And the holy One from Paran
His splendor covereth the heavens,
And the earth is full of His glory” (Habbak. iii).
Teman is the country of the sons of the east, and Paran the desert region extending from the frontiers of Judah to the borders of Sinai. But there towards the east from Jerusalem stands a mountain. It overlooks the whole city, and right in front, there is the valley of Jehosaphat, the valley where the nations are assembled (Joel iii). What a view from this mountain top! There is the city, and its burning ruins are seen, there are the camps of the nations, with their banners and cannons gathered now in fear and in trembling, for the heavens declare the glory of the Lord. Immediately after the tribulation of these days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon . . . and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens. And now He Himself has descended from the heavens. His blessed feet stand again upon the Mount of Olives. He stands upon the mountain, and perhaps on the very spot where He stood centuries, many centuries, before, after His passion and His resurrection when He blest His disciples and had been removed from them with outstretched arms. There stood the two heavenly visitors in that day with their message, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here looking into heaven? This Jesus which was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.” A long, long time past. Has He forgotten His promise? No, the hour had not come. But men disbelieved the word of promise, I will come again. “And in the last days mockers came with mockery, walking after their own lusts, saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for from the days that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter ii: 3, 4). But now the Lord has come. He, the Son of Man, in His glory, is seen plainly from the city and from the valley, and with Him the heavenly company, His saints. The moment His feet touch the Mount of Olives there is an earthquake which splits the mountain into two halves, and a great valley is formed between these two parts. “The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at His presence, yea, the world and all that dwell therein” (Nahum i: 5). As in the day of battle when the Egyptian hosts were destroyed and He divided the sea, thus will He divide the mountain and make a way for His trusting people,
Verse 5. “And ye shall flee by the valley of My mountains,
For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal;
Ye shall flee as you fled before the earthquake,
In the days of Uzziah, King of Judah:
And Jehovah my God shall come,
And all the saints with Thee!”