Psalms 2:6 - Jesus and being set upon Zion

Question

It is taken that Psalms 2 is speaking about Jesus. Christ is considered to be the “King upon Zion.” Spoken in Psalms 2:6. He is shown to be the “anointed” in Psalms 2:2 which is quoted in Acts 4:26 and the “son” from Psalms 2:7 which is quoted in Hebrews 2:7.

I’m trying to connect how Zion, God’s holy mountain connects with the historical Jesus.

Barnes’ Notes:

Upon my holy hill of Zion - Zion was the southern hill in the city of Jerusalem. See the notes at Isaiah 1:8. It was the highest of the hills on which the city was built. It was made by David the capital of his kingdom, and was hence called the city of David, 2 Chronicles 5:2. By the poets and prophets it is often put for Jerusalem itself, Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 8:18; Isaiah 10:24; Isaiah 33:14, et al. It did not obtain this distinction until it was taken by David from the Jebusites, 2 Samuel 5:5-9; 1 Chronicles 11:4-8. To that place David removed the ark of the covenant, and there he built an altar to the Lord in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, 2 Samuel 24:15-25. Zion became thenceforward the metropolis of the kingdom, and the name was transferred to the entire city. It is to this that the passage here refers; and the meaning is, that in that metropolis or capital God had constituted his Messiah king, or had appointed him to reign over his people.

It seems that Christ is the King that is mentioned here, however I struggle to see how Zion, God’s holy mountain fits in the picture. In Revelation 14:1 is says "Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion,..." Though he was called a king (Matthew 27:37), Lamb of God (John 1:29), and ministered in Jerusalem, Jesus was never set on a mountain. Is this mountain supposed to be a type/symbols relating to Jesus in someway or is this to be taken in some metaphorical sense?

StudyLight Commentaries for Psalms 2:6

Answer 1

What a coincidence that I was reading the first two Psalms this morning before I saw your question later on today. I was prompted to delve further into the second Psalm, which is clearly one of many messianic prophecies.

Zion was the site of the City of David during the reign of Manasseh, King of Judah. He restored the altar of the Lord (2 Chronicles 33:15-20). At the time of the writing of Psalm 2, King David was God’s anointed and Zion was God’s “holy mountain”.

To the Lord I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill” (Psalm 3:4).

However, it is Christ Jesus, the Son of David, of whom the psalmist, King David, speaks. This is borne out in Acts 13:32-33:

We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father’.

This is what Psalm 2 was pointing forward to – the time when the Messiah was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of his Father in heaven.

For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay (Acts 13:36-37).

Pointing ahead to a future time, the Apostle John was given a dramatic revelation of the risen and glorified Christ depicted as a Lamb, who was standing on Mount Zion (Revelation 14:1). The Old Testament Jerusalem has become the heavenly Jerusalem, the eternal dwelling place of God and His people (Galatians 4:26). The New Jerusalem is the Holy City, out of which flows the River of Life, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Revelation 22:1).

The Revelation of Christ Jesus is symbolic in language and mere mortals (like me) struggle to grasp what the reality will be like. But that does not matter. All we need to know is that the risen and glorified Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords, who reigns over this new earth, and sits on the throne in the symbolic Jerusalem on the symbolic Mount Zion.

This is a spiritual description of events at the end of this age. This is not the physical mount Zion of Old Testament times. This is not the physical earth on which we now stand. This is a portrait of the new heavens and the new earth where only those who wash their robes in the blood of the lamb will gain admittance into the City of God (Revelation 22:14).

Answer 2

OP: It seems that Christ is the King that is mentioned here, however I struggle to see how Zion, God’s holy mountain fits in the picture.

On a physical level, the idea is that Christ is David's descendant. As such, Christ is heir to the promised eternal kingship.

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Mt 1:1

For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; Jer 33:17

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: Luke 1:32

The throneship is at Zion.

Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. Psalm 48:2

This was fulfilled physically. There is also the spiritual aspect that envelopes the whole of Christ's ministry.

Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. Col 2:17

Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. Heb 8:5

Some believe all or most of Revelation has been fulfilled, while others believe it nearly all is future. But the Jerusalem above or new Jerusalem or city descending would already be taking place based on the start of the New Covenant.

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

"First" is not to say second fully replaces it, but first is first in place or time. -Source- The "new" then follows.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; G3928 behold, all things are become new. 2 Cor 5:17

So, without going any further, spiritually, following the physical, it is taking place.

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

It might help if we transfer attention to what Paul calls "the Jerusalem above", in Galatians ch4 vv24-27. There Paul distinguishes allegorically between the slave Hagar and "the free woman" (Sarah) as mothers. The first represents the old covenant, the covenant of slavery (to the law of Moses), and corresponds to "the present Jerusalem". Paul rather skips the step of spelling out the thought that the free woman represents the new covenant and corresponds with the new Jerusalem, and jumps straight to the logical conclusion that "the Jerusalem above is free, and she is OUR mother".

I suggest that any connection between Zion and Jesus, from the Christian viewpoint, belongs rather to "the Jerusalem above". Compare also "the new Jerusalem" of Revelation ch21 v1.