One day as I spent time studying the eight chapter of the gospel of John, the Lord Jesus opened my spiritual eyes of understanding to behold His marvelous love and compassion being extended toward a woman caught in the very act of adultery. As she stood in His presence without hope the things began to change. The Lord Jesus reversed the situation in wisdom, by demonstrating the power of compassion to save that woman from the penalty of death. Thus I was prompted to share a few thoughts on the subject, on how “mercy and compassion surpasses Law” I wish to also mention that as Christians we are definitely the most privileged and blessed people on earth today. I have the assurance that you too will be immensely blessed to know who the Lord Jesus is and what His awesome grace would mean to you. Be blessed even as you take time to read.
Reading John 8:1 – 12
This passage of scripture reveals to us that . . . . . . .
God’s, mercy and compassion surpasses law . . . . . . . .
. . . . . According to the Criteria mentioned in the gospel of John 8:1 - 12
MERCY AND COMPASSION SURPASSES LAW
Why did the Lord Jesus ignore the scribes and Pharisees question?
Scribes and Pharisees were a part of the highest Judicial and ecclesiastical council of the ancient Jewish nation which comprised of around 70 to 72 members. The scribes were experts in the Mosaic Law who interpreted and taught it in the temple and synagogues, therefore they were sometimes known as lawyers even in the times of the Lord Jesus. The Pharisees meaning “set apart” were extremely zealous for the oral Law given by God to Moses. They wielded substantial authority and influence in Israel, often demanding undue respect and recognition in every day life in and around the society they lived and where ever they happened to go. From the very inception of His ministry, the Pharisees showed themselves bitter and persistent enemies of the Lord Jesus. They neither accepted His teaching, nor did they ever believe in Him as the Son of God. Instead being misguided in their own thinking giving into every false pretense, they sought for ways and means to hinder His influence and ministry among the people while secretly plotted to kill Him. Envious of the Lord Jesus’ ministry and popularity, they teamed together with one another and other groups of the Sanhedrin with the only purpose of fault finding, persecuting, and following the Lord Jesus every where He went. Notice even on this occasion their desperation to trap the Lord into saying something against their traditions or philosophies, waiting for an opportunity to accuse Him of wrong doing, thus they brought the victim to Him insisting Him for an answer “But what do you say?”(Jn.8:5). The Lord Jesus knowing of their evil intent and wanting to do them a favor rather chose to ignored them, never the less, His silence became a point of contempt, that it lead them do something stupid on their part, thus they kept on pressing Him for an answer.
Many thoughts and ideas would cross our minds and many would even be prompted to say this, 
that and the other in connection with the situation. However it is only a careful observation and scrutiny of the incident with sufficientbackground information that would convince us that the Lord’s behavior justified His actions. The Lord Jesus had obviously returned back to the temple from a very fruitful time of prayer and fellowship with The Father on the Mount of Olives (Mtt.14:23;Mk.6:46; Lk.6:12; 9:28). As the crowds gathered in the morning at the temple, for all we know the Lord could have been instructing the people this morning about the Law itself, teaching them truths about it, in preparation for the Kingdom of God that was to come. The occasion was a Jewish festival, and the Jews are compelled to present themselves before God three times annually (Ex.23:17; 34:23-24; Deut.16:16), thus they were privileged on this occasion to meet with the Lord Jesus, to see Him and to taught by Him, and learn about the Kingdom of God. Adultery is an offense punishable by stoning to death according to Mosaic Law (Lev.20:10), and even though the scribes and Pharisees were thorough in their knowledge of the Law, instead of executing it through the judiciary and religious system that prevailed, enveloped in their craftiness and blindness, they connived together with the other members of the Sanhedrin and opted to passed the Law, to their advantage for unscrupulous purposes hoping that the Lord Jesus would misinterpret or state something contrary to the Law of Moses, so that they could accuse Him of a Law breaker and a heretic.
Why did the Lord Jesus say “he who is without sin let him cast the first stone?
The New Testament addresses a great deal on various issue of sin and its consequence, the Apostle Paul a Scholar and a Pharisee himself (Phi.3:5) in his epistle to the Romans gives deep insights on the subject. He tells us that “For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law” (Ro.5:13) in other words the purpose of the Law was to only educate humans of what sin was and its consequences. He further expounds of two spiritual Laws that are at work, and that it seeks to have dominion over human lives, namely the Law of sin and death, and the Law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Ro.8:2). Therefore even though the Law was holy, good and was in force, it did not qualify by itself, or nor did it posses the power or ability to justify the sinner, rather it was only a means of dealing with sin without grace (Ro.7:13-14). Thus the Lord Jesus in wanting the woman to avail herself of the gift of salvation and to spare the woman from the death penalty, in His wonderful love and compassion exercised His wisdom, to enable her and those present there, to know and understand that God was concerned of saving the sinner while He dealt with the sin. Thus the Lord Jesus addressed the issue of sin in fairness to everyone, in pointing out the truth about the hopeless state of the Law that not even the scribes or even the Pharisees were spared
in the Judgment of sin, neither anyone was immune from sin and none could be immune of sin, because it resides in the human system buffeting us at every turn and twist (Ro.7:17). In the end we find that there was none able to resist the power of conviction nor able to overcome the power of guilt, instead every one was compelled to leave one at a time, leaving the woman alone to herself, at which point she was completely set free from all her accusers and even from all her sins, for the Lord Jesus tells her “neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (Jn.8:11).
Where mercy and compassion surpass the Law
The following verse reveals truth about the Lord Jesus and the purpose of His presence on earth. He said “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me hall not walk in darkness, but have the light of Life” in this context “light” represents righteousness, so as light radiates its glory and its power clearly evident, so did the Lord Jesus manifest the glory of God and demonstrated His spiritual power through His lifestyle of righteousness. The only means to comprehend this truth is that we take walk through the doors of the Law, for the Law was implemented to prevent man from falling into greater danger than he had already fallen into. For the Law is truly a marvelous revelation of God Himself, His many attributes and it was also the means by which the Lord Jesus Christ was revealed to man. Thus God so loved the world that He sent the Lord Jesus His only begotten Son, that through faith in Him that none should perish nor be condemned to eternal destruction (Jn.3:16). The Hebrew word ‘racham’ (rakh’-am) is translated in English first as bowels: The belly or womb and secondly compassion: As the belly being the seat of compassion (The Word AHLB) and the Bible tells us that “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed. Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning” (Lam.3:22-23). Thus mercy and compassion of the Lord Jesus continues to flow toward man even unto this very day as a never drying fountain of a river. Amen!
In Jesus Christ you have answers to all your lives questions, as even this woman caught in the very act of adultery and was destined to die with no hope of survival, yet Jesus Christ was present to save that woman not only from the death penalty and her accuses, but she also received the wonderful gift of God’s salvation. You too can have that marvelous gift of God’s salvation and the mighty grace mercy and compassion of the Lord today if you will only accept it. Just repeat this prayer to the Lord Jesus and experience the difference in your life. say
Dear Lord Jesus I believe that you died to save me from going into a lost eternity, please forgive all my sins and wash my heart spirit and soul with your precious blood, and cleanse me. Now come into my heart and be the Lord of my life. Thank you Lord Jesus. Amen
The Lord Bless you richly
No comments:
Post a Comment