What Did Jesus Write?
Dr. Mickey Carter
Mickey Carter is the Pastor Emeritus at Landmark Baptist Church and founder of Landmark Baptist College in Haines City, Florida.
“After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.... In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” (John 7:1-2, 37-39)
There are skeptics who say that Jesus couldn’t write anything. There is a group of men who get quoted by the news and newspapers who call themselves “The Jesus Seminar.” If you listen to the media, you’d think there were a thousand of them, but there are only about a half a dozen, yet the media reports them like they are some huge, important group.
I actually met the father of one of those men. He’s so ashamed that his son, claiming to be a Methodist preacher, is a member of this so-called Jesus Seminar. They meet once a year, and go through the Bible to decide if Jesus really said this or did He not. They discuss it and then vote on whether or not Jesus really said what you and I know He said. Then they have a hat or a box and each one of them has a white marble and a black marble. If they think that He said it, they put a white marble in. If they think that He didn’t, they put a black marble in, as if what they think or say about it has any influence on the truth of what Jesus really said. They take their vote and report it to the media and cut the Bible all to pieces. You say, “What do you think about the Jesus Seminar?” I just think they’ve all lost their marbles!
Jesus did do some writing. You know, one of the things the world and the devil hates is that we have the written Word of God. They don’t like that. When I was in the Ten Commandment battle, these liberal reporters come after you. They came after me with both barrels when I was putting up the Ten Commandment granite rock there at the courthouse in our county. They had this one ‘educated college graduate’ reporter that was working for the liberal paper there. You’ll have a hard time believing it, but he actually said this, and it shows you how their education goes. He actually said to me, “You, Christian, people, there is no such thing as the Ten Commandments. They’re not written anywhere. That’s just something you got from that movie Charlton Heston was in.” That’s what he said, I kid you not!
Of course, I peeled his hide good, but he was dumb enough to write something like that in the newspaper, and lost his job over it after I exposed him. I showed where it was written in Exodus 20, and gave him the Ten Commandments. The world is not educated if they don’t know the Word of God, not in the truest sense. Don’t ever back up from that.
I am a King James Bible man. I’m not just a Textus Receptus, but a King James Bible man. I believe God did something supernatural on purpose. “What do you mean?” There are no problems. There are no errors. There are no contradictions. That’s the position I take. You say, “I can show you a verse you can’t explain.” You probably can, but you can’t show me one I don’t believe or one I don’t think ought to be in there.
You say, “What do you mean by that?” I mean I’m giving God the benefit of every doubt. When I stand before the Judgment Seat of God, I’ve got some things to answer for -- sins of commission and omission. I know that and fear that. One thing I’ll not have to answer for -- do you think God is going to get me before the Judgment Seat and say, “Mickey, you’re going to lose some reward because you believe that Book too much”? That’s safe ground and that’s exactly where I stand. God superintended, watched over the King James. That’s why He’s used it and proved that He’s used it and blessed it through all these years.
You say, “What about this word or that word?” Some of you have had that thrown in your teeth. What about the word Easter over there in Acts 12? It’s the right word. You say, “But it’s supposed to be Passover.” By the way, a little logic would help us sometimes. Here you had 54 of the King James translators. By the time it was finished, you had 47 men that could speak all these different languages, they had all these manuscripts. Do you think that it was a mistake that they put the word Easter in? No, it wasn’t. Who in the world do we think these dry-as-dust professors are in our colleges today that think they’ve got more to work with? Those translators didn’t even have to be tempted with turning the TV off.
You say, “All of the translators made a mistake.” No they didn’t. They had a reason and the reason is in the context if you study it. It does say, “Easter,” but if you read it really close it says that after Easter they’re going to bring Peter out and kill him. It speaks of the days of unleavened bread in verse three. Here is what had happened. You had the Jewish feast of the Passover followed by the seven days of unleavened bread. Then you had the pagan Easter celebration of Babylon and the text calls it Herod’s Easter. It ought to be Easter.
The Russians joke about our English language because our words in English can mean different things, but that’s also true in Hebrew and Greek. In Russian, it doesn’t. I’ll give you a for instance. Watch the English word spelled the same way, but used with different meanings. “The bandage was wound tightly around the wound.” Wound spelled the same way, two different meanings. Here is another one. “When you shot the dove, he dove into the bushes.” Spelled the same way. You have so many cases like that and that’s the case here with the word pascha or Passover. In this instance, Easter or pascha is used in Greek and in Hebrew for four different holidays. The pagan Easter of Babylon was the first meaning way back. In the context it was a pagan Easter. So the translators didn’t make a mistake. Don’t let some of these fellas make a fool of you when it comes to believing the Word of God. “Preacher, did you always know that?” No, but I always knew God’s Word was right. I just take that same position and stay with it.
Go over to John 8. “Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” (John 8:1-11) He stooped down and wrote on the ground. It’s necessary for me to give you a little background of the setting to understand before we answer the question of “What did Jesus write?”
This was a feast day as we see in John 7:2. In verse 37 we read, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” We need to get the picture. The tabernacles taught this truth and still teaches it. The last festival of the Jews looks back on the time when they came out of Egypt and were journeying through the wilderness. They lived in tents -- the tabernacle is not a permanent home. So the feast of the tabernacles looked back to that time, but it also looks forward to when God-Emmanuel is going to be with us. You and I know it’s the Millennial Reign of Revelation chapter 20, when Jesus comes back on that white horse, sets up His kingdom, and He rules and reigns for a thousand years. The tabernacle is picturing coming out of Egypt, but it also pictures when the lion and the lamb shall lay down together in the future, that you and I call the Millennial Reign. It’s one thousand years long. It says so six times in Revelation 20.
Here is the picture. The feast of the tabernacles is going on in a crowded city. All the Jews are coming to Jerusalem. The rabbis have given the order. The roads have been repaired. The bridges had been fixed. The city has been cleaned up. Everybody is ready because a great big crowd on this festival day is coming to Jerusalem. The city is crowded. Lambs are brought for sacrifice. The priests are prepared. Get the picture. It’s taking place on the mount, the holy place, the threshing floor where the fire fell. They’re getting prepared. A group of priests are getting the lambs ready to be put on the altar to be offered.
There is another group of priests, though, that go down to the pool of Siloam. There was a closer pool, but the pool of Siloam was supposed to have, as it were, ‘magic’ or living water in it. These priests were commissioned to go down there, because the last day of the festival, when Jesus stood up and said, “...If any man thirst, let him come unto me,...” was the time of the water pouring or the water ceremony of the living water. One of the gates to the Temple was called the water gate. These priests would go out the water gate and down to the pool of Siloam and fill these vessels.
At the same time another group of priests went out and they had a silver vessel and filled it with wine, representing blood. When they put the spear in the side of Jesus, what came out? Water and blood. It has to do with our salvation. These priests would gather up the water pots, go out and fill them with this symbolic living water from the pool of Siloam.
Another group of priests went out through the eastern gate, you can read about this in the book of Leviticus, where they are commanded to go out and cut branches, trees if you please, and you’re in an area where you have a lot of weeping willows. I don’t know if they looked just alike, but they were willow trees. They cut them pretty tall, as much as twenty to thirty foot, a long strand of a tree. These priests began to get all these branches, all these tree limbs, getting ready to also come back.
Here you’ve got the picture. All these groups began to approach the temple. As they come through the eastern gate, you’ve got the priests with the living water pots. You’ve got the priests with the wine in the silver vessels. Then you’ve got the priests coming with the long willow trees. They would line up as much as thirty foot apart. Let’s imagine I’m a priest walking with a tree limb. Here is what I would do. I would step to the right and wave the tree to the left. Then I’d zig zag back, and I’d wave it the opposite direction. They are about thirty foot apart because there is a bunch of them. They are making a swishing sound with the willow tree like the sound of wind.
By the way, some of the things we still have in ceremonies today go way back to Jewish customs. I had a funeral for a young black man from one of our bus routes who was killed in an accident, a good boy. The black funeral home took care of the services. I got a good Gospel message in and all that was good, but I had an experience. The funeral home showed up at my church. They had on white suits and white gloves. The funeral director asked me, “Do you want to lead the procession down the aisle?” I said, “No.” That was a very wise thing to say. I sat up there and watched as the funeral directors and everybody came zig zagging down the aisle. I kind of enjoyed the preaching, though, because those folks knew how to say, “Amen” once in a while.
I was over in the Bahamas preaching a graduation service for a good size school over there. Again I was sitting on the platform and here came the graduates in doing this kind of a zig-zag procession as part of their graduation ceremony.
That’s exactly what these Jewish priests did, but as they did they waved the willow branches and made a swishing wind sound. Do you know what they were picturing? They were picturing the Holy Spirit of God entering into the Temple, because the sound of the Holy Spirit is the sound of wind. Jesus told Nicodemus, “You don’t see the wind, but you hear it.” That’s the Holy Spirit. You don’t see Him. We don’t glorify Him. He glorifies Jesus, but we know He’s there. I’ll put it this way. We know when He’s not there sometimes.
When God told David to set an ambush for the enemy, He said, “Don’t move until you hear a going in the mulberry trees. When you hear the wind stirring the mulberry trees, My Spirit has shown up. Now it’s time to fight. Now it’s time you go get the victory.”
Can’t you see all the symbolic truth going on all around them at this feast? These priests would come in their procession, waving those willow branches. They’d come on in and there was a great trumpet that sounded and those priests came into the Temple waving the branches and the priests with the water pots, and the priests with the wine in the silver vessels, and they’re all coming to the altar where the animals had been laid upon the altar. The trumpet would sound. It’s the time when Jesus is coming back to tabernacle with us, when He comes back on the white horse, when He comes through the eastern gate which is supernaturally shut up and still is shut up today, waiting for Him to enter. That trumpet sounds. That’s the whole picture.
Now get the scene. The Son of God is right there in their midst. The Lord Jesus is there, the One who they are picturing in all this ceremony. He’s in the midst of the Temple, right out there with them. Jesus cries out and He says, “...If any man thirst, let him come unto me,...” The ceremony is talking about living water. Jesus says, “I am the living water.” Study every time you hear Jesus say, “I am.” “I am the light,” or “I am the bread of life.” There is a big message behind that. He’s the same “I Am” that God answered Moses at the burning bush and said, “I am that I am.” Don’t kid yourself. The religious Jews knew exactly what He was talking about. This was not just a crowd of common people. There was the religious crowd there. When He said, “...If any man thirst, let him come unto me,...” they knew He was saying, “I am the living water that this ceremony pictures.” That was the message that they got as He stood there and cried out, “...If any man thirst, let him come unto me,...”
These priests would come in and circle the altar seven times. Then they’d take those willow branches and in this part of the ceremony, they’d put the root or the stock of it down and lean it up over the altar to where it kind of made a canopy over the altar. Then the fire on the sacrifice, the living water poured out, the wine is poured out. All this is part of the ceremony.
When they did that, they sang a song. If you want to see it in your Bible, go to Isaiah chapter 12. Here is the song they were singing and praising the Lord. It tells you to do it in verse one and then down in verse two, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.” And right on down through those verses. This is what they were singing when they were performing this ceremony.
It was a time of joy, picturing the victory when the Lord is going to come back and tabernacle among us, but He was among them then. Jesus was right there at the feast. He was saying, “...If any man thirst, let him come unto me,...” They just ignored Him like a lot of churches today. They have a big ceremony, but Jesus is not recognized. A lot of things that those churches do point back to the Lord, but they miss the real truth and the real Person they sing about. They just deal with the ceremony and the shadow and they miss the substance, that Jesus is the One. This is the setting as Jesus cries out about the living water.
Now go to John 8:1. It’s now the eighth day. He has spent the seventh night up at the Mount of Olives. He comes back in chapter eight, and it says in verse two, “And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.” The scribes and Pharisees come and they bring this woman caught in adultery. Notice the latter part of verse three, “...and when they had set her in the midst,” Here is the difference. All the pictures today would show them having walked in and threw the woman on the ground in front of Jesus. That’s not what happened. They sat her because they were putting her on trial. Later we find that she is standing before Jesus, Who is the real judge. Remember where He is at -- in the tabernacle. It’s not just the temple, but all around that temple is this courtyard and it’s double-layered. It has like these porches in it. These rabbis could come and stand there to teach, and they’ve done that now for seven days. On the eighth day is the day of the Torah, when the Torah is especially elevated. It’s sort of lifted up as the king for the day. The Torah is the Law -- the Old Testament, first five books of Moses.
Jesus is teaching and all the people come to Him. Other rabbis are teaching and there is jealousy because He’s got the biggest crowd. Everybody wants to hear Jesus. I think the place where He is teaching is unique. He’s teaching in the court that’s called the court of the women. That’s where He’s at. Fifteen steps up on the next balcony behind him is called the court of the Torah or the Law. Here is the picture. Jesus is right there where the Law is behind Him. He’s teaching. The religious Pharisees bring in the woman, sit her before Him as though she’s on trial and say to Him, “Moses’ Law says to stone her. She was caught in adultery. What do You say?”
They were trying to trap Him. “Are You going to be the teacher of the Law and You’re not going to condemn this one that is caught in adultery that the Law says to stone?” They were trying to trap Him. They understood what He had said. They understood that He claimed to be the Living Water. They had the picture right there. They bring the woman into the women’s court and where the Law has taken center place. It was the women’s court where the Law was celebrated. His rejectors, the ones that rejected Him as the Son of God, as the Messiah, they’re the ones that brought this woman in. They had heard what He had said over there in verses 37 and 38. “...If any man thirst, let him come unto me,...” they had heard that. It says, “He that believeth on Me.” They didn’t believe on Him. So they’re trying to trap Him when they bring the woman in. He said, “I’m the Living Water.”
Now go with me to the Book of Jeremiah, chapter two. A lot of times as you’re studying the Old Testament and seeing it fulfilled in the New, you’ll find all these things that have to do with Jewish laws and festivals are important because they all symbolize the Son of God and what He has done for us. We all know the lamb in the Old Testament pictured the Lord Jesus. So many other things pictured Him also. Look at Jeremiah 2:13. “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” What did the Lord Jesus say? He said, “They have forsaken Me -- the fountain of living waters. They’ve turned away and, instead, they have gotten themselves cisterns or bowls that will not hold the water.” That was in the picture of the water pouring ceremony where the Lord Jesus is here in John chapters seven and eight. That’s the verse in Jeremiah. He’s the Living Water.
In Zechariah 14, when He comes back all the nations are going to be gathered. Look at Zechariah 14. In the first few verses, we’ve got the One World thing coming together, all the nations gathered. That parting and dividing the land is not of God. It is an end time sign that Jesus, the Messiah, is getting ready to come. In Zechariah 14, the nations are gathered in the first two verses. The Lord is going to fight against them in verse three. In verse four He says, “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” He goes on down to say at the end of verse five, “...the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.” That’s the white horse. That’s Revelation 19. That’s when we come back with Him.
Now look at it in verses eight and nine. “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.” Sorry, Allah, you’re not the name there. Buddha, forget about it. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s the King of the whole earth. They’ll be symbolic of the One that had the living water that is coming back to take care of the nations at the battle of Armageddon. His name is going to be the name. He’s the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Here in the scene now the woman is before Him. They’re watching to see what He’s going to do. They sat her in front to be judged. He’s the teacher of the Law. He’s got to agree with Moses’ Law. They’ve got Him trapped, they think, but two times there in chapter eight it says that He ignored them and wrote on the ground. What did He write on the ground? They left convicted and silenced, whatever it was. Their conscience hurt them real bad and they just drifted out one by one, whatever it was that He wrote.
I want to show you what it was. Go back to Jeremiah 17:12-13. “A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed,...” That crowd left in shame when they forsook Him. Their conscience bothered them. They walked away. “...and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.” Do you know what happened? Jesus stood in the midst and He said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me. I’m the living water. I’m what the water in those pots represent. I’m the Messiah. I’m the Saviour. I’ve got the living water.” They knew what He had said. They tried to trap him with the woman, but He started writing in the earth.
Remember something -- these Pharisees were studied. They knew the context of Jeremiah. They knew the predictions concerning that water pouring ceremony. When He began to write their names in the earth, yes, they went out under conviction. He had the right. That’s what He was claiming. He was claiming, “I am the Judge, but I’m not judging the woman right now. I’m judging you that have forsaken Me and don’t believe on Me. You are the ones that ought to be ashamed and I’m writing your name in the earth.”
Brother, I’m glad my name is not written in the earth. Put it on that tombstone if you want to, but I know where it’s written. It’s written up there in the Lamb’s Book of Life! Bless God! I know something. I’m going to live eternally. Not just dust to dust, but absent from the body, and present with the Lord!
Where is your name written? Forsake Jesus and it’s written in the earth. Receive Him and it can be written above. They forsook Him -- the fountain of living waters. He just began to write in the earth and the conviction set in. He pronounced judgment. It wasn’t on the woman. He had the right to judge her, but he also had the right to give her grace and mercy and let her go, and told her to sin no more.
He sent the disciples out Luke chapter ten. They came back rejoicing, saying, “Lord, we’re so glad that we’ve got power over the devils in Your name.”
He said, “Don’t rejoice too much about that. Rejoice more that your name is written in Heaven.”
We forget sometimes who we are, as the redeemed. Our names are written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Let them bury this old body if they want to. I know where my name is written! I have believed on and received the Son of God, the fount of living waters!
I went and sat in the back of a Baptist Church one Sunday night and heard an old preacher preach the Gospel. I was mad the first couple of times I went, but by the fourth time I brought an empty cup and the Lord filled it with living water. I’ve never been the same.
I’ll never forget that Monday morning. In those days we did not race in the winter in Florida. So I had my race car parked and I had taken a job with Minute Maid harvesting fruit. I was bringing the truck out of the grove and loading it on a paddle wheel loader that would kick the fruit off into the big semi-trailers. I got there early that morning because I knew I had a truck load that needed to be dumped.
It was Monday morning, and I had just gotten saved on Sunday night. I couldn’t quote John 3:16, didn’t know one thing about the Bible, but brother, I was saved! I got there to the grove before anybody else. It was a beautiful Florida morning. As the sun began to break out over the eastern sky, I got that old truck backed up and the oranges were hitting paddles and they’re going up into the trailer, but they didn’t look like oranges on that morning. They looked like balls of gold. I had never seen a sunrise like that one. There were some bushes over that direction and some birds singing. I never had heard birds sing like that before. Do you know why? There was a tune playing in my heart, a new song. “It’s all right now. You’re saved now. Your name is written above.” I don’t understand it all, but I got a deep drink of that living water and I have never been the same.
Where is your name written? If you forsake Him, the fountain of living waters, then the Bible says your name will be written in the earth. That’s what brought conviction on the hearts of those scribes and Pharisees. But praise God, if you have trusted and believed on Him, that living water is yours, and your name is recorded in Heaven, in the Lamb’s Book of Life. “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15) “And there shall in no wise enter into it (Heaven) any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelation 21:27)
There’s a new name written down in glory, and it’s mine, oh yes it’s mine!
And the white-robed angels sing the story, “A sinner has come home.”
Oh, there’s a new name written down in glory, and it’s mine, oh yes it’s mine!
With my sins forgiven I am bound for Heaven, never more to roam!
I was once a sinner, but I came pardon to receive from my Lord.
This was freely given and I found that He always kept His Word.
I was humbly kneeling at the cross, Fearing naught but God’s angry frown,
When the Heavens opened and I saw that my name was written down!
In the Book ‘tis written, “Saved By Grace!” Oh, the joy that came to my soul!
Now I am forgiven, and I know that by the Blood I am made whole.
There’s a new name written down in glory, and it’s mine, oh yes it’s mine!
And the white-robed angels sing the story, “A sinner has come home.”
Oh, there’s a new name written down in glory, and it’s mine, oh yes it’s mine!
With my sins forgiven I am bound for Heaven, never more to roam!
There are skeptics who say that Jesus couldn’t write anything. There is a group of men who get quoted by the news and newspapers who call themselves “The Jesus Seminar.” If you listen to the media, you’d think there were a thousand of them, but there are only about a half a dozen, yet the media reports them like they are some huge, important group.
I actually met the father of one of those men. He’s so ashamed that his son, claiming to be a Methodist preacher, is a member of this so-called Jesus Seminar. They meet once a year, and go through the Bible to decide if Jesus really said this or did He not. They discuss it and then vote on whether or not Jesus really said what you and I know He said. Then they have a hat or a box and each one of them has a white marble and a black marble. If they think that He said it, they put a white marble in. If they think that He didn’t, they put a black marble in, as if what they think or say about it has any influence on the truth of what Jesus really said. They take their vote and report it to the media and cut the Bible all to pieces. You say, “What do you think about the Jesus Seminar?” I just think they’ve all lost their marbles!
Jesus did do some writing. You know, one of the things the world and the devil hates is that we have the written Word of God. They don’t like that. When I was in the Ten Commandment battle, these liberal reporters come after you. They came after me with both barrels when I was putting up the Ten Commandment granite rock there at the courthouse in our county. They had this one ‘educated college graduate’ reporter that was working for the liberal paper there. You’ll have a hard time believing it, but he actually said this, and it shows you how their education goes. He actually said to me, “You, Christian, people, there is no such thing as the Ten Commandments. They’re not written anywhere. That’s just something you got from that movie Charlton Heston was in.” That’s what he said, I kid you not!
Of course, I peeled his hide good, but he was dumb enough to write something like that in the newspaper, and lost his job over it after I exposed him. I showed where it was written in Exodus 20, and gave him the Ten Commandments. The world is not educated if they don’t know the Word of God, not in the truest sense. Don’t ever back up from that.
I am a King James Bible man. I’m not just a Textus Receptus, but a King James Bible man. I believe God did something supernatural on purpose. “What do you mean?” There are no problems. There are no errors. There are no contradictions. That’s the position I take. You say, “I can show you a verse you can’t explain.” You probably can, but you can’t show me one I don’t believe or one I don’t think ought to be in there.
You say, “What do you mean by that?” I mean I’m giving God the benefit of every doubt. When I stand before the Judgment Seat of God, I’ve got some things to answer for -- sins of commission and omission. I know that and fear that. One thing I’ll not have to answer for -- do you think God is going to get me before the Judgment Seat and say, “Mickey, you’re going to lose some reward because you believe that Book too much”? That’s safe ground and that’s exactly where I stand. God superintended, watched over the King James. That’s why He’s used it and proved that He’s used it and blessed it through all these years.
You say, “What about this word or that word?” Some of you have had that thrown in your teeth. What about the word Easter over there in Acts 12? It’s the right word. You say, “But it’s supposed to be Passover.” By the way, a little logic would help us sometimes. Here you had 54 of the King James translators. By the time it was finished, you had 47 men that could speak all these different languages, they had all these manuscripts. Do you think that it was a mistake that they put the word Easter in? No, it wasn’t. Who in the world do we think these dry-as-dust professors are in our colleges today that think they’ve got more to work with? Those translators didn’t even have to be tempted with turning the TV off.
You say, “All of the translators made a mistake.” No they didn’t. They had a reason and the reason is in the context if you study it. It does say, “Easter,” but if you read it really close it says that after Easter they’re going to bring Peter out and kill him. It speaks of the days of unleavened bread in verse three. Here is what had happened. You had the Jewish feast of the Passover followed by the seven days of unleavened bread. Then you had the pagan Easter celebration of Babylon and the text calls it Herod’s Easter. It ought to be Easter.
The Russians joke about our English language because our words in English can mean different things, but that’s also true in Hebrew and Greek. In Russian, it doesn’t. I’ll give you a for instance. Watch the English word spelled the same way, but used with different meanings. “The bandage was wound tightly around the wound.” Wound spelled the same way, two different meanings. Here is another one. “When you shot the dove, he dove into the bushes.” Spelled the same way. You have so many cases like that and that’s the case here with the word pascha or Passover. In this instance, Easter or pascha is used in Greek and in Hebrew for four different holidays. The pagan Easter of Babylon was the first meaning way back. In the context it was a pagan Easter. So the translators didn’t make a mistake. Don’t let some of these fellas make a fool of you when it comes to believing the Word of God. “Preacher, did you always know that?” No, but I always knew God’s Word was right. I just take that same position and stay with it.
Go over to John 8. “Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” (John 8:1-11) He stooped down and wrote on the ground. It’s necessary for me to give you a little background of the setting to understand before we answer the question of “What did Jesus write?”
This was a feast day as we see in John 7:2. In verse 37 we read, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” We need to get the picture. The tabernacles taught this truth and still teaches it. The last festival of the Jews looks back on the time when they came out of Egypt and were journeying through the wilderness. They lived in tents -- the tabernacle is not a permanent home. So the feast of the tabernacles looked back to that time, but it also looks forward to when God-Emmanuel is going to be with us. You and I know it’s the Millennial Reign of Revelation chapter 20, when Jesus comes back on that white horse, sets up His kingdom, and He rules and reigns for a thousand years. The tabernacle is picturing coming out of Egypt, but it also pictures when the lion and the lamb shall lay down together in the future, that you and I call the Millennial Reign. It’s one thousand years long. It says so six times in Revelation 20.
Here is the picture. The feast of the tabernacles is going on in a crowded city. All the Jews are coming to Jerusalem. The rabbis have given the order. The roads have been repaired. The bridges had been fixed. The city has been cleaned up. Everybody is ready because a great big crowd on this festival day is coming to Jerusalem. The city is crowded. Lambs are brought for sacrifice. The priests are prepared. Get the picture. It’s taking place on the mount, the holy place, the threshing floor where the fire fell. They’re getting prepared. A group of priests are getting the lambs ready to be put on the altar to be offered.
There is another group of priests, though, that go down to the pool of Siloam. There was a closer pool, but the pool of Siloam was supposed to have, as it were, ‘magic’ or living water in it. These priests were commissioned to go down there, because the last day of the festival, when Jesus stood up and said, “...If any man thirst, let him come unto me,...” was the time of the water pouring or the water ceremony of the living water. One of the gates to the Temple was called the water gate. These priests would go out the water gate and down to the pool of Siloam and fill these vessels.
At the same time another group of priests went out and they had a silver vessel and filled it with wine, representing blood. When they put the spear in the side of Jesus, what came out? Water and blood. It has to do with our salvation. These priests would gather up the water pots, go out and fill them with this symbolic living water from the pool of Siloam.
Another group of priests went out through the eastern gate, you can read about this in the book of Leviticus, where they are commanded to go out and cut branches, trees if you please, and you’re in an area where you have a lot of weeping willows. I don’t know if they looked just alike, but they were willow trees. They cut them pretty tall, as much as twenty to thirty foot, a long strand of a tree. These priests began to get all these branches, all these tree limbs, getting ready to also come back.
Here you’ve got the picture. All these groups began to approach the temple. As they come through the eastern gate, you’ve got the priests with the living water pots. You’ve got the priests with the wine in the silver vessels. Then you’ve got the priests coming with the long willow trees. They would line up as much as thirty foot apart. Let’s imagine I’m a priest walking with a tree limb. Here is what I would do. I would step to the right and wave the tree to the left. Then I’d zig zag back, and I’d wave it the opposite direction. They are about thirty foot apart because there is a bunch of them. They are making a swishing sound with the willow tree like the sound of wind.
By the way, some of the things we still have in ceremonies today go way back to Jewish customs. I had a funeral for a young black man from one of our bus routes who was killed in an accident, a good boy. The black funeral home took care of the services. I got a good Gospel message in and all that was good, but I had an experience. The funeral home showed up at my church. They had on white suits and white gloves. The funeral director asked me, “Do you want to lead the procession down the aisle?” I said, “No.” That was a very wise thing to say. I sat up there and watched as the funeral directors and everybody came zig zagging down the aisle. I kind of enjoyed the preaching, though, because those folks knew how to say, “Amen” once in a while.
I was over in the Bahamas preaching a graduation service for a good size school over there. Again I was sitting on the platform and here came the graduates in doing this kind of a zig-zag procession as part of their graduation ceremony.
That’s exactly what these Jewish priests did, but as they did they waved the willow branches and made a swishing wind sound. Do you know what they were picturing? They were picturing the Holy Spirit of God entering into the Temple, because the sound of the Holy Spirit is the sound of wind. Jesus told Nicodemus, “You don’t see the wind, but you hear it.” That’s the Holy Spirit. You don’t see Him. We don’t glorify Him. He glorifies Jesus, but we know He’s there. I’ll put it this way. We know when He’s not there sometimes.
When God told David to set an ambush for the enemy, He said, “Don’t move until you hear a going in the mulberry trees. When you hear the wind stirring the mulberry trees, My Spirit has shown up. Now it’s time to fight. Now it’s time you go get the victory.”
Can’t you see all the symbolic truth going on all around them at this feast? These priests would come in their procession, waving those willow branches. They’d come on in and there was a great trumpet that sounded and those priests came into the Temple waving the branches and the priests with the water pots, and the priests with the wine in the silver vessels, and they’re all coming to the altar where the animals had been laid upon the altar. The trumpet would sound. It’s the time when Jesus is coming back to tabernacle with us, when He comes back on the white horse, when He comes through the eastern gate which is supernaturally shut up and still is shut up today, waiting for Him to enter. That trumpet sounds. That’s the whole picture.
Now get the scene. The Son of God is right there in their midst. The Lord Jesus is there, the One who they are picturing in all this ceremony. He’s in the midst of the Temple, right out there with them. Jesus cries out and He says, “...If any man thirst, let him come unto me,...” The ceremony is talking about living water. Jesus says, “I am the living water.” Study every time you hear Jesus say, “I am.” “I am the light,” or “I am the bread of life.” There is a big message behind that. He’s the same “I Am” that God answered Moses at the burning bush and said, “I am that I am.” Don’t kid yourself. The religious Jews knew exactly what He was talking about. This was not just a crowd of common people. There was the religious crowd there. When He said, “...If any man thirst, let him come unto me,...” they knew He was saying, “I am the living water that this ceremony pictures.” That was the message that they got as He stood there and cried out, “...If any man thirst, let him come unto me,...”
These priests would come in and circle the altar seven times. Then they’d take those willow branches and in this part of the ceremony, they’d put the root or the stock of it down and lean it up over the altar to where it kind of made a canopy over the altar. Then the fire on the sacrifice, the living water poured out, the wine is poured out. All this is part of the ceremony.
When they did that, they sang a song. If you want to see it in your Bible, go to Isaiah chapter 12. Here is the song they were singing and praising the Lord. It tells you to do it in verse one and then down in verse two, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.” And right on down through those verses. This is what they were singing when they were performing this ceremony.
It was a time of joy, picturing the victory when the Lord is going to come back and tabernacle among us, but He was among them then. Jesus was right there at the feast. He was saying, “...If any man thirst, let him come unto me,...” They just ignored Him like a lot of churches today. They have a big ceremony, but Jesus is not recognized. A lot of things that those churches do point back to the Lord, but they miss the real truth and the real Person they sing about. They just deal with the ceremony and the shadow and they miss the substance, that Jesus is the One. This is the setting as Jesus cries out about the living water.
Now go to John 8:1. It’s now the eighth day. He has spent the seventh night up at the Mount of Olives. He comes back in chapter eight, and it says in verse two, “And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.” The scribes and Pharisees come and they bring this woman caught in adultery. Notice the latter part of verse three, “...and when they had set her in the midst,” Here is the difference. All the pictures today would show them having walked in and threw the woman on the ground in front of Jesus. That’s not what happened. They sat her because they were putting her on trial. Later we find that she is standing before Jesus, Who is the real judge. Remember where He is at -- in the tabernacle. It’s not just the temple, but all around that temple is this courtyard and it’s double-layered. It has like these porches in it. These rabbis could come and stand there to teach, and they’ve done that now for seven days. On the eighth day is the day of the Torah, when the Torah is especially elevated. It’s sort of lifted up as the king for the day. The Torah is the Law -- the Old Testament, first five books of Moses.
Jesus is teaching and all the people come to Him. Other rabbis are teaching and there is jealousy because He’s got the biggest crowd. Everybody wants to hear Jesus. I think the place where He is teaching is unique. He’s teaching in the court that’s called the court of the women. That’s where He’s at. Fifteen steps up on the next balcony behind him is called the court of the Torah or the Law. Here is the picture. Jesus is right there where the Law is behind Him. He’s teaching. The religious Pharisees bring in the woman, sit her before Him as though she’s on trial and say to Him, “Moses’ Law says to stone her. She was caught in adultery. What do You say?”
They were trying to trap Him. “Are You going to be the teacher of the Law and You’re not going to condemn this one that is caught in adultery that the Law says to stone?” They were trying to trap Him. They understood what He had said. They understood that He claimed to be the Living Water. They had the picture right there. They bring the woman into the women’s court and where the Law has taken center place. It was the women’s court where the Law was celebrated. His rejectors, the ones that rejected Him as the Son of God, as the Messiah, they’re the ones that brought this woman in. They had heard what He had said over there in verses 37 and 38. “...If any man thirst, let him come unto me,...” they had heard that. It says, “He that believeth on Me.” They didn’t believe on Him. So they’re trying to trap Him when they bring the woman in. He said, “I’m the Living Water.”
Now go with me to the Book of Jeremiah, chapter two. A lot of times as you’re studying the Old Testament and seeing it fulfilled in the New, you’ll find all these things that have to do with Jewish laws and festivals are important because they all symbolize the Son of God and what He has done for us. We all know the lamb in the Old Testament pictured the Lord Jesus. So many other things pictured Him also. Look at Jeremiah 2:13. “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” What did the Lord Jesus say? He said, “They have forsaken Me -- the fountain of living waters. They’ve turned away and, instead, they have gotten themselves cisterns or bowls that will not hold the water.” That was in the picture of the water pouring ceremony where the Lord Jesus is here in John chapters seven and eight. That’s the verse in Jeremiah. He’s the Living Water.
In Zechariah 14, when He comes back all the nations are going to be gathered. Look at Zechariah 14. In the first few verses, we’ve got the One World thing coming together, all the nations gathered. That parting and dividing the land is not of God. It is an end time sign that Jesus, the Messiah, is getting ready to come. In Zechariah 14, the nations are gathered in the first two verses. The Lord is going to fight against them in verse three. In verse four He says, “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” He goes on down to say at the end of verse five, “...the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.” That’s the white horse. That’s Revelation 19. That’s when we come back with Him.
Now look at it in verses eight and nine. “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.” Sorry, Allah, you’re not the name there. Buddha, forget about it. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s the King of the whole earth. They’ll be symbolic of the One that had the living water that is coming back to take care of the nations at the battle of Armageddon. His name is going to be the name. He’s the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Here in the scene now the woman is before Him. They’re watching to see what He’s going to do. They sat her in front to be judged. He’s the teacher of the Law. He’s got to agree with Moses’ Law. They’ve got Him trapped, they think, but two times there in chapter eight it says that He ignored them and wrote on the ground. What did He write on the ground? They left convicted and silenced, whatever it was. Their conscience hurt them real bad and they just drifted out one by one, whatever it was that He wrote.
I want to show you what it was. Go back to Jeremiah 17:12-13. “A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed,...” That crowd left in shame when they forsook Him. Their conscience bothered them. They walked away. “...and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.” Do you know what happened? Jesus stood in the midst and He said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me. I’m the living water. I’m what the water in those pots represent. I’m the Messiah. I’m the Saviour. I’ve got the living water.” They knew what He had said. They tried to trap him with the woman, but He started writing in the earth.
Remember something -- these Pharisees were studied. They knew the context of Jeremiah. They knew the predictions concerning that water pouring ceremony. When He began to write their names in the earth, yes, they went out under conviction. He had the right. That’s what He was claiming. He was claiming, “I am the Judge, but I’m not judging the woman right now. I’m judging you that have forsaken Me and don’t believe on Me. You are the ones that ought to be ashamed and I’m writing your name in the earth.”
Brother, I’m glad my name is not written in the earth. Put it on that tombstone if you want to, but I know where it’s written. It’s written up there in the Lamb’s Book of Life! Bless God! I know something. I’m going to live eternally. Not just dust to dust, but absent from the body, and present with the Lord!
Where is your name written? Forsake Jesus and it’s written in the earth. Receive Him and it can be written above. They forsook Him -- the fountain of living waters. He just began to write in the earth and the conviction set in. He pronounced judgment. It wasn’t on the woman. He had the right to judge her, but he also had the right to give her grace and mercy and let her go, and told her to sin no more.
He sent the disciples out Luke chapter ten. They came back rejoicing, saying, “Lord, we’re so glad that we’ve got power over the devils in Your name.”
He said, “Don’t rejoice too much about that. Rejoice more that your name is written in Heaven.”
We forget sometimes who we are, as the redeemed. Our names are written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Let them bury this old body if they want to. I know where my name is written! I have believed on and received the Son of God, the fount of living waters!
I went and sat in the back of a Baptist Church one Sunday night and heard an old preacher preach the Gospel. I was mad the first couple of times I went, but by the fourth time I brought an empty cup and the Lord filled it with living water. I’ve never been the same.
I’ll never forget that Monday morning. In those days we did not race in the winter in Florida. So I had my race car parked and I had taken a job with Minute Maid harvesting fruit. I was bringing the truck out of the grove and loading it on a paddle wheel loader that would kick the fruit off into the big semi-trailers. I got there early that morning because I knew I had a truck load that needed to be dumped.
It was Monday morning, and I had just gotten saved on Sunday night. I couldn’t quote John 3:16, didn’t know one thing about the Bible, but brother, I was saved! I got there to the grove before anybody else. It was a beautiful Florida morning. As the sun began to break out over the eastern sky, I got that old truck backed up and the oranges were hitting paddles and they’re going up into the trailer, but they didn’t look like oranges on that morning. They looked like balls of gold. I had never seen a sunrise like that one. There were some bushes over that direction and some birds singing. I never had heard birds sing like that before. Do you know why? There was a tune playing in my heart, a new song. “It’s all right now. You’re saved now. Your name is written above.” I don’t understand it all, but I got a deep drink of that living water and I have never been the same.
Where is your name written? If you forsake Him, the fountain of living waters, then the Bible says your name will be written in the earth. That’s what brought conviction on the hearts of those scribes and Pharisees. But praise God, if you have trusted and believed on Him, that living water is yours, and your name is recorded in Heaven, in the Lamb’s Book of Life. “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15) “And there shall in no wise enter into it (Heaven) any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelation 21:27)
There’s a new name written down in glory, and it’s mine, oh yes it’s mine!
And the white-robed angels sing the story, “A sinner has come home.”
Oh, there’s a new name written down in glory, and it’s mine, oh yes it’s mine!
With my sins forgiven I am bound for Heaven, never more to roam!
I was once a sinner, but I came pardon to receive from my Lord.
This was freely given and I found that He always kept His Word.
I was humbly kneeling at the cross, Fearing naught but God’s angry frown,
When the Heavens opened and I saw that my name was written down!
In the Book ‘tis written, “Saved By Grace!” Oh, the joy that came to my soul!
Now I am forgiven, and I know that by the Blood I am made whole.
There’s a new name written down in glory, and it’s mine, oh yes it’s mine!
And the white-robed angels sing the story, “A sinner has come home.”
Oh, there’s a new name written down in glory, and it’s mine, oh yes it’s mine!
With my sins forgiven I am bound for Heaven, never more to roam!