JERUSALEM​—once the center of true worship of Jehovah God, but no longer the city bearing God’s name. Jerusalem lost its privileged position after it apostatized from the teachings of God’s Word and rejected the Messiah, Jesus. (Lu 13:34, 35) To this day, however, Jerusalem is of keen interest to lovers of the Bible because events of universal importance took place there.

An aerial view of the city from the south shows features of Jerusalem in relation to one another. Mount Moriah, where the temple was located, is in the background. In the foreground is Mount Zion, bounded by the torrent valley of Kidron on the east and the Tyropoeon Valley on the west. The City of David was built on Mount Zion.

Standing on the Mount of Olives to the east of Jerusalem, a person can look across the Kidron Valley and see the site where the temple once stood. Now it is dominated by a Muslim shrine known as the Dome of the Rock. Jesus was “sitting on the Mount of Olives with the temple in view” when he gave his famous prophecy about “the conclusion of the system of things.”​—Mr 13:3; Mt 24:3.