Our Lord's Feet on the Mount of Olives

Narrator: Chris Genthree
Duration: 5min
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In Zechariah 12:44In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. (Zechariah 12:4), we have one of the most remarkable predictions to be found in the prophetic scriptures: “His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” It was from the mount of Olives that our Lord ascended up to heaven (Acts 1:1212Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey. (Acts 1:12)) and a cloud had received Him out of the sight of the disciples, and while they were still wistfully gazing after their departed Lord, two angels said to them, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:1111Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11)). No words could be more precise or state more definitely that Jesus Himself should return to the earth, and that in a visible manner. Now we learn from Zechariah that He shall return to the very spot whence He ascended, and that the very same feet that once trod Olivet, in company with His disciples, shall once again stand in the same place. No ingenuity whatever can explain away the simple words, “His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,” and in this way, as another has pointed out, “Jehovah identifies Himself, so to speak, with the meek and lowly Jesus formerly on the earth, in order that the identity of the Savior and Jehovah should be clearly acknowledged.”
The Nations Tremble at His Presence
But when Jehovah thus comes in the person of the Messiah, He comes with power and great glory; the earth will acknowledge the presence of her rightful Lord, and thus the mountain on which He will stand cleaves in the midst. As we read indeed in Psalm 18:77Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. (Psalm 18:7), “The earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because He was wroth.” So will it be again on that eventful day. The effect will be that a great valley will be formed by half of the mountain removing toward the north, and half toward the south, running east and west, its western end being immediately opposite to the eastern side of the city of Jerusalem, and its eastern end terminating, it would seem, at Azal. Isaiah cries, “Oh that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make Thy name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Thy presence! When Thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, Thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at Thy presence” (Isa. 64:1-31Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, 2As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! 3When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. (Isaiah 64:1‑3)). So will it also be in this day of which Zechariah speaks, and the wonders flowing from the presence of Jehovah will strike terror into the hearts of the beholders, for they will flee as they fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah.
The prophet does not pursue this aspect of his subject. Jehovah has come, and His feet stand upon the mount of Olives, and He has thus renewed His relationship with Judah, or at least the remnant, of whom the disciples (who saw their Lord ascend and who received the promise of seeing Him return) were the representatives. He now recommences (the second part of the chapter beginning at this point) with the coming of the Lord. He says, as if addressing Jehovah, “The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee” (Zech. 14:55And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. (Zechariah 14:5)). The introduction of the saints as accompanying or forming the entourage of Jehovah is an additional feature, and the instructed reader will see in this a remarkable confirmation of what he has learned of the Lord’s coming from the New Testament. Here, as it is His return to Israel, it is His public manifestation, when every eye shall see Him, and when, therefore, as Zechariah states, the saints shall come with Him. If, however, the glorified saints return with Christ, they must have been caught up to be with Him previously, and this is what the New Testament scriptures teach. Thus, in 1 Thessalonians 4, we learn that when the Lord descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, both the sleeping and the living saints will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so will be ever with the Lord. Here in Zechariah and Isaiah there is no question of any being caught up; the Lord comes to His own on the earth for their succor and temporal salvation. This shows the difference between the hope of the church and the hope of Israel. Believers now wait daily to be caught up to meet Christ, and hence, afterward, “when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:44When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)), whereas the believing remnant, in the day of which the prophet speaks, will await the coming of the Messiah in glory, as described in this chapter.
E. Dennett