Garden Tomb

MAY 28—Near the Damascus gate in Jerusalem, just outside the city wall, is the site of the Garden Tomb. It’s a very pleasantly preserved place tucked serenely away from the cacophony of a couple major bus stations just outside its walls.

From the backside of the compound stands a small hill. If you look at a couple of caves just right, it resembles a human skull. This is Gordon’s Calvary, Golgotha, the place of the skull.

A pleasant guide leads us through the garden paths, efficiently explaining five key biblical descriptions of the place Christ died, was buried and rose again. He makes the case that the site before us meets all the biblical criteria to be the very place. He believes it is, but cannot finally prove it. “At the end of the day,” he says, “it’s only an empty tomb.”

The empty tomb is indeed a powerful iconic symbol of the God who conquered death with the power of love and invites us to abide with Him forever. In the end, the historicity of the site is largely incidental. But what it signifies is immensely important. This place provides a beautiful reminder of an incredibly ugly incident, which turned out to have a great outcome.