Overcomers have the Highways to Zion in their Heart and Enjoy Christ in God’s House

The overcomers as Zion enjoy Christ, have the highways to Zion in their heart, pass through the valley of weeping and make it into a spring, dwell in the house of God and enjoy its blessings, fellowship with the Lord and with the saints, and live and rest in Zion where God dwells. Hallelujah!

What the Lord is after today is Zion, the overcomers; the Lord’s recovery is to build up Zion.

The Lord is recovering us back to His original intention, and in particular, He is gaining a group of people who stand with Him and for Him on earth to be the overcoming ones.

He wants to gain the reality of the Body of Christ being manifested in the local churches; when this reality is built up to an adequate extent, He will return, for the bride will be prepared.

We can cooperate with the Lord today for Him to gain what He is after; we can cooperate by praying.

Many Christians may feel inspired and emboldened when they hear that the Lord wants to return, they promise to do this and that, and they may even set themselves aside for God and do a Christian work zealously to “help” the Lord to return.

What can we do today to cooperate with the Lord for Him to return?

A very simple thing we can do is allow Him to wash us and prepare us to be His beautiful, spotless, pure bride.

We can read the Word and pray over God’s word so that we may have the washing of the water in the word.

As the water in the word washes us, all our spots and wrinkles and any such things are being removed, and we are being purified and cleansed to be the Lord’s beautiful and spotless wife, His bride, for Him to return.

Day by day we need to take time to pray-read the word of God, take in the word by means of all prayer and petition and allow the Lord to slay the adversary within as He is adding His element to us.

On one hand, the word of God is food and drink to us, and when we come to the Lord’s word with the exercise of our spirit we are nourished spiritually and our thirst is quenched.

On the other hand, the word of God is the sword of the Spirit not only for us to attack the enemy outside of us but even more, to deal with the adversary within us.

There are many things within us that are of the old man, the natural being, the self, and the flesh; these are the adversary’s base in us.

Before we can deal with and defeat the enemy without we need to pray and read the Word of God so that the adversary within would be slain.

Reading and praying, praying and reading the word of God will expose and slay the adversary within, and our inner being will be nourished at the same time.

This will prepare us to be the Lord’s beautiful bride for Him to return and rapture. May we be those who pray-read the word of God to be prepared as the Lord’s bride until He returns!

Overcomers Enjoy Christ, have the Highways to Zion in their Heart and Dwell in God’s House

Psa. 84 is a psalm on the overcomers; here we see that the overcomers enjoy Christ, have the highways to Zion in their heart, pass through the valley of weeping and make it into a spring, and enjoy the blessings of dwelling in God’s house in Zion.

We want to be such ones. We need to enjoy Christ as the incarnated Triune God, the God-man; He is our portion, and day by day we need to enjoy Him.

We need to be those in whose hearts are the highways to Zion. Our strength is not in and of ourselves; our strength is in the Lord and of Him (Psa. 84:5).

On one hand, the overcomers are a collective entity, a corporate group of people; on the other hand, they overcome individually, in their own situation, by being one with the Lord.

The overcomers go from strength to strength, and each one of them appears before God in Zion (v. 7).

Being an overcomer is a very personal matter; I cannot overcome for you and you cannot overcome for me.

The itinerary of the overcomers is not always nice and pleasant; many times they pass through “the valley of Bacca”, the valley of weeping.

On one hand, the overcomers are strengthened in God and have the highways to Zion in their heart (v. 5); on the other hand, they are opposed by Satan and persecuted by man, so they pass through the valley of weeping.

There is a certain amount of discipline from God and stripping by Him that takes place, and the stripping and weepings result in the enjoyment of the loveliness and sweetness of God’s house (vv. 1, 6; Psa. 73:26).

On one hand, the Christian life and church life are glorious, wonderful, and sweet; on the other hand, we are being persecuted and even martyred, either spiritually or psychologically.

But as we go through these strippings and weepings in the valley, we have the highways to Zion in our heart, and even though we pass through difficulties, trials, and persecution, the result is that we enjoy the loveliness and sweetness of God’s house.

Not every day as a Christian is a happy day; not every day in the church life is a joyous day.

We pass through many things in our life as Christians and as those in the church life; there is much stripping and weeping, but these become like a spring to us, filled with God’s blessing.

While we are weeping, we are being filled with the Spirit, and the Spirit becomes a spring and the early rain to us (Psa. 84:3-6).

The highways to Zion signify our intention to enter into the church as the house of God with the two altars, to make our home there.

The house of God has two altars: the bronze altar at the entrance signifying the crucified Christ into whom we believe to enter into the house of God, and the incense altar before the Holy of Holies where incense is offered to God for peace and acceptance.

This incense altar signifies the resurrected Christ in ascension for God’s peace and acceptance.

These two altars are the two leading consummations of the work of Christ, the incarnated Triune God, the embodiment of God for His increase.

Here we want to live and dwell, at the two altars, so we have the highways of Zion in our heart, and though we pass through the valley of weeping, we make it into a spring filled with blessings.

Psa. 84:11 reveals that the blessings of our dwelling in the house of God are our enjoyment of the incarnated and consummated Triune God as our sun to supply us with life (John 1:4; 8:12), as our shield to protect us from God’s enemy (Eph. 6:11-17), as grace for our enjoyment (John 1:14, 17), and as glory for the manifestation of God in splendour (Rev. 21:11, 23).

How can we make the valley of weeping into a spring, and how can we enjoy the blessings of dwelling in the house of God, we who have the highways to Zion in our heart?

It is by standing on the Word of God, declaring God’s word in faith, and not standing with our feelings and our mood.

We may even declare the facts in God’s word to the enemy and stand with the truth in God’s word, ignoring the trouble that the enemy is trying to bring about. We don’t overcome by our natural strength; no one can overcome in themselves.

We can remain in the victory of Christ and maintain His victory by enjoying Christ. He is our rich provision for us to overcome.

May we respond to the Lord’s call for overcomers by being those who have the highways to Zion in their heart and may we enjoy the rich provisions of God’s house!

Lord Jesus, we want to answer Your call for overcomers: make us Your overcomers! We have the highways to Zion in our heart, for we intend to enter into the reality of the Body of Christ to be Your overcomers in this age! Amen, Lord, our strength is not in ourselves; our strength is in You, for You are the Overcomer within us. We come to You, Lord, to enjoy You as the incarnated Triune God. Even when we pass through the valley of weeping and being stripped and disciplined, oh Lord, we turn to You so that this valley would become a spring, even be covered with blessings! May we go from strength to strength until each one of us appears before God in Zion! Keep us in Your house to enjoy Your blessings here. Amen, Lord, You are our sun to supply us with life. We enjoy You as our shield to protect us from God’s enemy. You are God’s grace for our enjoyment, and You are our glory for the manifestation of God in splendour! We overcome because of You and in You: we stand on Your word, we take You as our strength, and we allow You to make us Your overcomers!

Dwelling in Zion and Being Full of Fellowship, for we are Born in Zion with Christ!

Another Psalm that speaks of Zion, the overcomers, is Psa. 87; here we see that, “His foundation is in the holy mountains, / Jehovah loves the gates of Zion” (vv. 1-2a).

Zion is a type of the overcomers in the church, and it is built on the highest peak of the holy mountains, which typifies the local churches.

The foundation of Zion is Christ, the high peaks are the local churches, and Zion is produced in the local churches.

The heavenly Zion, of which glorious things are spoken (v. 3) will be the final place of rest for the overcomers (Rev. 14:1).

The living overcomers in Rev. 14 are raptured directly to the third heaven, to Zion, where they will stand with the Lamb.

For them, Zion – which they are in reality – is their final place of rest; Zion is the place of rest reserved for the overcomers.

The gates of Zion, which Jehovah loves, are for coming in and going out, signifying fellowship.

The New Jerusalem as the eternal Zion has twelve gates (Rev. 21:12, 21), which indicates that God’s holy city will be full of fellowship.

The overcomers are not individualistic; they are full of fellowship, for they not only have the highways of Zion in their heart individually but also fellowship both with the Lord and with the saints.

The overcomers fellowship with the Lord, having the highways of Zion on their heart, and also with the Body, with the members of the Body.

The overcomers are not individualistic, independent, seclusive or exclusive. They depend on the Body and live in the Body and for the Body.

A particular aspect of Zion is that “Of Zion it will be said, ⁄ This one and that one were born in her, ⁄ And the Most High Himself will establish her. ⁄ Jehovah will count ⁄ When He records the peoples: ⁄ This One was born there” (Psa. 87:5-6).

We are from Zion; Zion is our source.

Even more, Christ Himself as the unique One, the One who is the totality of all the saints (“this one” and “that one”) is the One who is all the saints and in all the saints (Col. 3:11), He is from Zion.

Christ Himself and all the saints were born in Zion. Who is born in Zion? Moses, Joshua, David, Elijah, Peter, Paul, Martin Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Zinzendorf, Darby, Watchman Nee, Witness Lee, and so many others were born in Zion.

We all were born in Zion, Zion is our place of rest, and Zion is our place of fellowship, for we are full of the fellowship of life in Zion.

Even Christ, who is the totality of all the saints and who is in all the saints, was born there, in Zion. Hallelujah!

This is how God has a record concerning Zion: we all were born there.

Not all the saints in Zion are “famous” ones; there were some among the singers and dancers that were unknown, but they are also from Zion.

We are the unknown ones, but we can sing and praise the Lord, saying of Zion, the city of God, “All my springs are in you.” (Psa. 87:7).

Let Egypt boast of the Nile, and let Babylon boast of the Euphrates – they don’t have the springs, but in Zion, we have them!

Hallelujah, Zion is a place of springs, and here we dwell and fellowship and rest!

Hallelujah, we are born in Zion, we live and dwell in Zion, and in Zion, we rest! Amen, Lord, we have the highways to Zion in our heart: we want to be here all the time, in the sweet and intimate fellowship with God and with the saints. Praise the Lord, we were born in Zion, and here God establishes us, for even Christ was born in Zion! Though we are not famous or outstanding, Hallelujah, we dwell in Zion, we enjoy the riches of God’s house, and we fellowship with the Lord and with the saints! Amen, Lord, all our springs are in You in Zion! Let others boast of their rivers or sources of supply, but they don’t have the springs – our springs are in You, in Christ, in Zion!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen in the message, and portions from, Life-study for the Psalms (msgs. 11, 32-34), by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 10, entitled, The Lord’s Recovery – to Build up Zion.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – How blessed are those men indeed! / Trusting in Thee they are made strong; / Highways to Zion in their hearts, / The way they care not, rough or long. / Passing the weeping valley they / Make it a place of springing wells; / The rain with blessings covers it / And in the way God’s mercy tells. (Hymns #851, stanzas 4-5)
  – Blessed is the man whose heart, to / Zion, is an open way; / He’s the one whose strength is in Thee; / He will praise Thee all the day. / In communion with the churches, / Trusting Thee, Thy praise he sings; / Passing through the weeping valley, / It becomes a place of springs. (Hymns #1258 stanza 2)
  – In the Holy City with His own He dwells; / O Lord, our Lord, how excellent Thy name! / He’s enthroned upon the praises of His saints; / All His delight in Zion does remain. / The local churches are His move today— / He is our portion, we are satisfied. / Oh, what a goodly heritage have we; / Oh, what a goodly heritage have we! (Hymns #1222 stanza 2)