Originally published in God Reports
Visiting the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem was one of the highlights of our trip to Israel in November 2022, about a year before the October 7 war began.
Connecting recently with the head guide, Cesar Fleitas, has given me even greater appreciation for this treasured place owned and managed by a British foundation. While scholars debate the location of the tomb, I was persuaded by their position that the rocky sepulchre adjacent to Skull Rock is the actual spot.
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Whether it is this precise location, or another nearby, this is where the greatest miracle in human history took place – the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Cesar, originally from Paraguay, says miracles are still happening here, as God continues to move in unexpected ways, often surprising skeptics and the faithful alike. He recounted a few of the modern miracles to God Reports, saying he could talk for hours about all the remarkable incidents that have taken place there.
Eyesight restored
“This gentleman from Romania was myopic; he couldn’t see very well. He wore very thick glasses,” Cesar told God Reports.
It had been a quiet summer afternoon, and Cesar was standing by the tomb, helping people as they crouched to enter and exit the opening in the rock. “There was a line of people standing in front, and then this gentleman went inside, and then all of a sudden, I hear him screaming inside the tomb.”
Cesar was alarmed, thinking he might have been injured. “I went inside the tomb to see what was happening. I saw this man speaking to me in Romanian, and I had no idea what he was saying.”
The man excitedly waved his glasses in the air. “I can see! I can see! I don’t need these anymore!” the man exclaimed, as he raised his hands to the heavens and praised God.
It seems that when the man went inside the tomb, he noticed a painting that was left by the Byzantine Christians in the fifth century. He was attempting to study the painting up close, but he couldn’t see very well.
“When he removed his glasses, he regained his sight just like that on the spot!”
Remarkably, two other people in the same group from Romania reported they had been healed of afflictions inside the tomb.
The mocking film crew
In 2013 a man visited from the US who was making a documentary about how he came to know Christ. “He wanted to use his pilgrimage here in Israel to tell the story of his conversion,” Cesar noted.
He hired a “very secular” film crew in Tel Aviv. As they walked around the grounds of the property and the man told his story, Cesar was unsettled by what he heard from the film crew. “I could hear in the background the film crew talking to each other in Hebrew making fun of this man, and it was very offensive, but I didn’t want to say anything to this gentleman who was sharing, because I didn’t want that to become a hindrance to his testimony, because he was doing a very good job presenting his story.”
Cesar remained quiet, but as he heard more laughing and joking, he thought, This has got to stop. This is not right…
They finished their shooting at the entrance to the tomb. When the director said “cut” some the crew – as a joke – said, “Why don’t you go inside the tomb and see what’s in there.”
“Why would I go in there? Don’t you see it’s an empty tomb?” the director replied.
But one of the film crew taunted him. “You’re just afraid; you’re scared to go inside the tomb.”
The director took it as a challenge and stepped inside. He was in there for less than three seconds. Then he quickly jumped out of the tomb. His face had turned ashen white.
He got up close to Cesar and started screaming. “Who is inside the tomb?”
“Sir, the tomb is empty,” Cesar replied.
“No, I saw him. Somebody is in there!”
Cesar went inside the tomb to look, but didn’t see anything. “So I came out of the tomb, and I came over to the to the man, and I said to him, ‘Listen, I didn’t see anybody there.’”
“But I swear I saw somebody there,” the director said heatedly.
The entire film crew were all speechless. “At that point, I said to this man, ‘Sir, what you saw inside the tomb, or who you saw inside the tomb, was meant specifically for you and just for you.’”
The director turned around and stormed out of the garden. He left the crew in front of the tomb, and he went up the stairs, exiting the property, leaving his crew behind. “They were all confused (wondering), What do we do now?
“They all started collecting their equipment and putting it away, and in a very awkward manner, each one of them came to me and said, ‘Well, I guess we’re leaving now.’
They all left with a completely different attitude, no longer joking around, no more mockery. “With sincere hearts, they came and said, ‘Thank you for letting us come today.’”
“To this day, I don’t know who he saw. But it must have been something significant that caused him to react this way. But this is always our prayer at the Garden Tomb, when we get together for devotions in the morning, that people have a special encounter with the Lord Jesus.”
Turning Spanish into Slovak
“A few months ago, I was guiding a small group that came from a Mexico. And I was guiding this group in Spanish. The whole presentation was in Spanish. I was not speaking any other language,” Cesar recounted.
When he finished the second part of his presentation, he gave a brief overview of the gospel message. “I tend to give one at Skull Hill, because that’s the perfect backdrop for the gospel, for the reason of the death of Jesus Christ.
“We talk about the reason why Jesus had to die on the cross and the significance of the resurrection, and then we review the gospel message. And then I invite people to consider these things and to search their heart, to see where they are in their relationship with God.
After Cesar finished, a man approached him who had been standing in the back with his family. “I looked at him and I didn’t understand what he was saying.”
“Do you speak Slovak?” the man asked.
“I don’t speak a Slovak, my apologies. But is there anything that I can help you with?
“I speak English, but I must say I heard you speak Slovak,” the man said.
“When did this happen? Cesar asked.
“When you were giving your explanation of the gospel to the group you were speaking in Slovak. My wife and I, we brought a friend to visit the garden, and we could understand what you were saying. And in our hearts, we knew what you were saying was the truth.”
“Well, if you heard me speak in Slovak, then certainly it was not me, it must have been the Spirit of God, speaking to you in your language.
When this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because they were each one hearing them speak in his own language. (Acts 2:6)
Corporate group finds Jesus
One year a group of top salespeople from Herbalife International visited the Garden Tomb. “They were rewarded with a trip of their choice, and it’s interesting, because these people are not religious, and they could have chosen to go to Europe. They could have chosen to go to a place with beautiful beaches. Instead, they decided to come on a pilgrimage to Israel.”
Initially, a smaller group came to visit the Garden Tomb from Herbalife, not their entire tour group. “At the end of the tour, the tour leader said to me, ‘Oh my goodness, we’ve got more people at the hotel. They need to come and see this place!”
They persuaded the rest of that group that was staying at the hotel to visit. “Half the group has been already to the garden, but they wanted to join the tour again.”
When Cesar finished the tour, he gave them the gospel message, and they all looked at him and said:
“We believe it. So what do we do now? What are we supposed to do?”
Cesar was dumbfounded. “I must admit, I wasn’t expecting that response from that group, because in the beginning, I didn’t think they were very interested.”
He reviewed the Gospel one more time to make sure they understood what they were trusting and believing.
After Cesar prayed with them, he asked for their contact information, so he could help them find churches in their respective countries. “The next step will be for them to be discipled, for them to grow in their understanding of who Jesus is, and get baptized, so that they can make a public display of their faith.”
Boy with hydrocephalus
Another miracle involved a boy named Giancarlo Rodriguez with hydrocephalus, caused by an unusual buildup of fluid in the brain, which had caused him to be paralyzed from the waist down.
When the boy’s family went into the tomb, Giancarlo started crying. The paralysis had ceased and the boy was standing on his own two feet. “That was a miracle, the healing took place at that moment.”
Before the miraculous healing, Giancarlo’s sister had lost her faith, but after seeing God move in such a powerful way, she became convinced God is real, and placed her faith and trust in Him.
More healings
A pastor named Hobson Lara was plagued with chronic, severe headaches since he was 13 years old. Then, in 2010, at age 48, the pastor visited the tomb. As soon as he entered the tomb, he began to weep. After he left the tomb, God touched him, and his headaches stopped and have not returned.
A Japanese woman who knew nothing about Jesus took a tour. After entering the tomb, she began weeping, reporting that she saw a man with a crown of thorns on his head, and had the faith to believe for the first time.
Cesar experienced a miracle himself at the tomb, when a Brazilian pastor asked if he could pray for him after his visit. Cesar had been dealing with chronic liver pain for several years. The pastor anointed him with oil, prayed, and the sharp pain he experienced was completely gone and has not returned.
The war has taken a toll on visitors. “The Garden Tomb had to lay off a quite a few employees during the war. We are operating with a very small team, but we’re still determined to keep the place open, because it’s not just about tourism. It’s about the gospel message going out, not just to the people coming from overseas, but to anyone who would have an ear to hear.”
Cesar is a winsome ambassador for Christ. “For me to be able to proclaim His message to the world is, is the most the most important thing and the most wonderful thing. God is the one doing the reaching. God is the one doing the drawing people to Himself. We’re simply acting as messengers, proclaiming the gospel, and then we leave the results to the Lord.
“We Rejoice greatly when he does mighty things in the garden.”
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