Jesus’ Crucifixion, Burial, and Resurrection — The Historical Setting

Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection–the annual pilgrimage

As we make our annual spiritual pilgrimage to Jerusalem, in remembrance of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, it is a time to renew our love and admiration for Him who loved us so much, He gave all He had!  But how can we renew our love and admiration for Him in a unique way, this time around?

During this resurrection season–an unequaled reflection of spring’s renewal we find in an empty tomb–let’s visit those historic places where our Faith was born.  And let us not forget. . .  It’s not just a cross that defines our Christian Faith, but a cross and a tomb from which our Lord Jesus Christ emerged at the crack of day on Sunday morning.  As Paul wrote. . .  “If Christ is not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins” (I Cor. 15:17).  Without the resurrection, the cross would have no power.  The Shroud of Turin is a witness to this.  With no resurrection, there would be no image on the Shroud, only a blood-soaked burial cloth.  The cross and the resurrection go hand in hand; the Gospel takes us full circle from death to resurrection (I Cor. 15:1-8).

So, what is the historical setting of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, to which we can turn our eyes, and thereby, renew our love and admiration for Him?  After all.  Our Faith has a basis in history.  If we had been there, we could have watched it all unfold.

The popular and historical settings for Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection

There are two sites ascribed to Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection in Jerusalem.  We will call one, the popular setting, and the other, the historical setting.

The popular setting of the crucifixion and tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem is (1) a rocky escarpment known as Gordon’s Calvary and (2) The Garden Tomb.  Both lie a bit north of the present wall surrounding the Old City.  The Garden Tomb crawls inside an ancient rock-cut doorway, west of a bus station, where buses roll in and out a stone’s throw from Gordon’s empty eye sockets (“Skull Hill”).

General Charles Gordon, a well-known British leader, “discovered” this “skull” in the rock outcropping in the 1880s while he stood atop the northern wall of the Old City, perhaps to catch a breath of fresh air.  (I stood there, too.)  Consequently, the escarpment, just across the street from where he stood, came to be named after him.  He would often visit Horatio and Anna Spafford who lived there.  It was from their quarters on the northern wall that he first set eyes on the rocky “face.”  It must have been an aha moment for him.

In 1885, he declared: This is the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial (seeing as how The Garden Tomb was next door).  So he got the credit, though a man named Otto Thenius was the first to see “Golgotha” in those rocks in 1842.

But this raises a question.

Why had no one else noticed this skull, and made that connection, for nearly 1800 years?  The answer is simple. . .  The historical location of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection had already been firmly established early in A.D.  So why would that change?  Similarly, who would take anyone seriously who proposed a new location for the Gettysburg battlefield?

Moving on to the historical setting

Still, some believe Gordon’s Calvary and The Garden Tomb mark the actual location of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.

So, we have taken a moment, in our imagination, to stand alongside General Gordon and look for ourselves at the popular setting of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.

But the historical setting is another matter. . .  That will be our next stop on this Jerusalem tour.

1982 in Jerusalem

In 1982, I studied at the Institute of Holy Land Studies in Jerusalem for three weeks.  The Institute is located outside the Zion Gate on the southwest corner of the Old City.  I also read many books about Jerusalem/Israel, and took expansive notes, on my return home.  But while I was in Jerusalem, the instructors at the college where I studied, who lived there, told us Gordon’s Calvary and The Garden Tomb are not historically legitimate sites for these events.

Aesthetic appeal or popularity does not determine historical authenticity.

By the same token, just because someone in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre hands you a small cross and says the wood is from the original cross, does not make the Holy Sepulchre an illegitimate historical site.  Even if Martin Luther thinks so.  I left the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with one of those crosses in my pocket.  (Luther stopped playing his harp straightaway when he found out.)  People can make all sorts of claims about things they hand you in the Old City of Jerusalem.  So you have to look deeper than that if you want to find real history.

The instructors at the Institute of Holy Land Studies taught us that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the Christian Quarter of the Old City, marks the actual, historical site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.  And many serious archeological and historical books I read since then, also give solid evidence for its authenticity.

I believe the Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands on the historical site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.  I admit.  Its aesthetic appeal is limited.  But the historical evidence leads to that location.

I thank Jesus for what He did for me in that place two thousand years ago.

Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection videos

Now we will take a look at the historical evidence for the authenticity of this site in the videos that follow.

We will begin with Jesus’ crucifixion.

 

Next, we will look at the evidence relating to His tomb and resurrection.

 

Now I want to go a step further and take a look at the historical site of the Upper Room.  In this way, we can sort of complete the story.  This brings back fond memories for me.  What a blessing, that God has allowed me to be in these places where Jesus died and rose again, and the early church began.  These are the historic sites where our Faith was born.

I had no idea, when I went to Jerusalem, that the Institute of Holy Land Studies on Mount Zion (the Western Hill) is next door to the site of the Upper Room!  But Jesus knew.  (Horatio Spafford is also buried there.)

We arrived in Jerusalem on New Year’s Eve, 1981.  A small group of us from America, who would be studying there, visited the Upper Room site soon after our bus drove past the brightly lit Old City wall to Mount Zion, near Dormition Abbey.

 

In conclusion, I want to explore with you, the evidence of Jesus’ sufferings and resurrection found in the Shroud of Turin.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the wonderful, unfathomable things you have done for us!  Your love is beyond comprehension.  The sufferings you endured for us are more than we can imagine!  Who can grasp how great your grace is, and the great victory you won through death and resurrection life?  Thank you for loving us so much!  Thank you for loving me.  In my heart, I fall before you and worship you, Lord Jesus.  I love you.

 

© James Unruh 2025 and beyond