You understand the story. In ancient Israel, the scribes and Pharisees bring a lady “taken in infidelity” to Jesus to be judged. They desire her to be stoned. However Jesus does something strange that has actually left a number of us questioning what it signifies. Let us explore the prophetic evidence for what Jesus wrote on the ground.
He acts as though he has actually not heard, stoops down and writes with his finger on the ground.
Have you ever questioned the prophetic evidence for what Jesus wrote on the ground?
What was Jesus doing when He stooped down, while the scribes and Pharisees had lethal violence on their mind, and with his finger composed on the ground, as though he heard them not?
One possible breakdown of this confusing scene concerns what was taking place right before the significant adulteress story unfolds. Let’s take a couple of minutes and take a look at that pre-story.
To keep it basic and short, we’ll start in John 7:38, prior to the woman gets in the picture:
“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
What feast was this? It was the Feast of Tabernacles– recognized alternatively as Sukkot.
So, why is Jesus declaring on Sukkot that rivers of living water shall flow from Him? Living waters has actually constantly been a remarkable subject. It was used in Jeremiah 2:13:
“For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”
Then there is what will become a very key verse from Jeremiah 17:13:
“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.”
Lastly, store this one away from Zechariah 14:8:
“And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.”
There are a lot more “living waters” passages to check out that assist to show the complete story, eventually about the way Jesus, who is in some cases identified spiritually as “living water,” utilizes them to bring back the world to its grandeur in His Kingdom.
There’s Jesus who, in John 4:13 -14, informs the Samaritan female at the well about the water that will make it possible for men and women never ever to thirst again.
Ultimately, there is Revelation 7:17:
“For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
The essential takeaway for right now for the prophetic evidence for what Jesus wrote on the ground is that Jesus came as the long-awaited Hebrew Messiah. And in John 7:38, He goes to the Temple in Jerusalem and reveals that He is there to satisfy that prophecy– the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Jesus was telling them– the Pharisees, priests– “I’m right here, the one you have actually been waiting for, the ‘living waters.'”.
What was taking place at the Temple during that time? Pharisees had actually set up a water-libation event called “Simchat Beit Hashoavah.” The priests would go down to the pool of Siloam, filling up a golden vessel with the water. Then they would carry it up to the Temple, through the Water Gate, accompanied by the blast of the shofar, pouring the water so that it flowed over the altar. They would then start prayers for rainfall.
That’s when Jesus stated this:
“If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”.
However the Pharisees did not all accept Jesus’ messianic role.
Let’s take a look at what happened next in John 7:40-49:
“Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? So there was a division among the people because of him. And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him. Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.”
That’s when Nicodemus, who would become a follower of Jesus at His death, came, saying “Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?” They scoffed at him, mockingly asking if he, too, was from Galilee. That ended the celebration for the evening.
But some of the priests and Pharisees were still angry with Jesus. They were always angry with Jesus.
Now notice what happens next in John 8:1-2:
“Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 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.”
That’s when the scribes and Pharisees brought the woman allegedly caught in the process of adultery – and Jesus stoops down to write in the earth. Was it a set-up to discredit Jesus? Perhaps. The scripture itself indicates they wanted to test Him.
“And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 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. 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. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 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? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:3-12
What just happened here?
Remember the verse back in Jeremiah 17:13. I believe it deals directly with what happened the night before when Jesus made his proclamation about the “living waters”: “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.”
What would transpire, Jeremiah cautioned, when the “living waters” were abandoned?
Those who did the rejection would be “written in the earth, due to the fact that they have actually abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living waters.”
Maybe that’s what Jesus was doing at the time the woman implicated of adultery was given Him. They were being written up.
By the way, there would have been no death sentence due in this case considering that Leviticus 20:10 would have needed the death for both people to be performed. Yet, where was the man who broke the law “in the very act”? Jesus makes this clear shown below by pointing out the testimony of 2 men.
Although the Pharisees question Jesus’ record, Jesus goes on to describe why his record holds true.
“It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.” John 8:17-18
The Pharisee asks, “Where is thy Father?” And Jesus answers saying, “Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.”
It might be that the woman brought in adultery in the popular Bible story might have had little or absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter of Jesus’ popular writing on the ground – perhaps simply another victim of circumstance. And so, this is our take on the prophetic evidence for what Jesus wrote on the ground.
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