What happened on the Mount of Olives?

When “every man went unto his own house, Jesus went to the mount of Olives” (John 7:53; 8:1). This was the place where He had communion with His Father. It was from the mount of Olives the Lord sent His disciples to bring the colt tied, whereon yet never man sat, to Him, and it was at the descent of the mount of Olives that the multitude met Him as He made His way into Jerusalem (Luke 19:29–41), weeping over it. During the Lord’s last days on earth, “in the day time He was teaching in the temple; and at night He went out, and abode in the mount called the mount of Olives” (Luke 21:37).

The mount of Olives was also the place where He taught His disciples about “the beginning of sorrows,” the signs that would indicate that His coming was near, of the tribulation of the last days, and of the judgments that would accompany His coming (Matt. 24). The parables of Matthew 25 would also be spoken on the same occasion.

David, in the time of his rejection, “went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up” (2 Sam. 15:30), this sad and solemn event foretelling the rejection of the Lord Jesus who, having sung a hymn with His disciples “went out into the mount of Olives” (Matt. 26:30). Gethsemane was there, and in the anticipation of all that lay before Him the Son of God prayed that the cup might pass from Him, if it was the Father’s will, but He could say in coming from the garden, “the cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?” It was from the mount of Olives that Jesus ascended to heaven (Acts 1:12) and when He returns He shall stand with His feet upon that same mountain (Zech. 14:4). How hallowed then the scenes that Olivet brings before us in connection with the sorrows of the Son of God, with His teachings, with His communion with His Father, with His going into heaven, and with His coming again.

Covered with the disciples' garments the young ass was ready for the Lord. He mounted it, and they all proceeded on the way, passing over the Mount of Olives which lay between Bethany and Jerusalem. A multitude was with the disciples, many of whom strewed their clothes in the way, whilst others littered the road with branches cut out of the fields. One spirit pervaded all. They would honor Him with a triumphant entrance into the city. On descending the western side, their number was vastly increased by a multitude which had come out of Jerusalem to meet them, drawn together by the report of the miracle at Bethany (John 12:18). This explains the language of both Matthew and Mark, who notice those who went before and those who followed; the second company, coming from Jerusalem, most probably turned and headed the procession into the city.

It comes into prominence in the N.T. because of the Lord's association with it: He was 'wont' to go there and "at night he went out and abode in the mount." Luke 21:37; Luke 22:39; John 8:1. The Lord sat on this mount, opposite to the temple, when He spoke to His disciples of the future tribulations and coming judgement. Mark 13:3. Apparently the Lord ascended to heaven from a low part of the mount near to Bethany, Luke 24:50; Acts 1:12; and, as noticed above, He will again stand on that mount on His return.

On the northern slope of the mount is a walled garden kept by the Franciscan monks, with a few old olive trees, said to be the garden of Gethsemane, but another site is now shown by the Greek church. There are two principal roads over the mount. One nearly due east from St. Stephen's gate which passes the old so-called garden of Gethsemane. This was doubtless the road most frequented by the Lord in retiring for the night. The other road, from the same gate but farther south, led to Bethany and thence to Jericho. It was doubtless by this road that the Lord came when riding on an ass.

In Zechariah 14 the Lord appears to their deliverance, in the place from which the "glory" of the God of Israel departed, when He transferred the "sword" to the Gentile. From the same place He had entered Jerusalem as their King, according to this prophet (Zech. 9:9.) riding upon an ass's colt. On the same mount of Olives He sat, in Matthew 24 surrounded by His Jewish disciples; after He had left His nation, until the day when they would say, "Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord," and instructed them as to the restoration and gathering of their nation from the four quarters of the world, at the coming of the Son of man in His glory. And from the same mountain did He ascend, having been rejected by His nation and crucified, to heaven. (Acts 1) And on that same mountain shall His feet stand when He returns to their full and complete deliverance in grace! "Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations … And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east … And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee … And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem … And the Lord shall be King over all the earth … All the land shall be turned as a plain, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem; and it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate, unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the towers of Hananeel unto the king's wine-presses … And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles."

The Lord Weeping. — But there was one heart which was sad that day. He who was the object of that popular ovation could not restrain His tears as He surveyed Jerusalem. At times people shed tears for joy; His were not that. Were they called forth as He thought of the fickleness of popular acclamation, and of His coming sufferings? No. It was the fortunes, and the sufferings of the city about to come on her because she rejected Him, that called forth those tears, of which Luke only has given us an intimation. "When He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this day, the things that belong to peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench [rather, bank] about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation" (vers. 41-44). The political outlook might seem as bright and cloudless as very probably was the sky, with the rays of the setting sun shining on the temple buildings and on the city, for it was eventide when the Lord entered Jerusalem, as Mark informs us. Nevertheless, deep sorrow, suffering, and humiliation awaited her; and was it not in harmony with this that the darkness of night should be settling down on that scene, emblematic, we may say, of that long night of trouble for Jerusalem which must for her precede the rising of the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings? (Mal. 4:2). Ignorant she might be of her future, but He knew it, and could not but be deeply concerned about it. He wept, whilst the air rang with the Hosannas of the multitude.

The next scene, in the garden, equally perfect in its display of Jesus, and most humbling in its exhibition of the choicest of the apostles, shows us the picture, not of holy calm in the full knowledge of all that awaited Himself and His disciples, but of anguish to the uttermost, and of death realized in all its horrors as before God (vers. 36-46). What an insight Gethsemane gives us of Him, Jehovah-Messiah though He was, as the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief! Who ever saw affliction as He? Not only had Jesus to know the depths of the cross in atonement as none other could; bow His head under the full, unsparing judgment of God when made sin for us; but He underwent beyond all others the anticipative pressure of death on His soul as the power of Satan, feeling it perfectly, and the more deeply by taking it from His Father's and not from the enemy's hand. It was the "strong crying and tears" to His Father now, as afterward to God as such when it was a question of actual sin-bearing on the tree. "And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with Me" (vers. 37, 38). When the cross came, there was no such call to disciples to watch with Him. He was alone, absolutely, essentially, for us — that is, for our sins — with none of men or angels in any way or measure near Him (morally speaking) — alone, when God forsook and hid His face from Him on whose head met all our iniquities. Here, in Gethsemane, it was pleading as a Son with His Father, when "He went a little farther, and fell on His face [prostrate in His earnestness], and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt" (ver. 39). He watched, and prayed, and entered not into temptation, though tempted to the uttermost. But He finds the disciples asleep: they could not watch with Him one hour. "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak"; and so it was again and again with them, till He bade them sleep, but warned them that the hour was at hand, as the traitor drew near.

The Ascension. — The last words had been spoken relative to their work. Then in the act of blessing them, and near to Bethany, on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, the Lord was parted from them (Luke 24:50-51), and taken up into heaven. They saw Him ascend, but a cloud hid Him from their sight. How far they watched Him going up we know not; but the cloud hid Him from their further view. What, however, they could not see we know. He then ascended far above all heavens, and led captivity captive likewise (Eph. 4:8-10). Unwitnessed by the world, and unknown to it, He ascended to the right hand of God. But angelic powers were not unaware of it, nor were the principalities and powers of evil unconcerned spectators. His triumph they surely witnessed, and the effect of it they well knew. For He led them captive, and opened up that communication between heaven and earth which never has been closed. And the witnesses of this last to us are the gifts He gives to men — even instruments for the carrying on of the work of God upon earth till He shall come.

The mount of Olives now is the site of the Lord's enlightening discourse on prophetic events. It was from there He ascended., and will return there at the end of Israel's tribulation (Mk.11:1; Lk.24:50; Zech.14:4). This is a private conversation with His disciples, not intended for the world, but for those who profess faith in Christ. Their first question is "when shall these things be?" He does not enlighten them as to the time, however. It is the facts that were of importance then, not merely the chronology, which they would be unable to recognize until. they knew their own place (as the body of Christ) in the counsels of God.

We need not recall the familiar facts of the history. Through Joab's intrigue, Absalom was brought back, and finally was admitted to see the king's face. Untouched by his father's grace, he used his recall as an opportunity to foment rebellion; and so successfully, for he had stolen the hearts of the men of Israel, that David, with his servants and those that still clave to their king, sought safety in flight. It is, perhaps, the most pathetic passage in all the king's eventful life: "And David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot; and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up." What a spectacle! And yet, morally considered, David was now in the place of exaltation. He had humbled himself under the mighty hand of God, and hence, whatever painful experiences he might yet have to encounter, he was sure to be exalted in due time. Blessed is it for all of us when we are in the lowest abasement before God, if we are in the confidence of His grace.

If we now recur to the Psalm, we shall learn that it was so with David at this very moment. In the first three verses the circumstances and the position are stated; and the Psalmist, like Hezekiah of a later age, spreads out his case before the Lord. This fact sheds the clearest light upon his condition of soul. Brought into his present straits through his own sin and folly, he can yet turn in fullest confidence to Him whose hand was so heavy upon him in chastisement. He "hears" the rod, and who has appointed it. "Lord," he says, "how are they increased that trouble me! Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God." This reproachful taunt was the bitterest ingredient in his bitter cup. He had known throughout his life what it was to face enemies, and to be hunted like a partridge upon the mountains, but if the wicked insinuation that he was now abandoned of God were true, he was never in such an evil case. And, to human sight, his enemies were in the right; for every sign of God's intervention and favour was absent. But faith triumphed, though David were in the deepest pit of adversity, and he appealed from men to God, crying, "But Thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head."

In the next verse we have one of the most remarkable predictions to be found in the prophetic scriptures: "And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south." (v. 4.) It was from the mount of Olives, as the reader will remember, that our Lord ascended up to heaven (Acts 1:12), and, after a cloud had received Him out of the sight of the disciples, and while they were still wistfully gazing after their departed Lord, two angels said to them, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." (Acts 1:9-11) No words could be more precise or state more definitely that Jesus Himself should return to the earth, and that in a visible manner; and now we learn from Zechariah that He shall return to the very spot whence He ascended, and that the very same feet that once trod Olivet, in company with His disciples, shall once again stand in the same place. No ingenuity whatever can explain away the simple words, "His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives," and in this way, as another has pointed out, "Jehovah identifies Himself, so to speak, with the meek and lowly Jesus formerly on the earth, in order that the identity of the Saviour and Jehovah should be clearly acknowledged."

But when Jehovah thus comes, in the person of the Messiah, He comes with power and great glory; the earth will acknowledge the presence of her rightful Lord, and thus the mountain, on which He will stand, cleaves in the midst. As we read indeed in the psalm, "The earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because He was wroth" (Psalm 18:7), so will it be again on this eventful day. The effect will be that a great valley will be formed by half of the mountain removing toward the north, and half toward the south, running east and west, its western end being immediately opposite to the eastern side of the city of Jerusalem, and its eastern end terminating, it would seem, at Azal. Isaiah cries, "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence." (Isa. 64:1-3.) So will it also be in this day of which Zechariah speaks, and the wonders flowing from the presence of Jehovah will strike terror into the hearts of the beholders, for they will flee as they fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah.†