This is an excerpt from my book “40 Moments From Christ’s Final Days.” Click here to get it from Amazon using my affiliate link.
Luke 21:37 tells us that Jesus taught at the Jerusalem temple during the day, but at night He left the hustle and bustle of the city and went East to the Mount of Olives in the evening. It overlooked Jerusalem and may have been a contrast to the rampant godlessness He spent His days correcting. And although this area isn’t explicitly discussed by Jesus, it plays such a central role in the days leading up to His death that it’s worth pausing to examine.
We first encounter this area in 2 Samuel 15:30-32. King David had been chased out of the city when his son, Absalom, turned most of Jerusalem against the king. David approaches the Mount of Olives barefoot and in tears, with only a few loyal people following him. Yet more than the loss of his kingdom, 2 Samuel 15:24-26 shows David’s greater concern about God rejecting him. In time, we would see David restored and Absalom killed after retreating from battle.
Solomon, another of David’s sons, became king when David grew old. Solomon married many pagan women, and 1 Kings 11:7–8 says he built altars for at least two foreign gods so his wives could make offerings and sacrifices to their gods. These altars are later torn down in 2 Kings 23:13-14 by King Josiah when Israel returned to God and purged their land of idolatry.
However, the Mount of Olives takes on greater significance with Jesus, the King of Kings. In Acts 1:6-12, Jesus stands in this same area before ascending to Heaven with a reminder that He will return to set up His earthly kingdom. The disciples likely remembered that Ezekiel 11:23 and Zechariah 14:4-5 both reveal that the Messiah will arrive on the Mount of Olives, the very place they said goodbye to Christ, and establish His kingdom. We call this the “Second Coming” of Jesus Christ, where He will physically return to the earth and reign for a thousand years.
Make no mistake, the Mount of Olives doesn’t hold any inherent value. It’s just a series of large hills on the East side of Jerusalem. No events throughout Old Testament history marked it as particularly significant over any other place. However, we can’t ignore that Jesus intentionally visited this area in the days before His death.
It’s where He’d see one of His followers betray Him. The Mount of Olives is the very place He knew would be the last place on Earth He’d stand in this age. And most importantly, it is the first place He’ll stand when He returns as a conquering king.
Stop and think: Knowing about a geographical location probably won’t change our lives. However, it does help tie things together. How does understanding the context of places mentioned in the Bible help us better understand things through the eyes of the original audience?
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