Dear Friends,
Chapter 8 of John’s Gospel continues with the eighth day following the Feast of Tabernacles, which is considered a separate holiday. (See last week’s notes.)
Give us understanding Father, as we read your precious word; incomprehensible in its infinite wisdom, unlimited in its unspeakable splendor, beyond priceless in its eternal benefits. May we discern its directives and practice its precepts according to the new covenant of grace. Through the leading of your Holy Spirit, may we discover the deep things of God prepared for those who love You. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
John 8:1-11
1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
At the base of the eastern slope was the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus often resorted when He was in Jerusalem.
2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
Jesus gets an early start on Shemini Atzeret, the day following the Feast of Tabernacles. (Lev 23:36) He is going to need it because the next two chapters all take place on this day. John 10 will then skip ahead to the feast of dedication, ie Hanukkah. Chapter 11 then fast forwards to the time of Passover, when Jesus will be betrayed to be crucified.
3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
These scribes and Pharisees are shameless. First of all, they probably entrapped the woman, or else they would have brought the man as well (Deut 22:22). Second of all, they do not stand off to the side and discreetly ask Jesus for his wise counsel. They disrupt his teaching and place the woman right in the midst causing a scene.
4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
Third of all, if it was not a setup, what kind of busybodies must they have been to have caught her in the very act? It reminds me of the lady who called the police because her neighbor was exposing himself. When the police said they did not see anything, she said, “Try climbing up on this ladder.”
5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
The scribes and Pharisees no doubt thought this was checkmate. Little did they know that the same law that condemned the woman condemned them as well.
6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
In Daniel 5:5, the finger of God wrote a prophetic message on a plaster wall. Exodus 8:19 says the wonders of the Exodus were performed with the finger of God. In Luke 11:20, Jesus said He cast out devils with the finger of God. Deuteronomy 9:10 says the finger of God inscribed the Ten Commandments on two stone tablets. I believe it was these same ten commandments that Jesus wrote on the ground with his finger.
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
Verse 2 says Jesus was teaching the people in the temple. Later in verse 20, He is still in the temple. Therefore, the ground that Jesus wrote on with his finger was the stone floor of the temple. Did He use finger paint? Was there dust on the floor? Not likely, I’m sure they kept the temple complex swept clean. Or, did He engrave the stone itself with his finger, just as He did in Deuteronomy 9:10? If He did, that ought to have been enough to stop them in their tracks, but when someone is determined to rebel against God, even supernatural events will not stop them. Supernatural events did not stop Pharaoh in the Exodus. Despite the ten wonders that ultimately took his firstborn son, he relentlessly pursued the Jews with his army. Neither did the supernatural stop Balaam when his ass spoke and tried to reason with him; instead of asking why or how she was talking, Balaam tried to argue with her. (Num 22:29)
The prophet Jeremiah wrote, O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters (Jer 17:13).
I believe the second time Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground He was writing the names of the woman’s accusers next to specific commandments that they were guilty of breaking. According to the law, the witness to the crime was to cast the first stone (Deut 17:7), but Jesus said let he that is without sin cast the first stone.
9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out [of the temple] one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Like the Pool of Siloam, which was fed by a natural spring, the Holy Spirit is a well of water springing up into everlasting life. [H]is mercy endureth forever … the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee [Jesus was ‘without sin’. He could have therefore been the one to cast the first stone]: go, and sin no more. [Jesus did not teach antinomianism.]
John 8:1-11
Even today, women in Muslim countries are stoned to death for adultery, but Jesus came not into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. John 8:1-11 is beyond any shadow of a doubt one of the most beautiful stories ever told. Yet, the Gnostics of old excised this heroic act of deliverance from their corpora, ie those texts which are held to be the ‘most accurate’ by the scribes and Pharisees of our day. If you have a modern version, you will probably find this story either in brackets or accompanied by a footnote calling its authenticity into question. They thus attempt to take away the word that was sown in [our] hearts (Mark 4:15), the washing of water by the word (Eph 5:26), telling us this story is not in the ‘best manuscripts’.
…..For my people have committed two evils; [1] they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and [2] hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Jeremiah 2:13
Likewise, modern-day Sadducees deny that the living water is still available to us in the way it was in the first century via the gifts of the Holy Spirit. (The gift of tongues is oftentimes feigned because of misguided pressure to demonstrate it as ‘proof’ of the Holy Spirit, but Nevertheless, I have been witness to genuine manifestations of this gift and others.) The antidote to the iniquity that abounds, causing the love of many to wax cold, is the living water; the Spirit of God and the word of God working together in the hearts of believers.
Have you been shamed by Pharisees who have attempted to condemn you? Jesus does not condemn you. The glorious good news of the gospel is that we have been set free and we do not have to sin anymore. When Jesus said go, and sin no more, I believe He said it with a smile. The woman calls Jesus Lord, indicating she is now a believer. Once you taste the living water, you are no longer a slave to sin. Satan’s accusations against you are powerless. Although we still stumble at times, forgiveness is only a prayer of faith away (1 John 1:9). Jesus said Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Although sin lieth at the door, he has been disarmed. His whip and his shackles have been taken from him. Jesus has the keys of hell and of death. If you continue in the word, you are set free and [i]f the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
In closing, the woman in our story, much like the woman at the well in John 4, found a friend in Jesus at a time when women did not have many friends. I am reminded of the victims of Olympic doctor Larry Nassar, who used his position to sexually assault 150 young women, one of whom took her own life. The victims were given the opportunity to confront Nassar in court. One young lady who seemed to have coped amazingly well, Rachael Denhollander, had this to say to Nassar as part of her statement:
“Should you ever reach the point of truly facing what you have done, the guilt will be crushing. And that is, what makes the gospel of Christ so sweet. Because it extends grace and hope and mercy where none should be found. And it will be there for you. I pray you experience the soul-crushing weight of guilt so you may someday experience true repentance and true forgiveness from God, which you need far more than forgiveness from me — though I extend that to you as well.”
It really is true, to forgive is to set a prisoner free, and then find out the prisoner is you. Rachael Denhollander concluded her remarks by rightly asking the judge to impose the maximum sentence on Nassar. It was undoubtedly her faith in Jesus Christ that gave Rachael Denhollander her confidence, her poise, and victory over her horrible and potentially fatal experience. Whatever trials and tribulations you may face, remember Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Father, thank You for the armory that we have available to us through the living water your Son has given us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Prophecy Update: As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day this Sunday, the nation is being hit with biblical plagues and it is clear that the democratic republic outlined by the founding fathers in the US Constitution is no longer functioning. Not only was the people’s choice stolen from them in the 2020 election, but his term in office was crippled by special counsel Robert Mueller. The central witness Mueller’s kafkaesque investigation into Russian collusion within the Trump Administration was recently sentenced to ten years in prison after pleading guilty to sex crimes involving minors. Yet, the witch hunt continues as the state of New York is going after the Trump real estate empire with fresh charges.
On the world scene, events continue to prove that we are repeating Romans 1:21-32, which documents the decline of Rome, ie the downward spiral of debauchery that led to the end of the Republic. But even Rome paled in comparison to the depravity of the new world order. Their depopulation agenda was laid bare by a recent study indicating that the COVID vaccines terminate 82% of pregnancies in pregnant vaccine recipients. All of this is psychological conditioning leading to the mark of the beast. In his book, Shaping the Future of The Fourth Industrial Revolution, new world order kingpin Klaus Schwab admitted that an implantable microchip is the endgame of the Great Reset.
