Geographical Fault Line at Mount of Olives
The Night Christ Was Betrayed
The night Christ was betrayed he sought the Peace and Presence of The Father, amongst the olive trees in The Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22) at the foot of Mount of Olives. I felt prompted to further explore the poetic nature of God in the Scriptures after first writing these two blog posts (1 & 2). Many of my comments in this post (and another prior) are abstract and may seem as a stretch to correlate them to Scripture; nonetheless, the artist in me appreciates God’s creation and the parallels in His Word—whether I do it justice or not. For that, extend to me grace. *Wink*
Mount of Olives
In case you didn’t already know, The Garden of Gethsemane is at the foot of Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, which is the hill where Jesus gave his sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).
“Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” 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 close of the age?’ And Jesus answered them, ‘See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray,’ ...”
And here, we read more Scripture explaining the geographical location of the Mount of Olives and himself in relation to them.
“And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. ...”
What a perspective to have as Christ. To already know, full well, what would happen to cities, temples, and nations! All the while, sitting on Mount of Olives, surveying the land…
Okay, Now THIS Sounds Crazy
“On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.”
Sorry, Jesus. I mean, shocking. Did you know about the geographical fault line near the Mount of Olives? I sure didn’t. Hello, Prophecy! Hello, Reality.
“On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.
You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.”
Woah. Like, woah. There are all kinds of further conversations describing theological arguments about this particular valley as a “secret passage” for some to escape and seek shelter.
(I didn’t have enough time to research and verify these more, but if you’re interested, check it out here as a starting point!) Interestingly enough, in 1964, a geological fault line was found at the current site of Hotel of The Seven Orchards, which is also the top of the Mount of Olives of in Jerusalem. Don’t tell me that Our God is not faithful in His Promises and His Word in Prophecies.
“No way!”
“Yes, way!”
Praise Jesus we have a gracious Father Who is patient with us as we study His Word. I learn something new every time.
Jerusalem! The place where Christ spilled his blood and the place where he will come again to reign over all the earth. Praise be to The Risen King!
ENDING THOUGHTS
Again, I apologize for the randomness of my brain. Yet, today was an interesting journey for me to learn more of the poetic nuances within Scripture to connect deeper with Our Lord. Thank you to those of you who braved and persevered the rest of this blog post all the way to the end! For better historical justice, watch the YouTube video below! And AGAIN, here’s a previous post with some additional interesting poetic nuances I explored from Luke 22.