mallets. I could almost hear Him, as they raised this living burden of flesh, every movement irritating the rents in feet and hands, pleading, “ Father, for give them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). What a scene of tumult the cruci fixion must have been! That great body o f Jews and Romans gazed upon the Lamb of God, some silently, others mocking. Even the rulers and priests forgot their dignity of office and joined in the abuse. The poor wretches shar ing Hi§ punishment added their insults until one of them, no longer able to resist His love, cried out, “ Lord, re member me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42, 43). Surely crucifixion is the cruelest and blackest of punishments for it gives the greatest torture for the longest time. It includes all that pain and death can have that is horrible and ghastly—dizziness, cramp, thirst, starva tion, helplessness, traumatic fever, tet anus, publicity of shame, long continu ance of torment, horror of anticipation, mortification of untended wounds, all intensified just up to the point at which they can be endured at all, but all stop ping just short of the point which would give to the sufferer the relief of uncon sciousness. But only once in all the hours at Golgotha did Jesus make ref erence to His suffering, when He cried, “ I thirst,” for added to all other pangs was that of a raging thirst. I recalled the natural phenomena of that day: the eclipse at noonday when the paschal sun should have been very bright over the Holy City; the rent veil of the temple; the earthquake; the open ing of graves. Then I thought sadly of the betrayal by Judas and the denial of Peter, and of the fact that all of His disciples “ forsook Him and fled” in ti e hour o f His death. More than that, I thought o f m’y own sin, and the part it too had in nailing Him to that cross, and I thanked Him again for dying in my room and stead, to obtain my eternal salvation.
how readily would it let in the rays of the morning sun, which would immedi ately shine upon any body lying in the farther crypt. Now at last I under stood how John could tell at once by looking into the dark tomb, without even entering, that Jesus had risen indeed, leaving His grave clothes, and “ the napkin, that was about his head . . . in a place by itself” (John 20:7). As I had thought of the death of my Lord at Calvary, so now I allowed my mind to dwell upon the resurrection. I walked about the Tomb, seated myself on the ledge where perhaps a white- robed angel had once sat, and con sidered the “ infallible proofs”': the broken Roman seal, the disrupted stone, the orderly graveclothes, the fearful earthquake; the angel visitants; the terrified guards; the frightened women; the dumbfounded disciples; and the manifest lies of the enemies of Christ who gave “ large money unto the sol diers” to publish the fiction that His disciples had made away with His body. Jesus made seventeen personal appear ances after His resurrection before and after His ascension to various persons individually and in groups. In addition, “ He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once” (1 Cor. 15:6). God so multiplied the evidence that the resurrection of Christ has become one o f the most thoroughly attested facts of history. So I rejoiced that day as I stood in the Garden Tomb that it was an empty tomb, that we do not worship a Saviour still hanging on a cross, or lying in a sepulchre. As believers, our own resurrection is guaranteed by Christ’s. “ But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (I Cor. 15:20). “ Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). “ Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” (John 11:25-26).
The Garden Tomb When General Gordon was seeking evidence that this was indeed the genu ine site of the crucifixion, he had the 'entire area investigated for graves. He found what he was looking for in a monolithic tomb in the area. It seemed to him that the words of John 19:41 were thus corroborated: “ Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.” I approached the ancient garden at the foot of the hill. A huge door opened to admit me. Some years ago, removal of tons of debris had disclosed garden paths, an irrigation system, and a wine press. Now well cared for, the beautiful garden is fragrant with zinnias, asters, petunias, chrysanthemums and rose mary growing beneath a few old trees. A high wall now encloses the entire area. There in front of me was the Garden Tomb. What awe filled my heart as I walked over to it, and stooped to enter the low door, even as the disciples had on that first Easter morning. Inside were two compartments, sep arated by a low limestone wall. The outer room in which I was standing was about 7x10 ft. wide with an 8 ft. ceiling. I looked over the wall into the second room as large as the first, and along the wall at the far end was a crypt about six-and-a-half feet long and two feet wide. I said to myself, “ Was that where they laid Him?” At the far end is a rounded depression for the head of the person to rest. A wall runs across it and at each edge is a ledge. This might well have been the place where on the day of the resurrection “ two angels in white were sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain” (John 20:12). At the other end of the room were two more unfinished crypts which indicate that only One was ever buried here. One of the things about the Garden Tomb that most impressed me was the square window above the unfinished sec tion. As I gazed upon it, I could see
“ Was this where they laid H im?”
Exterior and Interior o f the Garden Tomb
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