By the fifth day, we were in Jerusalem and visiting the Garden Tomb. Our guide explained that the Garden Tomb is a rock-cut tomb that was unearthed in 1867 and has been considered by some Christians to be the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. The Garden Tomb is adjacent to a rocky escarpment which since the mid-nineteenth century has been proposed by some scholars to be Golgotha. The site is not without controversy, though. The tomb has been dated by prominent Israeli archaeologist Gabriel Barkay to the 8th-7th centuries BC. For some Christians, especially Roman Catholics and other groups, the traditional site where they believe the death and resurrection of Christ occurred has been, since the fourth century, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Our group was at the Garden Tomb, and since we were such a large group, we were able to secure the site for a private worship service. First the guide gave us the tour, and then the communion service began. During Rev. Amburgy’s sermon, some of the passengers started speaking in tongues. Others joined in, until the sound level grew louder and louder. Everyone seemed to feel the spirit except General White, the person in charge of the Garden that day. He came to me and said, “Nicholas, you must stop this!” I looked around. All of our Pilgrims were very involved with the Holy Spirit, praising God and speaking in tongues. There was no way I was going to interrupt. Turning to him, I said, “General White, I don’t have the power to stop this, but you can try.” General White looked around, paused, and said, “Nicholas, you are right; we will wait for the power of God to settle them.” Eventually, the people grew quieter, the service continued, and communion was shared. It was here, at this point, on this day, that I realized Jerusalem’s importance to Christians. Whether the Garden Tomb or the Holy Sepulchre is the exact spot, Jerusalem, itself, is the place where Jesus, our Lord, ministered, and most importantly, suffered for us, died and rose again.

The churches were to commemorate the events in the life of Jesus. For this reason, Christians from every denomination on earth visit Jerusalem and these very churches and sites.

The significance of Jerusalem to Christians cannot be separated from the significance of Jerusalem to the Jewish people. We are intertwined through our scriptures and spiritual bonds and we share this heritage in Jerusalem as our spiritual capital while Israel also claims it as her national capital. Christians for almost two thousand years have made pilgrimages to Jerusalem, to deepen their faith, to encounter the Holy Spirit in the places where Jesus preached and taught, suffered, died, and rose again. When the Church was born on Pentecost so many years ago, the Holy Spirit appeared to Peter and the disciples, giving them the ability to speak in other languages. They began to gather a crowd, preaching to each in his own language.