It is our understanding that Zion refers to Christ and His Body. Zion is the "hill" where God dwells.

When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. (Psalms 102:16)

When the Lord Jesus builds up the Body of Christ He shall appear in His glory.

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven [in the heavens], and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just [righteous] men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24)

We Christians already have come to Mount Zion. When we are abiding in Christ we are part of the one Church, the one Body that is sprinkled with the blood of Jesus. Mount Zion, according to the above passage, is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Firstborn from the dead.

God shall roar out of Zion at the time of the coming of the Lord Jesus from Heaven.

Again in Isaiah, speaking of the fiery purging of God's people and the creating of the dwelling places (many mansions) of Mount Zion:

And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: (Isaiah 4:3)

We believe that the above verse is speaking of the Lord's faithful disciples who have remained true to Him throughout the days of trouble that will precede His appearing from Heaven, during the period when the love of the majority grows cold.

When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. (Isaiah 4:4)

We can see that there will be a purifying by fire of the Lord's people. No doubt this is the baptism with fire mentioned by Malachi, John the Baptist, and the Apostle Peter.

The believers in Christ of our own time are wallowing in the lusts of the flesh. The daughters of Zion are filthy. The coming fiery judgment will wash away the filth of the flesh, preparing the Lord's people to be raised from the dead and to meet Him in the air in glory.

And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. (Zechariah 13:9)

But how many will remain true throughout the purging of sin and self-seeking from the Christian Church? How many will allow Jesus to prepare them to be a room in the Father's house?—to make them a vessel suitable for containing the Glory of God that will be revealed at the coming of the Lord?

To be continued.