Dust

Do you remember the story about the woman caught in adultery? She was brought before Jesus by the scribes and the Pharisees, and they asked him this question:

"³The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” - John 8:3-5

Jesus then does something very interesting. He kneels down and starts writing in the dirt with his finger. 

"But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger." - John 8:6

What was Jesus writing? The Bible doesn't really tell us here. But, if we search through the scriptures, we can get an idea. Check this out....

"Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water." - Jeremiah 17:13

Could it be that Jesus, by writing on the ground, was fulfilling the prophecy given to Jeremiah 600 years earlier? I think it was! And what was Jesus writing? Jeremiah tells us! "Those who turn away from you," it says. "Those" are the Pharisees and the scribes. And the "you" is Jesus.

The Bible is amazing. It never lies and always speaks the truth. And then there's this from John's Gospel:

“⁷Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there." - John 8:7-9

The Pharisees HAD to know what writing in the dust meant. And they left.

If indeed Jesus was writing down "those who turn away from you" in the dust, could it be that Jesus was writing down the names of those present? Those Pharisees who had turned away from him, in order, by the date of their birth? Wow!

And they all indeed did turn away from him, one by one, until all of them were gone. Amazing!

"For dust you are and to dust you will return." - Genesis 3:19

We are ALL dust . . . without our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our names are written in the Book of Life! Not in the dust.