It’s RESURRECTION SUNDAY!!!! Great things happened nearly 2,000 years ago in or near Jerusalem. If you were to take a trip to Israel to see the sights and walk where Jesus walked, your tour guide will take you to the Garden and show you the rock where Jesus prayed. They will tell you that this is Golgotha and that is the empty tomb. The honest tour guide, though, will tell you that these might be the locations, but the precise locations of several events cannot be determined with certainty.
Doug Hershey, writing for the Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries, says, “For most Christian travelers in Jerusalem, and especially the ‘first-timers’, the place of Jesus’s death and resurrection is at the top of their list. Almost everyone wants to go to “the spot” to pray and put themselves in the shoes of a 1st century disciple. Ironically, this is not exactly an easy task. There are very few locations in Israel where everyone agrees “this is the exact spot” where a particular biblical event happened. Crucifixion and burial of Jesus is no different.”1
Truthfully, I’m glad that the precise locations cannot be pinpointed. Just the supposed locations have turned into a shrine. Does it bother anyone else but me that people want to go to “the spot” to pray, get baptized in the Jordan because Jesus did, and bring home vials of sand or water from the Jordan or the Dead Sea, feeling that these things make them feel closer to Jesus? Can you imagine what would happen if we knew the exact location of where Jesus’ cross was planted in the ground? People would be digging up the area, hoping to find a granule of dirt soaked in some of Jesus’ blood that trickled down the cross.
We do not worship the Garden of Gethsemane, Mt. Calvary, the cross, or the empty tomb. We are supposed to worship the One who was at those places and did those things for us and for our salvation. We are to worship our Deliverer, not the destination.
Today, we celebrate that Jesus is alive. His blood was the effective, once-for-all payment of sin and accepted by the Father. His resurrection demonstrated the power to take those who are dead in trespasses and sins and to make them alive and able to walk in a newness of life. The Gospel message is in these events.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 says, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; (2) By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. (3) For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (4) And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures…”
This is the message that Paul preached. He said in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
The last Holy Land tour conducted in the New Testament is found in Matthew 28:5-6 and the parallel accounts. “And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. (6) He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” What was the instruction given after that? “And go quickly, and tell …” (Matthew 28:7)
There’s nothing wrong with taking a trip to Israel, walking the paths Jesus walked, and visiting the possible locations where certain events occurred. However, I’m looking more forward to something else.
Zechariah 14:9-11, 16 describes the Millennial Kingdom. “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. (10) All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses. (11) And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited… (16) And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”
Can you imagine walking one day with Jesus as the tour guide and hearing Him say, “This is where I healed 10 lepers. This is where I met the woman at the well. This is the tomb from which Lazarus was called. This is where I cleansed the Temple. This is where I was tried, crucified, and buried. And, this is where I rose again from the grave.”
What today represents is the beginning of all our joys and the greatest of joys that are awaiting us in Heaven and throughout all eternity. 1 Corinthians 15:13-14, 20 reminds us, “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: (14) And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain… (20) But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”
1https://firmisrael.org/learn/where-is-the-tomb-of-jesus-holy-sepulchre-garden-tomb/
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