On the Mount of Olives; back at daybreak
To teach a crowd of Jews at dawn’s early light;
They were there so soon for the gospel’s sake!
Half nude, a scared woman was made to stand
Before them by teachers and Pharisees;
“Caught in the act,” they said; “You be the man
To judge her; stoning is the Law for she!”
“Let him who has no sin throw the first stone,”
He said, stooping, His finger etching the sand;
One by one, they left, until all were gone;
“Does no one charge you?” “I alone do stand!”
He knew all their hearts, and sins from their past;
Did He write those, that they could not stand fast?
Scripture Quoted John 8:1-11 (NIV)
“At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at z time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her. ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared. ‘ Go now and leave your life of sin.’ “
Commentary on John 8:1-11 (NIV)
The teachers and Pharisees wanted to destroy Jesus’ credibility with the common people. Either way He answered their question, they would have a basis for discrediting Him. If He said, “Stone her,” He would be in compliance with the Law, but it would have countered His teachings of the gospel. If He let her live, He could be accused of violating the Law. Many times the Pharisees tested Him with such questions, and He always outsmarted them. It is possible that they had deliberately trapped the woman with a plot, which would have been sinful on their part. Since Jesus was God, He knew what was in each one’s heart and past actions, so it is possible He began writing each individual’s sins in the sand. The pride of the accusers would not allow them to let their past indiscretions be known, so they walked away, rather than taking such a chance. In the next few verses (not quoted above), we are told that all of them left. Jesus told the woman to go and sin no more. I am sure the early morning crowd had more belief in Jesus than before, and the plot of the Pharisees failed.
On the final Day of Judgment, it is Jesus Christ who will be the judge on the great white throne. Every thought each person ever had and every action will be known to Him. He will know what is in every person’s heart, and how sincere or insincere each one is. Christians have sinned in their pasts, in their presents, and in their futures, perhaps more than unbelievers, hopefully less; the only difference is they have repented of their sins and been forgiven, due to Jesus’ dying in atonement for the sins of all. People who are condemned on Judgment Day have not repented of sin nor have they been forgiven. Those teachers and Pharisees who shamed the woman needlessly before Jesus and the crowd will be condemned, unless they repent and ask forgiveness before their physical deaths.
“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
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