TAKING THE STRONGHOLD OF ZION
A. The prophetic significance of Zion
1. Zion was a suburb or neighborhood within Jerusalem.
2. Zion was a “stronghold”—a hill whose natural topography made it easy to defend militarily. Gihon spring was a natural
water supply.
3. Zion had a long history of being impenetrable.
a. The children of Judah, under Joshua’s leadership, were able to take Jerusalem (Joshua 12:10), but not Zion
(Joshua 15:63).
b. Later, the Benjamites couldn’t dislodge them (Judges 1:21)
c. When Saul was king of Israel, the Benjamites were occupying Jerusalem, but not Zion (1 Samuel 17:54).
They had accepted Zion as being impenetrable.
d. Since they couldn’t drive out the Canaanites insides Zion, they did business with them. The Canaanites
were reputable merchants, and trading with them was lucrative.
4. The first hint in Scripture that Jerusalem had special significance in God’s heart was the appearance of
Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18, who was king of Jerusalem in the time of Abraham.
5. God never told Moses or Joshua here His final resting place in Israel would be (Deuteronomy 12:5). Joshua
initially erected the tabernacle at Shiloh (Joshua 18:1). During the reign of Saul it was located at Nob (1 Samuel 21:1),
but the ark was in Kirjath Jearim, in Abinadab’s house (1 Samuel 7:1-2).
6. In the days of David, the Holy Spirit revealed that Jerusalem, and specifically Zion, was to be His dwelling place.
a. David testified of this revelation, “For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place”
(Psalm 132:13).
b. When did David receive this divine information? Perhaps it was from Samuel (see 1 Chronicles 9:22).
c. Or, perhaps God spoke to David directly about Zion while he was tending his father’s sheep in the vicinity.
(David grew up in nearby Bethlehem.)
d. We know from 1 Samuel 16:13 that the Holy Spirit rested upon David. I wonder if, while tending the sheep
one day near the outskirts of Jerusalem, he lifted his eyes to Zion and the Holy Spirit said to him, “That’s where My
dwelling place shall be.”
7. I think David was told of Zion’s significance while he was still a shepherd because:
a. After killing Goliath, David did something quite unusual.
b. 1 Samuel 17:54 tells us, “And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem.”
c. He brought it to the part of Jerusalem that was under Israeli control.
d. How I imagine it: David props Goliath’s head upright, facing the stronghold of Zion, as though to declare,
“You too, Zion, are coming down!”
B. Fast-forward 20 years. The first thing David did, after being crowned king of the 12 tribes, was to target the
stronghold of Zion.
1. 2 Samuel 5:1-5, David is crowned king.
2. 2 Samuel 5:6-10, David takes the stronghold of Zion.
3. Why David wanted to conquer Zion:
a. He wanted Zion to be his home and the seat of his national headquarters.
b. More importantly, though, he wanted to establish a 24/7 House of Prayer in Zion, patterned after the
heavenly sanctuary.
4. 2 Samuel 6 confirms that David targeted Zion in order to procure a resting place for the ark of God. 2 Samuel 6
details the bringing of the ark to Zion.
5. Establishing God’s place of rest in the place God had chosen was David’s first order of business as king.
6. Only one thing hindered the bringing of the ark to Zion: Zion was a military stronghold that was inhabited by
Canaanites.
7. So David declared war on the Canaanites in Zion.
8. David’s precedent point to Jesus, the Son of David, who will be coming to establish His throne on the earth, and
His first order of business will be to occupy Zion (Jerusalem) and establish His royal residence there (Psalm 48:2).
C. A spiritual principle: Places of leadership are granted to those who QUALIFY through a significant feat or
accomplishment.
1. Example: When David killed Goliath, Saul made him a captain in his army (1 Samuel 18:5).
2. Example: Jesus had to defeat Satan on the cross in order to qualify as “the captain [our] salvation” (Hebrews 2:10).
3. Example: To become a leader among David’s mighty men required a feat that qualified that warrior for leadership
(2 Samuel 23:8-39; 1 Chronicles 11:10-47).
a. Each leader was known for an outstanding military feat conducted single-handedly.
b. David wanted men sitting on his war council who had faith to believe for great exploits because they had an
established history in God.
c. David’s mighty men represent believers today who, having become strong in grace and mighty in the Spirit,
have accomplished great exploits for the cause of Christ.
d. Their example inspires us to become men and women of God who are mighty in the Holy Spirit.
4. In the same way, the penetrating of Zion became a qualifying feat.
Whoever climbs up by way of the water shaft and defeats the Jebusites … he shall be chief and captain. (2 Samuel 5:8)
a. 1 Chronicles 11:6 tells us plainly that the one who accomplished this feat was Joab.
And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first and became chief.
5. David decided that the person who penetrated Zion first would be captain of his armies. Here’s why:
a. To penetrate Zion would require more than mere swordsmanship.
b. It would also demand strength, agility, ingenuity, endurance, creativity in problem-solving, etc.—the kinds of
qualities needed in an army’s chief captain.
D. Qualities of Joab. Joab was:
1. Gifted
2. Trained
3. Physically fit, exercised
4. Experienced in battle
5. Anointed
E. The stronghold of Zion represents the stronghold of infirmity in the church.
And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying,
“You shall not come in here; but the blind and the lame will repel you,” thinking, “David cannot come in here.” (2 Samuel 5:6)
a. Zion is the stronghold of “the blind and the lame.”
b. The conquering of this stronghold represents the breakthrough of divine healing in the church.
2. All of Canaan could seemingly be conquered, except for Zion.
3. The taunt from the stronghold comes as a mocking spirit.
…knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days … saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?” (2 Peter 3:3-4)
F. David took the stronghold.
Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David). (2 Samuel 5:7)
G. 2 Samuel 5:8 makes two important statements about the blind and the lame.
1. “the lame and the blind, who are hated by David’s soul”
a. I hate affliction, disease, infirmity.
b. Satan never releases his prisoners.
… Who did not open the house of his prisoners. (Isaiah 14:17)
2. “Therefore they say, ‘The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.’”
H. David provided both strategy and incentive for how the stronghold would be penetrated.
Whoever climbs up by way of the water shaft and defeats the Jebusites … he shall be chief and captain. (2 Samuel 5:8)
1. It’s critical that we receive divine strategy and information.
2. Joab was motivated by the incentive to become captain.
3. God has ways of motivating us.
4. Don’t despise the means God uses to motivate you to seek the fullness of the Kingdom of God.
I. How did Joab do it? How did he penetrate the stronghold?
1. There was no map.
2. It would have to be at night, in total silence.
3. Underground, water-filled tunnels. Speaks of Holy Spirit immersion.
4. There is no natural explanation for how Joab found the water shaft.
5. How did he ascend the shaft?
6. Once the gate was opened, the Israelites poured in.
7. Joab opened the gate—from the inside.
a. Kingdom doors are often unlocked from the inside—from within, through the Spirit. Through intimacy
and prayer.
…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in
the inner man… (Ephesians 3:16)
J. When this stronghold of infirmity is taken, there will come a global establishing of the Tabernacle of David in Zion, the
mountain of the Lord.
1. “Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound”
2. Consider the invitation of 2 Samuel 5:8—“Whoever climbs up…”
3. We can hasten His coming in healing power (2 Peter 3:12) by our consecration to rise up in the spirit of Joab.
4. This story becomes our prophetic promise: The stronghold of infirmity in the church is coming down! IHOP,
this is our glory!
K. Jesus fulfilled, and will again fulfill, the Davidic pattern.
1. David evicted the Canaanites (merchants) from Zion and established the House of Prayer in the very place
where infirmity once held sway.
2. At His first coming, Jesus drove out the merchants from the temple and then healed the sick.
Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the
tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house
shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” Then the blind and the lame came to
Him in the temple, and He healed them. (Matthew 21:12-14).
a. Jesus demonstrated that the house of prayer is the rightful place for the blind and the lame to be healed.
3. At His second coming, when He brings His throne to Earth, His first order of business will be to establish His
residence in Zion (Jerusalem) (Psalm 2:6; 48:2; 132:13; Isaiah 2:3; 24:23; Jeremiah 3:17). When He does, healing
will once again flow from His temple (Ezekiel 47:1-12).