By Reuven Doron –
Jerusalem is a bustling and lively city of nearly one million residents, enjoying a rich diversity of religions and cultures coexisting side by side for thousands of years. With a deep and profound history unlike any other city in the world, this city has many hidden corners where a visitor can be “transported” to a different place and time. It is as if those places, often just steps away from the hustle and bustle, provide a supernatural “time travel” opening to visit places and moments that are held in special esteem in our Bibles. One such spot is the Garden Tomb.
Considered a possible location for Jesus of Nazareth’s burial and resurrection, this beautiful garden is situated just outside the walled City of Jerusalem a few feet away from its northern Damascus gate. The site has been the focus of Christian worship and prayer for over 120 years, featuring a Jewish burial ground, an empty tomb, a beautiful garden and a water cistern.
The fascinating story behind this Garden goes back to a mid-19th Century Christian delegation that arrived from England to excavate the area since, according to Scriptures, Jesus was crucified in a place named “the Skull” (Golgotha in Aramaic). These scholars believed that the rocky hill just above the garden fits the Roman crucifixion site due to its proximity to the City’s main gate and physical likeness to a skull.
The Scripture says that, “at the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no-one had ever been laid.” (John 19:41). Excavations in the site discovered evidence of a well-watered commercial garden and a Second Temple era Jewish burial ground that could have housed the family tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a respected public figure and a secret disciple of Jesus. The fact is that whether this is the exact location of the Lord’s burial and resurrection, or merely a replica of the actual site that is somewhere nearby; this beautifully restored garden perfectly reflects the biblical text which describes a skull-shaped hill, a garden and an empty Jewish tomb.
As such, the Garden Tomb has been a magnet for Christian worship, prayer, adoration and reflection for over 120 years, inspiring multitudes of believers to contemplate the Messiah’s perfect life, suffering, execution, burial, and ultimate resurrection. Personally, this garden is one of my favorite spots in Jerusalem for prayer and quiet meditation.
Recognized as one of the most inspiring sites during a Holy Land visit, many of our Sar-El groups enjoy worship, prayer and communion when visiting the Garden. For anyone with eyes to see and a heart that believes, a visit to the Garden Tomb is truly a “time travel” experience. Going back to a quiet, gloomy afternoon 2,000 years ago, the “time traveler” could join a small burial party, shaken from the recent earthquake and stricken with grief, carrying the bloodied body of their beloved Rabbi and Lord to a borrowed tomb.
Brushing dangerously close to the beginning of the Sabbath (or the High Holiday) when all labor must cease, as soon as the oils and perfumes were hurriedly applied to the bruised corpse, it was wrapped in a burial cloth and placed in the spacious tomb. The heavy stone was rolled into place and sealed the opening … It seemed all visions and hopes of national liberty and revival were completely obliterated by the cruel reality before them … but the stone was not meant to stay there for long.
Fast forward 72 hours in your “time travel” and you would find a profound and amazing difference, changing the scene from one of grief and anguish to one of spectacular resurrection, power, angels, astounded disciples and a risen Lord. The resurrection of the Son of God was contested and resisted back then as it is today. This well-documented historic resurrection and the consequent Faith remains the ultimate distinction between the Messianic / Christian community and all other religions on earth.
Only Yeshua of Nazareth whom the Bible calls Son of God, Son of David and Son of Abraham, is worshipped all over the world as God’s perfect sacrifice who laid down His life as ransom for all humanity, and then rose from the dead. What appeared to be a total and excruciating defeat to the eyes of the world is in fact the Lord’s ultimate and everlasting victory over the power of sin, death and the grave.
Jesus is the only living fountainhead of all of the world’s religions and ideologies, and He is the only One whose tomb is empty today! He lives and reigns in millions of hearts and lives across all epochs and continents, and, according to Scripture, HE WILL return to take up His throne in Jerusalem.
Especially during times of uncertainty and instability, let us remember the empty tomb, the RISEN LORD, the gift of His Holy Spirit, and His precious promise when He told us, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33)
See you soon in Jerusalem.