Welcome to the Women’s Weekly Bible Challenge! I’m Lisa Ann Spencer.
Today is part 9 our series When Jesus Speaks
to Women.
Grab your journal and turn in your Bible to John
Chapter 8.
CONTEXT
Jesus was in the Temple during the Feast of
Tabernacles (John 7:2,14), teaching
the people. They were offended by the
Truth that He spoke (John 8:40, 45).
John 7:19
Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye
about to kill me?
Q: Why did the Jews want to kill Jesus this time?
A: During
the previous Feast Day, Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath (John 5:8-9). Because of this the Jews sought to slay Jesus
(John 5:16).
The Jews at the Temple were divided in their
opinion of Jesus because they were ignorant of Scripture (John 7:40-43).
JESUS
SPEAKS TO THE WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTERY
In order to tempt Jesus (by causing Him to break
Roman law, John 18:31), the scribes
and Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus, which they accused of being caught in
the act of adultery.
Problem #1
It takes two to commit adultery, so where is the
man with whom she committed adultery? This
helps us understand that these men were false
witnesses, breaking the Law of Moses (Exodus
20:16). Perhaps the other adulterer
was standing among the men in the Temple, if there was such a man.
Problem #2
The law did indeed command the death penalty for
adultery, but it was for both the man and the woman (Leviticus 20:10).
Problem #3
According to Deuteronomy17:7, the witnesses which accused the woman of the death penalty crime were
required to be the first ones to cast the stones.
Of course the scribes and Pharisees were equally
deserving of the death penalty by bearing false witness. If they had put this woman to death and she
was later found to be innocent, they must be put to death according to the Law
of Moses (Deuteronomy 19:16-19).
What is amazing about this account is that the Pharisees and scribes actually had a conscience (John 8:9) that was alive to God, which prevented them from carrying out their wicked plan!
During the course of this inquisition, Jesus writes on the ground twice. Everyone speculates about what He wrote. Perhaps He wrote the Old Testament Laws referenced above. The word of God is able to convict of sin.
📔NOTE:
Jesus, who is God, is recorded writing with His finger three times:
- Exodus 31:18 and Deuteronomy 9:10
- Possibly Daniel 5:5, 24
- John 8:6
Now Jesus and the accused woman are left alone.
JESUS SPEAKS TO THE WOMAN ACCUSED OF ADULTERY
John
8:10 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: go, and sin no more.
Q: Was she guilty of adultery?
We never find out,
and it does not appear to be relevant to the account. We know she is a sinner because everyone
is a sinner, and Jesus told her to ‘sin no more’. To a Jew, to sin no more means to turn back to the Law of Moses and keep it.
The moral of this passage of scripture is NOT
about Jesus forgiving adultery. Jesus
kept the Law perfectly, taught His followers to keep the Law perfectly, and He
taught them to JUDGE WITH RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT (John 7:24 ). That is the
moral of this passage. Just as Jesus had forgiven King David of adultery in the
Old Testament, God showed mercy to this woman.
However, that does not mean that a Day of Judgment will not come.
As with
other women in our study, this woman also represents Israel. Just as these men
stood before Jesus accusing this woman, Satan stands before God accusing Israel
(Revelation 12:10). Satan set traps to cause Israel to sin
against God, so that he could manipulate God to judge them before the set
time. As Jesus in this account, God
cannot be forced to judge before the time, and Satan always ends up falling
into his own trap.
JOHN CHAPTER 11
JESUS SPEAKS TO MARTHA ABOUT THE RESURRECTION
I am sure you are all familiar with this account
of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus had two sisters, with whom you
are no doubt familiar: Martha and Mary. John
11:5 tells us that Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. Jesus
heard that Lazarus was sick, so He traveled to Bethany, the city where they lived.
As He traveled, Lazarus died. Many Jews
had come to Bethany to comfort the family.
Martha heard that Jesus was coming and she went out to meet him.
Click her to read John 11:21-22
Martha seems to have faith that Jesus
will be able to do something.
JESUS SPEAKS TO MARTHA
John
11:23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
Showing her knowledge of the Old Testament and
also indicating some doubt of His meaning, she answers.
John
11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And
whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Let’s consider the meaning of these versus:
FIRST, Verse 25
Lazarus is an example of someone who had believed
on Jesus and is now dead, who Jesus will raise from the dead so he shall live
again.
Many of the Jews present at Martha's house are spiritually
dead. They are alive physically, but if
they would believe on Jesus, they could have eternal life.
SECOND, Verse 26
The resurrection that Martha spoke of ‘at the
last day’, included both the saved and lost.
Jesus spoke of this in John chapter 5.
John
5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in
the graves shall hear his voice, 29 And shall come forth; they that have done
good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation.
In verse 26, the ‘whosoever liveth’ are those who
will be resurrected at the last day, and of those who are resurrected ‘and
believeth’ shall never die again.
Martha answers, Yes. She confesses that she
believes Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
She does not however believe that Jesus will raise Lazarus from the
dead, as we can discern from her behavior at the grave.
📔NOTE: By comparing Acts 4:26 with Psalm 2:2, we
can understand the ‘the Christ’ means ‘the anointed’. And by comparing Psalm 2:7; Acts 13:33;
Hebrews 1:5 and 5:5, you can understand that ‘the Christ’ is the Son of God.
JESUS RAISES LAZARUS
Click here to read John 11:38-40
Jesus’s last word to Martha:
John
11:40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest
believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
This lets us know that Martha did NOT understand
Jesus’s meaning about the resurrection.
This also teaches us that that Jesus’s power to raise the dead gives glory
to God the father.
Lazarus is now walking around in a resurrected
body. After Jesus’s death, burial and
resurrection, He sent the Holy Spirit on His disciples, and the prophesied
Kingdom was offered to the nation of Israel once again. Had Israel repented and accepted Jesus as
their Messiah and King, Jesus would have returned and established the Kingdom,
just as Peter preached in Acts 3:19.
In that case, Lazarus would have entered the
kingdom in this resurrected body. This
is probably why in John 21:20-23, Peter asks
‘what shall this man do’; Not every passage that refers to 'the disciple whom Jesus loved’ is speaking of John. Lazarus is particularly mentioned in John 19:26, 20:2, 21:7 and 21:20.
I had hoped to finish up this week, but we will certainly finish this series in our next lesson. I hope you will join me for the final look at the last two occurrences in the book of John in our series, When Jesus Speaks to Women.
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