At the end of his forty day ministry, after his resurrection, Jesus Christ ascended into heaven from the top of the Mount of Olives in view of his apostles:
“And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which 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. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet” Acts 1:9-12.
When the Lord returns he will come in all glory, far greater than the sun, he shall be wearing red clothing and all the earth shall see him (Isaiah 63:1-7):
“For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works” Matthew 16:27.
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him” Revelation 1:7.
And he will descend onto the Mount of Olives, the same mount that he had ascended up from: “And 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” Zechariah 14:4.
Today there are three churches marking the Ascension. First is the Chapel/Mosque of the Ascension:
The first shrine to be built on the Mount of Olives commemorating the Ascension into Heaven was what is now called the Chapel/Mosque of the Ascension. The shrine was first built in 387 AD by the Roman Emperor Constantine. That church was destroyed in 614 AD by the Persians. The Crusaders rebuilt the chapel in the 12th century. Both the original and Crusader chapels consisted of an open air, roofless columned court with a small shrine alter in the center (you can still see the Crusader columns on the outside of the chapel). It had no roof so the worshiper could gaze at the sky. But the chapel was turned into a mosque in 1187 when the Christian Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem was overthrown by the Muslims. In 1835 it was altered by the Ottomans by adding a domed roof and walls between the pillars. The original Roman church complex included the nearby area now occupied by the Pater Noster Cloister, and was the third church built in the Holyland after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The three Constantine churches made up the ‘Helena churches;’ those first churches built on sites identified by Empress Helena, Constantine’s mother.
Of the three shrines on the Mount of Olives this is by far the oldest. It is also the furthest south, lying just before the mount descends into the Kidron Valley.
Next is the Russian Orthodoxy’s Church of the Ascension:
The second shrine to be built on the Mount of Olives commemorating the Ascension is the Russian Orthodox Ascension Church built in 1881. The tower is 210 feet (64 meters) high and is a landmark visible for many miles. The complex is run by a convent of nuns renowned for their choir.
The last and most recent shrine to be built on the Mount of Olives commemorating the Ascension is the German Church of the Ascension. A beautiful Evangelical Lutheran church built in the Wilhelmian-Byzantine style is near the mount’s highest point. The church was dedicated in 1910 though all construction was not completed until 1914. The church is next to a hospital built by the Germans at the same time and both church and hospital comprise the Augusta Victoria compound, named after the wife of Kaiser Wilhelm II who built the compound. The church’s tower is 164 feet (50 meters) high and offers great views.
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