Click on any photo to expand.
The photo in the upper left is the view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. This is the view that Jesus and his disciples had in Matthew 24-25. The gold dome from the Dome of the Rock, Islam’s fourth holiest shrine, sits atop the Temple Mount (Mt. Moriah), the location of the Temple in Jesus’ day. (The Temple was much larger.) The Temple was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70.
The next photo, clockwise from upper left, shows some rocks around the temple walls. It reminds me of Jesus’ words of warning to his disciples in Matthew 24.
The next photo shows some Herodian lamps. These are exactly the type of lamps that the wise and foolish virgins would have used in Matthew 25:1-13.
The final photo shows actual olive trees on the Mount of Olives. Several churches on that mountain pay tribute to events in Jesus’ life that happened there: the Triumphal Entry, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Ascension. Bethany, hometown of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, is on the other side of the mountain away from Jerusalem.