Cindy Busch (6 Mar 2008)
"Christ departure from the Mount of Olives on Ascension Day and the Departure of the Shekinah Glory from the Mount of Olives--what is the connection??"

It’ very interesting to note the connection of . . .

some have asked the question of when this departure happened during Ezekiel’s time, this has been hard to verify. . .

However, we have evidence of when it departed AGAIN and this is what is really interesting. . .

The Shekinah Glory ALSO departed from the Mount of Olives AGAIN in 66 A.D. from the temple the Zerubbabel had built. . .

This departure was noted by two Church Historians—Josephus and Eusebius Please see the highlighted excepts below

Summary

Josephus recorded three miracles before the Departure of the Shekinah Glory from the Temple in the Spring of 66 A.D. along with two other eye witness accounts of the departure. . .

Miracle 1-- GREAT LIGHT shone over the altar for thirty minutes at 3 o'clock in the morning (a week before Passover in A.D. 66)

Miracle 2-- "a few days later (during Passover itself) the enormous brass gates of Nicanor, requiring twenty men to open and close them, opened at MIDNIGHT of their own accord (War VI, 293-295

Miracle 3-- And then, about fifty days later, on Pentecost, the final sign was given which definitely showed that the Shekinah Glory was departing the Temple as the other signs indicated (ibid.):

Moreover, at the festival which is called Pentecost, the priests on entering the inner court of the Temple at nightfall, as their custom was in accomplishment of their ministrations, stated that they first became aware of a commotion and a roar, and after that the voice of a great multitude saying "We are departing hence" (War VI, 299).

 

The "Shekinah" went directly to the Mount of Olives and remained over the top of the mountain for 3 and 1/2 years -- from late Spring in 66 A.D to about December of 69 A.D, some eight months before the Temple was destroyed by the Romans. It then went back to heaven and had not returned to earth up to the time he wrote.

 

This is another type and shadow of the departure of the church and what is to come--I would love to hear Steve Berryman’s or anyone’s take on this for it is quite interesting.

 

Excerpts are from this site http://www.hope-of-israel.org/glory.htm

 

The Departure and Return of the "Shekinah"

It should be noted that Ezekiel saw both the DEPARTURE of the "Shekinah" and the RETURN in two distinct visions separated in time by a number of years. The visions that he saw -- of events that happened after his own death -- describe exactly the same "Shekinah" which he saw first in chapter ten and then afterwards leave the Temple in chapter ten. As we shall note, at the beginning of chapter ten the "Shekinah" was still in the Temple --

The glory of the LORD ["Cavod YHVH"] went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house [Temple]; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD'S glory ["Cavod YHVH"].

However, YEHOVAH God was making preparations to REMOVE the "Shekinah" from the Temple and then from the very city itself:

And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight; when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the EAST GATE of the LORD'S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. -- Ezekiel 10:19.

Then, in Ezekiel 11:23, we read of the actual DEPARTURE of YEHOVAH's "Shekinah" from the MOUNT OF OLIVES --

And the glory of the LORD ["Cavod YHVH"] went up from the midst of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city [Mount of Olives].

From the Mount of Olives the "Shekinah" departed from this earth to later return to the Temple that was rebuilt under Zerubbabel, but before the arrival of Ezra and Nehemiah. The "Shekinah" remained in the Temple from this time through the enlarging of the Temple complex by Herod, and his subsequent improvements. This is borne out by a little known but awe-inspiring incident that occurred when Herod tried to tap into the tremendous wealth of King David's tomb in order to finance his grandiose plans to rebuild the Temple.

Writes Gary Arvidson: "So, how was Herod able to finance this and other projects? Toward the beginning of his great work 'all their sacred treasures were exhausted.' We are told in this same context that people around the world sent an abundance of money for the Temple project. But there were other funds to be raised. And Herod found ANOTHER SOURCE!" (In Search of King David's Tomb, part 1, p. 27).

Arvidson goes on to say: "What we are going to find is that Herod tapped David's sepulchre as a major resource for his great works...and as a consequence gained access to David's sepulchre to finance and decorate his empire. What had been amassed for the First Temple and laid aside by Solomon, was finally used for the Second Temple period" (ibid.).

The first-century A.D. Jewish historian and priest Josephus, records that "at this time he [Herod] opened the sepulchre by night, and went into it, and endeavoured that it should not be known in the city, but took only his faithful friends with him" (Antiquities 14.7.1).

Then begins the most unusual account of all. Herod was determined to explore the multiroom structure of David's tomb to the limits. Suddenly, a great miracle occurred --

However, he [Herod] had a great desire to make a more diligent search, and to go further in, even as far as the very bodies of David and Solomon; WHERE TWO OF HIS GUARDS WERE SLAIN BY A FLAME that burst out upon those that went in, as the report was. So he was terribly affrightened, and went out, and built a propitiatory monument of that fright he had been in; and this of white stone, at the mouth of the sepulchre...(Antiquities 14.7.1).

The physical "Shekinah" put the fear of YEHOVAH God in Herod and his surviving men and, frankly, "scared the hell" out of them!

YEHOVAH's "Shekinah" remained in the Temple all through the life and death of the Messiah and up to the year 66 A.D. -- when it was seen leaving the Temple and alighting on the Mount of Olives. Notice!

There is also another reason why Christians in the first century were very interested in the Mount of Olives. This is because it was believed that the Shekinah Glory of God which supposedly dwelt inside the Holy of Holies at the Temple left the sanctuary and went to the Mount of Olives and hovered over that spot at the time of the Roman/Jewish War which ended in A.D. 70. The fact that the Shekinah Glory left the old Temple and migrated to the top of the Mount of Olives was an important event to Eusebius [church historian and scholar A.D. 260?-340?]. -- Secrets of Golgotha, by Ernest L. Martin. 1988: ASK Publications, Alhambra, CA. P. 83.

In Eusebius' book Proof of the Gospel we find this passage --

Believers in Christ congregate from all parts of the world, not as of old time because of the glory of Jerusalem, nor that they may worship in the ancient Temple at Jerusalem, but...that they may worship at the Mount of Olives opposite to the city, whither the glory [the Shekinah Glory] of the LORD [YEHOVAH, YHVH] migrated when it left the former city. (Book VI, Chapter 18 (288)).

According to Eusebius the "Shekinah" Glory left the Temple and hovered over the Mount of Olives during "the siege of Jerusalem" (66 A.D. to 70). However, Eusebius was not the only observer who mentioned that the "Shekinah" Glory left the Temple before the destruction of the Temple and hovered over the Mount of Olives. A Jewish rabbi named Jonathan -- who was an eyewitness to the destruction of Jerusalem -- said the "Shekinah" Glory left the Temple and for three and a half years

"abode on the MOUNT OF OLIVES hoping that Israel would repent, but they did not; while a Bet Kol [a supernatural voice from heaven] issued forth announcing, Return, O backsliding children [Jer. 3:14]. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you [Mal. 3:7], when they did not repent, it said, I WILL RETURN TO MY PLACE [Hosea 5:15]" (Midrash Rabbah, Lamentations 2:11). -- Secrets of Golgotha, by Ernest L. Martin. 84.

There was yet another writer who recorded the fact of the "Shekinah" presence of YEHOVAH God moving from the Temple in Jerusalem just before the war with the Romans. Josephus mentioned that in the Spring of 66 A.D. some astonishing events took place within the Temple. He recorded three miracles associated with YEHOVAH's "Shekinah" and the Temple -- and each one showed clearly that the "Shekinah" was departing from the Holy of Holies. In War VI, 290 he stated "that a GREAT LIGHT shone over the altar for thirty minutes at 3 o'clock in the morning (a week before Passover in A.D. 66) and then it DEPARTED. He said the sacred scribes interpreted this sign as a bad omen for the Temple. It was like the Shekinah Glory moving away from the Tabernacle in the wilderness as a sign to disassemble the Tabernacle and transport it to another location" (ibid.).

Josephus goes on to say that "a few days later (during Passover itself) the enormous brass gates of Nicanor, requiring twenty men to open and close them, opened at midnight of their own accord (War VI, 293-295). This was also interpreted as showing a desolation coming upon the Temple. And then, about fifty days later, on Pentecost, the final sign was given which definitely showed that the Shekinah Glory was departing the Temple as the other signs indicated (ibid.):

Moreover, at the festival which is called Pentecost, the priests on entering the inner court of the Temple at nightfall, as their custom was in accomplishment of their ministrations, stated that they first became aware of a commotion and a roar, and after that the voice of a great multitude saying "We are departing hence" (War VI, 299).

When we couple Josephus' information with that of Rabbi Jonathan (also an eyewitness) we can see that the "Shekinah" went directly to the Mount of Olives and remained over the top of the mountain for 3 and 1/2 years -- from late Spring in 66 A.D to about December of 69 A.D, some eight months before the Temple was destroyed by the Romans. It then went back to heaven and had not returned to earth up to the time he wrote.

These miraculous events had much more significance to the early Christians than may meet the eye today. Eusebius, as we have just seen, mentioned the importance of this removal of the Shekinah glory. It was clearly a sign that YEHOVAH's physical presence had departed from the Temple on the western hill of Jerusalem and had retreated to the MOUNT OF OLIVES on the EAST as the new place of His divine residence. This event of the "Shekinah" glory leaving the Temple and residing on the Mount of Olives became highly significant to the early Christians because this is the mountain where YEHOVAH's holy "Shekinah" will RETURN in the near future!