In our last post from the book of John, the pharisees brought Christ a woman caught in adultery and told him the law of Moses ordered her to be stoned and demanded what He would say about it. Now Christ is going to shift His focus from the adulterous woman to the pharisees. That is to say those that have sinned (Israel) and those that believe they are righteous (Kenites).
John 8:12 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. (13) The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.
Christ forgave the woman because even thought she was in darkness, she went to the Light of the World when she saw Him. Her accusers on the other hand fled from the light. John 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
John 8:14 Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.
Again darkness does not understand the light.
John 8:15 Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.
What does judging after the flesh really mean? It means that while we are in the flesh we cannot see or understand everything. We cannot see that the adulterous woman regretted her actions. Not truly. It is incredibly hard to understand if a person truly regrets their actions or only feel guilty because they got caught.
John 8:16 And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.
Oft times we can get unction from the Holy Spirit and He will tell us if something is true or not, but Christ and the Father are one, thus, if Christ judges we know it comes from the Father and it is good.
John 8:17 It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. (18) I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.
I like how Jesus says, “YOUR LAW,” to tell them that my their own set of standards He is true. Remember they had just brought Him the adulterous woman and went on spouting law at Him. Watch how quickly they forget.
John 8:19 Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. (20) These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.
We will get into them not knowing His Father in the next post. Today I want to focus on an often overlooked fact before we close and that is WHERE Christ said these things, the treasury. I know I’ve said this many times, but I will say it again, where Christ said something is just as important as what He said.
The treasury is where the captured riches from other lands were stored along with the tithes. The tithes were supposed to go to the maintenance and running of the temple and to help care for the priests. It was supposed to be that these gifts were freely given to God, and from that, the Word of the Lord was to come from the temple. These pharisees were not using the tithes to spread the light of God; they were using it for their own selfish desires. Soon they would use that money to slay the Word of God by paying Judas with it.
