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stated "that a GREAT LIGHT shone over the altar for thirty minutes at 3 o'clock in the morning (a
week before Passover in A.D. 66) and then it DEPARTED. He said the sacred scribes interpreted
this sign as a bad omen for the Temple. It was like the Shekinah Glory moving away from the Tab-
ernacle in the wilderness as a sign to disassemble the Tabernacle and transport it to another loca-
tion" (ibid.).

Josephus goes on to say that "a few days later (during Passover itself) the enormous brass
gates of Nicanor, requiring twenty men to open and close them, opened at midnight of their own
accord (Wars VI, 293-295). This was also interpreted as showing a desolation coming upon the
Temple. And then, about fifty days later, on Pentecost, the final sign was given which definitely
showed that the Shekinah Glory was departing the Temple as the other signs indicated (ibid.):

Moreover, at the festival which is called Pentecost, the priests on entering the inner court
of the Temple at nightfall, as their custom was in accomplishment of their ministrations,
stated that they first became aware of a commotion and a roar, and after that the voice of
a great multitude saying "We are departing hence" (Wars VI, 299).

When we couple Josephus' information with that of Rabbi Jonathan (also an eyewitness)
we can see that the "Shekinah" went directly to the Mount of Olives and remained over the top of
the mountain for 3 and 1/2 years -- from late Spring in 66 A.D to about December of 69 A.D, some
eight months before the Temple was destroyed by the Romans. It then went back to heaven and had
not returned to earth up to the time he wrote.

These miraculous events had much more significance to the early Christians than may meet
the eye today. Eusebius, as we have just seen, mentioned the importance of this removal of the
Shekinah glory. It was clearly a sign that YEHOVAH's physical presence had departed from the
Temple on the western hill of Jerusalem and had retreated to the MOUNT OF OLIVES on the
EAST as the new place of His divine residence. This event of the "Shekinah" glory leaving the
Temple and residing on the Mount of Olives became highly significant to the early Christians be-
cause this is the mountain where YEHOVAH's holy "Shekinah" will RETURN in the near future!

Vision of the New Temple

Ezekiel, still in a vision, returned to the captives in Babylon and later saw the restored
THIRD TEMPLE -- which is recorded in chapters 40-43 of his book. In his vision of the Third
Temple, as it would be after being built at the time of the end, Ezekiel saw the "Shekinah" RE-
TURN to the Holy of Holies. Ezekiel states that this is THE SAME "Shekinah" he saw leave the
Temple when he had the vision by the river Chebar --

And behold, the glory ["Shekinah"] of the God of Israel came from THE WAY OF THE
EAST [FROM THE MOUNT OF OLIVES]. His voice was like the sound of many wa-
ters; and the earth shone with His ["Shekinah"] glory. It was like the appearance of the vi-
sion which I saw -- like the vision which I saw when I came to destroy the city. The vi-
sions were like the vision which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face. And
the glory of the LORD ["Cavod YHVH"] came into the Temple by way of the gate
WHICH FACES TOWARD THE EAST. The spirit lifted me up and brought me into the

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