He is Risen

The Jerusalem Center

Today is Saturday, our Sabbath day. After church we all left the gates of the center and walked into West Jerusalem. It was a sensory overload! Everything is very dirty and smells weird, but at the same time I love it! It reminds me of an older, more compact New York City. We walked for about 30 minutes into the city and suddenly there was a big wall that said, "The Garden Tomb." I had no idea the tomb was right in the middle of everything like that! We sat down inside the beautiful garden and a British man talked to us. The site is owned by a British Christian church. It was so amazing to feel his spirit. He bore his testimony that Jesus Christ died for us and because of him we can be cleansed from sin and return to our Father in Heaven. The other tour groups sang hymns in different languages. All the people there were of different faiths, but all recognized the significance of where we were. It was so touching to see such faithful people from different religions come together. That's something amazing about the Holy Land. It brings so many different people together through faith in Jesus Christ. 

After we spoke with the man, we walked to the end of the garden and Golgatha was right there! It is a busy bus stop and right in the rock you can see the skull-like form in the wall. Then, we walked over to the tomb. You had to duck your head to get in. Inside there is a main chamber and then another with spaces carved out that looked like beds on the floor. The door had a sign that said, "He is not here, for He is risen." That gave me the chills. We then sang "He is Risen" and a few other hymns. Other tour groups took pictures of us. We may not be allowed to preach the gospel here, but I know our spirits are touching others. It was very spiritual experience and hard to put words to.

 This was all very humbling. I always imagined Christ being crucified on a grand hill overlooking the city and then being moved into a tomb somewhere in the hillside in a quiet place. It wasn't. It was all right in the center of town, in a place where people could walk by and mock him. Today Golgatha is a bus stop, and the tomb is a small tourist site in the center of a busy city. Our tour guide said, "We don't know if this is exactly the place, but that doesn't matter. It's amazing that you are here, but you don't have to be here to understand. What matters is that Christ died for us, and that we understand because of Him we will also be resurrected and saved."