Garden Tomb, Jerusalem with Joshua Aaron & Aaron Shust
Published on Apr 21, 2019
Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
Showing posts with label Garden Tomb. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garden Tomb. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Thursday, October 18, 2018
Monday, August 21, 2017
Signs in the Heavens: Biblical Darkness, the Solar Eclipse, and the End Times - CBN News Julie Stahl, Chris Mitchell
Signs in the Heavens: Biblical Darkness, the Solar Eclipse, and the End Times
Aug. 21, 2017 - CBN News Julie Stahl, Chris Mitchell
AYALON VALLEY
– Many Americans are anticipating Monday's eclipse and wondering just what it means. It won't be visible in Israel, but the Bible records several times when dramatic signs involving the sun took place in this area. The question is can we expect to see such signs today?
– Many Americans are anticipating Monday's eclipse and wondering just what it means. It won't be visible in Israel, but the Bible records several times when dramatic signs involving the sun took place in this area. The question is can we expect to see such signs today?
One of the 10 plagues over Egypt before the exodus of the Israelites was three days of darkness (Exodus 10:21-29).
"The Jewish sources describe it not just as darkness, but a darkness that was so thick it's like, people couldn't move in it or the Egyptians couldn't move in it. So that's an example of God suspending the laws of nature," Rabbi and historian Ken Spiro told CBN News.
"The sun god was one of their [the Egyptian's] major gods, the major god, I think, so by God covering their god, He was saying, I'm bigger than your god. And that was presumably one of the signs behind that one," said Stephen Bridge, director of the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.
Garden Tomb Director Stephen Bridge
Many historians believe the valley of Ayalon is where Joshua battled the five Amorite kings, when he said to the Lord, "'Sun stand still over Gibeon and moon over the valley of Ayalon' so the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, til the people had revenge upon their enemies." (Joshua 10:12)
The Bible tells us three hours of darkness fell at Jesus' crucifixion/ (Matthew 27:45)
"Whatever the darkness was it wasn't an eclipse and we have no explanation of what it was or even what it meant, but it certainly would have invoked in the people who were there a profound sense of something monumental happening, which indeed it was," said Bridge.
God definitely made points with signs in the sky throughout the Bible. But is He still doing the same thing today?
Michael Mott, who serves as assistant pastor with Jerusalem's King of Kings congregation, and Rabbi Spiro say "yes."
Pastor Michael Mott, assistant pastor of Jerusalem's King of Kings Congregation
"He uses nature all the time in different ways to communicate," Mott told CBN News. "In Romans chapter one, it tells us that God has ordered the world in such a way that the hearts of man can know that God exists just by the way nature works all the time. So does He use nature to talk to His people? He does."
Spiro said, "It's a fundamental belief in Judaism that everything that happens in the world is for a meaning and there's a message hidden in there somewhere, even in astronomical phenomenon. So interpreting the message is, of course, a little more problematic."
Bridge believes God already gave mankind His greatest sign.
"I think that some of that depends on our own personality – and I'm not downplaying that – but the biggest way God speaks is through His Son. So the writer to the Hebrews draws that out: 'In former times God spoke in many and various ways through the prophets, but in the last days he's spoken through His Son.' And so for us that Jesus is the revelation, Jesus is the Word made flesh; Jesus is the ultimate sign and His death and resurrection, the ultimate sign of that. So we should be looking to Him."
Spiro says Judaism is looking at actual events today as signs of the end of days – not so much signs in the sky.
Rabbi Ken Spiro
"The rabbis always talk about the coming of the Messiah as a woman giving birth – birth pangs, and the basic idea behind that is just as a woman giving birth goes into contractions [and as] they get closer and closer together, they get more and more intense as you approach the birth," he continued.
"So too events on the planet earth will get more and more intense and happen much more rapidly and certainly I would say we see that things are speeding up very dramatically in the world, the change that is taking place, the political upheaval, the technological advances, as to whether that is linked to astronomical events that are coming, we'll only know at that time," he said.
The Book of Joel includes an often-quoted end time prophecy about the sky.
"The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord." (Joel 2:31)
"We get this picture from God's word that He will use those kinds of signs in the skies to speak to His people, to speak to the earth," Spiro said. "And how do we know which one is which because I think sometimes we want to attach God to every single natural event that takes place and I think that most of the time God just wants to show that He is in nature and not that He's communicating 'watch out something is getting ready to happen.'"
"Now, that could be interpreted as eclipses by the way," he added. "You know, the moon turning to blood is called the blood moon actually, which is what happens in a lunar eclipse and … when you have a solar eclipse, the sun disappears and turns to blackness. So there in the prophets it's talking about signs we see at the end of days. Whether that is what it's meant to be interpreted as remains a big question. We don't know."
According to Jewish teaching, the Messiah will come before the year 6,000 on the Hebrew calendar. We're currently at 5777. If each day is like a thousand years, Spiro says we're about at late Friday afternoon, meaning we're getting very close.
"We could be hitting that end of days' scenario," he said. "Certainly time is definitely running out, and as we see by looking at what's going on in the world, in a positive and a negative way – I mean the rebirth of the State of Israel, the reunification of Jerusalem. We just celebrated the 50th anniversary of that. I mean that's unbelievable, that's prophecy coming true before our eyes: the nations of the world lining up against Israel, largely what you see going on in UNESCO, the United Nations, is clearly a sign."
So, other than looking through protective glasses, how do these leaders recommend we view the eclipse?
"We're only a few headlines away from direct convergence of that biblical end of days scenario with the headlines in the news today and that to me – and I think to most Jews – is far more impactful and serious in terms of waking people up in their expectations of like the redemption than celestial signs happening up above in the heavens," the rabbi said.
"We need to prepare our hearts and continue to ask God to show us, is this you?" Mott said. "Is this you who are you speaking to your people? Are you speaking to the earth? And I believe that he'll tell more than just one person that this is Him speaking to the whole earth."
"We just need to be cautious, fix our eyes on Jesus, hold firmly to scripture and keep proclaiming the mystery and the profound victory of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah," Bridge said.
Watch here: Signs in the Heavens
Watch here: Signs in the Heavens
Friday, March 25, 2016
The Garden Tomb: Where Jesus Rose Again? - CBN News Chris Mitchell
03-24-2016
JERUSALEM -- On Easter Sunday, millions of Christians around the world will be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In Jerusalem, thousands of Christian pilgrims visit what many believe to be the site of that resurrection.
Located near the heart of Jerusalem is a place called The Garden Tomb, what some believe was the Garden of Joseph of Arimathea. Here is where some believe Jesus died, was buried, and then rose from the dead.
The garden is a two acre oasis in the often hectic city of Jerusalem. British Christians bought the garden 125 years ago and formed The Garden Tomb Association. For years, they've allowed visitors here free of charge.
"What we do have here in the Garden is a perfect representation of the Biblical accounts at the end of the four Gospels. Everything in those four Gospels matches what we show people here in the Garden," Richard Meryon, director of The Garden Tomb, said.
Touring the Garden
Today, nearly a quarter of a million visitors pour into The Garden Tomb each year. Guide Steve Bridge took CBN News on a tour visitors get when they come to the garden.
"What we plot out is the basic geography that we have in the Bible," he explained. "Jesus was crucified outside of the city walls at a place called Golgotha. And in the immediate area to where Jesus was crucified there was a garden that belonged to a rich man by the name of Joseph of Arimathea."
We came first to the place the Bible calls "Golgotha," where the book of Matthew says "and when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull."
"What are some of the main questions people ask you when they come here?" we asked Bridge.
"Some of the main questions, certainly from Christian groups would be can we be certain that this is the place where Jesus died and He was raised to life," Bridge said. "People often ask how come there are two places, here and there is the Holy Sepulcher?"
Weighing the Evidence
The question arises because some believe Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the actual place of the crucifixion and resurrection, not the Garden Tomb. Constantine's mother Queen Helena helped build the church in 326 A.D.
The archeological weight supporting the church's claim is substantial. For example, the Roman emperor Hadrian built a temple on the site in the second century because local Christians venerated the site as the place of Golgotha.
But the evidence for the Garden can be compelling. The gospel of John says, "... at the place where jesus was crucified, there was a garden ... " (John 19: 38; 41)
If you have a garden, you need lots of water, especially in the dry Middle East. The Garden Tomb contains one of the oldest and largest cisterns in Jerusalem. It's 2,000 years old and holds about 200,000 gallons of water.
"So the tomb we have here is a typical of a first century Jewish rolling stone tomb. It's dated at least 2,000 years, possibly older," Bridge explained to CBN News.
The Empty Tomb
In the Garden, the Bible also says there was a tomb.
"It is carved out of solid rock. It's a man-made tomb and that's how the Bible describes the tomb in which the body of Jesus was laid," Bridge said of the tomb, while we we standing next its entrance.
"This channel that you can see in front of the tomb entrance is where the stone would have sat that would have been rolled to seal the entrance to the tomb. So finally, the most important thing about this tomb itself is that it's empty."
We went inside for a look.
"What we're looking at when we're looking at this direction is through into the burial chamber itself," Bridge explained. "And what you have inside the burial chamber are these two areas where a body would be laid, one just down here and one on this side."
The tomb itself seems to fit the Bible's description. But whether The Garden Tomb or the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the site of the resurrection of Jesus, many Christian pilgrims take with them a profound affirmation of their faith
"I'm a Bible teacher in the states. And want to take some of this passion back, that Jesus is who he says he is, that he is the son of God, and he did walk this earth," Kelcey Gillespie, a Christian who made a pilgrimage here to Jerusalem, told us.
Celebrating the Person
As people celebrate Easter, those at The Garden Tomb stress it's not the place, it's the person.
"The Bible writers really weren't that interested in establishing where Jesus died. We have very little information," Bridge said. "The Bible writers themselves were much more interested in Jesus Christ himself who he is. Why He died."
"That's what we want people to take away, that the tomb is empty. And we as Christians, of all the world's faiths, serve a living God who's overcome death, who's has dealt with the sin in our life," Meryon said. "And Jesus is the centrality of our Christian faith, is He not?"
"And so here at the Garden that's what we want people to take away is the living Lord Jesus. The Easter weekend is the weekend that changed the world," he added. "The weekend that Jesus died and was buried and rose again for me and for you."
Watch here: CBN News
Watch here: CBN News
--Originally aired March 31, 2010.
Friday, February 12, 2016
'Who Shall Stand in This Holy Place?' - SUSAN MICHAEL/ICEJ CHARISMA NEWS
The city of Jerusalem is the highlight of any pilgrimage to the Holy Land. It is not just a city that has some 4,000 years of history, making it one of the oldest cities on earth, but it is mentioned 806 times in the Bible with names as beautiful as "City of God," "Joyful City" and "Desired One."
Jerusalem in Hebrew is Yerushalayim and is often translated as "City of Peace."
It is situated on the southern Judean plateau which at its highest point is 2,500 feet above sea level. Only 37 miles west of Jerusalem is the Mediterranean Sea, and 22 miles to its east is the lowest point on earth, the Dead Sea. This explains why in John 5:1 Jesus "went up to Jerusalem," and in the parable of the Good Samaritan, the poor man that fell among thieves was going "down from Jerusalem" (Luke 10:30).
This idea of ascending to Jerusalem does not merely refer to geography though; Jerusalem was the site of the temple of God, therefore a place of spiritual ascent. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" asks the psalmist, "or who shall stand in his holy place?" (Ps. 24:3).
Psalms of Ascent
In fact, 15 of the biblical Psalms (120-134) bear the label "song of ascent." They've also been called "songs of steps" and "pilgrim songs." Many scholars believe that these psalms were sung by worshippers walking up the road to Jerusalem at the time of the three great pilgrimage festivals: Passover, Tabernacles and Pentecost. The notion of "ascending" to Jerusalem persists today. For example, Jews who immigrate to Israel are said to be making "aliyah," or "ascent."
Many Christian tours recite the Psalms of Ascent as their buses climb the road to Jerusalem. What a fitting way to prepare one's heart for the special experience of visiting the city that God chose for Himself (Ps. 132:13-14). The Psalms of Ascent end with verse 3 of Psalm 134, which is the pilgrim's prayer that they would be blessed by God while in Zion.
Jerusalem in the Bible
Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible as early as Genesis 14:18, where it is referred to as Shalem, the city ruled by Melchizedek. Later it is called Jebus, which was captured from the Jebusites by King David and made the capital of Israel. David also bought a certain threshing floor there from its owner and kept it as the site of the future temple. That site is also referred to as Mt. Moriah in 2 Chronicles 3:1, which indicates that King Solomon built the temple on the same mountain where Abraham had earlier bound Isaac.
Zion was another name given to the hill where the Jebusite fortress stood, and was later applied to the Temple Mount, or Mt. Moriah, just to the north of the fortress. Zion has also come to be used as a synonym for the city of Jerusalem as a whole.
Sites to See
In biblical times, Jerusalem covered territory similar to what is known today as the Old City, a 35 square-mile walled area divided into four sections carried over from Ottoman rule: The Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Armenian quarters. The Old City has been surrounded by walls for its defense since ancient times, but the walls that are visible today date back to the 16th century. The Old City was the entire city of Jerusalem until the mid-19th century when building began outside of the city walls.
While an exhaustive list of important sites in Jerusalem is not possible for this article, everyone must see the Western Wall, the only remnant of the Temple walls; the Temple Mount on which is built the Muslim Dome of the Rock; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built over the likely site where Jesus was crucified and buried; the Garden Tomb, a rock-cut tomb in a skull-shaped hill considered an alternative site of Jesus' crucifixion and burial; and the Mt. of Olives.
The Capital of Israel
As you can imagine, Jerusalem today is a very diverse and fascinating modern city inhabited by over 800,000 people. It is a sprawling city with beautiful vistas from hill-top housing developments. In addition to being Israel's spiritual, political and administrative capital, Jerusalem is also a leader in education and health care, and its religious, historical and cultural attractions make it the country's premier tourist destination.
It was some 3,000 years ago that King David captured Jerusalem and made it the capital of Israel. Since then, the city has been destroyed, besieged, attacked and rebuilt many times. But it always remained in the hearts of the Jewish people who longed to one day return and re-establish sovereignty there.
The Zionist movement, while a modern political movement, is in many ways a continuation of this ancient attachment of the Jewish people to Jerusalem. The current refusal of the nations to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is an attempt to rob the Jewish people of their spiritual and scriptural heart.
This is why the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem recognizes Jerusalem as the eternal and undivided capital of the State of Israel. 
Note: This is the second in a series of articles introducing Israel and various biblical sites of interest to the Christian reader. Click here for the first, "8 Reasons Why Every Christian Should Visit Israel."
Susan Michael is the U.S. Director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem and leads tours to Israel icejusa.org/tours.
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Friday, April 3, 2015
The Garden Tomb: Where Jesus Rose Again?
The Garden Tomb: Where Jesus Rose Again?
Friday, April 03, 2015
JERUSALEM -- On Easter Sunday, millions of Christians around the world will be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In Jerusalem, thousands of Christian pilgrims visit what many believe to be the site of that resurrection.
Located near the heart of Jerusalem is a place called The Garden Tomb, what some believe was the Garden of Joseph of Arimathea. Here is where some believe Jesus died, was buried, and then rose from the dead.
The garden is a two acre oasis in the often hectic city of Jerusalem. British Christians bought the garden 125 years ago and formed The Garden Tomb Association. For years, they've allowed visitors here free of charge.
"What we do have here in the Garden is a perfect representation of the Biblical accounts at the end of the four Gospels. Everything in those four Gospels matches what we show people here in the Garden," Richard Meryon, director of The Garden Tomb, said.
Touring the Garden
Today, nearly a quarter of a million visitors pour into The Garden Tomb each year. Guide Steve Bridge took CBN News on a tour visitors get when they come to the garden.
"What we plot out is the basic geography that we have in the Bible," he explained. "Jesus was crucified outside of the city walls at a place called Golgotha. And in the immediate area to where Jesus was crucified there was a garden that belonged to a rich man by the name of Joseph of Arimathea."
We came first to the place the Bible calls "Golgotha," where the book of Matthew says "and when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull."
"What are some of the main questions people ask you when they come here?" we asked Bridge.
"Some of the main questions, certainly from Christian groups would be can we be certain that this is the place where Jesus died and He was raised to life," Bridge said. "People often ask how come there are two places, here and there is the Holy Sepulcher?"
Weighing the Evidence
The question arises because some believe Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the actual place of the crucifixion and resurrection, not the Garden Tomb. Constantine's mother Queen Helena helped build the church in 326 A.D.
The archeological weight supporting the church's claim is substantial. For example, the Roman emperor Hadrian built a temple on the site in the second century because local Christians venerated the site as the place of Golgotha.
But the evidence for the Garden can be compelling. The gospel of John says, "... at the place where jesus was crucified, there was a garden ... " (John 19: 38; 41)
If you have a garden, you need lots of water, especially in the dry Middle East. The Garden Tomb contains one of the oldest and largest cisterns in Jerusalem. It's 2,000 years old and holds about 200,000 gallons of water.
"So the tomb we have here is a typical of a first century Jewish rolling stone tomb. It's dated at least 2,000 years, possibly older," Bridge explained to CBN News.
The Empty Tomb
In the Garden, the Bible also says there was a tomb.
"It is carved out of solid rock. It's a man-made tomb and that's how the Bible describes the tomb in which the body of Jesus was laid," Bridge said of the tomb, while we we standing next its entrance.
"This channel that you can see in front of the tomb entrance is where the stone would have sat that would have been rolled to seal the entrance to the tomb. So finally, the most important thing about this tomb itself is that it's empty."
We went inside for a look.
"What we're looking at when we're looking at this direction is through into the burial chamber itself," Bridge explained. "And what you have inside the burial chamber are these two areas where a body would be laid, one just down here and one on this side."
The tomb itself seems to fit the Bible's description. But whether The Garden Tomb or the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the site of the resurrection of Jesus, many Christian pilgrims take with them a profound affirmation of their faith
"I'm a Bible teacher in the states. And want to take some of this passion back, that Jesus is who he says he is, that he is the son of God, and he did walk this earth," Kelcey Gillespie, a Christian who made a pilgrimage here to Jerusalem, told us.
Celebrating the Person
As people celebrate Easter, those at The Garden Tomb stress it's not the place, it's the person.
"The Bible writers really weren't that interested in establishing where Jesus died. We have very little information," Bridge said. "The Bible writers themselves were much more interested in Jesus Christ himself who he is. Why He died."
"That's what we want people to take away, that the tomb is empty. And we as Christians, of all the world's faiths, serve a living God who's overcome death, who's has dealt with the sin in our life," Meryon said. "And Jesus is the centrality of our Christian faith, is He not?"
"And so here at the Garden that's what we want people to take away is the living Lord Jesus. The Easter weekend is the weekend that changed the world," he added. "The weekend that Jesus died and was buried and rose again for me and for you."
--Originally aired March 31, 2010.
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