally from within by the Holy Spirit. You merely approach Christianity the same way you approach being a member of a country club, the Jaycees, the Shriners, or a school board member.

I don’t care how many followers you may have on your podcast, on your social media platforms, or the network you may be employed by, the church you supposedly lead, your level of education, and so on.

Anti-Zion? Then you are anti-God. Anti-Christ. Anti-Holy Spirit. Anti-Holy Bible.

There are two additional pieces below. The first is from Bible Hub, the latter from Gatestone Institute.

Nils Haug and Gatestone Institute gave their article the heading of  The Curious Case of ‘Anti-Zionists.”

There is nothing curious about anti-Zionists at all. They are instruments of Satan. Plain and simple. How can I make such a statement? Because Satan in his vanity, in his great delusion believes, has convinced himself he’s higher than God and if he can remove Israel, Zion, from the face of the earth then he can destroy Bible prophecy and make it impossible for the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Yeshua Hamashiac, to return a Seond Time to rule from David’s throne in Jerusalem, in Israel.

Plain and simple, see?

All anti-Zionism is the handiwork of evil, of he who has dominion on this fallen earth and has the overwhelming majority serving him rather than serving the LORD.

Anti-Zionism is, in reality, Satanic in its nature. Demonic. Remove Zion and thus make it impossible for the words of the Bible, the will of Go,d to be fulfilled.

Do not be deceived.

Lastly, if you’re a true Christian and attending a church that does not preach Bible prophecy, hold the correct view of Israel, Zion, and preach from the whole Holy Bible? Purely, clearly, soundly? And don’t pretend in this, don’t remain in such a place, even if born into it, entrenched for many years. Get up! Move on! There still exist some sound doctrine, whole Holy Bible preaching and teaching, and believing pastors and churches. Find one. Pray, asking for guidance, and believe the LORD will direct you.

He will. He did so for my wife and me. He can and will for you too. Even if you have to drive more than 15, 20 minutes to get there.

Imagine walking in Zion daily as the LORD did when He was here. And no one now can be inconvenienced in having to drive 30, 40 minutes, even a bit more to be present in a sound doctrine Bible-preaching, Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church in such a time as this?

Shameful. No excuse.

See how attempting to tell the LORD you couldn’t find a true church because it would have involved driving more than 10 or 15 minutes from where you lived. See how that goes over.

Read on…

Ken Pullen, Friday, March 6th, 2026

Definition and Etymology

Zion refers to a significant location in Scripture associated with God’s presence and His people. The term appears repeatedly throughout the Old and New Testaments. It first alludes to a physical mount in Jerusalem, yet it also expands into profound spiritual and prophetic dimensions. The name “Zion” likely derives from a root meaning “fortress” or “citadel,” reflecting its ancient role as a stronghold.

Early Geographical and Historical Background

Originally, Zion was the Jebusite fortress that King David conquered around the 10th century BC (cf. 2 Samuel 5). Several archaeological expeditions near the City of David in Jerusalem have uncovered remnants of fortifications dating to this period, consistent with the biblical account of a fortified stronghold. After David’s conquest, Zion came to be called the “City of David.” Over time, “Zion” began to refer also to the Temple Mount area (where Solomon built the Temple) and even to the entire city of Jerusalem.

Zion in the Old Testament

1. Establishment under David

After David took the fortress, Scripture records: “David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the City of David)” (2 Samuel 5:7). The fortress became the political and spiritual base of the Davidic kingdom.

2. The Temple Connection

Solomon’s Temple on Mount Moriah came to be identified with Zion. The prophets often used the term “Mount Zion” to represent the presence of God among His people. Psalm 48:2 extols it: “Beautiful in loftiness, the joy of all the earth…” (excerpted), showing the Temple mount as a divine beacon for the nations.

3. Prophetic and Poetic Usage

The Psalms and Prophets refer to Zion repeatedly. Prophets like Isaiah tie the future deliverance and hope of God’s people to Zion: “The Redeemer will come to Zion…” (Isaiah 59:20, excerpted). This means God’s saving plan is centered on this divinely chosen location.

4. Symbol of National Life and Covenant

Zion symbolizes the covenant relationship between God and Israel. When the Israelites are faithful, Zion is blessed and secure; when they stray, Zion experiences devastation as part of God’s corrective judgment (e.g., Lamentations and portions of Jeremiah).

Zion in the New Testament

1. Fulfillment in Christ

The New Testament applies “Zion” to God’s spiritual kingdom, especially evident in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Hebrews 12:22 affirms: “Instead, you have come to Mount Zion…” (excerpted), signifying the believer’s spiritual access to God through Christ.

2. Heavenly Jerusalem

Revelation refers to the “new Jerusalem” (Revelation 3:12; 21:2) which is often associated with the idea of a heavenly, ultimate Zion. It points to the culmination of God’s plan in which believers dwell eternally in divine fellowship.

3. Universal Salvation Through the Messiah

Zion becomes a symbol of the global outreach of the gospel. References such as 1 Peter 2:6, drawing from Isaiah 28:16, show Zion as the foundation where the “cornerstone” (Christ) is laid.

Messianic and Prophetic Significance

1. Promise of the Messiah’s Reign

Several Old Testament passages (e.g., Psalm 2, Isaiah 2:2-4) link Zion to the reign of the Messiah over the nations. Christians see these prophecies as accomplished and still to be fully consummated in Jesus Christ’s rule.

2. A Place of Gathering and Restoration

The major prophets, including Jeremiah and Ezekiel, promise a future restoration. Isaiah 2:3 (BSB, excerpted) predicts: “Out of Zion shall go forth instruction…”

3. Spiritual Holiness and God’s Dwelling

Zion’s ultimate significance lies not merely in geography but in representing the site of God’s presence-both historically in the Temple and spiritually in the hearts of believers.

Archaeological and Historical Evidence

1. City of David Excavations

Archaeologists have found stepped stone structures, royal seals, and other fortifications dating to the time of David and his successors. These finds align with the biblical portrayal of a thriving, fortified city that powerfully shaped Israelite identity.

2. Hezekiah’s Tunnel

Discovered in the City of David area, Hezekiah’s subterranean water tunnel (2 Kings 20:20) substantiates the Bible’s description of Jerusalem’s attempts to protect its water supply. Such discoveries reinforce the Scriptures’ historical and geographical credibility.

3. Ancient Inscriptions and Seals

Seals bearing names of officials mentioned in the biblical narratives (e.g., references to Hebrew royal administration) add corroboration to events in Jerusalem, Zion’s broader region.

Zion as a Symbolic Representation

1. God’s Covenant with His People

Zion embodies the bond between God and believers. It represents a place of atonement, sacrifice, and ongoing fellowship with God. When the Ark of the Covenant resided there, it underscored God’s nearness.

2. Calling to Holiness and Worship

In the Old Testament, the pilgrimage feasts called worshipers to ascend to Zion (Psalm 122). Believers, likewise, are called to “go up” in a spiritual sense-approaching God in reverence and gratitude.

3. Eschatological Hope

Christian theology sees the present world’s struggles giving way to the joy of the “Heavenly Mount Zion.” Biblical prophecy suggests a final era of peace, justice, and God’s glory shining from Zion. This anchor of hope is integral to understanding salvation history.

Conclusion

Zion is far more than an ancient fortress or a geographic reference. From its origins as a Jebusite stronghold conquered by David, to its function as the site of the Temple, and eventually its representation of God’s everlasting kingdom, Zion threads throughout Scripture as a central theme. It serves as a testament to God’s presence and sovereign plan-from the immediate historical events of the Israelite monarchy to the promised Messianic age fulfilled and consummated in Jesus Christ.

In Christian understanding, Zion reminds believers of God’s redemptive work, the future restoration, and the divine invitation for humanity to enter into fellowship with the eternal King. Its rich layers-historical, prophetic, and spiritual-demonstrate Scripture’s cohesive testimony. Through ongoing archaeological studies that lend weight to the biblical record, Zion remains a tangible and enduring symbol connecting the faithful to God’s abiding promise, His covenant, and the ultimate hope found in Christ.

The Curious Case of ‘Anti-Zionists’

Israel is a spiritual, multi-ethnic, hard-working nation – one founded on nearly four millennia of persecution, leavened by a divine covenant that imparted an enduring national and moral identity on its people.

The dramatic events at Mt. Sinai, when the twelve tribes received the Torah with its 613 laws, established not only religious principles but a collective social identity coupled with an allocation of land in perpetuity. It was only when rooted in the promised land itself that the Jewish people could truly become a nation of destiny.

The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob each received a divine promise of land — the boundaries of which were surprisingly specific. Today, while Israel occupies only a small portion of that promised land, this tiny bit remains central to Jews worldwide. Israel is regarded by the Jewish nation in general as “holy” land – donated exclusively to the Jews by the Creator. It is considered a mitzvah – a command – for them to dwell there: “You shall possess the land,” the biblical verse reads, “and dwell in it.”

Jewish history and identity — national, social, and personal — is inextricably bound to Eretz Yisrael: the Land of Israel. It is almost beyond comprehension, therefore, for a Jew to denigrate fellow Jews who support the right of their people to live in Eretz Yisrael. When people, including Jews, negate the right of Israel to exist as a state, such an attitude contradicts not only the fundamentals of Judaism, but the core of humanitarian compassion.

“Zionism” is basically the right of the Jewish nation to live in its ancestral home — the land promised them in millennia past. Nothing more, nothing less. The safe haven of this tiny piece of land — roughly 22,000 sq. km., about the same as the state of New Jersey – is therefore irreversibly important. The journalist Caroline Glick framed this view as follows: “It is the resurrection of strategic independence — of Zionism — that will secure Israel’s future for the next hundred years.”

Yet, it has become common for others to denigrate Israel’s right even to exist.

In such instances, it has become clear that hostile ideology trumps history, fundamental principles of faith, and basic humanitarian compassion for those Jews who seek sanctuary after centuries of pogroms, genocide, blatant discrimination, prejudice and hatred when their forebears lived among hostile nations. Can such adversaries even be considered credible? It is obvious they have lost much acceptability, including the right to speak on behalf of others, for they have aligned themselves with terrorists and other enemies of Western civilization.

Sadly, pursuant to October 7, 2023, even some supposedly “Jewish” anti-Zionist groups such as J Street and New York Jewish Agenda, according to journalist Jonathan Tobin, “supported the efforts of those who sought to prevent Israel from attacking Hamas and Iran.” The world appears already to have forgotten that when Jews were pushed into the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka and other death camps, no one first asked them if they were observant or secular, leftist or conservative, Orthodox or Reform, Zionist or anti-Zionist.

Writing about Phylisa Wisdom, the left-wing activist whom New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed to head the city’s “Office to Combat Antisemitism,” Tobin remarked that her appointment “symbolizes what has happened to the idea of ‘liberal Zionism’ in the 21st century.”

“If acting and speaking as she has done is what it means to be a liberal Zionist today, then a real disconnect exists. It’s not merely time to realize that the phrase has lost its original meaning; instead, we must understand that those who have appropriated that label are neither Zionist nor authentically liberal.”

In plain words, they are fake supporters of freedom and justice and should be considered “fake humanitarians”– meaning, detached from their imaginary core identity of supposedly embodying virtue, and instead embracing terrorists, terrorism, and the organizations that espouse and fund them.

Israel, like every country, may not be perfect, but in the accusations they make against it, Israel’s enemies feel the need to lie. They accuse Israelis of being “settlers” or “colonialists,” meanwhile managing to block out that, on the contrary, it was Muslim armies that invaded, conquered, “colonized” and “settled” much of the planet. Examples, just in the West, include the great Christian Byzantine Empire, Christian Coptic Egypt, Iberia, Europe, and, in 1974, northern Cyprus, among other victims. France, for instance, was only saved from the invading Muslim armies by Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in 732 CE.

Other lies currently floated include allegations that Israel is a racist or apartheid state; that Israel occupies stolen land; that Israel oppresses the Palestinians — not the Palestinians’ own corrupt leaders; that Israel commits genocide when, in reality, it is Hamas – as declared in its own 1988 Charter — that explicitly calls for genocide, not just against Israel, but all Jews (Article 7). The facts all point to the reverse of these allegations. As is to be expected in the current political climate, however, ideological misrepresentations evidently override all considerations of accuracy, objectivity and verifiability.

Demonizing Israel is, of course, always a useful way for a corrupt or incompetent ruler to deflect attention from his own failures onto a convenient decoy. Throughout history, Jews, and most recently, Israel, appear to be repeatedly recruited for this distinction.

American Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz observed:

“In this era of great polarization, politics has replaced ethics and religion. Whether what you do is right or wrong is no longer relevant; all that matters now is if it favors the right or the left. Politics has become an all-encompassing passion; advocates are blind to their own subjectivity.”

Within Israel itself, conflicting claims to authentic Jewish identity, and so representative authority, have long been present. The origins are not difficult to trace: the left-wing, socialist parties in Israel were a strong force in the land, even before the re-establishment of Israel as a state in 1948, with friction between future Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s socialist Mapai party and Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s conservative “revisionist” party, which eventually morphed into the ruling Likud party of today.

The discord between “leftist” elites and the conservative “right”, largely corresponding to Ashkenazi Jews who had lived in European lands vs. Sephardi/Mizrachi Jews who had lived in Arab lands, continues to this day, polarizing society, and giving the appearance of a weak nation — in full view of Israel’s many chop-licking enemies. This divide in Israel – for instance, claims by Israelis for desperately needed judicial reform and leftists who threatened that, if called up for military reserve duty, they would refuse to serve if the judicial reform were implemented – may well have been a significant factor in Hamas’s decision to invade Israel on October 7, 2023. History reveals that when a nation’s enemies perceive it to be weak, it becomes vulnerable to attack and downfall: “A house divided cannot stand.”

Israel’s antagonists, particularly in Europe, appear to be envious that a small nation, which began with sand, desert and malarial swamps, had the gall to become an international powerhouse, while they continue to struggle with economies misguidedly designed to fail, and millions of newcomers apparently intent on replacing Europe’s values with their own.

Israel’s denigrators probably ask themselves how those “upstarts” in Israel could be so innovative and successful while they, the virtuous, so generously share countless social benefits with needy migrants — many of whom openly say they would like to overthrow the elected government and transform Europe into an Islamic Caliphate.

The animosity and contrariness of prominent individuals and groups, whether religious or secular, towards Israel has, as intended, exacerbated Jew-hatred and anti-Zionism. Hatred of Jews, whether in the forms of anti-Judaism, anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, or whatever one wishes to call it, is connected to fury at someone else’s success.

Despite all odds, for nearly 4,000 years, the Jewish people have survived and thrived, and notwithstanding wars and relentless attacks from enemies, the Jews — who do not wish ill of anyone — defeated them all to stand stronger than ever. With courage and brilliance, the determined nation of King David will not just continue to thrive; they will soar.

Nils A. Haug is an author and columnist. A Lawyer by profession, he is member of the International Bar Association, the National Association of Scholars, the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. Dr. Haug holds a Ph.D. in Apologetical Theology and is author of ‘Politics, Law, and Disorder in the Garden of Eden – the Quest for Identity’; and ‘Enemies of the Innocent – Life, Truth, and Meaning in a Dark Age.’ His work has been published by First Things Journal, The American Mind, Quadrant, Minding the Campus, Gatestone Institute, National Association of Scholars, Jewish Journal, James Wilson Institute (Anchoring Truths), Jewish News Syndicate, Tribune Juive, Document Danmark, Zwiedzaj Polske, Schlaglicht Israel, and many others.