A mountain located between Bethany to the east of Jerusalem and across the Kidron Valley from the walled city Jerusalem on the west.
The scriptures speak to the importance of this place…
Jesus ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives and He will return back to the same mountain.
“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” (Acts 1: 11)
We know that the Messiah is promised to return to this same spot.
“And in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which faces Jerusalem on the east” (Zechariah 14: 4).
Sultan Suleiman of the Ottoman Empire closed the eastern gate in the 16th century A.D and a Muslim cemetery was placed outside the gate along the eastern wall of the old city, attempting to keep the Lord out and to stop Him from entering the city. This decision to close the gate was actually a fulfillment of a prophecy:
“Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces toward the east, but it was shut. And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened; and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore, it shall be shut. As for the prince, because he is the prince, he may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way.” (Ezekiel 44: 1-3).
