After the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples were staying in Jerusalem, being taught by Jesus. The Lord told them to wait in the city for the Holy Spirit. Luke records, “Now when He had spoken these things, as they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” (Acts 1:9)
Although scholars do not know the exact spot of Jesus’ ascension, Luke’s Gospel records that Jesus led the disciples “out as far as Bethany” (Luke 24:50) where he ascended. Knowing Bethany is about 1.5 miles east of Jerusalem on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, the ascension must have taken place somewhere on the Mount of Olives. A relatively early tradition placed the spot at the summit. The pilgrim Aetheria (Egeria) speaks of a tradition on Palm Sunday where Christians would travel to the “Inbomon” (the Latinized form of the Greek ἐνβωμῷ, meaning “on the height”) while singing hymns. In a letter written by Jerome, dated to A. D. 404, he refers to the “glistening cross of Mount Olivet from which the Saviour made His ascension to the Father.”1 The Inbomon church has thus been at this site since at least the late fourth century.2 Ancient sources in fact say a woman named Pomnia (Poemenia) sponsored the building of a church at the spot of Jesus’ ascension in A.D. 378, referred to as the Church of the Holy Ascension.3 Excavations by L.H. Vincent in 1913 and Virgilio Corbo in 1959 have confirmed the site of this church. The original plan was an octagonal building with a circular inner colonnade featuring sixteen columns holding up a dome - a common design for "memorial" churches throughout the Levant.4 Corbo found that the original Inbomon/Church of the Holy Ascension was apparently destroyed by the Persians when they invaded Jerusalem in 614, rebuilt soon after, rebuilt again by the Crusaders, and transformed into a mosque by Salah al-Din (Saladin) in 1187, which still stands today.5
Gonzalo Baez-Camargo, Archaeological Commentary on the Bible, (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1984) 236.
Jack Finegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992) 165-167.
Jerome, Letter to Eustochium, 12 (NPNF, 2.6:200). ↩︎
Jack Finegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992) 167. ↩︎
Peter the Iberian, trans. Richard Raabe, Petrus der Iberer (Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung, 1895), 35. ↩︎
Jack Finegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992) 170. Finegan says Muslims continue to memorialize the ascension of Jesus here because the Qur’an says God “raised him up unto himself” (Surah 4:158). ↩︎
From What Mountain Did Jesus Ascend?
Site Study
| Hershel Wayne House | Mount of Olives
After the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples stayed in Jerusalem and were taught by Jesus. The Lord told them to wait in the city for the Holy Spirit. Luke records, “Now when He had spoken these things, as they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” (Acts 1:9)
Although scholars do not know the exact spot of Jesus’ ascension, Luke’s Gospel records that Jesus led the disciples “out as far as Bethany” (Luke 24:50) where he ascended. Knowing Bethany is about 1.5 miles east of Jerusalem on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, the ascension must have taken place somewhere on the Mount of Olives. A relatively early tradition placed the spot at the summit. The pilgrim Aetheria (Egeria) speaks of a tradition on Palm Sunday where Christians would travel to the “Inbomon” (the Latinized form of the Greek ἐνβωμῷ, meaning “on the height”) while singing hymns. In a letter written by Jerome, dated to A. D. 404, he refers to the “glistening cross of Mount Olivet from which the Saviour made His ascension to the Father.” The Inbomon church has thus been at this site since at least the late fourth century. Ancient sources, in fact, say a woman named Pomnia (Poemenia) sponsored the building of a church at the spot of Jesus’ ascension in A.D. 378, referred to as the Church of the Holy Ascension. Excavations by L.H. Vincent in 1913 and Virgilio Corbo in 1959 have confirmed the site of this church. The original plan was an octagonal building with a circular inner colonnade featuring sixteen columns holding up a dome - a common design for "memorial" churches throughout the Levant. Corbo found that the original Inbomon/Church of the Holy Ascension was apparently destroyed by the Persians when they invaded Jerusalem in 614, rebuilt soon after, rebuilt again by the Crusaders, and transformed into a mosque by Salah al-Din (Saladin) in 1187, which still stands today.
Bibliography. Baez-Camargo, Gonzalo, Archaeological Commentary on the Bible (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1984), 236; Finegan, Jack, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), 165-67; Jerome, Letter to Eustochium, 12(NPNF, 2.6:200); Peter the Iberian, trans. Richard Raabe, Petrus der Iberer (Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung, 1895), 35; Tsafrir, Yoram, "Ancient Churches in the Holy Land," Biblical Archaeology Review 19, (1993): 26-39, accessed April 16, 2012, http://members.bib-arch.org/publication.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=19&Issue=5&ArticleID=8.
Site Study
| Hershel Wayne House
As Jesus traveled the road from Jericho, approaching Jerusalem for the last time, He came to Bethany and Bethphage (Bethpage) “at the Mount of Olives.”
The Mount of Olives is a ridge running north-south, and is east of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley. It is so named because of the great number of olive trees cultivated on terraces there to this day. It is about 2.5 miles long and has three peaks: Mount Scopus, et-Tur (where the Russian Orthodox Monastery of the Ascension and its prominent tower are located), and the Mount of Corruption (or Mount of Offense) located at the southern end of the valley opposite the City of David. Mount Scopus rises to 2,690 feet above sea level.
The Mount of Olives was the location of several important sites with regard to the New Testament. Already mentioned are Bethany and Bethphage. Jesus taught His disciples at a private place somewhere on the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane is located on the slope of the Mount. Tradition also locates Jesus’ ascension at the summit of the ridge, although the Scriptures indicate He ascended from a place near Bethany, on the east slope of the Mount of Olives. In Zechariah, the prophet says when Jesus returns the Mount will split in two east to west and allow a river to run from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea (Zech 14:4).
Many churches are found on the Mount of Olives, commemorating the events that took place there including: the Dominus Flevit (commemorating Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem), the Basilica of Agony (also called the Church of All Nations), built on the site of an ancient Byzantine church memorializing the place where Jesus prayed and was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Chapel of Ascension, a mosque that was built over a very early Byzantine church and the Pater Noster church, built on the foundations of the fourth-century Eleona Church which itself was built over the cave that is the traditional place where Jesus gave the disciples the “Our Father” prayer.
1Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple. 2But he answered them, “You see all of these things, don’t you? Most certainly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down.”
3As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?”
4Jesus answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray. 5For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet. 7For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places. 8But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.
9“Then they will deliver you up to oppression and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name’s sake. 10Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another. 11Many false prophets will arise and will lead many astray. 12Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold. 13But he who endures to the end will be saved. 14This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
15“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation,which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house. 18Let him who is in the field not return back to get his clothes. 19But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days! 20Pray that your flight will not be in the winter nor on a Sabbath, 21for then there will be great suffering,such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be. 22Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.
23“Then if any man tells you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There!’ don’t believe it. 24For false christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
25“Behold, I have told you beforehand.
26“If therefore they tell you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness,’ don’t go out; or ‘Behold, he is in the inner rooms,’ don’t believe it. 27For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28For wherever the carcass is, that is where the vulturesgather together.
29“But immediately after the sufferingof those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;30and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
32“Now from the fig tree learn this parable: When its branch has now become tender and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near. 33Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that he is near, even at the doors. 34Most certainly I tell you, this generationwill not pass away until all these things are accomplished. 35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
36“But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven,but my Father only.37As the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship, 39and they didn’t know until the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left. 41Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one will be left. 42Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes. 43But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come.
45“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? 46Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes. 47Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has. 48But if that evil servant should say in his heart, ‘My lord is delaying his coming,’ 49and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards, 50the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t expect it and in an hour when he doesn’t know it, 51and will cut him in pieces and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.