Resurrection!
One of the privileges of my life has been to visit the Garden Tomb, just outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls. Catholics believe Jesus’s tomb is inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. I believe it is what is known as “Gordon’s Calvary,” after the site was discovered in the 19th century by a British officer.
Tranquility is the word of the day in this park-like setting. The lush foliage also leads a visitor to the “Place of the Skull,” Golgotha, nearby.
The limestone tomb, cut out of solid rock, contains a low bench, where the body would have been placed. The Gospel accounts fit this location, as one has to stoop to enter the door. There is also a low, rock boundary across the front, which could easily hold a stone to seal it.
Visitors are able to take communion nearby, and I’ve been struck during my visits to see all nationalities and ethnicities gather to worship the Risen Lord. Truly, His sacrifice is available to all.
There are many reasons to love the Bible, to love the Jewish people, to love Israel. Chief among them is the Good News of Jesus Christ, the One True God, the Creator God. He willingly obeyed His Father and died a gruesome death in order for us to be saved.
I have also stood on the Temple Mount, the place where the curtain was torn from top to bottom upon Jesus’s death on the Cross. That signaled that man now had access to God directly, and no longer had to sacrifice animals. The best thing from that view is gazing across the Kidron Valley, knowing that one day soon, He will appear again on Earth, returning to the same spot he ascended to heaven 2,000 years ago.
If you have received His gift of eternal life, there is no better feeling this weekend. Make sure you share your good news with someone that needs it.
The older I get, the more I anticipate seeing Jesus. We are living in dangerous times; you know that. Israel is once again faced with a hostile U.S. administration. We are close to a Beast system, one in which “free” citizens are faced with a forced vaccine if one wants to fly anywhere. All sorts of things are happening that aren’t good.
But as Spurgeon said, Christian, you have a God in whom you may greatly glory. Let the times roll on. They cannot affect our God.