The Mount of Olives

Now let us look at the importance the Scriptures places on the Mt. of Olives. Here, out of Cruden's Concordance, there are eleven references to the Mt. of Olives in the New Testament. The first direct references is Matthew 21. And He drew near to Jerusalem unto Bethanage unto the Mt. of Olives and sent Jesus two disciples. And He tells them to get the donkey and the colt . And He goes on to make a praised entry into the city of Jerusalem and then goes inn and overturns the tables in the temple. Luke: And He becomes nigh even now into the descent of the Mt. of Olives the whole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen and then they go on to praise the Lord in his procession into the Holy city of Jerusalem.
Here in Matt. and Mark the Olivet discourse Matt. 24:3 and Matt.13:3 talk about that He sat down upon the Mt. of Olives and gave His discourse which is known as the Olivet discourse and the parallel to that is Luke 21:31: And in the daytime He was teaching in the temple and at night He went out and abode in the mount that is called the Mt. of Olives. And all the people came early in the morning to Him in the temple to hear Him.
Plenty of other verses say that He spent to the whole night on the Mt. of Olives, He spent many nights [collectively] on the Mt. of Olives. John 8:1:" "Jesus went unto the Mt.of Olives and early in the morning, He came again into the temple and all the people came to Him and He sat down and talked to them. Here again Jesus spent the whole night in prayer and then was early in the morning in the temple teaching people. Here in Matt. 26 after the last supper that after they had their last supper verse 50: They had sung a hymn they went out into the Mt. of Olives." This doesn't pose a problem with the other verse that talks about when He went into Gethsemane because the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mt. of Olives. We found out that the Lord was spending much time in prayer in the Mt. of Olives and also that He was betrayed by Judas and the mob in or near the Mt. of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Now we turn to the Gospel of Luke 50 This is after saying His last parting words to He disciples [the Church]. And He led them out as far as Bethany and lifted up his hands and blessed them and it came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them and was carried up into heaven and they worshiped him and returned unto Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. And we find in the gospel of Mark. "And when he had spoken these things--meaning the very same things that were spoken in the gospel of Luke while they beheld 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 up before them in white apparel and they said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking up into heaven. This same Jesus which was taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven. And then they returned unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath-day's journey."

Here this verifies that He ascended from the Mount of Olives. Now we'll turn to a very decisive and eye-opening passage in the O.T. In the Book of Zechariah 14:1-4: "Behold the day of the Lord cometh and they spoil shall be divided in the midst of you, for I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city shall be taken and the houses rifled and the women ravaged and the half of the city shall go forth into captivity and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord shall go forth against those nations as when He fought in the day of battle and His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives before Jerusalem in the east and Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west and there shall be a very great valley. Half the ground shall be moved toward the north and half of it to the south."
As Abraham went up to the mount to offer up his son and Moses went up the mount to seek Father God's face, so Jesus often ascended to the holy Mount of Olives to commune with God the Father. The significance of the Mount of Olives is very great in the N.T. As we see from the Holy Scriptures. Our Lord often advancing there for all night long prayer vigils with his Holy Father. It is also where He interceded for us as believers while on the earth, where He wept for the Hebrews that constantly rejected Him and His message of the kingdom, where He often taught His disciples and the multitudes, and no doubt, did many miracles told and untold (John ). Out of all the important capitals and cities of the world, Jesus has chosen Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives to return to in the glory of His Father with all His holy angels.
The disembodied saints to be joined to their newly resurrected bodies also with the living end-time saints to changed at the last trumpet to rule and reign with Jesus as King of king and Lord of lords. This glorious return of our Lord will happen at the end of the Great Tribulation when He will gather his people into one body, one visible group, dead and living in Christ. And to finalize the fate of those who have already made their decision against God. Jesus will set at liberty God's creation, presenting the newly-delivered Child {the Church} to Mother Earth and the for joy that she has brought forth a Child shall no more remember the anguish of the delivery {the Great Tribulation}. and He will set up His earthly kingdom with earth's newly recognized capital, Jerusalem, the city of the Great King.
With regard to the manner of Christ's return, the holy angels bear witness that " . . . this Jesus that you have behold go up into heaven will come in like manner as you have seen Him ascend." Acts 1:11 This like manner is with angels attending, the Lord being visible to the public with the church {believers}--disciples--on the earth and seeing Him. And with Jesus in a resurrected and glorified body "And we shall see Him as He is." Christ in the Mount of Olives and riding victoriously into Jerusalem on the back of the donkey and cleansing the Temple, greatly parallels that of Christ Coming in Glory from Heaven to the Mount of Olives, riding His white horse, being accompanied by believers, and entering Jerusalem, through the very same gate, and cleansing the Temple, that is yet to be desecrated by the Abomination of Desolation.