Verse 4
"And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south."
The Premillennial school of interpreters see in this some tremendous upheaval at the end of time and the Second Coming of Christ; but our view is that God in the person of Christ has already touched his feet down upon the mount of Olives. Not only was Jesus a frequent guest in the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus at Bethany (on mount Olivet), but his ascension into heaven (at least upon one occasion) was from the mount of Olives (See Luke 24:50,51, and Acts 1:12). That event, with all of its implications, is a sufficient fulfillment of the wonder foretold here. Of course, there was no physical earthquake; but the spiritual earthquake which occurred in that event was surpassingly great enough to qualify as the fulfillment.
Added to this is the fact of a tremendous earthquake being always associated with the Second Coming, which, as far as we know may be literal, and remembering that both events are in the prophet's view, the meaning is plain.
"Shall be cleft in the midst ... A very great valley ..." We see in this the grand cleavage of the entire human race as achieved in the preaching of the gospel of Christ. "The very great valley" that separates between them is that "impassable gulf" dividing the saved from the lost (Luke 16:26).
All of the speculation about Jesus returning the second time to stand upon the mount of Olives belittles what he did in the first advent when there he planted his feet before ascending into heaven. The passage needs no further fulfillment.
Notice too the result of Jesus' standing on the mount of Olives, as outlined in the next verse.
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