Why Did Jesus Write on the Ground

Dr. Ray: Hey folks, Dr. Ray Self here. In this week's show, I'm answering a question that's always bothered me. When Jesus was presented with the woman who was caught in adultery and the Pharisees said, you know, we need to stone her, and then Jesus began to write in the dirt and then he said “you who's without sin, cast the first stone” and of course, you know, they all began to lay their stones down. They couldn't do it, and it says “and again, he wrote in the dirt.” So the question has always been for as long as I can remember, what was Jesus writing in the dirt and why they put that in the gospel twice. That's in the Gospel of John, chapter 8 I do believe. And so, talking to my Administrative Assistant, Debbie, and she said the Holy Spirit showed her something about that and I think it is fascinating because it appears that Jesus may have been fulfilling a prophecy that actually could have something to do with us, so pay attention to this show. I think this is a really fun and interesting show. Don't forget that we are sponsored by the International College of Ministry, that's the college that I founded and it's in my heart. We are enrolling now, if you want to get a college degree from a Holy Spirit-filled seminary, get a associate's, bachelor's, master's, or doctorate degree, we are affordable, you can do it online on your own schedule. Check it out, icmcollege.org. God bless you and thanks for listening to Self Talk with me, Dr. Ray Self. Thank you.

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Dr. Ray: Welcome to Self Talk. I'm your host, me, Dr. Ray Self. Thank you so much for being with me today. It's always uh, I know it sounds like a cliche when you say it's an honor and a privilege, but it actually is, so thank you for listening. How many of you have heard the story about the woman caught in adultery? They bring her to Jesus and Jesus begins to write on the ground. And for years, I've heard this story of Jesus writing on the ground and I've heard so many people talk about what was Jesus writing in the dirt? What was he writing with his finger? Well, I have a very special guest I'm going to introduce in just just a moment and she, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, has an answer to this question and we can back it up biblically. 

Dr. Ray: You ever wanted to know what Jesus was actually writing? I mean, I've always had, I mean, I've heard that question and I've heard so many people make guesses at it for so many years and now I think, and I'm not trying to be bold, that in the podcast today, we actually have the answer of what Jesus was writing. And tell me when we finish if you agree with this, okay? So let's go, let's first have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for each person listening today. I ask, Father, that this broadcast, this podcast would just glorify you, Father. Lord, bless those that are here, bless, open up our ears and our hearts to receive your word today. And, Lord we give you praise and honor in Jesus’ name, amen.

Dr. Ray: Okay, so let's read a couple scriptures and wait till you get the revelation of this, this is really going to be good. So, in the Gospel of John, starting in John 8, verse 3, and it says “Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought to him,” Jesus, “a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to him, ‘teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do you say?’ 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” -they- “as though he did not hear. 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.” And you know the rest of the story.

Dr. Ray: What was he writing on the ground? So here's the situation. The woman was caught in adultery, that, that must been pretty embarrassing for her, and what about the guy? People say what about the guy? So they caught her, they brought her to Jesus, they're testing him, they're, they're always trying to trap him- it's very difficult to trap God, right? And…but, he started to write on the ground and then of course, you know, the accusers put their stones down and left, “let ye who's without sin cast the first stone.” But Jesus, twice it says Jesus began to write on the ground, so the million-dollar question was what was he writing on the ground that maybe caused them to be so convicted? So talking to my friend, I want to introduce her in just a moment here. My, my guest today said that I should go to Jeremiah to get this answer, so let's go to Jeremiah and we're going to go to Jeremiah chapter 17, correct? Jeremiah 17 verse 13. 

Dr. Ray: What was Jesus writing on the ground? Listen to this verse, Jeremiah 17:13, “O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be ashamed.” Quotation mark, now here's a prophecy coming, it's a quotation mark. “‘Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth,” Let me say that again, “‘Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.”

Dr. Ray: Now, my special guest today is Debbie Winderweedle. Debbie Winderweedle is working on staff as a, a administrative assistant. Welcome, Debbie.

Debbie: Thank you, Dr. Ray. I really appreciate this opportunity and I never thought I would have the opportunity to share this so publicly, what the Lord had revealed to me so many years ago. And uh, I was just, one day studying Jeremiah 17 and when I got to verse 13 and read “Oh, Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be ashamed. ‘Those who depart from me,’” this is God speaking because there's quotation marks there, “‘Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters,’” That just blew me away, the light came on and the Lord immediately said “I have fulfilled this through Jesus in John 8.” And sure enough, it goes hand in hand, it is, it is an absolute truth. And he was writing the names of those men, religious men, in the earth and one passage even says “You will be written in the dust among the dead.” So it's almost like he was saying “you, you have rejected me.” Uh, “you have shamed me and I'm ashamed of you,” at this point, “and I'm writing your name in the earth because you've departed from me, the living waters,” and um, that to me is just so powerful, how, that God, every word that God has spoken in his word in the Old Testament has been fulfilled in the New Testament. And, this is one big one here because it was so controversial with different opinions on it. So…

Dr. Ray: See, I've never, excuse me, I've never had anybody really point out to me, and maybe my listeners are going “oh, I knew this all the time,” well, I didn't and I've been Christian for a very long time. Here we have twice, it says in John 8, um, and it says this, John 8, verse 6. “This they said, testing him, that they might have something of which to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down.” Now remember, they brought the woman caught in adultery and they said, you know, in the law it commands that she should be stoned and so Jesus- so testing him, that they might have something that which to accuse him, Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger. It says they did not hear. Then, he gets up and he says the famous statement he who's without sin among you, let him throw the stone at her first, let him without sin throw the first stone. Then it says “and again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground.” So he twice, it says he wrote on the ground.

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: So to me, the context here…these people, these Pharisees, he is going back to Jeremiah with these Pharisees. He's doing a prophetic act with these Pharisees. Let's go back again to Jeremiah. Um, you know, I'm a teacher, I like to do this, he said “All who forsake you shall be ashamed. ‘Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth because you have forsaken the Lord.’” So he's telling the Pharisees, I'm writing in the earth as prophesied in Jeremiah because you guys are hypocrites. You want to throw a stone at this woman in sin but you have sin in your life and you have forsaken me. I am going to write your name in the dirt, in the earth, because you have forsaken me.

Debbie: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: You're sinners, you’re hypocrites. You're sinners too.

Debbie: Yeah. 

Dr. Ray: And it, and here it is in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 17:13. “Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth.” Written in the earth. 

Debbie: Your name is written in the earth.

Dr. Ray: Wow.

Debbie: And you know, here's something to think about. Maybe other people have gotten that understanding oh, that he's writing their names, but did you know that it was prophesied by God? Back in Jeremiah? Did you know that? And maybe some do but you know…

Dr. Ray: If you do, God bless you. I didn't, I didn't know that.

Debbie: Because God brings revelation to us all the time. I just happened to be studying about hypocrisy in Jeremiah 17. And lo and behold, there is a prophetic word from God that would be fulfilled through Jesus.

Dr. Ray: Don't you think, Debbie, that uh, maybe there's a warning here? We need to be careful about wanting to cast stones. I mean, right now I see the body of Christ casting stones at each other.

Debbie: mhm,  for sure.

Dr. Ray: You know?

Debbie: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: Um, there's a revival in Asbury University, Asbury University of Kentucky, some people are casting stones at it. Um, and the revivalists are casting stones back. And there's people like um, John MacArthur, I was talking about him, who casts stones at, at every Spirit-filled Christian Ministry on the planet. Um, I didn't want to get into that but the point is, we're so busy casting stones and we have sin in our every- all, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God we've got to be careful with casting stones. 

Debbie: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: Because I don't want my name written in the dirt. 

Debbie: Oh, that's, that's a strong word right there, I'm telling you. It does, kind of like, oh, I don't want it either. But you know um, even the scriptures say, and I wish I could think of the exact scripture, but sometimes just throwing something out here will make someone go study and look at look up for yourself, you know. But God, Jesus said don't talk about my kids, don't speak badly about my children. And I think that's a word for all of us in the body.

Dr. Ray: Right.

Debbie: We should not be doing that.

Dr. Ray: Right.

Debbie: And casting the stones like you say because uh, it will come back around. It will come back around to an individual.

Dr. Ray: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. So he starts to write and he knows that these Pharisees were sinners.

Debbie: He knows.

Dr. Ray: And he knows that these Pharisees have actually forsaken God.

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: Here he is, he's God himself and…

Debbie: Yeah, and they don't even get it.

Dr. Ray: Yeah, they don't get it. They're forsaking God. 

Debbie: Yeah. 

Dr. Ray: So here he's making this prophetic gesture.

Debbie: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: This is what he's writing, he's getting ready to write their name in the dirt because they have forsaken God. Maybe the Pharisees saw that and went uh oh. And so even if they didn't see it, we're seeing it now. That…you know, casting a stone, being a hypocrite and casting a stone at another person when you also are a sinner can cause God…oh, I mean, yeah.

Debbie: Yeah. 

Dr. Ray: I don’t even want to think about…

Debbie: Yeah. You can say…do you want me… One of the passages said, you know that you're written in the earth among the dead. So…

Dr. Ray: Yeah, one of the translations says that, one of the translations…

Debbie: And that can be, I think that was the NIV. But I, I… that can mean both spiritually and physically or one or the other, you know, which is…scary as well. But you know, it, to me, even I can just picture this. When this is all happening in the Jesus movie, um Christ of the Passion, when all that is happening and Jesus is starting to write. I think he did write a couple of names and they recognized it. How do you know my name? Look, he's writing my name, I'm throwing this stone down and getting out of here.

Both: [Laugh]

Dr. Ray: It could be, you know, that really, that really could be. Um, yeah, I've, I've wondered. I've wondered what he was writing for, for years and years and years. I think he was making a prophetic movement.

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: It was a, you know, Jesus did everything for a purpose.

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: You know, I, I gotta be honest, I think for a long time, I thought he was just doodling. 

Both: [Laugh]

Dr. Ray: But he wasn't doodling. You know, maybe, maybe playing Tic-Tac-Toe or something, I don't know… 

Debbie: But he's just ignoring them and playing…

Dr. Ray: Maybe ignoring and playing around like, I don't want to have to fool with these guys. But no.

Debbie: No, everything was on purpose…

Dr. Ray: He was fulfilling a prophecy…

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: …from Jeremiah.

Debbie: Yes. Yes he was.

Dr. Ray: Which makes sense because that's what Jesus was all about.

Debbie: That's right.

Dr. Ray: Wow.

Debbie: Yeah. I mean, so many things like that if we really get into the Word, and let God reveal things like that too is, it's very powerful. And it does speak out that what God says, he will do. It will be as he has said. So if he says it, you can count on it happening, in our lifetime.

Dr. Ray: Right.

Debbie: You know?

Dr. Ray: Right, Right.

Debbie: Look how long it took that prophecy to come to pass from Jeremiah, which was, Lord…

Dr. Ray: Maybe 400 years before, I believe.

Debbie: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: Probably, at least 400 years.

Debbie: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: So…

Debbie: So, you know, God said it and it happened. 

Dr. Ray: I think that Jesus was trying to show us something too, about the nature of sin. And hypocrisy also is a sin…

Debbie: Yes. 

Dr. Ray: …you know.

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: Um, hypocrisy,

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: You know, it is a sin. And they were being hypocritical and according to Jeremiah, they were forsaking God- if you look at another part of that scripture, um, “All who forsake you shall be ashamed. ‘Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth.’” “‘Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth.’” He was writing in the earth- Jesus was writing in the earth because these Pharisees who brought the woman caught in adultery had departed from him.

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: They had forsaken the Lord, and the last words said the fountain of living waters. Well, the fountain of living waters, Jesus said he was the living water.

Debbie: Yes. 

Dr. Ray: And, and you partake of him, you shall never thirst again.

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: The water he has for you, and of course, the living waters to me is Jesus and the Holy Spirit,

Debbie: Right, amen.

Dr. Ray: And they have forsaken the Holy Spirit, they’d forsaken God, and so God said uh, those who forsake me shall be written in the earth, which also points out the good news is that's why we need a savior.

Debbie: Amen. Yeah, that's why we need a savior.

Dr. Ray: This, I mean, this right here says I need a savior. You need a savior. If you're listening to me, you need a savior.

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: The Old Testament points out our need for a savior. All these prophecies point out our need for a savior. The law of Moses points out our need for a savior, okay? I mean, all throughout the Old Testament, cries out, Lord save us Lord, save us. Lord, who could possibly save us?

Debbie: Yes. Yes.

Dr. Ray: Jesus.

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: And even the Old Testament, explaining a savior is going to come.

Debbie: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: But- The Bible, you know Paul said through the law comes the knowledge of sin. And so, it also gives me a knowledge of I need help.

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: And Jesus writing in the earth, symbolically, because these Pharisees were sinning.

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: Just as bad as that woman who's caught in adultery. And he said look guys, let me show you something. I'm going to write your name right here. I'm going to write your name in the earth. I'm going to write your name. And they go “oh”. And apparently, they got it a little bit. They set their rocks down, they go you, know, I think we're going to pass on this.

Debbie: Yes. Turn tail and run. 

Dr. Ray: So he wasn't doodling, right? That's what you're trying to tell me?

Debbie: He wasn't doodling, no.

Dr. Ray: He wasn’t doing a doodle, no tic-tac-toe?

Debbie: No.

Dr. Ray: Okay, that's good to know. I should have known.

Debbie: That's okay. God's word is so powerful and rich and you know, there's just so many examples of this and how that God has spoken something and then it, Jesus fulfills it, you know? It's- it's just so powerful.

Dr. Ray: Yeah. You're seeing it today, you know. And uh, we were talking earlier- we may do some more shows about this- about um, things that God has spoken over our lives. And, and, things God has shown us in the word are manifested not only in the world today, but also in our life.

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: In our life.

Debbie: Yes.

Dr. Ray: Um, you know, God's word cannot return void.

Debbie: No, it cannot. It cannot. And God doesn't lie so if he has spoken a word to someone and you have had confirmation of that word, you must hold on to it until God's timing- kairos time is God's timing, perfect timing- comes to pass. And we don't know when that is, how long it takes. Look at Abraham and Sarah, that's always one of the first examples, but God's word came to pass. Took 25 years.

Dr. Ray: It does. It always comes to pass. It always comes to pass. And his promises to you, that he's spoken to you listening to me. A lot of you people, listen to me, God has spoken promises to you, they will come to pass. You know, his timing is not always our timing but, you know. What the old preacher used to say, God is uh, never…

Debbie: He's never early. No, he's never late…

Dr. Ray: He's always on time

Debbie: He's always on time. That's a song.

Dr. Ray: Yeah, never late…

Debbie: On Time God.

Dr. Ray: He's an on-time God. On time when you least expect it, because his ways are not your ways, his thoughts are not your thoughts. So the answer to why Jesus was writing in the dirt when these Pharisees are about to- wanted to stone this woman caught in adultery, is because these Pharisees had forsaken God. They were forsaking God who was actually standing right in front of them.

Debbie: Yes, and who actually saw all this ahead of time when he prophesied it. He knew that moment was going to happen which is another powerful thing because God sees ahead he knows it all. So he saw that already happened.

Dr. Ray: Yeah.

Debbie: And he prophesied it.

Dr. Ray: Yeah. Jesus writing in the dirt was prophesied by Jeremiah. For, and it was for a reason. 

Debbie: For a reason, yeah.

Dr. Ray: For a reason.

Debbie: It was a good one.

Dr. Ray: Uh…Well folks, thank you for listening, uh, Debbie, thank you for being here today…

Debbie: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Dr. Ray: ..and I appreciate you. And she's been doing a great job with ICM. Uh, as a matter of fact, if you're, if you're interested in getting a college education from a Holy Spirit-filled bible college, Holy Spirit-filled seminary, we have degrees in ministry, theology, Christian counseling and prophetic ministry. I don't know of another college in America that offers degrees in prophetic ministry. You can get a free evaluation on our website, icmcollege.org. Icmcollege.org. We’re affordable. If you're struggling financially and say I can't even afford your tuition, even though your tuition is not expensive, we have scholarships. So um, love you much. Thank you for listening today, and I just pray that, that God's word, uh, that maybe this touched you and maybe you're encouraged to know that uh… be encouraged to know that, that God's prophecies always manifest and his promises will manifest even for you. Even for you. Don't give up. Don't give up. In Jesus' name. Thank you again, Debbie.

Debbie: Thank you, Dr. Ray. 

Dr. Ray: God bless you.

Debbie: God bless you.

Dr. Ray: Thank you everybody for listening.

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Dr. Ray: Hey, thanks again for listening to Self Talk with Dr. Ray Self. It's always an honor and a privilege and a thrill, uh, you know, when we get comments and uh, you know, responses. Just had some responses to the podcast this last couple of days so do me a favor, email me at drayself@gmail.com. d-r-r-a-y-s-e-l-f @gmail.com, with show ideas. What would you like me to talk about? What would bless you? What, what would help you? And also, if anything I can do for you. drayself@gmail.com, d-r-r-a-y-s-e-l-f @gmail.com. Again, check out the podcast website, icmcollege.org/selftalk and last but not least, check out International College of Ministry. If God's called you, the, your phone is going to ring continually until you answer your call. If you have a call of God on your life, you need to get equipped. Maybe you have a bachelor's and you want to finish your master's. Maybe you have a master's, you want to get your doctorate. Maybe you never had any college education at all. Well, we can give you life experience credits up to 30 credit hours we can award you. We're affordable. You say well, I want to do it but I just don't have enough money. We have scholarships, we can help you. I don't have enough time. You work on your own schedule, it's online, you set your own schedule. We're accredited by ACI, recognized by the Florida Department of Education as a ecclesiastical school. Anyway, check it out. You know, maybe this would help you. Matter of fact, I know it would. You got degrees, and we have degrees in Christian counseling, we have degrees in ministry, theology. Also prophetic ministry and now, we're adding praise and worship. So, love you much. Um, thanks for listening. Again, this is Dr. Ray Self and you've been listening to Self Talk with me, Dr. Ray Self. God bless you.