Died and Raised… on the Mount of Olives!

Perhaps due to the Easter season and the commotion surrounding the movie ‘The Passion of the Christ’, there is a related issue that currently draws my attention strongly. It concerns the location of Golgotha. It is virtually unknown, but nevertheless, there are very strong biblical indications that the place Golgotha (the Bible does not know of a hill called Golgotha) was located on the Mount of Olives. The key argument for this is the following. We read in the gospels that at the time of Jesus’ death, the curtain of the temple was torn from top to bottom, and that the Roman centurion witnessed both events with his own eyes. In Matthew 27:50–54 we read:

Now Jesus again, crying with a loud voice, lets out the spirit. And LO! the curtain of the temple is rent in two from above to bottom, and the earth quaked, and rocks are rent… Now the centurion and those with him, keeping Jesus, perceiving the quake and the occurrences (plural), were tremendously afraid, saying, “Truly, this Man was Son of God!”

Well then, only from the Mount of Olives did one have a view of the magnificent temple buildings (Mark 13:3) and of the massive curtain that hung in front of the holy place (note: not in front of the holy of holies). According to Flavius Josephus, this curtain was no less than 24 meters high (comparable to an eight-story apartment building!) and 7 meters wide! Even from a distance of about a kilometer, the curtain was still very clearly visible. The centurion saw the curtain tear, at the very moment of Jesus’ death. And that led him to the confession: truly, this was God’s Son.

A second important indication is found in John 19:20, where we read in the translations: “the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city,” but where it literally says: “near was THE PLACE of the city where Jesus was crucified.” Since “the place” is a well-known Hebrew designation for the temple (see John 4:20; 11:48; Acts 6:13–14, etc.), Jesus was therefore crucified near the temple. It is well known that the crucifixion took place outside the city walls, but less known is that, according to John 19, it was near “the place.” Take a map of Jerusalem and you will find that this topographical clue leads us directly to… the Mount of Olives.

Also relevant in this context is what we read in the letter to the Hebrews. In chapter 13, it is argued that Jesus “suffers outside the gate” (verse 12), as a fulfillment of the law regarding the sin offering, which explicitly had to be burned “outside the camp.” At the time of the successive temples in Jerusalem, this “outside the camp” was located on the east side of the city, on the Mount of Olives. It was also on the Mount of Olives that the offering of the red heifer (Numbers 19) was made. Various sources in the rabbinical writings leave no doubt about these facts. “Outside the camp” was, for Hebrew inhabitants of Jerusalem, synonymous with: on the Mount of Olives.

If Jesus was indeed crucified on the Mount of Olives, then it is clear that Jesus’ tomb was also located on that mountain. After all, the tomb in which Jesus was laid was “in the place where He was crucified” (John 19:41). But that means that the fundamental facts of salvation—crucifixion, burial, resurrection, ascension, and return—are all connected to the Mount of Olives! Is that not extraordinarily remarkable? The entire Evangel is anchored in what took place (and will take place; Zechariah 14:4) on “the mount called Olive” (Acts 1:12). The most important reason for this, I think, lies in the typology of the olive. Consider the following:

• The olive, as a tree, stands for incorruptible life. It is a tree that, in principle, does not die but regenerates itself (>rebirth). There are olive trees known to be thousands of years old. The olive speaks of Life that is stronger than death.
• Aspiring kings and priests were, by means of anointing with olive oil, installed into office. In parallel, Jesus was appointed “according to the power of indissoluble life” as King and Priest according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:16–17). He holds this office on the basis of the fact that He left the tomb empty… on the Mount of Olives.
• The first sign of life after the flood was a dove with an olive twig in its beak. Here too, the olive refers to life that triumphs over death.
• The light that shone in the sanctuary (> heaven) was light from olive oil—“the light of life”!
• In light of the above, it should come as no surprise that olive oil is widely known for being healthful and healing. Olive oil on wounds has a healing effect (see Luke 10:34), and in food it promotes vitality.
• Since we are speaking of typology, we should not omit Hebrew symbolism. The word for olive oil is shemen and is related to the word for ‘eight’ (shmoneh), but also to the word for ‘heaven’ (shamayim). Eight is the number of a new beginning. Jesus rose “on the morrow after the sabbath” (>Leviticus 23:11). So after the seven (>shmoneh). The Prince of Life is presently hidden from view and “is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (shamayim).

Anyway, for those who want to know more about Golgotha and the empty tomb on the Mount of Olives, and many more details regarding it, I highly recommend reading the book Secrets of Golgotha by Dr. E.L. Martin.

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