The Holy Bible, the Word of God, is so all-encompassing. I am sure the answers to all our questions are to be found in the Bible, if we knew where to look. The Lord wants us to search His Word. If you do, you will be rewarded. “Seek and you shall find.” (Matthew 7:7) The Lord speaks to us in visions and riddles. (Numbers 12:6-8) And He has given us an abundance of foreshadows of events to come.

The Prophet Ezekiel was taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar before the destruction of Jerusalem. In Ezekiel chapter eight, the prophet was sitting in his house in Babylon when the Spirit of the Lord snatched him up (verse 3) and took him to Jerusalem. There, Ezekiel saw the evil being done by the leaders of Judah, and heard the Lord’s pronouncement against them.

Then Ezekiel saw the Glory of the Lord leave the Temple by the Eastern Gate. (Ezekiel 10:18-19) After an encounter with more leaders of Judah plotting rebellion against the Lord, the prophet saw the Glory of God leave Jerusalem and stop above the Mount of Olives. (Ezekiel 11:23) Then the Glory of God went up from him.

We know that after His resurrection, the Lord Jesus spent forty days on earth. Some of this time probably was spent in Jerusalem. After forty days, Jesus met with the Disciples on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem. After last instructions, Jesus ascended into Heaven from the Mount of Olives. Then two angels appeared and told the Disciples that Jesus would return in the same manner as He left. (Acts 1:9-12)

Just as the Glory of God left Jerusalem and ascended into Heaven from above the Mount of Olives, the Lord Jesus followed the same path. Ezekiel 10 is a foreshadow of the departure of Jesus from this world.

The angels told the Disciples that Jesus would return in the same manner as He departed. The prophet Zechariah describes the event in chapter 14 of the book carrying his name. “Then the LORD will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, [Making] a very large valley . . .” (verses 3-4)

In his description of a future Temple, the Prophet Ezekiel tells us that the Glory of the Lord will return by way of the Eastern Gate. (Ezekiel 43:4) And, he tells us that the Prince (Jesus, Prince of Peace) will enter and leave by the Eastern Gate. (Ezekiel 46:12)

The Lord gives us foreshadows that we might understand His prophecies of future events. The departures of the Glory of God and of the Lord Jesus and their returns are prophesied and are shown to us by the visions of Ezekiel and Zechariah. And like the Patriarch Job, how my heart yearns for that Day. (Job 19:25-27) May the Name of the Lord be praised forever!