John 8
Jesus was in the temple teaching, as usual, and then came the Pharisees with a woman who was taken in adultery (where was the man? Also, how is it they just “happen” to be there to catch her?). i have read that they brought her to the 1st porch which is at the 6th step, which is the number of man, in order to try her case, but i don’t know if that’s true. But, trying to snare Jesus, they asked Him what He thought. He told them that anyone with no sin should cast the first stones, and from the oldest to the youngest they left.
By law, they were right. By law, they could indeed stone her. By law, they brought her to the temple for judgment and the carrying out of the sentence. The Hebrew word for judgment means “to level the hand at, as in aiming the finger”.
The Lord says to me: “There should be no enemies within the Body. None.”
If our hands are filled with stones to throw, then we can’t have our hands full of what God has for us. As long as we’ve got a throwing stone in our hand, that stone is taking up space where God’s provision should be. Many times, by law, i am right to be angry with someone or i rightly should suspect them of something tricky. By law i am not wrong to aim my finger at that person and “tell it like it is”. By law. My right. Demanding what is fair, by law. Mercy for me, justice for you! But in the Body of Christ, there are NO enemies. None.
Did they keep a special box of stones at the temple in order to mete out justice? A fair sized box on the left and right side of the porch labeled ‘Throwing Stones”?!? A box of stones that someone went out and handpicked … just the right circumference and feel. Hmmmm, how handy. A box labeled “Throwing Stones” that just “happen” to be handy for those that felt an offense toward those “law breakers”. The enemy is sure to help us to know right where the best stones to throw are kept. Let me encourage us all…drop your stones! If your hands have stones to throw in them, you are actively denying yourself the provision you’ve been praying about. Want to know what it is that restrains you? God will be glad to talk to you about that, but one of the first things He’ll ask of you is to…drop the throwing stones. Even if you are right, DROP THE STONES!
That chip on your shoulder is contagious, drop the stones!
Quit being offended and drop the stones. If you feel that you’re always defending the way you feel or why you do what you do, you might not only have stones in your hands, but some extra’s in your pockets … just in case. Drop the Stones!
So there should arise in our minds an excellent question: Who made sure you were able to put your hand on that throwing stone? Got a big fat aught with your church family? Ask the question: Who made sure you knew all about it? Who told you that? And who made sure you could lay your hands on the very best throwing stones? Drop the Stones!
Jesus never defended Himself that i can find. i’ve concluded that a main reason Jesus didn’t defend Himself is because He was not Offended. And if anyone in all creation had a reason to be offended, it was Jesus. But yet He was not offended, therefore He did not defend. If there is no offense, i believe there is no reason for a defense. In meeting people that are always busy with a defense, i find them to be the proud owners of throwing stones … they actively hold an offense. Jesus told Peter to put away his weapon … NOT put it away for now as if it was OK to possibly pick it up later when it more suited his purposes, but “put away your offense”. Jesus told Peter to disarm! Drop the stones!
If you’ve ever had a stone thrown at you and been hit, it hurts. Alot, and it’s hard not to retaliate. Put away your offense, drop the stones in your hand, God would like to fill your hands with something else, and as long as your hands are full of Stones to Throw, they can’t hold anything else. Disarm. Drop the Stones!
Let us take God as our defense, and receive the shelter who has been offered to us. i will, i will go hide in Jesus.
Thanks for listening, i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name Ministries.