FRONT-PORCH GOSPEL: Is that the old ship of Zion? (part 1)
Good early autumn to everyone. Welcome to the “front porch.”
This past Lord’s Day we visited an old account of the story of “Zion.” It is one of the most beautiful names, I think, in the English language.
The beautiful name of Zion is splashed throughout the deep writings of the Old Testament prophets. Solomon’s magnificent temple once rested on Zion’s western slope, the highest hill in Jerusalem. From her fixed position high above the hills, Zion served as a fortress of protection and a beacon of light to the land of Judah.
Those Old Testament writers honored this place called Zion and often wrote fondly of her as they looked ahead by faith to a better Zion, the church of our Lord.
“Let Mount Zion be glad!” writes the psalmist in the forty-eighth psalm; then, a moment later, he says, “Walk about Zion, go around her, number well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever...” (vs. 11-14).
This Zion of the psalmist’s era points to the church our Lord promises that He will build (Matt. 16:18). It is a greater Zion, by far. In one striking scripture, the apostle contrasts the bountiful blessings of the church that by that time already had been established – mount Zion, he calls her – with the limitations of the old regime:
“But ye are come unto mount Zion,” he writes, “and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels” (Hebrews 12:22).
We, today, have come to that just such a place. We have come to mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem and city of the living God, to that innumerable hosts of angels.
Think on that a moment. Sometimes I think we tend to take for granted the glory of the church of our Lord that we become a part of when we obey the gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 6:1-6, 17). But those old faithful prophets did not take Zion for granted. They loved her, even as we love the Lord’s church today.
Many song poets through the years have taken this image of Zion and the church and used her it in their music.
How often have we sang in powerful union, “We’re marching to Zion,” or “O Zion, Zion, I long thy face to see,” “Zion’s call is ringing over land and sea,” along with so many others.
One of my all-time favorites is a Zion song that looks at Zion as an old ship. It was in 1977 that Conrad Cook penned the beautiful words to “Is that the Old Ship of Zion.” His song is the narrative of a man standing on a river bank. As he looks out over the waters, he sees the old ship of Zion sailing gallantly in the distance. He strains his eyes to make out this ship, and it is easy to see that she has been through quite a journey, her “hull bent and battered.”
“Waves were rough,” he writes, “but that old ship was sailing. Is that the old Ship of Zion I see?”
What a true and poignant image of the Lord’s church!
Surely, through the ages, the church has been bent and battered, just as that old ship. She has had to endure many storms and a multitude of attacks and will do so until – as Revelation looks her glorious plight – “The Lamb shall overcome them” (17:14).
Yes, that old ship is still sailing. As Daniel of old looks toward her five hundred years away, he reminds the world that Zion “shall never be destroyed.” She, the old prophet writes, “shall stand for ever “(Daniel 2:44).
Today I am so glad to be part of that everlasting ship of Zion, to be able to sail life’s sea in this old ship. I want to tell you that I love this church, and I hope that this look back at her beauty will excite you to a greater love for her, too. When we look at her – when we “walk about Zion” – we cannot help but love her. It is in her that salvation of the world comes. From the very beginning, the Lord added to the church those who were being saved (Acts 2:42).
Oh, she’s an old ship; but she is still sailing steadily along.