TRAVELING TO JERUSALEM: MOUNT OF OLIVES

III. MOUNT OF OLIVES

Pict.2: Photo shot of my daughter Miss Conny sat on the Mt. of Olives with background of Old City of Jerusalem.

Olivet, or Mount of Olives has from biblical days held a special meaning to Jewish people: King David flight from Absalom: “And David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept up 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.“ [II Samuel 15: 30].
The sacred character of the mount is alluded to in the Ezekiel 11: 23, “And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city” while legends tell that the Messiah will enter the Temple Courts through the now blocked Golden Gate opposite the mountain. For this reason , pious Jews have, for untold generations, chosen the Mount of Olives as a burial place, to be among the first to follow the Messiah on the Day of Redemption. Separated from the east Hill [The Temple Mount ] by the Kidron valley, Mt of Olives has always been an important feature in Jerusalem’s landscape. It is a Holy Place , referred in Old and New Testaments.
The New Testament tells how Jesus and his disciples sang together: “And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives”, Matthew 26: 30.

Jesus ascended to heaven from Mount of Olives as recorded in the Acts 1: 9-12 : “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight”.

It will be the Mount of Olives to which He is to return…”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”, Acts1: 11.
From the third millennium BC until the present, the 2900-foot hill has served as one of the main burial grounds for the city. The two –mile long ridge has three summits each of which has tower built on it.

Pict.3: Photo shot of Me , BT and friends sat on the top of Mt. of Olives with the background of Old City.

Olives trees in Gethsemane
Adjacent to the Church of All Nations is an ancient olive garden. Olive trees do not have rings and so their age can not be precisely determined, but scholars estimate their age to any where between one and two thousand years. It is unlikely that these trees were here in the time of Jesus Christ. Jesus had many encounters on Mount of Olives, and the area has many Sanctuaries that glorify his acts in this part of Jerusalem.