www.HolyLandPhotos.org
If you ever take a tour of Jerusalem (or if you have already done so) with an evangelical group, you will undoubtedly stop at the Garden Tomb near Gordon’s Calvary. Wayne Stiles has a helpful post entitled “The Garden Tomb-Contemplating the Resurrection of Jesus,” along with some nice pictures. Stiles notes that though this is a spiritually more satisfying site, the historical and archaeological evidence points to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as the true location of Jesus tomb.
Do you agree with Stiles, Dr. Combs? When we were in Israel in February, I did a bit of reading on this and thought (pretty tentatively) that the evidence seemed to point towards the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as well.
Yes, David, I agree with Stiles. Like you, I think the evidence points pretty convincingly toward the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, as much as we might like it to be the other. Christians have lived in Jerusalem continuously from the 1st century, and there is no way they would have forgotten where Jesus was crucified and buried. It was this identification that caused the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to be built where it is.