Biblical Significance of the Mount of Olives
When visiting Jerusalem with a group, the guide will often take you to the Mount of Olives first. The view from there is breathtaking.
You can see the entire Old City: Mount Zion and, in the distance, the domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the large Hurva Synagogue, the City of David and, of course, in the middle, the Temple Mount, the centre of the world, the navel of the earth, where it all began, God’s bridgehead on earth.
“The Mount of Olives has an enormous and profound meaning”
On the mountain itself, you can see the white tombs of the Jewish cemetery, and a church: the Church of the Ascension and the Church of the Lord’s Prayer, where the prayer can be read in many languages, including Frisian. What stands out is the Russian church with its golden ‘onion’ dome, dedicated to Mary Magdalene. As you descend the mountain, you arrive at the Church of All Nations at Gethsemane.
The Mount of Weeping
The Mount of Olives has an enormous and profound meaning. It is the Mount of Weeping. King David climbed this mountain when he left Jerusalem for Absalom. It is said that he continued weeping with those who were loyal to him until he reached the
summit, “where one bows down before God” (2 Samuel 15:32). Jesus also wept there, primarily because of the fate that would befall Jerusalem, the city of the great King (Luke 19:41). The temple, the house of God, would also be destroyed. It would not be until Jesus’ return that the temple would be rebuilt. Before that, the Gentiles would not allow it.
The Mountain of Prayer
It is not without reason that Jesus, when He was in Jerusalem and taught in the temple, spent the nights on the Mount of Olives (Luke 21:37). Not only to seek the nearness of His Father, but also to devote Himself completely to Him. On the night before His death, He wrestled here with His fear. An angel comforted Him. Here, He allowed Himself to be bound as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. After the destruction of the temple, Jews were forbidden to enter the city. When the Roman Empire adopted Christianity, that would remain the case. From the Mount of Olives, the children of Israel prayed for
the consolation of Jerusalem. Once a year, on the 9th of Av, the day of destruction (which falls in the summer), they were allowed to enter, to see and realise how Israel as the people of God, was a thing of the past.
The Mountain of Longing
The prophet Ezekiel witnesses how the Glory of God leaves the temple and the city and settles on the Mount of Olives (Ezekiel 11). The exile of Judah begins. But he is also allowed to prophesy about the return of the Lord to the new temple at the end of time (Ezekiel 43:4). The words of God sound powerful: “This is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever.” Another prophet, Zechariah, also speaks about this. He tells how God is inflamed with zeal for Jerusalem, and that His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives when Israel is threatened (Zechariah 8 and 14:4). And that is why it is not without reason that Jesus reveals to His disciples here what will happen in the future and how there will be signs in the heavens before the great day of the Kingdom arrives.
“Jesus is coming back, to the place where the ruler of this world is now deceiving people by saying that no Jews are allowed to go there!”
The Mountain of the Second Coming
On the Mount of Olives, the kings of Judah were anointed with oil from the trees that grew there. Jesus is also anointed there by Mary, the sister of Lazarus, before He descends the mountain as King to enter Jerusalem. He is hailed by countless pilgrims as the King of Israel (John 12), and He is indeed the King. In Jerusalem, He will conquer the ruler of the world through His death.
Then, after His resurrection, He will be taken up by the angels from the Mount of Olives. After forty days of teaching about the Kingdom of God, one question remains: when will He restore the Kingdom to Israel? The answer remains hidden. The gospel must go out into the world, and then the end will come. That is certain. He will later encourage John, the disciple He loved, with the words: “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, and the living one. I have been dead, and behold, I am alive, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”
Jesus is coming back, on the clouds of heaven, to the place where the ruler of this world is now deceiving people by saying that no Jews are allowed to go there!
