“My Moment in the Garden Tomb,” Ensign, March 2018
My Moment in the Garden Tomb
The author lives in Utah, USA.
A visit to this sacred site gave me a new appreciation for the Lord’s promises.
Photograph of Garden Tomb (movie set re-creation) by Matt Reier
My husband called me from work and told me he had been given a new assignment that would take him to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for a week. He asked if I would like to join him. I quickly replied, “Yes!” since Jerusalem was a place I had always wanted to see.
I was especially excited to visit a place considered by many to be the site of the Garden Tomb, where the Savior’s body was placed before He was resurrected. I had heard from a friend that there was a special spirit there.
While my husband was at work, I went to see the Garden Tomb by myself. It was very green, beautiful, and peaceful. Several church groups from around the world were also visiting that day, and two of the congregations were holding religious services at different locations in the garden. I could hear them both reverently singing hymns of praise.
As I stood in line to enter the tomb, I observed a church group just ahead of me that consisted mostly of elderly members. Two men stood on each side of the tomb entrance to assist the others as they entered. As the last of them completed their visit inside the tomb, one of the men turned to me and said, “It’s all yours.”
I then stepped over the stone threshold and went inside. It was so moving to be there—to see the tomb, feel the peace, and reflect on the Savior’s Resurrection.
Later, as my husband and I visited other sites related to Christ’s ministry, the words of the man at the tomb stayed with me and began to take on new meaning. I realized that “It’s all yours” no longer meant only that it was now my turn to go inside the tomb but also that, thanks to Christ’s Atonement, I could someday receive “all that [the] Father hath” (D&C 84:38). The blessings of the gospel—baptism and membership in the Savior’s Church, covenant promises, priesthood power, eternal families, revelation, the gift of the Holy Ghost, healing through Christ’s Atonement, eternal life, and more—can all be ours if we are true and faithful to the covenants we have made.
One place that the Savior teaches this doctrine is in the context of the oath and covenant of the priesthood, the blessings of which “flow … to worthy men, women, and children in all the world”1:
“He that receiveth my servants receiveth me;
“And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father;
“And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him” (D&C 84:36–38; see also D&C 76:50–70; 78:18–22).
These words—“It’s all yours”—continue to remind me of the love our Heavenly Father has for each of us. They foster in me a feeling of deep gratitude and awe at the magnificence of His divine plan. It’s overwhelming to comprehend all that He has done and is doing to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children. I know that it can be all ours if we remain true and faithful to our covenants.