Mount of Olives

Mount of Olives

Mount of Olives lies directly east of Old Jerusalem, from where this photo was taken, across the Kidron Valley. The Mount of Olives, whose highest point is 2,800 feet, is less a mountain per se and more a plateau that tapers off eastward. Facing Old Jerusalem from the western foot of the Mount of Olives is the Garden of Gethsemane.

Mount of Olives features prominently in the Bible, starting in the Old Testament.

David escaped Jerusalem and fled from Absalom, his treasonous son, via the Mount of Olives: "So David went up by the Ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered and went barefoot. And all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went up." (2 Samuel 15:30)

Solomon, his ultra-promiscuous son, fared even worse on the Mount of Olives, turning it into a place of pagan worship:

"But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods." (1 Kings 11:1-8)

Solomon's pagan idols stayed on the Mount of Olives until King Josiah destroyed them three centuries later, by which time the Mount of Olives had become so polluted with pagan worship that it was called the "Mount of Corruption":

"Then the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images, and filled their places with the bones of men." (2 Kings 23:13-14)

But the Jews continued to worship pagan idols and were eventually banished by God, who then stood on the Mount of Olives and promised through Ezekiel to eventually restore Israel:

"Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel”’... Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God. So the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was high above them. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain, which is on the east side of the city." (Ezekiel 11:17,19-23)

The Mount of Olives looms prominently in the New Testament as well. Two days before engineering His death on the cross, Jesus warned His disciple about what lay ahead:

"Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:3-14)

Seven weeks thereafter, the disciples asked Jesus about the timing, just before Jesus ascended to heaven:

"Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem..." (Acts 1:6-12)

Please take another look at the photo above. What is all of that white stuff?

They are 150,000 tombs in a massive Jewish graveyard that faces Jerusalem, as below.

Jewish graves in Jerusalem cost about $3,000 but these cost $25,000. Why? Many Jews believe that when the Messiah comes, corpses facing Jerusalem will be resurrected first.

The Bible says that the Messiah already came 2,000 years ago and that when we die, those who believe that He paid their death penalty (why was Jesus crucified) will go to heaven, while those who deny His sacrifice will "go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:43-44)

See the graves above? Your body will end up in a grave one day, which could be in decades or tomorrow. When that happens, where will your soul end up? If you feel the Bible is wrong and that there is no heaven or hell, consider this:

You wouldn't opine about a movie without having watched it, right? Have you ever read the Bible for yourself? I'm not talking about hearing things about the Bible or watching people give their opinions about the Bible. Have you ever watched the movie for yourself?

If not, isn't the destiny of your soul too important to be entrusted to someone else's opinion? Why not watch the movie for yourself before passing judgment that could affect the rest of your eternity? If the entire Bible seems daunting, just read or study the Gospel of John to start.

But before doing anything, pray to a God you don't believe in. Admit to him that you don't believe in Him. If desired, you could even tell Him that you don't particularly want to believe in Him. But if He really does exist, you will have no choice but to believe that reality. Ask God to show Himself to you, if He does exist, as you read His Bible.

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If you are a Christian, please continue here.