Saving the Best for Last . . .

Today, Wednesday, is our final day of touring, and we began by going back to the earliest days when Canaanites, and Jebusites in particular, controlled the site of Jerusalem. We started with a visit to the ancient City of David, which has a lookout deck to see the entire surrounding area. Our guide pointed out the spring of Gihon and the original Pool of Siloam, which has only recently been excavated. We have visited the heights and depths of Jerusalem! From the lookout point on Mt. Zion, we descended into a 4,000 year old tunnel built by the Canaanites. Jerusalem is a city built of stone -- a combination of old and new. From the tunnel, we walked the short distance to the home of Caiaphas, where Peter stood in the courtyard and denied the Lord Jesus. Caiaphas' house faces the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane. They have excavated rooms for purification rites, as well as a dungeon where Jesus would have been held. Karen taught us at this site and contrasted the character of Peter with that of the Lord Jesus.
From Caiaphas' house we walked to the site of the Upper Room where the Last Supper was thought to have been held and also the room where the disciples and followers of Jesus were wiating for Pentecost. A Catholic church has been built over the site, but it is still most likely the location of the room. Karen shared another wonderful teaching time with us in the Upper Room location. This teaching was called "Behold the Lamb", and 3 of the ladies on our tour sang "Behold the Lamb" at the conclusion of the teaching time.
By this time, we were getting tired, as we had walked all morning with only brief stops here and there. Someone spied an ice cream stand, and before long the whole group was giving the shopkeeper a booming business! Today was one of our warmest days (mid-70s), so the ice cream was quite refreshing. We then walked back to our bus, and we were taken back down to the Temple Mount area for a time of shopping and lunch.
At 3:30, we drove outside the city gate to Calvary. There have been various ideas through the ages as to where Jesus was crucified. Once a person sees the cliff known as "Skull Hill", it is obvious that this must be the site. The mountain is a quarry, and there is no mistaking the skull eyes, nose, and mouth. Sadly, this cliff hangs over a present-day bus stop. As buses came and went, horns honking, and people coming and going, I was reminded how like our world today this is! Countless people live their lives oblivious to the sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ made for them. They are caught up in the busyness and the emptiness and miss the Savior Who was right there all along. From the view of Calvary, we walked a short way through a lush, green garden. Soon, we arrived at what is believed to have been Jesus' tomb. The tomb is a part of the same quarry system as Calvary. Again, this site is so obviously the right one. It meets every criteria of the Biblical definition of the tomb of Jesus. It was outside the city walls, and it was a Jewish tomb with a "rolling stone" opening. In front of the entrance to the tomb was a channel used for rolling the stone into place. This tomb is known to be at least 2000 years old. It is located on Mt. Moriah and was buried in the ground for hundreds of years before being excavated in the 1800s. The garden area in front of the tomb was found to have an underground water system and a winepress, both at least 2000 years old. The water system and winepress indicate that the garden had to be owned by a wealthy person like Joseph of Arimathea. We were ushered to a quiet enclave in the garden, where Karen gave our final teaching time of the trip, "A Place of Remembrance". We concluded this special time with communion of matzah bread and grape juice served in olive wood cups which we were given as a special remembrance of our time at the garden tomb. After we sang some hymns, we walked over to the tomb itself and went in, a few at a time. It looked as I had imagined it might. When the tomb was excavated in the 1800s, there were some Crusader artifacts in it, but there was no evidence of human remains or that a body or bodies had ever decayed in the tomb. The tomb is empty -- He is risen! That is the best news of all!