FACING JESUS

KEY VERSES:

⁵⁵ Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, “I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.” ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. ⁵⁷ Then said the Jews unto him, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸ Jesus said unto them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:55-58)

  Jesus said in the Greek, “Ego Eimi,” or in English “I AM”.  In Hebrew that would be “Hayah,” and all those translations means that Jesus is the “Existence” from which grace comes;  “Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which Is, and which Was, and which Is To Come” (Rev 1:4) or “I Am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, saith the Lord, which Is, and which Was, and which Is To Come, the Almighty” (Rev 1:8). The Lord Is “Almighty God.” Jesus is “Lord.” Jesus is “Almighty God,” and when it is written “I Am,” Jesus lays claim to Being Almighty God, and He was crucified for that.
  The keepers of the Law brought a woman to Jesus to test him. By Law, she deserved stoning. By grace, the sinful woman was freed from her sin, and was told to not sin any more. No one condemned her although she had fornicated, and hence Jesus did not condemn her, but saved her mortal life, and gave her the incentive to sin no more. With that said, by grace, Jesus gave her the option of eternal life. She took it by not turning away from Jesus.
  No longer would she physically die but had the opportunity to live forever. Jesus bestowed “something” in her conscience that she would be willing to sin no more.
  Jesus also touched the conscience of those who condemned her, but they felt guilty and left. They too had sinned, and although they knew they were guilty, since their real “god” was not the True God, they would continue in sin. The accusers seemed to deserve grace because their conscious bothered them, albeit they did nothing to resolve their guilt. They were ashamed but turned their backs on Jesus. On the other hand, the sinful woman faced Jesus alone, just as we all will on judgment day, and by grace, although she did nothing but willingly face Jesus, Jesus forgave her sin, and then provided the opportunity to sin no more.
  What was the “something” that saved her? Since the accusers did not understand Abraham, perhaps she did. Perhaps she saw Abraham and Isaac as Father and Son, and perhaps she understood the true significance of Abraham whereas the accusers did not. They saw Abraham merely as one party to the Covenant with God, and the Law of Moses as the parts of the Covenant. I believe that the adulterous woman understood the Abrahamic Covenant better than her “jury” of peers.
  The key verses have meant much to me since the day I saw the light. I have written about it several times before, but one day, I understood the truth; “verily, verily” as Jesus said it. While riding alone in my car, listening to nothing more than my own thoughts, I came to understand the meaning of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only remaining son (since Ishmael had been emancipated.). Abraham needed not to obey God’s command. The test was complete, and Abraham passed it when he was willing to make the sacrifice. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, and Isaac was willing to be sacrificed, but by grace God stepped in and provided a ram in Isaac’s stead.
  It seems that the woman’s accusers didn’t understand that, but the woman, just as I was, was alone with Jesus and came to know that. She said nothing and did nothing for the grace that Jesus bestowed upon her. She understood that this young “Man” had seen Abraham! When had He?
  When Jesus made the Covenant with Abraham (Gen 17:4-6), when Abraham remembered Jesus with the a pascal-type of bread (Gen 18:5-7), when Jesus provided a son for Abraham in an empty womb (Gen 18:3), when He promised Abraham a great and mighty nation, when Jesus blessed him with the promise of Himself (Gen 18:17-19), and when Jesus said for him and his children to keep the just and fair judgement of the way of the Lord (Gen 18:19). Let’s stop there for a minute. That last thing that “Jesus,” as the Word, said to Abraham was for his children — those who were truly children of Abraham — would keep the “Way” of Jesus and with fair justice.
  That applies to the accusers of the woman who claimed to be children of Abraham but were really children of the Devil. Jesus “Way” was by love and grace; their way was by harsh judgment. When Jesus made the Covenant with Abraham, it was a Covenant of Grace, with one contingency; that He will be their Lord if they would be His people. The accusers were not Jesus’s people (disciples) but judges who did not use the standard that they would use if they were the accused (Mat 7:1-4).
  That specific Will of the Lord was meant for that day far in the future when God’s so-called people would harshly judge another, not as they would judge themselves. Had those men sinned? Their conscience bothered them all; they had sinned but walked away from Jesus who would gladly have pardoned their sin if they had only understood that it IS HIM, who had made the Covenant with Abraham. I came to understand that; that the Lord of Abraham is the same Lord who died at Calvary for my sins.
  Of course, Jesus met Abraham many times, but showed Himself clearly one specific time. Think on this passage Paul wrote to the Jews:

¹ For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; ² To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; ³ without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. (Heb 7:1-3)

  “Continually” is that Melchisedec is “the Alpha and Omega; the Beginning and the end.” Melchisedec is the King of Righteousness as well as the King of Peace (Salem). As such, I believe, as King of Salem, Melchisedec was King of New Jerusalem, or the City of God. Melchisedec blessed Abraham. He gave Abraham prosperity in this life, and bliss in the next. How is that known? Abraham was already in Paradise when Lazarus was in his “bosom” (Luke 16:22). Better said was that Lazarus and Abraham were in Melchisedec’s (Jesus’s) Bosom.
  The accusers asked, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” He sure had; and Abraham had seen Him! Abraham had even tithed to Jesus and was blessed by Him. Then what did the New Testament “Melchisedec” do? He let the accusers judge themselves, and they judged fairly, but didn’t “tithe” to Jesus. The adulteress “tithed” to Jesus by facing Him and awaiting fair judgment. Jesus didn’t seem to mind that she had sinned, because she was willing to sin no more. The accusers knew they would sin so more and convicted themselves for what they knew they would do again. They felt guilty but didn’t seek forgiveness because they were at least honest with themselves; they knew they would continue in sin.
  I have a problem with future sin. You do too. Jesus propitiated His blood to “declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past” (Rom 3:25). His blood covered all sins — past present and future — but remission of sins is continual. In other words, Christians must be willing not to sin in the future; to “sin no more,” as Jesus said to the accused. Each time I grievously sin, I promise to sin no more. My bet is that I am not alone in that. How are we to handle strongholds; those things that the Devil knows are effective? Keep our face on Jesus, and sin no more.
  Sin is a choice, and each time we sin, it says some things. Whose “way” shall we go? Whose “will,” will master us? Will we turn our backs on Jesus, or stand eye-to-eye with Jesus and not deny our sins? His grace is dependent on, not only our conscience, but facing Him to administer justice His Way.
  The accused woman’s judgment day was that day, but in the end, she shall face Jesus again at the Great White Throne Judgment. I suspect that on that great day, Jesus will say, Well done good and faithful servant. It seems probable that on that same terrible day, that Jesus will tell the accusers who judged harshly, and turned away,  I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (Mat 7:23). When the unfair accusers turned away from Jesus, perhaps their fate will be the terrible day when Jesus judges them fairly. They will have to turn away and die because they didn’t truly know Jesus, just as they had turned away from Jesus after accusing Him of never knowing Abraham. That is poetic justice, is it not?

(picture credit: Peter Bruegel; 1565; Courtland Gallery)