What Is A Zionist? Zion, Herzl, and God’s Plan For Jerusalem

If you scroll social media for five minutes, you will see the word Zionist thrown around like a weapon. For some, it is a badge of honor. For others, it is almost a curse word.

So what is a Zionist really? And how is that different from what we hear in the news?

In this article, we will slow down and look at three layers of this loaded word:

1. The original Bible meaning of Zion in Hebrew and the history of Jerusalem.
2. The modern political movement called Zionism, who started it, when it began, and the truth about the “atheist founder” rumor.
3. What Yahweh says in Scripture about Zion, the land, King David, Messiah, the Millennial Reign, and the role of Christians in all of this.

The goal is simple: to help you hear the word Zionist with more clarity and less confusion, and to understand why the debates around it feel so intense.

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What Is Zion in the Bible? The Word, the Place, and the Promise

Before we talk about any modern Zionist, we need to know what Zion itself means. If we skip this, we are arguing about a label while missing the history behind it.

Zion did not start as a hashtag. It started as a hill, then became a city, then a picture of God’s own home with His people.

The Hebrew word “Zion” (Tzion): meaning, roots, and first mentions in Scripture

In Hebrew, Zion is Tzion (צִיּוֹן, often written “Tziyon”).

Jewish sources explain that this word can mean a mark, sign, or landmark, like something that points out a special place. You can see this in explanations such as What Is Zion? and The Meaning of Zion in the Bible.

In the Bible, Tzion first shows up in the history of King David. In 2 Samuel 5, David captures the stronghold of the Jebusites and the text calls it “the stronghold of Zion, that is, the City of David.” At first, Zion is a very real hill on the south side of Jerusalem.

From that moment, Zion and David are linked. David makes it his city. He brings the ark of the covenant up there. Worship, music, and sacrifice all center on that hill.

Over time, the word grows. In the Psalms, you start to hear things like:

• “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, His holy mountain. Beautiful in height, the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion” (Psalm 48).
• “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth” (Psalm 50).

Zion moves from being only a hill to being the place where God’s beauty and presence shine out.

How Zion became a name for Jerusalem, God’s presence, and God’s people

As the history of Israel goes on, Zion slowly widens in meaning.

1. Hill: first, Tzion is that original stronghold in the City of David.
2. City: then, Zion often stands for Jerusalem as a whole.
3. Temple area: since the temple is built on the mount, Zion is tied to worship and sacrifice.
4. All of God’s people and future Kingdom: in the prophets, Zion can mean Israel, the faithful remnant, or even the future Kingdom of God.

For example:

• Isaiah speaks to “Daughter Zion” as if Zion is a person who can rejoice or weep.
• Micah 4 says, “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” That is both a city and a future spiritual center for the nations.

By the time of the prophets, Zion is a layered word. It points to:

• A real place, with stone streets and real people.
• A spiritual center, where God’s presence is known.
• A future hope, when God will set everything right.

So in a deep Biblical sense, someone with a Zionist heart is not first of all a political activist. They are someone who cares about God’s plan for Zion, for Jerusalem, and for His covenant people.

Zion holds both a physical meaning (land, city, hill) and a spiritual meaning (God’s reign, Messiah, future peace).

The letters of Zion (ציון), King David, and hints of the Messiah in Hebrew

Some Jewish and Messianic teachers enjoy looking at the Hebrew letters of words as a way to reflect on Scripture. Not as magic, not as numerology, but as a way to notice patterns.

Zion is spelled: צ (tzadi), י (yod), ו (vav), ן (final nun).

A few simple points:

• Yod (י) is the smallest letter and often seen as a picture of God’s hand or a starting point.
• Vav (ו) can mean “and” in Hebrew. In some Bible discussions, vav is also seen as a “nail” or “hook,” a picture of connection.
• The name David in Hebrew is דָּוִד (dalet, vav, dalet). You can hear the similar sound: that central vav again.

People who reflect on this word sometimes say that Zion is the place where God’s hand and His covenant work connect with the house of David. It fits the story:

• Zion is the City of David.
• God promises that a Son of David will rule forever from that place.
• The prophets tie Messiah to Zion over and over.

Instead of pushing secret codes, it is better to say it like this: the letters of Zion sit right inside a story where David, Zion, and Messiah belong together. A future King from David’s line will rule from Zion, and that becomes key when we talk about the Millennial Kingdom.

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From Ancient Hope to Modern Movement: How Zionism Started and Who a Zionist Is Today

Now we can move from Bible word study into history.

The longing for Zion is very old. The Zionist movement as a political project is quite new.

Jewish longing for Zion before modern times: exile, prayers, and return

The Bible already shows one major exile and return. Judah is taken to Babylon, then brought back. But after the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, the scattering runs far longer.

For many centuries, Jewish people live in exile. They pray facing Jerusalem. They say at Passover, “Next year in Jerusalem.” Synagogue prayers are filled with longing for God to bring them back to Zion.

In that sense, you could call many Jews across history “Zionist” in heart, even before the word existed. They trusted Yahweh to remember His promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David, and to restore Zion in His time.

The birth of modern political Zionism in the 1800s and Theodor Herzl’s role

Modern Zionism as a political movement rises in 19th century Europe. Many Jews face violent antisemitism, legal limits, and deep social pressure to give up their identity.

Into this world walks Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), an Austrian Jewish journalist. He watches events like the Dreyfus Affair in France and begins to believe that Jews will never be safe as a scattered minority.

In 1896, he writes Der Judenstaat (“The Jewish State”), where he argues for a publicly recognized homeland for the Jewish people, most clearly in the land of their fathers. You can read more of Herzl’s own words in collections like Herzl on Religion, Freedom, and the First Zionist Congress.

In 1897, he gathers Jews from many nations at the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. That meeting starts a movement that aims to create a state where Jews can live as a majority, with self-rule, in their ancestral land.

When people today say “I am a Zionist,” they usually mean they support:

• The right of the Jewish people to have a homeland in the land of Israel.
• The existence and security of the modern State of Israel.

That is the common political meaning, which sits on top of the older Biblical meaning.

Was Herzl an atheist? The truth about his beliefs and where the rumor came from

Here is a big question: was the founder of modern Zionism an atheist?

Herzl grew up as a secular, Western Jew. He did not receive much traditional Jewish education. His writing focuses on safety, nationalism, and politics, not on Torah or prophets.

Most historians describe him as secular or agnostic, not as a devout believer. Some sources, especially critics, describe him as a man who “did not believe in God” or in traditional Judaism, like in certain political essays about his life such as this profile.

This is where the “atheist” label comes in. Words matter here.

• Secular means God and religion are not central to your life.
• Atheist means you firmly believe there is no God.

Herzl did not build his Zionism on Bible prophecy. He built it on human need and national survival. Because of that, some religious Jews and later anti‑Zionist writers started calling him an atheist. The goal was to say, “See, this whole project comes from unbelief, not from Torah.”

You can see how the debate continues in modern discussions and even online arguments, such as those linked in questions about the myth that Herzl was an atheist.

So, was he a God-hating enemy of faith? There is no strong evidence for that. He was a secular man who believed a Jewish state was needed. The “atheist” label often functions as a weapon in the argument over whether Zionism is from God or only from man.

In Christianity we see this all the time. Secular Christians who believe in God but their life does not revolve around God. Secular Christians still believe in God but they focus more on worldly things or charity and helping other people than their relationship with God, but that does not make them an atheist any more than it made Herzl an atheist.

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Why Some People Strongly Oppose Zionism: Main Critics and Their Reasons

Now we come to a hard but important part. Why do some people react so strongly against a Zionist?

The word has become a fault line. To understand that, we need to listen to different groups who reject Zionism for very different reasons.

Resources like the overview on Anti-Zionism or Jewish debates in Jewish Alternatives to Zionism can help map the variety of views.

Religious Jewish critics: why some Orthodox groups reject Zionism

Some ultra‑Orthodox (Haredi) Jewish groups believe that Jews should wait for the Messiah to restore Zion. For them, exile is part of God’s discipline. Any human attempt to build a state before Messiah comes is seen as rebellion.

They quote old rabbinic traditions that warn against “forcing the end.” They look at Herzl and other early Zionist leaders, many of them secular, and say, “This is not the way God will restore Zion.”

At the same time, many other religious Jews became strong Zionists, seeing the return to the land as Yahweh’s work in history. The picture inside the Jewish world is not one voice, but a long family argument.

Secular and political opponents: nationalism, colonialism, and the Palestinian question

Outside of religious debates, many critics see Zionism through a political lens. Some writers in the West have seen it as one more form of ethnic nationalism, or even as a kind of colonial project planted in the Middle East. Some of these arguments are surveyed in works like Israeli Jewish Anti-Zionism.

For many Palestinians and their supporters, the word Zionist is tied to personal and family stories of loss and pain. The creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and later wars, meant that many Arabs in the land lost homes, land, or freedom of movement. So when they hear “Zionist,” they do not think first of David’s city or God’s promises. They think of their own suffering.

Supporters of Zionism hear this and respond with their own history of persecution, pogroms, and the Holocaust. Each side carries deep wounds. The same word carries very different memories.

Christian anti‑Zionism and replacement theology: why some churches say the promises moved to the Church

Inside the church, the word Zionist also divides believers.

Some Christian traditions follow what is called replacement theology or supersessionism. In simple terms, they teach that:

• The Church has replaced Israel as God’s people.
• All the promises now belong to the Church, not to ethnic Israel.
• The land of Israel no longer has a special role in prophecy.

With this view, modern Zionism looks like a distraction at best and an injustice at worst. So some churches strongly resist Christian Zionism and speak against the idea that God has ongoing plans for the Jewish people as a people.

Other Christians read passages like Romans 9–11 and see a different story, where God is not finished with Israel. They gladly call themselves Zionist because they believe God still cares about the land and the descendants of Abraham.

Thoughtful overviews of how Zionism and anti‑Zionism developed side by side can be found in resources like Zionism and Anti-Zionism: The History of Two Opposing Ideas.

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What Yahweh Says About Zion and the Land: Bible Covenants, Prophecies, and a Future King

Now we circle back to Scripture. If someone takes the Bible seriously, what does Yahweh say about Zion and the land?

God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants: land, blessing, and a people forever

In Genesis 12, 15, and 17, God calls Abram and makes huge promises:

• A land (Israel).
• Descendants as many as the stars.
• Blessing for all nations through his Seed (Jesus).
• An everlasting covenant.

This covenant is repeated to Isaac and Jacob. The land is not a side detail. It is part of the promise from God Himself.

Many Jewish and Christian Zionist believers see the modern return of Jews to the land as at least connected to this ancient covenant. Not the final fulfillment, but a sign that God has not forgotten His Word.

If you have ever wondered whether the Jews living in modern Israel are the same people the Bible talks about, that question sits right in the middle of this covenant history.

The promises to David: a throne in Jerusalem and a coming Son of David

In 2 Samuel 7, God makes another covenant, this time with David. He promises David:

• A house (a lasting royal line).
• A throne.
• A kingdom that will endure.

Psalms like Psalm 89 and Psalm 132 repeat that God will not break this promise. The throne sits in Jerusalem, in Zion, the City of David.

Christians who follow Jesus (Yeshua) see Him as this promised Son of David, the Messiah. The New Testament anchors His birth in Bethlehem, David’s town, which also carries strong prophecy, as explored in studies of Bethlehem as Jesus’ birthplace and prophecy.

For many believers, this is why they call themselves Zionist. They expect their King to reign from Zion, not only in hearts, but also in a restored world.

Prophecies of exile and return: how God scattered Israel and then brought them back

The Torah and the prophets tell a sad and hopeful history:

• If Israel turns from God, He will scatter them among the nations.
• After judgment, He will remember His covenant and bring them back.

Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all speak this way. There is one return from Babylon. But some prophecies talk about a regathering “from all the nations,” larger than the Babylonian return.

Many Jewish and Christian Zionist readers look at the return of Jews to Israel in the 19th and 20th centuries and say, “This looks like at least a partial fulfillment.” They also agree that the full picture, with national repentance and universal peace, is still ahead.

One major prophecy still ahead: Messiah’s reign from Zion in the Millennial Kingdom

Many Bible readers believe in a coming Millennial Reign, a thousand‑year Kingdom where Messiah rules on earth with justice.

Passages like Isaiah 2 picture a day when:

• People from many nations will go up to the mountain of the Lord, to Zion.
• God will teach them His ways.
• Swords will be turned into plowshares.

Zechariah 14 describes the nations coming to Jerusalem to worship the King. In this view, Zionism reaches its deepest meaning when Messiah, the Son of David, reigns from Zion, and peace flows to Israel and to all nations.

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The Role of Christians in God’s Plan for Zion: Prayer, Love, and Humble Support

So where do Christians fit in all of this? What does it mean for a follower of Jesus to be a Zionist in a way that honors God and loves people?

How Christians are grafted in yet do not replace Israel

In Romans 9–11, Paul uses a picture of an olive tree.

• The tree’s root is the covenant promises.
• Natural branches are Jewish people.
• Wild branches are Gentile believers who are grafted in by faith in Messiah.

Gentiles share in the promises, but they do not replace the natural branches. Paul even warns the Gentile believers not to become proud or to look down on Israel.

For a Christian Zionist, this means:

• Loving Israel does not mean ignoring the Church.
• Loving the Church does not mean erasing Israel.
• God is faithful to both His ancient people and His new covenant family.

This kind of Zionist heart should feel humble, never arrogant.

Praying for the peace of Jerusalem and loving both Jews and Palestinians

Psalm 122 calls God’s people to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” That is not a call to hate anyone. It is a call to care about what God cares about.

A healthy Zionist Christian posture will look like this:

• Pray for the Jewish people to know their Messiah and to live in safety.
• Pray for Palestinians and all Arabs in the land to know Jesus, find justice, and live in safety.
• Support Israel’s right to exist, yet refuse to excuse every policy or act as if any human government is perfect.
• Speak blessing, not curses, over all who live between the river and the sea.

In other words, Christian love does not let political labels erase the face of the person in front of you.

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Conclusion: Hearing the Word “Zionist” With New Ears

We have covered a lot of ground, but the heart of it is simple.

• In the Bible, Zion is about God’s presence, His city, His people, and His coming Kingdom.
• Modern Zionism grew out of Jewish suffering, with Theodor Herzl as a mostly secular God believing founder, later painted by some as an atheist to discredit the movement.
• Different groups oppose Zionism for religious, political, or theological reasons, and they load the word Zionist with their own stories and pain.
• Scripture lays out strong promises about Zion, Israel, the land, David’s throne, and a future reign of Messiah from Jerusalem.
• Christians are invited to stand with God’s purposes for Zion in humility, prayer, and deep love for all peoples in the region.

Next time you hear someone called a Zionist, pause. Ask what they mean by that word, and what history sits behind it. Keep opening your Bible, keep listening, and keep asking God to share His heart for Zion and for the nations with you.