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What Did Jesus Write In the Sand? LIVE Q&A for March 6, 2025

What Did Jesus Write in the Sand?

John 8:6

This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him: The religious leaders – wretched men as they were – used this woman as a weapon against Jesus. They presented her as a sinner before Jesus, but ignored their own sin in the matter.
Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger: This was a careful and deliberate response from Jesus. Instead of making an immediate verbal response He stooped down. Then He wrote on the ground with His finger, presumably in the dirt on the ground.
Stooped down indicates humility. Jesus didn’t react with anger or immediate outrage. He didn’t scream at the woman or those who brought the woman. Jesus paused and stooped down.
Stooped down is a low posture, identifying with the humiliation of the woman. Jesus did what He could to identify with, care for, and ease the embarrassment of this woman. One may say this story illustrates the great problem: how can God show love and grace to the sinner without being unjust, without breaking His own law? He does it by first identifying with the sinner in their low condition.

iii. Wrote on the ground means that Jesus could write, and that He wrote in the presence of the woman and these men. What Jesus wrote has been an endless source of speculation for teachers, preachers, and commentators.

Some think that Jesus simply doodled in the dirt. The verb translated wrote could also mean, “to draw.” (Morris)
Some think Jesus simply stalled for time.
Some think that Jesus wrote the passage in the law that condemned the adulterous woman.
Some think Jesus wrote out a passage like Exodus 23:1: Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
Some think that Jesus wrote the names of the accusers.
Some think that Jesus wrote the sins of the accusers. “The normal Greek word for to write is graphein; but here the word used is katagrapheini, which can mean to write down a record against someone.” (Barclay)
Some think that Jesus followed Roman judicial practice and wrote out His sentence before He said it.

As though He did not hear: As Jesus stooped down and wrote, He acted as if He did not even hear the accusation against the woman. Perhaps Jesus ignored them because He despised their wicked work. Perhaps Jesus ignored them because He was embarrassed for the woman’s sake.

John 8:7-8: Jesus passes sentence upon the accusers.

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

So when they continued asking Him: Jesus stooped down, wrote on the ground, and acted as if He did not hear the accusers of the woman taken in adultery. The men who brought the woman didn’t stop asking Jesus what should be done with her – they continued asking Him.
He raised Himself up and said to them: Jesus said this directly to the accusers of the woman, standing up to make eye contact with them.
He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first: In Jewish law, witnesses to the capital crime began the stoning. Jesus really said, “We may execute her, but we must do it correctly. One of the witnesses must begin her execution. So, who among you is the one who witnessed this crime, and only brought to Me the woman, not the man? Who designed the humiliation of this poor woman?”
Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground: Jesus seemed to do everything He could to calm the excitement and tension at the scene, probably out of concern for the woman’s dignity and safety. Again, Jesus wrote on the ground.
He didn’t stare down the accusing men in an act of intimidation. Jesus did everything in this situation to make things less tense, not more tense. He did not try to change them through intimidation.
Jesus continued to care about the shame of the woman and did what He could to ease it. Shame may serve a helpful purpose, but God never intended it to be a permanent condition.

John 8:9: The accusers respond by leaving.

Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

Being convicted by their conscience: They were convicted by what they heard from Jesus. Seemingly it wasn’t what Jesus wrote (though that may have had something to do with it). More so, it was what Jesus said that convicted their conscience.
It spoke well of these men that their conscience was not dead or burned over. They still could be convicted by their conscience. They were now more aware of their own sin than the sin of the woman.
Went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last: We understand why they left; they were convicted by their conscience. It’s not immediately clear why they left in order; the oldest even to the last. Perhaps the oldest left first because they most easily understood that Jesus was talking about them.
Some speculate that Jesus wrote on the ground an account of their own sins, beginning from the oldest to the youngest – explaining the order of their departure.

At the end of it all…

By repeating the fact that Jesus wrote on the ground, there is emphasis.
Jesus could write (presuming He wasn’t just doodling).
We don’t know what Jesus wrote on the ground.
If what Jesus wrote was connected to the leaving of the accusers, then it is likely that Jesus wrote something of their sins, especially because the ancient Greek word used here can mean to write down a record against someone.
Most importantly: Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? Revelation 21:27 says that heaven belongs only to those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Revelation 3:5 – Blotting Names from the Book of Life

And I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life: By this, the overcomers were assured of their heavenly citizenship. In the ancient world, death or a criminal conviction could blot out the name of an ancient citizen from the city’s book of the living, which was the city register.
“In ancient times cities kept a register of their citizens; and when a man died, his name was removed from the register. The risen Christ is saying that, if we wish to remain on the roll of the citizens of God, we must keep our faith flamingly alive.” (Barclay)
Blot out his name from the Book of Life: Does this mean that someone can lose their salvation? That someone is saved one day – their name is in the Book of Life – and another day, they have fallen away and their name has been blotted out from the Book of Life? We need to first see the context here in Revelation 3:5. The focus is assurance, so we should not think that names are being constantly erased and then rewritten. The focus here is not the idea that Jesus sits in heaven with a busy eraser. At the same time, we should carefully consider what the Word has to say about the Book of Life.
There is a Book of Life, and it will be opened and referenced on the Day of Judgement. This means that the Book of Life is real, and will be read.

And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. (Revelation 20:12)

There is a Book of Life, and it determines if we go to heaven or hell. This means that the Book of Life is important.

And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)

iii. There is a Book of Life, and knowing our names are written there should bring us great joy.

Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:20)

There is a Book of Life, and there are five different references to people being blotted out of the book. This means that the idea of being blotted out of the Book of Life should be taken seriously. Perhaps it is only a symbol, and that person’s name was never there to begin with. Even if that is the case, the Lord still wants us to take it seriously, because there are some who by every human appearance are saved, yet will not be in heaven.

Moses said to the Lord: Yet now, if You will forgive their sin; but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written. (Exodus 32:32)

And the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.” (Exodus 32:33)

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. (Psalm 69:28)

He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (Revelation 3:5)

And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:19)

A good example of how we should take this warning seriously is the life of a man named Charles Templeton. A generation ago he was deeply involved in the foundations of Youth for Christ and impacted the nation for Jesus. Many people received Jesus at his meetings, and Mr. Templeton was an associate with Billy Graham in the early years. Nevertheless, he renounced his belief in Jesus, renounced even his belief in God, and said he was an atheist. Charles Templeton totally renounced his early confessions of faith and wanted to “rescue” the people he once brought to Jesus. Obviously, this man – in his present, apostate state – is not going to heaven and did not want to. One may long debate if he was ever saved or if he lost his salvation, but at the end of the debate there are two conclusions. First, at one time – by all human appearance – he was saved. Second, he didn’t honor the warnings of the Bible telling us to keep walking, to keep trusting, and to keep persevering in the faith.
In the genealogies of the Bible there are two books mentioned.

The book of the generation of Adam (Genesis 5:1).
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1).

Being born of Adam doesn’t guarantee that our name is written in the Book of Life. Being born again – born of Jesus Christ – gives us that assurance.

Do we need to submit to pastors and elders in the same way we submit to God?

Thank you for that question. I’m going to focus in on the idea of in the same way. I think that is the critical factor. Does the Bible command that the members of a congregation should submit to the leadership of that church? Yes, it does command that. The Bible says that you should recognize those who lead among you, and that you should serve and be a part of that church family in a way that is a blessing and not a grievance to them. These are entirely good and proper principles to respect the leadership and to submit to them in a congregation. However, on a horizontal level, the Bible never commands absolute submission.

The Bible says that there’s an order of authority, submission, and headship in the home: the husband is the head of the home, the parents are the head of the children, the children submit to the parents, and the wife should submit to the husband. The Bible says there’s an order of authority in the community in which the citizens should submit to the government. This also applies to the concept of employment; we learn from the master-slave relationship in the New Testament that employees should submit to their employer. And within a church, congregants should submit to church leadership.

But in every one of those horizontal relationships from person to person, God never commands absolute submission. Now, absolute submission is commanded within our relationship to the Lord, but in our relationship on a horizontal level, we obey God first. If an authority figure above me asks me to do something that is prohibited by God’s word, which in a legitimate sense violates my conscience before God, then I’m not to obey them, and they’re wrong for asking it or demanding it.

God never commands absolute submission on a human level. On a divine level, He does, but not on a human level. That principle of submission extends out to every arena of submission to which God calls us as His people in this world. So, yes, we submit to pastors and elders, but not completely or in the same way that we submit to God.

How will heaven pass away? (Matthew 24:35)

Matthew 24:35 – “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

There are at least two senses in which Heaven will pass away. First of all, in an ultimate sense, the Bible does speak in the book of Revelation about heaven and earth passing away, and God bringing in a new heaven and a new earth. I will say there is a little bit of debate among Bible scholars as to whether that will mean a brand-new earth and heavens, or a renewal of this one.

But here’s what you need to understand. This isn’t talking about the heaven where God dwells. The Bible languages of Hebrew and Greek are the same in that they use the same word for heaven (the place where God dwells) and they do for the sky and even the atmosphere. It’s that way in other languages too.

In the English language, we generally reserve the word heaven for the place where God dwells. But that’s not the sense in which Jesus meant it. He meant the atmosphere of the sky. You could say that in the biblical conception, following the way that they would use those words in those languages, there were three heavens: the blue heaven, or the sky, is the first heaven; the night sky, or the starry sky, is the second heaven; and the third heaven is the heaven where God dwells. Jesus wasn’t saying that the place where God dwells is going to pass away. He’s saying that the universe as we know it will pass away.

By the way, that’s an amazing statement by Jesus. May I read that again? Here we go, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” Notice how strongly He says it. He just doesn’t say that they won’t pass away, but by no means will they pass away. Do you realize what an astounding claim to deity. Jesus Himself is claiming that He has the words of God, because it’s the word of God that stands forever. The prophet Isaiah would never say, “My words will never pass away.” No, he would say, “The words of God will never pass away.” David the Psalmist never said, “My words will never pass away.” Moses never said, “My words will never pass away.” But Jesus made it so personal because He is God, and it’s God’s words that will never pass away. Jesus said something that no individual in the Scripture said of himself other than God Himself, that His words would never pass away.

What is meaning of backsliding? Am I also a backslider if my prayer life, holiness, and zeal for the Lord have diminished during my depression?

Backsliding is a relative term. You don’t hear it very often in the Christian world today, but I appreciate the word. There are some passages in Jeremiah which specifically use the term in the New King James Bible. God speaks to the backslider and tells them to return.

I really can’t say whether or not you’re a backslider. But here’s the thing. If a person has declined, if they once enjoyed a greater obedience and greater honoring of the Lord, but they have stepped back from that, it could be different for their life. They can put their trust in the Lord right here and right now. They can renew their faith. The biggest danger of backsliding for most people is when they’re unaware of it, and they don’t recognize they’re in that condition. It’s good that you’re sensitive to it, but just ask God to search you, to test you, and to lead you forward in your Christian life, to keep making progress.