Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/512



496 VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF ZECHARIAH

" And His feet" we read, "shall stand in that day tipon the^ { Mount of Olives, ^vh^ch is before Jerusalem on the east"

The mountain which is so clearly defined and located, ,.,

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in this prophecy is already associated with many events ^ and crises in Israel s history. We especially remember: j

that before the final overthrow of the Davidic throne and ...

the commencement of the Times of the Gentiles, it was AI: from this mountain, which is before Jerusalem on the east, , that the prophet Ezekiel saw the glory of Jehovah finally, ^ taking its departure.

It was from this mountain also that He, who was not i only the symbol, but the living personal revelation of the ,/ glory of Jehovah, finally took His departure from the land, ,. after He had already been rejected by the nation. He led n { His handful of disciples out as far as Bethany (on the Mount of Olives), and He lifted up His hands and blessed , them. "And it came to pass while He blessed them, He, , was parted from them, and carried up into heaven " ; l since n , when a still darker era in the long Ichabod period of Israel s history commenced.

But from the same direction whence he saw the n departure of the Glory of Jehovah, the prophet Ezekiel saw also its return. " Afterwards" we read, " He brought \ me to the gate that looketh toward the east, and behold, the ( Glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and His voice was like the noise of many waters, and the earth shined with His glory." And what is this but a, ,

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prophecy in symbolic language of the same event which

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the heavenly messengers announced to the men of Galilee,

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that " this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go up into ,, heaven" And not only " in like manner " that is, bodily, .,

visibly but He shall come to the same place whence He ,

top finally departed.

We love to think that this same mountain on which j He once shed tears of sorrow over Jerusalem, the slope of which witnessed His agony and bloody sweat, shall be the

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1 Luke xxiv. 50, 5 1 -