The fifth sign’s discourse¹ begins, “But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives” (Jhn. 8:1), establishing the tenor for the entire address: YHWH our Judge and His justice. It stands distinct from “every man went to his own house”  in confusion over Yeshua’s identity (Jhn. 7:53). The latter hints at putting aside the matters of God in favor of pursuing one’s own activities with no unity of purpose (2Ch. 10:16, Hag. 1:9, Luk. 1:23, Jhn. 20:10, 21:3), frequently termed “every person doing what is right in one’s own eyes.” It plagued Israel historically, prompting judge “deliverers” such as Moses and Samuel to appear on the scene. In both instances, Israel was in captivity and oppressed. Israel’s feeble state also existed at our Savior’s first coming and is pronounced at the end of the age. What did the eight words of Yeshua’s decisive action of going to the Mount of Olives mean?

The Mount of Olives, east of the temple, sometimes called the Mount of Oil or Anointing, was frequented by Yeshua to pray, rest, and teach His disciples privately (Luk. 22:39, 21:37, Mat. 24:3). It became the site of His death, providing the redeeming sacrifice for all humanity (Gen. 22:1–14, Mat. 27:33–35, Num. 1:2, Mar. 15:22, Jhn. 19:17). Interaction with God is often described biblically as taking place on a mountain (Gen. 22:1–14, Jos. 5:3, Exo. 3:1–2, Exo. 19, 1Sa. 9:12, 1Ki. 18:42, Eze. 28:13–15). Abraham sacrificed Isaac “on the Mount of YHWH” in the mountains of Moriah (Gen. 22:1–14, 2Ch. 3:1). At the top of Mount Olivet, David worshiped God at a specific consecrated spot when he fled from Absalom (2Sa. 15:30–32), and there he wrote fourteen psalms reflecting the sacrifice of His Savior (Psa. 20–33). When the God of Israel’s glory left Jerusalem via the cherubim (a prelude to judgment), it left the temple and stood on the Mount of Olives (Eze. 11:23), a place of examination and rendering judgment. On the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem, Yeshua answered the disciples’ questions about the judgment at the end of the age (Mat. 24, Mar. 13, Luk. 21:7–38). When Yeshua returns in judgment, His feet stand on the Mount of Olives, splitting it in half (Eze. 43:4, Zec. 14:4, Act. 1:11–12). The activities on the Mount of Olives feed into the fifth sign’s setting, the seventh month’s first day, and YHWH’s visible presence among His people. Tishri 1 is “that day” of Yeshua reappearing in glory, commencing the autumn harvest, His coming with fire to rebuke and judge all flesh (Eze. 43:6–9, Isa. 66:15–16, Mat. 25:31–46).

To truly understand the importance of the “mountain of the East” and the significance of why Yeshua went there in response to Israel’s confusion over His identity, we must go back to the Garden of Eden. God planted the Garden of Eden eastward in the land of Eden. Anticipating humanity’s need for help from the world’s foundation, He planned the way for humans to draw near and avert the judgment of eternal death. After Adam and Eve took to themselves the knowledge of good (tov) and evil (ra), God drove them from the holy garden. He placed Cherubim with a flaming sword east (the door) of the Garden of Eden to guard the way to the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:22–24). At this east gate within the land of Eden, Adam’s family offered blood sacrifices to God in faith of His providential deliverance to come.

When God accepted Abel’s lamb offering and rejected Cain’s bloodless sacrifice, Cain’s jealous anger toward his brother brought God’s warning. Paraphrased, “If you do according to the right standard, and do not twist it or deviate from it, you will be exalted, but if you fail to live holiness, falling short of spiritual wholeness, at the eastern gate to the land of Eden (where judgment is executed), there is a sin offering for cleansing and purifying, removing the guilt and penalty for sin, and it is the means for the Most High’s power over ra to rule within you.” (Opposite of good, tov, ra happens when the created fails to achieve the purpose for which it was created.) From the foundation of the world, the Son’s sin offering already lay at the judgment place at Eden’s eastern border, burdened with human sins and ready to taste death for them. God abundantly desired all humans to exercise power over ra, ruling over it and visibly showing His glory. As used here, rule implies becoming comparable to the Creator’s self-rule, to God’s stunning quality of holiness. His children acquire it through His self-disclosure, ruling by acts of faith and obedience in the face of His splendor. As in the garden, His abode is now within His purified children. God desired Cain (and Eve, Gen. 3:16) to let His glorious character manifest, changing their circumstances for the better through His blood sacrifice at Eden’s door.

Through Yeshua’s bloody sin offering sacrifices outside Eden’s eastern gate, humans could return to Eden, access God within the Garden of Eden, and become numbered in His Book of Life. Because the tabernacle within Israel’s camp and the temple within the city of Jerusalem replicated the Garden of Eden within the land of Eden, the eastern gate of Jerusalem near the top of the Mount of Olives was a holy place. The events that happened there in the face of God in His temple were of utmost importance. Ezekiel called this designated spot of the sin offering “the appointed place,” or in Hebrew, miphkad, the clean place on the east, outside the camp where the pouring out of the ashes occurred. (Eze. 43:21, Strong’s H4662, Lev. 4:12, 21, 6:11, Num. 19). At the east miphkad gate, the priests collected the sin offering’s ashes to cleanse and purify Israel ritually (Lev. 4:1–21, 16:27, 19, the red heifer sin offering). It was also the designated spot for the census, the numbering in Israel’s Book of Life (literally, “counting the skull”). The eastern “numbering” miphkad altar was the gate of judgment (Mic. 1:9) to enter the Holy City and into the dwelling place of God. According to Strong, miphkad signified “appointed place, mandate, to number.” The events on the Mount of Olives’ outward sanctuary showed how we could reenter Eden and live in God’s holy presence. By going to the Mount of Olives, Yeshua identified Himself with the Father’s purpose of providing a blood sacrifice for transgressions so we may access God and live. Yet, the Bible reveals further why Yeshua went east of the temple to the Mount of Olives during Israel’s confusion over His identity.

In Israel’s camp design, the tribes were located in four directions around the Tabernacle. The tribe of Judah, the priests, and the Levites camped east of the Tabernacle in the face of God’s throne (the holy of holies). The only entrance into God’s holy dwelling and Israel’s camp was from the east (Num. 2:1–3, 3:38). The Hebrew letters for “east,” q-d-m, 144, (3² × 4²), mean “the nation’s door to holiness” (Seekins, pp. 84, 24, 60), numerically voicing judgment (9) house (16). When Israel journeyed, Judah in the east led them (Num. 10:5). Only through Judah could anyone enter Israel, through Judah’s Messiah (Gen. 49:10). When Jesus went to the Mount of Olives east of the temple, He resided in His tribe’s appointed place in Israel. He performed the Messiah’s role in leading, providing, and protecting Israel’s camp, declaring judgment either clean or unclean, thus numbering Israel’s flock holy (to number, sephar; s-p-r, 340 or 4·5·17, numerically saying, “Holy City, 4, of Mercy, 5, and Triumph, 17,” the victor’s double tithe, 20·17).

Takeaway: 
From the foundation of the world, God forgave humanity’s sins and gave us a way to live in the same strength of character as He lives. He convicts us of sin, of righteousness, and of sure judgment. Death’s chains that bound us had to be broken, changing us from unclean to holy. God’s will occurred at the mount of Eden’s eastern sephar gate (s-p-r), later called the Mount of Olives, proving Yeshua’s identity as the Messiah arising out of the tribe of Judah. He destroyed the chains of death by His own death, triumphing over Satan’s claims on humanity, and He became the door into God’s Holy City, the Judge and means to holiness. In victory, He claimed and numbered us as His, counted us holy, and separated unto Him, causing humanity’s latter harvest to begin.