“Zion” is a metaphor, signifying “Jerusalem, which is from above,” or the church of God. It is the home of the saints, where they are cared for by the Lord. As the ancient literal city of Babylon typifies the great spiritual Babylon, so the literal city of Jerusalem typifies the spiritual Jerusalem or Zion or church of God. God does not want his people joined unto a sect and under the laws and creeds and authority of man. He wants the full care of them. However, many of God’s children, through ignorance, have been induced to seek a home in Babylon. Here they have been taken captive. In this evening time God is leading them back to Zion. “The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads.” Isa. 35:10. The songs of Zion are not to be sung in the barren land of Babylon. Babylon has gone into Zion and captured God’s devoted children, but God will be avenged. “And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord.” Jer. 51:24. Here is a prophecy relating to this evening time. “In those days, and that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.” Jer. 50:4, 5. See them coming home to Zion with the glory of God risen upon them. Halleluiah! Zion. In thy clear, transparent water, Peaceful, cleansing, crystal sea, In thy sparkling beauty flowing, Let me ever sail on thee. There is music in the ripple Of thy wave, O purest sea; Here we sing the songs of Zion, In a soft sweet melody. Peaceful are thy streams forever, Gentle, calmest, tranquil sea; Harps are tuned to heavenly music; Hear the pleasant melody. Tree of life is blooming ever On thy shore, O crystal sea; ’Neath its shade my walk shall ever, Ever and forever be. _Revelation 18:1-5, 16, 17, 23._ “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, _Come out of her, my people_, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues, for her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.”