A mountain located between Bethany to the east of Jerusalem and across the Kidron Valley from the walled city of 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 to the same mountain.
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1: 11)
We know that the Messiah is promised to return to this exact spot.
“On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east” (Zechariah 14: 4).
Sultan Suleiman of the Ottoman Empire closed the eastern gate in the 16th century AD 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 by way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east, and it was shut. And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut. As for the prince, he shall sit in it as prince to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the porch of the gate and shall go out by the same way.” (Ezekiel 44: 1-3).
