The Millennial Kingdom’s Jerusalem Mountain

GEOGRAPHY AND ECOLOGY

During the Millennium, the land surrounding Jerusalem will be transformed into a plain.  It will run from Geba in the north to Rimmon in the South (Zech. 14:10).[1]  The plain contrasts with the now highly lifted Jerusalem and King Jesus who will be ruling from the summit (Zech. 14:9-10).  Jerusalem’s mountain will be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be raised higher than the hills.  The mountain’s great height emphasizes Jerusalem as the center of world authority for all of the nations will flow to it (Is. 2:2; Mic. 4:1).  Because the mountain serves to lift up a city, it is of little curiosity that the peak is to be a uniform fifty square mile plateau (Ezek. 45:1; 48:8).

Unless Everest and other towering mountains are among those that will be reduced to rubble, Jerusalem’s mountain will be so high that one would assume that the conditions near the summit would be rather harsh.  However, not only is there land there set aside for farming (Ezek. 48:18-19), the prophet also speaks of a majestic tree in Ezekiel 17:22-24:

Thus says the Lord GOD: “I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out.  I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.  On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar.  And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest.  And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the LORD; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish.  I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.”

No trees including the cedar grow atop the highest mountains on Earth.  This will change when God transplants a piece of a cedar from its mother tree and places it on the height of Jerusalem’s millennial mountain (vv. 22; 23).  The Hebrew for Cedar here is, “erez.”  This describes any kind of coniferous or pine tree.  Cedars are not known for their ability to produce fruit.  This will change in the Millennium as at least one cedar will yield such produce.  This is just one of the reasons that the conifer atop the Jerusalem’s mountain will be referred to as, “noble.”  In addition, the cedar’s nobility comes from its significance in height and canopy.  Both will provide enough room and shade to house every kind of bird (v.23).

The final verse from this section exemplifies the ability of God to modify the forestry of the Earth.  All of the trees are subject to God’s will.  The highest of trees can be brought low by Him, while the lowest may be raised high.  God can wither the lush and revive the desiccated (v. 24).  The highest mountain on the earth will not be covered with snow.  Rather, it will be a place where the most opulent of plant life will flourish.  The LORD has spoken, and He will bring about all of these marvels (v. 24).  The cedar may be a millennial version of the Tree of Life.  The fruit producing evergreen may also be a physical representation of the LORD Himself (cf. Hos. 14:8).  He will be a perennial presence among His people and the sole source of their blessings.

THE CENTER OF POLITICAL POWER

People are said to go up to Jerusalem when traveling there regardless of whether they are actually traveling north or increasing in elevation (e.g. Ezra 1:3).  Jerusalem is spiritually the highest place on earth.  This is in anticipation of Jerusalem in the Millennium, when the city will literally be the highest place on earth.  This uplifted mountain symbolizes the center of the world’s government and worship in several places, including Isaiah 2:2-4:

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.  He shall judge between the nations, and decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against other nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

Pilgrimages to Jerusalem are to become so dense that it will appear as if the nations of the world are flowing toward the mountain like water (v. 2; Mic. 4:1).  Numerous people will travel to the mountain because it is where they shall receive instruction from the LORD and become His followers (v. 3; Mic. 4:2).  It is atop this mountain where Jesus will be the supreme judge, settling disputes between distant countries and determining the course for many peoples.  Under the Messiah’s governance, nations are to finally be at perfect peace with one another (v. 4; Mic. 4:3).

In a vision Ezekiel was taken on a grand royal tour of the mountain’s peak.  He first beheld that on the south side was a city, the millennial Jerusalem (Ezek. 40:2-3; cf. Zech. 2:1-2).  Ezekiel is then shown extensive details regarding the millennial temple that also sits atop the mountain (Ezek. 40-44).  Specifics on how the peak of the mountain is to be measured and divided are provided in Ezekiel 45:1-7:

“When you allot the land as an inheritance, you shall set apart for the LORD a portion of the land as a holy district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits broad. It shall be holy throughout its whole extent.  Of this a square plot of 500 by 500 cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for an open space around it.  And from this measured district you shall measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 broad, in which shall be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. It shall be the holy portion of the land. It shall be for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.  Another section, 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits broad, shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their possession for cities to live in. “Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district you shall assign for the property of the city an area 5,000 cubits broad and 25,000 cubits long. It shall belong to the whole house of Israel. “And to the prince shall belong the land on both sides of the holy district and the property of the city, alongside the holy district and the property of the city, on the west and on the east, corresponding in length to one of the tribal portions, and extending from the western to the eastern boundary…

Unfortunately most modern translations, including the one used in this article, indicate that the all the measurements on and of the summit was done in cubits.  The Hebrew does not provide any word for the unit of measurement.  However, earlier the prophet wrote that the measurements were done in reeds, which are the equivalent of six long cubits each (Ezek. 40:5).  Measured in reeds, the summit’s plateau is almost fifty miles in length and width (v. 1; Ezek. 48:8).  The summit is holy throughout because it will be a home to both the Lord Jesus and the messianic temple (vv. 1-3).  The temple will measure about one square mile (v. 2).  The designated area for the temple and the sons of Zadok priests will be nearly fifty miles in length and twenty miles in width (vv. 3-4; Ezek. 48:10-11).  The Levites will have their own area also measuring fifty by twenty miles.  They will be unable to trade or sell it, for the land is holy to the LORD. (v. 5; Ezek. 48:13).  Jerusalem is to sit in the middle of her own property of fifty miles long by ten miles wide.  The city will be surrounded by open country for common use and housing for all the tribes of Israel (v. 6; Ezek. 48:15-19).  Prince David shall own the land on both sides of Jerusalem’s property and the holy district.  This farmland will be tilled by all the tribes of Israel, providing food for the workers of Jerusalem (v. 7; Ezek. 48:18-19).