July 21, 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
NOT A GREAT CITY NOR A GRAND CATHEDRAL OR TEMPLE BUT A HUMBLE MOUNTAIN
“And when He has spoken these things, while they yet beheld, He was taken up: and a cloud received Him out of their sight.”
Acts 1: 9, A.V. (Read verses 10-12).
“At the place of His ascension, Jesus chose the spot so often hallowed by His presence while He dwelt among men.”
“Not Mount Zion, the place of David’s city, not Mount Moriah, the temple site, was to be thus honored. There [in these man-honored places] Christ has been mocked and rejected. There the waves of mercy, still returning in a stronger tide of love, had been beaten back by hearts as hard as rock. Thence Jesus, weary and heart-burdened, had gone forth to find REST IN THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.”
“The holy Shekinah, in departing from the first temple, had stood in the eastern mountain, as If loathe to forsake the chosen city; so Christ stood upon Oliver, with yearning heart overlooking Jerusalem [where the rebuilt Temple was]. The groves and glens of the mountain had been CONSECRATED by His prayers and tears. It’s steeps had echoed the triumphant shouts of the multitude that proclaimed Him King.”
“In it’s sloping descent He had found a home with Lazarus [Mary and Martha] in Bethany. In the Garden of Gethsemane at its foot He had prayed and agonized alone.”
“From this mountain He was to ASCEND to heaven. From its summit HIS FEET WILL REST when He shall come again. No longer as man of sorrows [and acquainted with grief], but as a glorious and triumphant King He will STAND UPON OLIVET, while Hebrew hallelujahs will mingle with Gentile hossannas, and the voices of the redeemed as a mighty host shall swell the acclamation, Crown Him Lord of all!” The Desire of Ages, pp. 829. 830.
As the 1948 U.N created Zionist ethnic Israel and the Palestinian-Islamic nations, including the evangelicals and politicians of America have been struggling over the control of city of Jerusalem and the Temple site since the beginning, they all miss the true significance of the humble Mount Olivet! May none of us who are studying the law and testimony fall into the same maddening and soul-destroying delusion! Lord, have mercy on us! NMF