What's in Our Name?

Jews, Gentiles, and Mount Zion

The prophets foresaw a coming time of harvest from out of Zion. The ministry of First Fruits of Zion is named after two prophecies about Zion.

In the Messianic Era, the Jewish people will bear fruit in the form of a surviving remnant from Mount Zion:

The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 37:31-32)

Likewise, in the Messianic Era, the Gentiles will make a pilgrimage to Mount Zion to learn Torah:

The mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will 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 concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths.” For the Torah will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:2-3)

We have begun to see the first fruits of both of these prophecies about Zion. We have seen the Jewish people replanted in the land and re-inhabiting Jerusalem. The modern State of Israel could rightly be called the first fruits of Zion as described in Isaiah 37:31-32. We have also found people from all nations turning toward Torah, seeking to learn the ways of Torah and to walk in its ancient paths as a component of their faith in Messiah. Today’s Gentile Christians who are turning to Torah could rightly be called the first fruits of Zion as described in Isaiah 2:2-3.