The Empty Garden Tomb of
Christ
But on the
first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices
which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the
tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
And it happened that while they were perplexed about this, behold, two
men suddenly stood near them in dazzling apparel;
and as the women were
terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you
seek the living One among the dead?
"He is not here, but He has risen.
Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying
that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be
crucified, and the third day rise again." Luke 24: 1-7
This sign is carved in the
door to the Garden
Tomb.
View of the Garden and the Tomb
The Garden Tomb Entrance,
notice the grove where the stone covered
the entrance.
The tomb stone for the Garden Tomb was found in a first century
A.D. building surrounding the crucifixion site several hundred feet away. It is
13 feet, 2 inches in diameter and around 2 feet thick. Dimensionally, it
fits perfectly into the trough in front of the tomb, and also fits the exact
spacing between two iron pegs designed to hold the stone in place (see sketch
above). The stone was held in place with a rope or iron chain being
fastened to two iron pegs driven into the stone face. It is the largest
known tombstone yet discovered and MUCH larger than that covering King Herod's
tomb which was 5 1/2 feet in diameter. So when the Bible says a "great
stone,"(Matthew 27:60) it means exactly that.
The
angel upon forcefully rolling away the stone, sheared the iron pegs holding the
stone in place. The photo above shows the sheared off stub still left in
its hole. This show of strength was hardly the act of timid disciples in
stealing a body in front of a cohort of Roman soldiers as some
allege.
View looking from the right side of the actual
resting place of Jesus Christ
View Looking from the foot of the burial chamber of
Jesus Christ
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